{"id":501,"date":"2009-11-13T10:30:29","date_gmt":"2009-11-13T15:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/?p=501"},"modified":"2009-11-13T10:36:06","modified_gmt":"2009-11-13T15:36:06","slug":"the-powershell-balloon-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"The PowerShell Balloon Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

I trust by now you are realizing how valuable Windows PowerShell\u00a0 is as a management tool. With a one line command you can accomplish an extraordinary amount of work. Sometimes this work may be long running, which is where background jobs come in handy. Or you may simply kick off a long running script and go about your other administrative tasks. Unfortunately, you have to keep stopping what you\u2019re doing to check and see if your script or job has finished. But there is a better way, assuming you are running Windows Vista or later.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When Don Jones<\/a> was at SAPIEN Technologies<\/a>, I believe he wrote a blog entry about creating a pop balloon notification in the system tray. This handy system could be used to notify the logged on user just of about anything. I took the liberty of revising the function and turned it into a PowerShell v2.0 function called Show-Balloon.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Function Show-Balloon {<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
#requires -version 2.0<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<#<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
.Synopsis<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    Display a balloon tip message in<\/span> the system tray.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
.Description<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    This function<\/span> displays a user-defined message as a balloon popup in<\/span> the system tray. This function<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    requires Windows Vista or later.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
.Parameter Message<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    The message text you want to display.  Recommended to keep it short and simple.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
.Parameter Title<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    The title for<\/span> the message balloon. The default<\/span> is Attention: $env:username, where the variable<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    will be replaced by the %USERNAME% environmental variable.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
.Parameter MessageType<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    .The type of message. This value determines what type of icon to display. Valid values are<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    Error, Warning, Info and None. The default<\/span> is Info. This paramater has an alias of 'type'<\/span>.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
.Parameter Duration<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    The number of seconds to display the balloon popup. The default<\/span> is 10.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
.Example<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    PS C:\\>  Show-Balloon \"Your script has finished.\"<\/span> -duration 15 -Title \"Hey, You!!\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    Displays a simple balloon popup for<\/span> 15 seconds.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
.Example<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    PS C:\\>  Show-Balloon \"There was an error with the script: $error[0].Exception.Message\"<\/span> -messagetype \"Error\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    Display an error balloon tip showing the exception message from the last error PowerShell detected.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
.Example<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    PS C:\\>  Invoke-command -computer $env:computername -scriptblock {. c:\\scripts\\show-balloon.ps1; get-eventlog -logname system -newest 500;show-Balloon \"Background job complete.\"<\/span>} -asjob<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    This example uses Invoke-Command to execute a potentially long running expression on the local<\/span> computer. When<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    it is finished, a balloon message is displayed. Because the job runs in<\/span> a separate scope, the script<\/span> containing<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    the Show-Balloon function<\/span> is dot sourced. After the Get-Eventlog cmdlet finishes, then the Show-Balloon function<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    is run, displaying the message.<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
.Inputs<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    None<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
.Outputs<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    None<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
.Link<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
   http:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
.Link<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    Write-Warning<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    Write-Error<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
.Notes<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
 NAME:      Show-Balloon<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
 VERSION:   1.0<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
 AUTHOR:    Jeffery Hicks<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
 LASTEDIT:  11\/12\/2009<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
