PowerShell Plus is the most advanced Interactive Development Environment for PowerShell available today. Designed to help administrators and developers quickly learn and master Windows PowerShell, it also dramatically increases the productivity of expert users.
PowerShell Plus features a powerful interactive console, an advanced script editor and debugger and a comprehensive interactive learning center all integrated into a single product.
2. Content
Overview
Getting Started
Features
Troubleshooting
3. Overview
What is PowerShell Plus?
A Free tool to learn and master Windows PowerShell fast
• Learn PowerShell fast with the interactive learning center
• Execute PowerShell quickly and accurately with a Windows
UI console
• Access, organize and share pre-loaded scripts from the
QuickClick™ library
• Code & Debug PowerShell 10X faster with the advanced
script editor
Where do I get it?
• http://www.idera.com/Free-Tools/PowerShell-Plus/
4. Getting Started
Requirements
Microsoft PowerShell 2.0
• Windows 7 RTM – x86/x64
• Windows Vista RTM and higher - x86/x64
• Windows XP SP3 and higher - x86/x64
• Windows Server 2003 SP2 - x86/x64
• Windows Server 2008 RTM and higher - x86/x64
Microsoft PowerShell 3.0
• Windows 7 (with WMF v3 installed)
• Windows 2008 R2 (with WMF v3 installed)
• Windows 8
5. Getting Started
Install
Open downloaded ZIP and run EXE
Initial dialog allows you to review Release Notes, navigate to
Support or Install the product
32-bit and 64-bit version can BOTH be installed side-by-side on
a 64-bit computer
Licensing
Freeware model
Supported upgrade paths
Version 4.2, 4.5, 4.6
6. Getting Started
Support for PowerShell v3
Command line switch added to PSEditor.exe (desktop
shortcut)
• PSEditor.exe –version 2 (or 3)
Windows 8 will automatically start up as PS v3
• Verify by running $PSVersionTable to find out which version
of PowerShell is running in the Console
New reserved words added to support Workflow features
• Caveat: Workflows can not be debugged since they run as
jobs
7. Getting Started
Review Execution Policy
Microsoft has an Execution Policy setting for PowerShell to
prevent scripts from running by default
We detect the effective execution policy and allow the
customer to change it using our Welcome Wizard dialog by
setting the CurrentUser policy
8. Getting Started
What is New in 4.7?
Custom Layout
New tool windows – Breakpoints, Bookmarks, Call Stack
New tool dialogs – GUID creator, Clone
Parameters, Regex Expression Evaluator
Find in Current Document and Find in All Open
Documents (Find dialog)
Open Containing Folder
Reload from Disk
Support Block Comments in Editor when using Comments
option
Code signing supports .PSM1
9. Features
Manage Startup Options
User settings are kept in the user‟s in
AppDataLocalPowerShellPlus folder
• When troubleshooting an issue that seems to be User
Settings related (i.e. Cached Data)… launch it by pressing
right SHIFT key at the Splash screen of PowerShell Plus.
10. Features
Manage Startup Options
Checking this option
will solve most
problems related to
Snapin upgrades
and mismatched
code completion
information and
Learning Center
documentation
Manually set
ApartmentState (STA or
MTA). Auto detect
default on PS v2 or v3 if
unchecked.
