PowerShell ISE is a simple tool and in some cases it has the bare essentials. For instance, it does not have an option to save all files. Windows PowerShell 3.0 ISE (Integrated Scripting Engine) In a nutshell the v3.0 ISE is like a delux version of 2.0; for example the ISE v3 has Auto-complete and a new Modules window.
I still don’t leverage the PowerShell Integrated Script Editor (ISE) as much as I should. But after reading a few recent entries from The Scripting Guys on inserting help and headers into a script, I thought I’d dig in a little more. I’ve a few things to share but today I want to show you what I did to insert a datetime into a script.
Powershell Ise Server 2012
I’m assuming like many of you, Notepad is still a trusty tool. One of my favorite features is the F5 shortcut which will insert the current date and time. Very often when working on scripts in the ISE, I wanted to insert a current date and time and longed for that shortcut. Now I have it and it is really pretty simple. At the command prompt in the ISE all you need is this expression:
[cc lang=”Powershell”]
$psise.CurrentFile.Editor.InsertText($(get-date))
[/cc]
That’s it. The current date and time will be inserted in the current file at the cursor. Of course, I don’t want to always have to type that, so in my ISE profile script, Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1, which is in your Windows PowerShell folder with your other profiles, I added some code to add this command to the menu with a keyboard shortcut. If you don’t have the profile script, you’ll have to create it.
In my ISE profile script I added the following line.
[cc lang=”PowerShell”]
$psISE.CurrentPowerShellTab.AddOnsMenu.Submenus.Add(“Insert Datetime”,{$psise.CurrentFile.Editor.InsertText($(get-date))},”ALT+F5″) | out-Null
[/cc]
What I’ve done is invoke the Add() method from the Submenus object. This method takes 3 parameters:; The text that will display under the Add-Ons menu, a script block that will execute, and a keyboard shortcut. I pipe it to Out-Null purely for cosmetic reasons. Otherwise, I see the command in the output window whenever I run it.
Powershell Is Serial
Now, whenever I press ALT+F5, I get the date and time. F5 is already reserved for executing the script so I had to accept a slight substitution. By the way, I also load the functions from The Scripting Guys in my ISE profile and add menu items for them as well; one with a keyboard shortcut and one without.
[cc lang=”PowerShell”]
$psISE.CurrentPowerShellTab.AddOnsMenu.Submenus.Add(“Add Header”,{Add-HeaderToScript},$null) | out-Null
$psISE.CurrentPowerShellTab.AddOnsMenu.Submenus.Add(“Add Help”,{Add-Help},”ALT+H”) | Out-Null
[/cc]
Powershell Ise Server 2008 R2
I have a little more to share on this topic but that will be for another day.