#><\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[CmdletBinding()]<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Param (<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    [Parameter(<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     ValueFromPipeline=$False,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     Position=0,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     Mandatory=$True,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     HelpMessage=\"The message text to display. Keep it short and simple.\"<\/span>)]<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     [string]$message,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    [Parameter(<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     ValueFromPipeline=$False,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     Mandatory=$False,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     HelpMessage=\"The message title\"<\/span>)]<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     [string]$Title=\"Attention $env:username\"<\/span>,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    [Parameter(<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     ValueFromPipeline=$False,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     Mandatory=$False,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     HelpMessage=\"The message type: Info,Error,Warning,None\"<\/span>)]<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     [ValidateSet(\"Info\"<\/span>,\"Error\"<\/span>,\"Warning\"<\/span>,\"None\"<\/span>)]<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     [Alias(\"type\"<\/span>)]<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     [string]$MessageType=\"Info\"<\/span>,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
     [Parameter(<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     ValueFromPipeline=$False,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     Mandatory=$False,<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     HelpMessage=\"The number of seconds to display the message.\"<\/span>)]<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     [int]$duration=10<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
     )<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    Write-Verbose \"Starting Function\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    if<\/span> ($verbosePreference -eq<\/span> \"Continue\"<\/span>) {<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
        Write-Verbose \"Getting Operating System\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
        Write-Verbose \"OS: $((get-wmiobject win32_operatingsystem).caption)\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     }<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    Write-Verbose \"Loading Assemblies\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    #load Windows Forms and drawing assemblies<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    [reflection.assembly]::loadwithpartialname(\"System.Windows.Forms\"<\/span>) | Out-Null<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    [reflection.assembly]::loadwithpartialname(\"System.Drawing\"<\/span>) | Out-Null<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    #define an icon image pulled from PowerShell.exe<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    Write-Verbose \"Extracting the icon from PowerShell.exe\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    $icon=[system.drawing.icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon((join-path $pshome powershell.exe))<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    Write-Verbose \"Defining `$notify\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    $notify = new-object system.windows.forms.notifyicon<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    $notify.icon = $icon<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    $notify.visible = $True<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    Write-Verbose \"Evaluating MessageType parameter $messagetype\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    #define the tool tip icon based on the message type<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    switch<\/span> ($messagetype) {<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     \"Error\"<\/span> { $messageIcon=[system.windows.forms.tooltipicon]::Error}<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     \"Info\"<\/span> {$messageIcon=[system.windows.forms.tooltipicon]::Info}<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     \"Warning\"<\/span> {$messageIcon=[system.windows.forms.tooltipicon]::Warning}<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
     Default {$messageIcon=[system.windows.forms.tooltipicon]::None}<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    }<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    Write-Verbose \"Displaying message [ $Message ] for $duration seconds\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    #display the balloon tipe<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
    $notify.showballoontip($duration,$Title,$message,$MessageIcon)<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
    Write-Verbose \"Ending function\"<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
} #end function<\/span><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Set-Alias sb Show-Balloon<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The function requires PowerShell version 2 and Windows Vista or later. Although it doesn\u2019t check your operating system. I always like providing help information so the function can be used like a cmdlet.<\/p>\n
\"show-balloon\"<\/a><\/p>\n
\"balloontip\"<\/a><\/p>\n
The function displays a message in a popup balloon by default for 10 seconds. You can customize the duration, title and the icon. The icon is determined by the MessageType parameter and can be Error, Warning, Info or None.<\/p>\n
The function is relatively simple using the Drawings and Forms .NET classes to create and display a NotifyIcon object.<\/p>\n
You might use this function to display a message after a script has finished.<\/p>\n
PS C:\\>\u00a0 c:\\scripts\\myscript.ps1;Show-Balloon \"Your script has finished.\" -duration 15 -Title \"Hey, You!!\"<\/span><\/p>\n
By using the ; to indicate a new line I can type a one line command and then move on to something else. You can easily incorporate variables into the message.<\/p>\n
PS C:\\> MyFunction ; Show-Balloon \"There was an error with the script: $($error[0].Exception.Message)\" -messagetype \"Error\"<\/span><\/p>\n
Or use it with Invoke-Command<\/a>.<\/p>\n
PS C:\\> Invoke-command -computer $env:computername -scriptblock {. c:\\scripts\\show-balloon.ps1;get-eventlog -logname system -newest 500;show-Balloon \"Background job complete.\"} -asjob<\/span><\/p>\n
This example uses Invoke-Command<\/a> to execute a potentially long running expression on the local computer. When\u00a0 it is finished, a balloon message is displayed. Because the job runs in a separate scope, the script containing\u00a0 the Show-Balloon function is dot sourced. After the Get-Eventlog<\/a> cmdlet finishes, then the Show-Balloon function\u00a0 is run, displaying the message.<\/p>\n
I hope you\u2019ll let me know how you use this function.