11. Features
Upgrade Notification
Automatically checked when PowerShell Plus starts
• Can check after started by using Options->Resources
14. Features
Unified IDE benefits
Raise visibility of core features
Editor and PowerShell Console are integrated
Tool windows available to both Console and Editor
• QuickClick Library for organizing scripts and executing
• Code Snippets for managing reusable code
• Computer Group configurations for interactive remote sessions and
remote execution of scripts
• Variables for viewing current state of system and user variables
• Command History for viewing most recent commands
• Find Results for navigating multiple search results
• Breakpoints for managing all breakpoints in open scripts
• Bookmarks for managing all bookmarks in open scripts
• Call Stack for managing calling order during debug session
16. Features
Start Page
Tasks – start a script or module
Recent Files – quickly open
recent scripts
News – configure RSS feeds to
follow what‟s going in the
PowerShell community
• Add or select a configured feed
• Click on Feed tab added and
click an abstract to open the
article (limited to one at a time)
Get Started – Starter topics to
help get you up and running
17. Features
IDE is customizable
Basic, Advanced and Custom layouts for selecting tool windows
All tool windows including Console can be rearranged, joined,
pinned, unpinned to achieve the user optimal experience
18. Features
Options
Available from Home tab or Main Menu -> PowerShellPlus
Options button
Provides access to common settings for:
• Startup
• Auto-Completion
• Console
• Editor
• User Settings
• QuickClick Library
• Email
• Collaboration
• Source Control
• Resources
19. Features
Manage Snapins
Supports 64-bit Snapins when using the 64-bit version of
PowerShell Plus and 32-bit Snapins when using 32-bit
version of PowerShell Plus
Accessible via the Home tab, Manage group
Check the ones that you would like to load and use
Show which ones are pre-loaded by Profiles
Display version information
Choose if you want to persist the one you have selected to
load the next time you start PowerShell Plus
• Snap-in loaded by a Profile always take override this setting
so we don’t try to load them twice
20. Features
Manage Modules
Accessible via the Settings Menu
Automates the discovery and importing process for you
• Show which ones are pre-loaded by Profiles
• Display version information
• Check the ones that you would like to load and use not
loaded by Profiles
• Choose if you want to persist the ones you have selected to
load the next time you start PowerShell Plus
21. Features
Code Completion
Get help on the Cmdlet and examples from the web
Users can type in the “Verb” followed by a dash which will
display all “Nouns” available to them, works for
parameters, COM / .Net objects and WMI classes
Also works for “$” variables, “.” for methods and properties,
and “” for file paths
Displays Aliases for parameters
Supports „ValidationSet‟ in Functions
Works in both the Console and the Code Editor
23. Features
Personal QuickClickTM Library
Sample scripts for AD, SQL
Server, Exchange, SharePoint, etc.
Outlook-style view to help you store and manage scripts
sets
24. Features
Source Control
Configure in Options
Tool Window for working with files
• General functions: Connect, Disconnect,
Refresh, Run SCC client, Change
preferences, Get latest file revisions for
connection, Browse local workspace,
Change configuration
• File functions: Checkin/out, Undo
checkout, Get latest file revision, View
history, Properties, Open in editor
25. Features
Source Control Caveats
We provide core interface support for Microsoft SCC plugins for
common operations: Get, Checkin, Checkout, Undo, View History
• It’s the customers responsibility to install these plugins and review the 3rd
party documentation on their usage
Configuration settings differ from plugin to plugin, we supply examples
for Perforce, TortoiseSVN, Visual SourceSafe, Team Foundation Server
in Learning Center
• Some experimentation required to get them working
Dialogs initiated by the plugin are out of process (i.e. Preferences,
Connection, History, Property dialogs and any message boxes that may
occur when using them)
You can only use 32-bit plugin in PSP 32-bit and 64-bit plugins in PSP
64-bit. When you run side-by-side it will make you switch the previously
selected plugin for other platform. There are not a lot of 64-bit plugins
available,
26. Features
Remoting Configurations
Reusable configurations define computers, remote settings
and user credentials used to Execute scripts remotely and
start/stop Interactive Sessions
30. Features
Output results to Out-GridView
Applies to local or remote execution
Does not apply to Interactive Session
31. Features
Mini-Mode
Customers that are expert PowerShell users can switch
the console to Mini Mode and turn off all the UI „extras‟
• An Icon is placed in the notification tray and is used to get
back to full view (also can click X in upper right)
Startup option setting can make this the initial start state
32. Features
Publish to Module
Search and select one or more scripts to convert to a
PowerShell module
33. Features
Additional User Tools
Clone Parameters
• Used to build Proxy functions by retrieving parameters of an
