http://www.codeplex.com/CmdletDesigner

During the development of Windows 7, most cmdlet design and help authoring in Microsoft went through an internal tool called the “Cmdlet Designer.”

cmdlet_designerThe Cmdlet Designer makes it much easier for teams to concentrate on the design, naming, and consistency of their cmdlets, while also guaranteeing name registration and collision avoidance across Microsoft.

To sweeten the deal, it offers:

  • Integrated help authoring
  • Efficient bulk operations (parameter and cmdlet cloning)
  • Generation of cmdlet code
  • Full scripting support
  • Automatic code-spec comparison and testing
  • Role-based security, history logging, and more.

So why blog about it? Because it’s now yours!

We just posted the entirety of the Cmdlet Designer, its source code, design specification, and deployment guide to http://www.codeplex.com/CmdletDesigner under the most permissive Microsoft Open Source license, the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL).

Architecturally, the Cmdlet Designer offers a reference implementation to benefit developers as well:

  • UI on top of Cmdlets
  • Script-based UI extensibility
  • Cmdlet / Webservice interaction
  • Role-based security, with a trusted subsystem implementation

Download, and enjoy!

 

Lee Holmes [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell Development
Microsoft Corporation