Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP2
Graphical Windows PowerShell
The information in this article was written against the second Community Technology Preview (CTP2) of Windows PowerShell 2.0. This information is subject to change in future releases of Windows PowerShell 2.0.
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Graphical Windows PowerShell Gets a Little Fancier
In the first CTP release of Windows PowerShell the new PowerShell script editor and IDE – Graphical Windows PowerShell – was more a curiosity than anything else: although the program did offer rudimentary editing capabilities it was missing a few things – most notably IntelliSense and tab completion – that people have come to expect in a script editor. The updated version of Graphical PowerShell that installs with the second Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP release is still a ways from being a finished product. However, Graphical Windows PowerShell has been beefed up with some new capabilities: most notably IntelliSense and tab completion.
All of which makes Graphical PowerShell a much more interesting product, considering that: 1) it comes with PowerShell itself; and, 2) it’s free.
The best way to learn about the new features in Graphical PowerShell is to simply start up the product and start playing around with it. For example, open Graphical Windows PowerShell and type in some standard PowerShell code; when you do that you’ll immediately see how the product color-codes and autoformats your script as you type:
That’s pretty nice, but it gets even better. For example, type the following bit of code in the editor and then start pressing the TAB key:
Get-C
See? Graphical PowerShell now has tab completion for cmdlet names: each time you press the TAB key PowerShell suggests a name based on the characters (Get-C) you’ve already typed in. To take one of PowerShell’s suggestions just stop pressing the TAB key. Go ahead and accept the cmdlet name Get-ChildItem, and then type a blank space and a hyphen:
Get-ChildItem -
Now press the TAB key again. Well, what do you know: Graphical PowerShell now has tab completion for cmdlet parameters as well. Each time you press TAB a new parameter – Path, LiteralPath, Filter, etc. – will appear after the hyphen. Alternatively you can take this approach: type just enough letters to differentiate the parameter from its fellow parameters and then press the TAB key. When you do that; Graphical PowerShell will automatically fill in the entire parameter name for you. In other words, type the following, press TAB, and see what happens:
Get-ChildItem -p
Like magic, PowerShell will complete the parameter name for you:
Get-ChildItem -Path
But wait, we’re not done yet. Enter the following command then start pressing TAB:
Get-ChildItem –Path C:\S
Ah, you spoiled our surprise. But you’re right: Graphical PowerShell now has tab completion for file and folder paths as well. Oh, and registry paths, too; type in this and press the TAB key:
Get-ChildItem HKCU:\
Not to mention tab completion for environment variables, aliases, certificates, and anything else that can be navigated using commands like Get-ChildItem.
And here’s a nice little bonus as well. If you’re in Graphical PowerShell go to the Help menu and choose Contents. Here’s what you’re going to see:
That’s right, it’s Windows PowerShell help, but in a nice, easy-to-use, easy-to-read .CHM file. That alone makes it worth upgrading to the new CTP release.
Note. Incidentally, you don’t have to use Graphical PowerShell to have access to the .CHM file. Instead, open your $pshome folder (for the Scripting Guys, that’s C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-US) and look for the file WindowsPowerShellHelp.chm. That’s the graphical help file. |