existing Cmdlet or Function
Regex Expression Evaluator
• Test regular expression against any text
• Regular expressions are very handy in PowerShell
• http://www.regular-expressions.info/powershell.html
GUID Creator
• Generate GUID for use in scripts and Module manifests
35. Features
Learning Center
Getting Started view walks the customer through the core
features
• Displayed when the application is launched but can be turned
off or re-launched from the Help menu
Supports multiple keyword searching
Reference help based on what is installed on computer
• Microsoft and 3rd party snapins, cmdlets, modules
• WMI installed classes
Includes over 100 PowerShell Tips and links to more tips
on PowerShell.com and Mastering PowerShell eBook by
Tobias Weltner
37. Features
Code Editor
Create and debug PowerShell scripts including PS1
(Script), PSM1 (Modules), and PSD1 (Module Manifest)
Edit additional file types including:
HTML, XML, C#, VB.Net, Plain text, Batch files, VBScript and
SQL
38. Features
Editing features
Clicking on New in Main Menu or Quick Access Toolbar
Click on “new” tab in Code Editor pane
Double-click a .ps1 file on the desktop or in a folder or right-
click, select Open With -> PowerShell Plus Editor
Right-click in QuickClick Library, select Edit or Paste Into Editor
Type $psplus.CreateNewPSScript in Console
Read-only designator in tab showing it‟s read-only, if under
Source Control it will automatically be checked out when edited
Single-click Format Document to help with reformatting – rules
are documented in Code Editor -> Format Document topic
Open in Containing folder (Windows Explorer)
Reload from Disk to revert to on-disk copy
39. Features
Find in All Files
Find search text in specified starting directory, list matches
in results pane and click to open
40. Features
Find/Replace options
Find in Current and Opened option sends results to Find
Results tool window (see previous slide)
41. Features
Open all previously opened files
Options->Startup option
Collapse/expand regions
Collapse/expand just regions rather than all marked code
fold groups (Editor context menu, under Outlining)
Encoding Support
Support encoding types including Western European
(Windows), Unicode, Unicode (Big-Endian), Unicode
(UTF-8)
Tooltip on Editor tab displays current encoding
Options->Editor View for setting default Encoding
44. Features
Download Community Scripts
Community Script Libraries can be searched and
downloaded from PowerShell.com, TechNet Script Center
and PoshCode.org
Proxy and credentials can be supplied or you can use IE
configured proxy if set by your Enterprise Group Policy
Multiple key words can be used for search
One or more scripts can be selected from the search
results and downloaded into Editor or QuickClick Library
Downloaded scripts marked as Blocked until reviewed and
can then be Unblocked to execute
46. Features
Submit Script to PowerShell.com
Easy to use Wizard
Launch from QuickClick Library or Code Editor
47. Features
Server Explorer
Management tree
Object properties
Task scripts can be bound or
unbound to object properties
MyComputer and Sharepoint are
examples that use PowerShell
scripts to configure the tree
SQL Server explorer is a
specialized version that uses
Microsoft SQL Server PowerShell
Provider to dynamically populate
the tree
Example tasks included for
demonstration
48. Features
Scripting Object Model
What is it for?
• Customizing the Option Settings
• Automating operations within the IDE
• Create scripts that perform tasks that you do with the
PowerShellPlus user interface. For example, you can
add, remove, select or rename a PowerShellPlus Code
Editor tab
• Manipulate text of a script
• Perform Code Editor operations
• Create or manipulate Solution Sets in your personal
QuickClick Library
• Create or manipulate Remoting Configurations
49. Features
Scripting Object Model Examples
Changing an option
• $psplus.Options.Startup.StartInMiniMode = $false
• NOTE: Since PowerShell Profiles are managed by PowerShellPlus and
they are essentially script, you could put this into the PowerShellPlus
private profile to change startup behavior
Add a new Solution Set (Library) and add to it
programmatically
• $psplus.SolutionSets.Add("Test solution",
"C:SolutionSetsMySolutionSet.xml")
• $psplus.SolutionSets.CurrentSolutionSet.AddEntry("FromFile
", "C:scriptsrichard.ps1“)
Complete examples are in the Learning Center (see
SolutionSets, Remoting Configurations and Editor)
50. Documentation
Release Notes
Link in Installer, installed in application Documentation
directory
Product page on Idera.com
Contains common FAQs
Additional documents
Administrator's Guide to Windows PowerShell Remoting
Managing SharePoint 2010 with PowerShell Plus
Professional Edition
• Located in application Documentation directory available on
Start Menu -> Idera -> PowerShellPlus
51. Troubleshooting
User Settings
XP, 2003: C:Documents and Settings{user}Local
SettingsApplication DataPowerShellPlus
Vista, 2008: C:users{user}Local SettingsPowerShellPlus
Trace Log
In Logs directory of the User Settings location above
Added additional logging details including a stack trace – if
we have a real field problem Idera can distribute a .PDB to
get exact line numbers