{"id":7494,"date":"2020-05-27T14:57:53","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T18:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/?p=7494"},"modified":"2020-05-27T17:13:44","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T21:13:44","slug":"solving-the-powershell-counting-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/powershell\/7494\/solving-the-powershell-counting-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving the PowerShell Counting Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, an Iron Scripter PowerShell scripting challenge<\/a> was posted. As with all of these challenges, the process is more important than the end result. How you figure out a solution is how you develop as a PowerShell professional. A few people have already shared their work<\/a>. Today, I thought I'd share mine.<\/p>\n

Beginner<\/h2>\n

The beginner challenge was to get the sum of even numbers between 1 and 100. You should be able to come up with at least 3 different techniques.<\/p>\n

For Loop<\/h3>\n

My first solution is to use a For loop.<\/p>\n

$t = 0\nfor ($i = 2; $i -le 100; $i += 2) {\n    $t += $i\n}\n$t\n<\/pre>\n
The variable $t is set to 0. This will be the total value. The syntax of the For loop says, \"Start with $i and a value of 2 and keep looping while $i is less than or equal to 100. Every time you loop, increase the value of $i by 2.\" The += operator is a shortcut way of saying $i = $i+2. This should get all even numbers up to and including 100. I'm using the -le operator and not the -lt operator. Each time through the loop, the code inside the { }, I'm incrementing $t by the value of $i. In the end, I get a value of 2550 for $t.<\/p>\n
Modulo Operator<\/h3>\n
The next technique is to use the Modulo operator - %.<\/p>\n
1..100 | Where-Object {-Not($_%2)} | Measure-Object -sum\n<\/pre>\n
The first part of the pipelined expression is using the Range operator to get all numbers between 1 and 100. Each number is piped to Where-Object which uses the Modulo operator. I'm dividing each number by 2. If there is a remainder, for example, 3\/2 is 1.5, the result is 1. Otherwise, the operator produces a result of 0. 1 and 0 can also be interpreted as boolean values. 1 is $True and 0 is $False. In this case, all the numbers divided by 2 with no remainder will produce a value of 0. But I need Where-Object to pass objects when the expression is True so I use the -Not operator to reverse the value. Thus False becomes True and the number is passed to Measure-Object where I can get the sum. And yes, there are other ways you could have written the Where-Object expression.<\/p>\n
ForEach Loop<\/h3>\n
My third idea was to use a ForEach loop.<\/p>\n
$t = 0\nforeach ($n in (1..100)) {\n    if ($n\/2 -is [int]) {\n        $t += $n\n    }\n}\n$t\n<\/pre>\n
The code says, \"Foreach thing\u00a0 in the collection, do something.\" The collection is the range 1..100. The \"thing\" can be called anything you want. In my code, this is $n.\u00a0 For each value, I'm using an IF statement to test if $n\/2 is an object of type [int]. A value like 1.5 is technically a [double]. Assuming the value passes the test, I increment $t by that value.<\/p>\n
Bonus<\/h3>\n
The \"right\" solution depends on the rest of your code and what makes the most sense. That's why there are different techniques for you to learn.\u00a0 If I just wanted a simple one-line solution, I could do something like this:<\/p>\n
(1..100 | where-object {$_\/2 -is [int]} | measure-object -sum).sum\n<\/pre>\n
Instead of getting the measurement object, I'm getting just the sum property. The ( ) tell PowerShell, \"run this code and hold on to the object(s)\".\u00a0 This is a one-line version of this:<\/p>\n
$m = 1..100 | where-object {$_\/2 -is [int]} | measure-object -sum\n$m.sum\n<\/pre>\n
With the (), $m is implicitly being defined.<\/p>\n
Intermediate<\/h2>\n
The next level challenge was to write a function that would get the sum of every X value between 1 and a user-specified maximum. We were also asked to get the average and ideally include all the numbers that were used in the calculation.<\/p>\n
For development purposes, I always start with simple code. I tested getting the sum of every 6th number between 1 and 100.<\/p>\n
$total = 0\n$max = 100\n$int = 6\n$count = 0\n$Capture = @()\n\nfor ($i = $int; $i -le $max; $i += $int) {\n    $count++\n    $Capture += $i\n    $total += $i\n}\n[pscustomobject]@{\n    Start    = 1\n    End      = $Max\n    Interval = $int\n    Sum      = $total\n    Average  = $total\/$count\n    Values   = $Capture\n}\n<\/pre>\n
You'll see that I'm using similar operators and techniques. The new step is that I am creating a custom object on the fly. The hashtable keys become the property names.<\/p>\n
Start    : 1\nEnd      : 100\nInterval : 6\nSum      : 816\nAverage  : 51\nValues   : {6, 12, 18, 24...}\n<\/pre>\n
With this, I was able to create this function.<\/p>\n