\nDownload Show-Balloon.ps1<\/a>
\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I trust by now you are realizing how valuable Windows PowerShell\u00a0 is as a management tool. With a one line command you can accomplish an extraordinary amount of work. Sometimes this work may be long running, which is where background jobs come in handy. Or you may simply kick off a long running script and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[72,75,8,99],"tags":[130,32,136,122,534,82],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commandline","category-powershell-v2-0","category-scripting","category-windows-7","tag-don-jones","tag-functions","tag-get-eventlog","tag-invoke-command","tag-powershell","tag-scriptblock"],"yoast_head":"\nThe PowerShell Balloon Festival • The Lonely Administrator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The PowerShell Balloon Festival • The Lonely Administrator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I trust by now you are realizing how valuable Windows PowerShell\u00a0 is as a management tool. With a one line command you can accomplish an extraordinary amount of work. Sometimes this work may be long running, which is where background jobs come in handy. Or you may simply kick off a long running script and...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Lonely Administrator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-13T15:30:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-11-13T15:36:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/showballoon_thumb.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffery Hicks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JeffHicks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JeffHicks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeffery Hicks\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeffery Hicks\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0258030b41f07fd745f4078bdf5b6c9\"},\"headline\":\"The PowerShell Balloon Festival\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-13T15:30:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-11-13T15:36:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":421,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0258030b41f07fd745f4078bdf5b6c9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/11\\\/showballoon_thumb.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Don Jones\",\"functions\",\"Get-Eventlog\",\"Invoke-Command\",\"PowerShell\",\"ScriptBlock\"],\"articleSection\":[\"CommandLine\",\"PowerShell v2.0\",\"Scripting\",\"Windows 7\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/\",\"name\":\"The PowerShell Balloon Festival • The Lonely Administrator\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/11\\\/showballoon_thumb.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-13T15:30:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-11-13T15:36:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/11\\\/showballoon_thumb.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/11\\\/showballoon_thumb.png\",\"width\":\"480\",\"height\":\"222\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/scripting\\\/501\\\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"CommandLine\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/commandline\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The PowerShell Balloon Festival\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Lonely Administrator\",\"description\":\"Practical Advice for the Automating IT Pro\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0258030b41f07fd745f4078bdf5b6c9\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jdhitsolutions.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0258030b41f07fd745f4078bdf5b6c9\",\"name\":\"Jeffery Hicks\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/832ae5d438fdcfc1420d720cd1991307927de8a0b12f2342e81c30f773e21098?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/832ae5d438fdcfc1420d720cd1991307927de8a0b12f2342e81c30f773e21098?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/832ae5d438fdcfc1420d720cd1991307927de8a0b12f2342e81c30f773e21098?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Jeffery Hicks\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/832ae5d438fdcfc1420d720cd1991307927de8a0b12f2342e81c30f773e21098?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The PowerShell Balloon Festival • The Lonely Administrator","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The PowerShell Balloon Festival • The Lonely Administrator","og_description":"I trust by now you are realizing how valuable Windows PowerShell\u00a0 is as a management tool. With a one line command you can accomplish an extraordinary amount of work. Sometimes this work may be long running, which is where background jobs come in handy. Or you may simply kick off a long running script and...","og_url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/","og_site_name":"The Lonely Administrator","article_published_time":"2009-11-13T15:30:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2009-11-13T15:36:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/showballoon_thumb.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jeffery Hicks","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@JeffHicks","twitter_site":"@JeffHicks","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeffery Hicks","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/"},"author":{"name":"Jeffery Hicks","@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0258030b41f07fd745f4078bdf5b6c9"},"headline":"The PowerShell Balloon Festival","datePublished":"2009-11-13T15:30:29+00:00","dateModified":"2009-11-13T15:36:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/"},"wordCount":421,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0258030b41f07fd745f4078bdf5b6c9"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/showballoon_thumb.png","keywords":["Don Jones","functions","Get-Eventlog","Invoke-Command","PowerShell","ScriptBlock"],"articleSection":["CommandLine","PowerShell v2.0","Scripting","Windows 7"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/","url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/","name":"The PowerShell Balloon Festival • The Lonely Administrator","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/showballoon_thumb.png","datePublished":"2009-11-13T15:30:29+00:00","dateModified":"2009-11-13T15:36:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/showballoon_thumb.