The PSReadLine PowerShell module is a god-send in the world of the PowerShell console host. The console host (powershell.exe) has gotten a lot of flak, over the years, for lacking functionality that most non-Windows users are accustomed to having. Some of the enhancements that you get out-of-box with PSReadLine include: …
Introduction If you’ve been working with the Microsoft Azure public cloud platform lately, you might be familiar with the terms “Service Management” and “Resource Manager” (Azure RM). These terms refer to two different REST APIs that enable access to Microsoft Azure cloud services. Cloud Services is an ambiguous term, because …
Introduction PowerShell 5.0 includes a module called Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive, which enables you to compress and extract ZIP files from the command line, or inside your PowerShell scripts. If we use the core PowerShell Get-Command, we can dynamically discover the commands that are available inside this module. You should already be familiar …
If you’re authoring PowerShell scripts that are intended to be interactive, there are a couple of very easy ways to ask your users for input. Typically, user input falls into a couple categories: free-form text input, or a list of pre-defined values. We also might need to prompt the user …
If you’re working with data from PowerShell, you have most likely come across the CSV (Comma Separate Values) format. These files are very easy to work with in PowerShell, thanks to the CSV cmdlets. If this is your first time working with CSV files, it’s easy to discover the CSV-related …
If you’re wondering what PowerShell version you’re running, you can easily find this out using a built-in, “automatic variable” called $PSversionTable. For more information about automatic variables in PowerShell, run this command: Get-Help -Name about_Automatic_Variables. Depending on what version of PowerShell you’re running, different features may or may not be …
Are you still using the old Quest / Dell PowerGUI tool to author your PowerShell scripts and modules? If so, you may want to consider getting off the PowerGUI train, and hopping onto the Visual Studio 2015 or PowerShell Integrated Scripting Editor (ISE) train! By doing so, you will improve …
If you’re like me, you probably like to ensure that your software is up-to-date on your system at all times. I’m a heavy user of the Microsoft Azure PowerShell automation module, which is actively developed on a GitHub source code repository. I need to make sure that I am promptly …
If you’re a developer, or even just a frequent user of a text editor, you’re probably familiar with the “Jump to Line” feature of most text editing software. The Microsoft Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Editor (ISE) offers such a feature, which is commonly mapped to the CTRL + G keyboard …
When you’re creating a new Microsoft Azure VM (virtual machine), using the Azure PowerShell module, you might receive an error message similar to the following: New-AzureVM : BadRequest: The virtual network ID cannot be null or empty. If you receive this error message, it’s possible that your Cloud Service that …