Function Get-NFactorial {\n\n    [CmdletBinding()]\n\n    Param  (\n        [Parameter(Position = 0)]\n        [int32]$Start = 1,\n        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 1)]\n        [int32]$Maximum,\n        [Parameter(Mandatory)]\n        [ValidateRange(1, 10)]\n        [ArgumentCompleter({1..10})]\n        [int32]$Interval\n    )\n\n    Begin {\n        Write-Verbose \"Starting $($MyInvocation.Mycommand)\"\n        Write-Verbose \"Getting NFactorial values between $start and $Maximum\"\n        Write-Verbose \"Using an interval of $Interval\"\n\n        #initialize some variables\n        $count = 0\n        $Capture = @()\n        $Total = 0\n    } #begin\n\n    Process {\n        Write-Verbose \"Looping through the range of numbers\"\n        for ($i = $Interval; $i -le $Maximum; $i += $Interval) {\n            $count++\n            $Capture += $i\n            $Total += $i\n        }\n        Write-Verbose \"Writing result to the pipeline\"\n        [pscustomobject]@{\n            PSTypeName  = \"nFactorial\"\n            Start       = $Start\n            End         = $Maximum\n            Interval    = $Interval\n            Sum         = $Total\n            Average     = $total\/$count\n            Values      = $Capture\n            ValuesCount = $Capture.Count\n        }\n    } #process\n\n    End {\n        Write-Verbose \"Ending $($MyInvocation.Mycommand)\"\n    } #end\n\n} #close function\n<\/pre>\n
For the Interval parameter, I'm doing something you may not have seen before. I'm limiting the user to using an interval value between 1 and 10. That's the ValidateRange attribute you may have seen before. The other element is an ArgumentCompleter. When someone runs the function, I want them to be able to tab-complete the value for -Interval. I've noticed that when you use ValidateSet, tab completion works. But not with ValidateRange. (Yes, I could have used ValidateSet,\u00a0 \u00a0but then I wouldn't have anything to teach you!). The ArgumentCompleter uses the results of the code inside the {} as autocomplete values.<\/p>\n
Here's the function in action.<\/p>\n
PS C>\\> Get-Nfactorial -Start 1 -Maximum 100 -Interval 2\n\nStart       : 1\nEnd         : 100\nInterval    : 2\nSum         : 2550\nAverage     : 51\nValues      : {2, 4, 6, 8...}\nValuesCount : 50\n<\/pre>\n
Let's take this one more step.<\/p>\n
Formatting Results<\/h3>\n
The default output is a list and maybe I don't really need to see all of these properties by default. If you noticed, in the custom object hashtable I defined a property called PSTypeName. In order to do custom formatting, your object needs a unique type name. Mine is called nFactorial.<\/p>\n
Formatting is going to require a ps1xml file. But don't freak out. Install the PSScriptTools module from the PowerShell Gallery and use New-PSFormatXML.<\/p>\n
Get-Nfactorial -Start 1 -Maximum 100 -Interval 2 | New-PSFormatXML -Path .\\nfactorial.format.ps1xml -Properties Start,End,Interval,Sum,Average -FormatType Table\n<\/pre>\n
You can edit the file and adjust it as needed. Here's my version.<\/p>\n
<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n<!--\nformat type data generated 05\/19\/2020 10:06:19 by BOVINE320\\Jeff\n-->\n<Configuration>\n  <ViewDefinitions>\n    <View>\n      <!--Created 05\/19\/2020 10:06:19 by BOVINE320\\Jeff-->\n      <Name>default<\/Name>\n      <ViewSelectedBy>\n        <TypeName>nFactorial<\/TypeName>\n      <\/ViewSelectedBy>\n      <TableControl>\n        <!--Delete the AutoSize node if you want to use the defined widths.\n        <AutoSize \/> \n        -->\n        <TableHeaders>\n          <TableColumnHeader>\n            <Label>Start<\/Label>\n            <Width>5<\/Width>\n            <Alignment>left<\/Alignment>\n          <\/TableColumnHeader>\n          <TableColumnHeader>\n            <Label>End<\/Label>\n            <Width>6<\/Width>\n            <Alignment>right<\/Alignment>\n          <\/TableColumnHeader>\n          <TableColumnHeader>\n            <Label>Interval<\/Label>\n            <Width>8<\/Width>\n            <Alignment>center<\/Alignment>\n          <\/TableColumnHeader>\n          <TableColumnHeader>\n            <Label>Sum<\/Label>\n            <Width>9<\/Width>\n            <Alignment>right<\/Alignment>\n          <\/TableColumnHeader>\n          <TableColumnHeader>\n            <Label>Average<\/Label>\n            <Width>10<\/Width>\n            <Alignment>right<\/Alignment>\n          <\/TableColumnHeader>\n        <\/TableHeaders>\n        <TableRowEntries>\n          <TableRowEntry>\n            <TableColumnItems>\n              <TableColumnItem>\n                <PropertyName>Start<\/PropertyName>\n              <\/TableColumnItem>\n              <TableColumnItem>\n                <PropertyName>End<\/PropertyName>\n              <\/TableColumnItem>\n              <TableColumnItem>\n                <PropertyName>Interval<\/PropertyName>\n              <\/TableColumnItem>\n              <TableColumnItem>\n                <ScriptBlock>\"{0:n0}\" -f $_.Sum<\/ScriptBlock>\n              <\/TableColumnItem>\n              <TableColumnItem>\n                <PropertyName>Average<\/PropertyName>\n              <\/TableColumnItem>\n            <\/TableColumnItems>\n          <\/TableRowEntry>\n        <\/TableRowEntries>\n      <\/TableControl>\n    <\/View>\n  <\/ViewDefinitions>\n<\/Configuration>\n<\/pre>\n
To use, you need to update PowerShell.<\/p>\n
Update-FormatData .\\nfactorial.format.ps1xml\n<\/pre>\n
With this in place, I now get nicely formatted output.<\/p>\n
\"nfactorial\"<\/p>\n
Remember, this is only my new default if I don't tell PowerShell to do anything else. I can still run the function and pipe to Select-Object or Format-List.<\/p>\n
This silly function is clearly far from practical, but I can use these techniques and patterns in future projects. I hope you got something out of this and I encourage you to tackle the Iron Scripter challenges as they come along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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