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/showballoon_thumb.png","width":"480","height":"222"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/501\/the-powershell-balloon-festival\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"CommandLine","item":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/category\/commandline\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The PowerShell Balloon Festival"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/","name":"The Lonely Administrator","description":"Practical Advice for the Automating IT Pro","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0258030b41f07fd745f4078bdf5b6c9"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0258030b41f07fd745f4078bdf5b6c9","name":"Jeffery Hicks","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/832ae5d438fdcfc1420d720cd1991307927de8a0b12f2342e81c30f773e21098?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/832ae5d438fdcfc1420d720cd1991307927de8a0b12f2342e81c30f773e21098?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/832ae5d438fdcfc1420d720cd1991307927de8a0b12f2342e81c30f773e21098?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg","caption":"Jeffery Hicks"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/832ae5d438fdcfc1420d720cd1991307927de8a0b12f2342e81c30f773e21098?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg"}}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7361,"url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/7361\/powershell-7-cross-platform-scripting-tips-and-traps\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":0},"title":"PowerShell 7 Cross-Platform Scripting Tips and Traps","author":"Jeffery Hicks","date":"March 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the reasons you want to adopt PowerShell 7 on your desktop, is that it can\u00a0 be used cross-platform. Theoretically, you can write a PowerShell script or function that works on Windows, Linux, and Mac. However, this is not without challenges. In some ways, it feels like we are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PowerShell 7"","block_context":{"text":"PowerShell 7","link":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/category\/powershell-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/hicks-scripting-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/hicks-scripting-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/hicks-scripting-4.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/hicks-scripting-4.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1220,"url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/powershell\/1220\/friday-fun-virtual-demos\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":1},"title":"Friday Fun Virtual Demos","author":"Jeffery Hicks","date":"March 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been prepping my demo scripts for Techmentor using the ubiquitous Start-Demo, and realized I could take things further. I mean, why do I have to do all the talking? Windows 7 has a terrific text to speech engine so why not take advantage of it. With a little work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences","link":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/category\/conferences\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7969,"url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/powershell-7\/7969\/deploy-openssh-server-to-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":2},"title":"Deploy OpenSSH Server to Windows 10","author":"Jeffery Hicks","date":"December 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"PowerShell 7 offers a number of compelling reasons to adopt it. One of the best is support for SSH as a PowerShell remoting protocol. Unfortunately, this is not a topic that typically comes up for Windows-centric IT Pros. I know this is definitely true in my case, and a deficiency\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PowerShell"","block_context":{"text":"PowerShell","link":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/category\/powershell\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/sshserver-installed.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/sshserver-installed.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/sshserver-installed.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/sshserver-installed.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/sshserver-installed.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/sshserver-installed.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1197,"url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/powershell\/1197\/a-few-ise-tweaks\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":3},"title":"A few ISE tweaks","author":"Jeffery Hicks","date":"March 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"If you use the PowerShell ISE as your primary script editor, you might want to tweak it a bit. The first thing you'll need is your ISE profile script. If it doesn't exist, you'll need to create. PowerShell will look for file C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\Documents\\WindowsPowerShell\\Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1 (on Windows 7 anyway). Any commands you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PowerShell"","block_context":{"text":"PowerShell","link":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/category\/powershell\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":580,"url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/scripting\/580\/techmentor-orlando-2010\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":4},"title":"TechMentor Orlando 2010","author":"Jeffery Hicks","date":"March 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm busy polishing my presentations and demos for next week's Techmentor conference in sunny Orlando, Fl. I've been presenting at Techmentor for a number of years now and it is a great show for administrators searching for answers to the problems and challenges they face today. You get intimate sessions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6974,"url":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/powershell\/6974\/watching-the-watcher-with-powershell\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":5},"title":"Watching the Watcher with PowerShell","author":"Jeffery Hicks","date":"November 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"If you followed along with my recent articles about my PowerShell based backup system, you may recall that I used a PowerShell scheduled job an an event subscriber to monitor for file changes in key folders that I want to back up. I created the scheduled task to run at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PowerShell"","block_context":{"text":"PowerShell","link":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/category\/powershell\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/image_thumb-14.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/image_thumb-14.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/image_thumb-14.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/image_thumb-14.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}