This is the second session of the PowerShell Workshop Series. It introduces cmdlets, variables, aliases, providers and PowerShell drives.

1. WELCOME TO THE POWERSHELL
DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
SESSION 2
Bryan Cafferky
Business Intelligence Consultant
BPC Global Solutions LLC
bryan256@msn.com
www.sql-fy.com
http://www.meetup.com/The-RI-Microsoft-BIUG/

2. WORKSHOP FORMAT
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• Series of presentations and exercises that build on each other.
• Start at the very basics and work up.
• Webinar for all sessions.
• GoTo Meeting Messages to ask questions.

3. GOALS OF THIS LESSON
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• Discuss cmdlets, pronounced command-lets.
• Introduce some useful cmdlets.
• Introduce PowerShell variables.
• Discuss Aliases.
• Discuss PowerShell Providers.
• Learn about PowerShell Drives.

4. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: CMDLET REVIEW
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Is a single-feature command that manipulates objects in
Windows PowerShell.
You can recognize cmdlets by their name format -- a verb
and noun separated by a dash (-), such as Get-Help, Get-
Process, and Start-Service
Are designed to be used in combination with other cmdlets
"get" cmdlets only retrieve data,
"set" cmdlets only establish or change data,
"format" cmdlets only format data,
"out" cmdlets only direct the output to a specified destination..
Each cmdlet has a help file that you can access by typing:
get-help <cmdlet-name> -detailed
Example: get-help write-host

5. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: CMDLET REVIEW:
PARAMETERS
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Write-Host -Object "Good day!" -ForegroundColor DarkGreen -BackgroundColor Yellow
Values passed to a cmdlet to control what it does.
Parameter Name
Parameter Values

6. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: CMDLET REVIEW:
PARAMETERS - EXAMPLE
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Passing Parameters by Position
Write-Host "Good day!“
Write-Host [-Object] [-NoNewline] [-Separator] [-ForegroundColor] [BackgroundColor]
[<CommonParameters>]
Passing Parameters by Name
Write-Host -Object "Good day!"
Parameter Name
No Parameter Name

7. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: CMDLET REVIEW:
COMMON PARAMETERS
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Parameters that are supported by all cmdlets.
-Debug (db)
-ErrorAction (ea)
-ErrorVariable (ev)
-OutVariable (ov)
-OutBuffer (ob)
-PipelineVariable (pv)
-Verbose (vb)
-WarningAction (wa)
-WarningVariable (wv)
* Aliases are in parentheses.

8. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: CMDLET REVIEW
USEFUL CMDLETS
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Get-Help Get Help on a cmdlet.
Read-Host Get user input.
Write-Host Write to the console.
Get-Member Display methods and properties of an object.
Set-Location Set the current location for a provider.
Get-ChildItem List the items within a collection.
Export-Csv Write out a CSV file.
Import-CSV Load a CSV file.
Invoke-Item Loads the file using the application associated with the file's extension.
Examples: scr_useful_cmdlets

9. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: VARIABLES
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• Types of Variables
• Creating and Using Variables

10. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: VARIABLES
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User Created – These variables are created in the shell and in scripts and only
persist for the session. We can create variables in scripts with global, script, or
local scope.
Automatic – These variables keep the state of the PowerShell session and can
not be modified directly. The values of this variables change as we execute and
use the PowerShell session.
Preference – These variables store user preferences for PowerShell. These
variables are created by PowerShell when a session is started and are populated
with default values. We can change the values of these variables.
Environment – These variables are the variables set by the system for Command
and PowerShell environments.

11. WORKSHOP LESSON 2:
USER CREATED VARIABLES
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User Created – These variables are created in the shell and in scripts and only
persist for the session. We can create variables in scripts with global, script, or
local scope.
Examples:
$name = “Bryan” # Declares and assigns a value to an untyped variable.
[int]$amount = 200 # Declares an integer type variable and assigns a value.

12. WORKSHOP LESSON 2:
USER CREATED VARIABLES
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[string] Fixed-length string of Unicode characters
[char] A Unicode 16-bit character
[byte] An 8-bit unsigned character
[int] 32-bit signed integer
[long] 64-bit signed integer
[bool] Boolean True/False value
[decimal] A 128-bit decimal value
[single] Single-precision 32-bit floating point number
[double] Double-precision 64-bit floating point number
[DateTime] Date and Time
[xml] Xml object
[array] An array of values
[hashtable] Hashtable object
[object] Default type when no type specified.
Taken from http://ss64.com/ps/syntax-datatypes.html
• Blue indicates most
frequently used types.
Examples: scr_variables and scr_declare_variables

13. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: CREATING VARIABLES
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• Create untyped and assign a value in one statement.
$var1 = “some value”
• Create typed variable and assign value.
[string]$var1 = “some value”
• Create variable with cmdlet. Gives you greater control over properties.
New-Variable -Name var1 -Value "some value" -Scope private
• Assign value with cmdlet.
Set-Variable –Name var1 –Value “some value”
• Remove a variable with cmdlet.
Remove-Variable –Name var1

14. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: ALIASES
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• An alternate name for a cmdlet, function, or program.
• Used to create shortcuts and easier to remember names for commands.
• PowerShell has a number of predefined aliases.
• Some emulate DOS or Linux commands.
• We can create and maintain our own aliases with the following cmdlets.
• New-Alias – creates a new alias.
• Set-Alias – changes or creates a new alias.
• Get-Alias – gets information about aliases.
• Export-Alias – Saves aliases to csv file.
• Import-Alias – Loads aliases from a csv file. Example: scr_alias.ps1

15. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: PROVIDERS
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• Allow us to interact with a resource as if it were a physical network drive.
• Built-in providers include:
• Alias
• Variables
• Registry
• FileSystem
• Function
• Certificate
• WSMan
• To see a list of installed providers use the Get-PSProvider cmdlet.
Example: scr_provider_demo.ps1

16. WORKSHOP LESSON 2: POWERSHELL DRIVES
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• Simulates a network drive mapping but can be to any PowerShell provider.
• Is not limited to drive letters. Can be any name you want.
• Do not persist beyond the PowerShell session unless you use the –Persist parameter.
• Related cmdlets:
• New-PSDrive
• Get-PSDrive
• Remove-PSDrive
Example: scr_psdrives.ps1

17. REVIEW
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• What cmdlets are.
• Parameters and some useful cmdlets
• Creating and using PowerShell variables.
• What Aliases are and how to use them.
• What PowerShell Providers are.
• What PowerShell Drives are and how to use them.

18. QUESTIONS?
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