PowerShell ISE Can Do a Lot More Than You Think
In CTP2, we released the first version of PowerShell_ISE. It was VERY rough and primitive and we came close to deciding to wait to CTP3 to ship it. We decided to go head and ship it in CTP2 because the team got it to critical mass and we wanted to let the world know where we were going as soon as possible and get their feedback.
It's been a long time since CTP2 and with CTP3, I think you'll find a MUCH richer, MUCH more useful PowerShell_ISE. I strongly encourage you to spend some time exploring it. It supports a ton of new features (my favorite is graphical debugging).
After you've explored all the menu items and gotten a good idea of what it can do, you are ready to start partying because that is just the beginning of what PowerShell_ISE can do. The reason for that is that PowerShell_ISE is programmable.
We don't have good documentation on the programming model at this point. That may or may not change by the time we ship V1 (because we have a TON of things to document and 'to ship is to choose') but it shouldn't matter if you've embraced the PowerShell model of education through investigation. With Get-Member (gm) - you can figure it all out yourself. All you need is a starting point. That staring point is $psIse.
PS Mod:\form> $psIse |GM
TypeName: System.Management.Automation.Host.PSGHost
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetType Method type GetType()
ToString Method string ToString()
CurrentOpenedFile Property System.Management.Automation.Host.OpenedFile CurrentOpenedFile {get;}
CurrentOpenedRunspace Property System.Management.Automation.Host.OpenedRunspace CurrentOpenedRunspace {get;}
OpenedRunspaces Property System.Management.Automation.Host.OpenedRunspaceCollection OpenedRunspaces {get;}
Options Property System.Management.Automation.Host.Options Options {get;}
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PS Mod:\form> $psIse.CurrentOpenedRunspace
DisplayName : PowerShell 1
ToolsMenu : System.Management.Automation.Host.PSMenuItem
StatusText : Running script / selection. Press Ctrl-Break to stop.
Prompt : PS Mod:\form>
CommandPane : Microsoft.Windows.PowerShell.Gui.Internal.CommandEditor
Output : Microsoft.Windows.PowerShell.Gui.Internal.OutputEditor
OpenedFiles : {Untitled1.ps1, Form.psm1, Untitled3.ps1*, Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1...}
CanExecute : False
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PS Mod:\form> $psIse.CurrentOpenedRunspace |GM
TypeName: System.Management.Automation.Host.OpenedRunspace
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
PropertyChanged Event System.ComponentModel.PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged(System.Object, System.ComponentModel.Propert...
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
Execute Method System.Void Execute(string script)
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetType Method type GetType()
ToString Method string ToString()
CanExecute Property System.Boolean CanExecute {get;}
CommandPane Property System.Management.Automation.Host.EditorBase CommandPane {get;}
DisplayName Property System.String DisplayName {get;set;}
OpenedFiles Property System.Management.Automation.Host.OpenedFileCollection OpenedFiles {get;}
Output Property System.Management.Automation.Host.EditorBase Output {get;}
Prompt Property System.String Prompt {get;}
StatusText Property System.String StatusText {get;}
ToolsMenu Property System.Management.Automation.Host.PSMenuItem ToolsMenu {get;}
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PS Mod:\form> # Output is obviously the Output window
PS Mod:\form> $psIse.CurrentOpenedRunspace.output |gm
TypeName: Microsoft.Windows.PowerShell.Gui.Internal.OutputEditor
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
PropertyChanged Event System.ComponentModel.PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged(System.Object, System.ComponentModel.Proper...
Clear Method System.Void Clear()
EnsureVisible Method System.Void EnsureVisible(int lineNumber)
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
Focus Method System.Void Focus()
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetLineLength Method int GetLineLength(int lineNumber)
GetType Method type GetType()
InsertText Method System.Void InsertText(string text)
Select Method System.Void Select(int startLine, int startColumn, int endLine, int endColumn)
SetCaretPosition Method System.Void SetCaretPosition(int lineNumber, int columnNumber)
ToString Method string ToString()
CaretColumn Property System.Int32 CaretColumn {get;}
CaretLine Property System.Int32 CaretLine {get;}
LineCount Property System.Int32 LineCount {get;}
SelectedText Property System.String SelectedText {get;}
Text Property System.String Text {get;set;}
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PS Mod:\form> # Now let's select the output for all lines that have
PS Mod:\form> # "Event" in them
PS Mod:\form> $psIse.CurrentOpenedRunspace.output.Text -Split "`n" |Select-String Event
PropertyChanged Event System.ComponentModel.PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged(System.Object, System.ComponentModel.Propert...
PropertyChanged Event System.ComponentModel.PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged(System.Object, System.ComponentModel.Proper...
$psIse.CurrentOpenedRunspace.output.Text -Split "`n" |Select-String Event
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So you can see from this thread that using what you already know about PowerShell, you can investigate the system and figure things out for yourself. Once you figure something out - post it so that the rest of us can benefit from your exploration. Remember, you can extend your environment by putting things into your profile. Also remember that each host has its OWN profile so PowerShell_ISE has a different profile from PowerShell.exe. You get at it via $PROFILE.
Here is what I just put into my profile. Notice that I added it as a menu item as well.
Function Select-Output
{
param(
[Parameter(Position = 0, Mandatory = $true,
HelpMessage="Text to select from the Output Window")]
[String]$Pattern,
[Parameter(Position = 1)]
[Int32[]]$Context=0
)
$psIse.CurrentOpenedRunspace.output.Text -Split "`n" |Select-String -Context:$Context -Pattern:$Pattern
}
$null = $psISE.CurrentOpenedRunspace.ToolsMenu.Submenus.Add("Select From Output", {Select-Output}, $null)
Enjoy!
Jeffrey Snover [MSFT]
Windows Management Partner Architect
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx
