Example Files README

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This folder contains a few basic PowerShell script files that you can use to experiment with the new PowerShell editing debugging capabilities as well as an early preview of a workflow for publishing a module to the PowerShell Gallery.

Here are some ideas for what you can try with these scripts:

Language Features

Integrated syntax checks from the PowerShell engine and integrated rule-based analysis using PowerShell Script Analyzer
- Try opening DebugTest.ps1 by double-clicking on its file name in the Explorer view. You will see a green squiggle on the function name Do-Work indicating that Do is not an approved verb. These rule-based checks use PSScriptAnalyzer to analyze/lint your scripts. You can introduce a syntax error somewhere to see a red squiggle for that as well. To see a list of all errors and warnings, try pressing Ctrl+Shift+M.
Go to definition (F12) and Peek definition (Alt+F12) for cmdlet and variable names
- Try this on the Stop-Process2 cmdlet in StopTest.ps1
Find all references (Shift+F12) for cmdlet and variable names
- Also try this on the Stop-Process2 cmdlet in StopTest.ps1
Change all occurrences (Ctrl+F2) for renaming symbols
- Try this on the $process variable in Stop-Process2.ps1

Local Script Debugging

You can run scripts under the debugger by going to the debug workspace (Ctrl+Shift+D) and clicking the Start button or just by pressing F5. By default the debugger will start the DebugTest.ps1 script. You can set breakpoints, pause execution, look at the call stack, inspect variables, and set specific variables to be watched.

Try these steps:

Open the Debug workspace by pressing Ctrl+Shift+D
Press F5 to start debugging. Once the status bar turns orange, the script is running.
Press the blue Pause button at the top of the screen. The debugger will stop executing wherever it is at the moment and will bring you to the file and line where it stopped.
Check out the Variables pane at the top left of the window. Scroll through the list and inspect some of the variables there.
Find the variable i in the Variables list, right click it and select Add to Watch. The variable should appear in the Watch pane now.
Hover over the title of the Watch pane and some buttons should appear. Click the plus sign + button and type $str then press enter.
Back in the editor, click to the left of line 10 to set a breakpoint there.
Click the green Play button or press F5 to continue execution.
Observe that every time the breakpoint is hit, the watch variables get updated.
When you're done debugging, click the red Stop button or press Shift+F5

The debugger will attempt to execute the file in the active editor pane. If you would like to configure a single script to always be executed upon launch of the debugger, you will need to edit the .vscode\launch.json file and change the program parameter to point to the script file to be debugged. The path must be absolute but you can use the ${workspaceRoot} variable to refer to the open folder in VSCode e.g. "program": "${workspaceRoot}\\DebugTest.ps1"

Passing Arguments to the Script

If you would like to pass arguments to your script, open the .vscode\launch.json file in your workspace and modify the args parameter e.g.:

"args": [ "-Param1 foo -Recurse" ]

You can pass all your script arguments in a single string or break them up into individual strings e.g.:

"args": [ "-Param1", "foo" "-Recurse" ],

At runtime these arguments will be concatenated togehter using a space delimiter so it will result in the same string as the first args example.

Setting the Working Directory

When the debugger starts it will set the working directory of the PowerShell environment depending on the value of the cwd parameter in the .vscode\launch.json file in your workspace. If this parameter is missing or is set to an empty string, the working directory will be set to the workspace directory. By default it is set to ${file} which will set the working directory to the parent directory of the file in the active editor pane when the debugger is launched. You can also set the parameter explicitly e.g.:

"cwd": "C:\\Users\\JSnover\\Documents\\MonadUberAlles"

Module Publishing Preview

Requirements:

PSake - install PSake with the command:

PS C:\> Install-Module PSake -Scope CurrentUser

The are two files (Build.ps1 and tasks.json) that facilitate building a directory from which to publish a module from and then publishing from that directory. The act of creating or building this "Release" directory can be executed with the key combination Ctrl+Shift+B which is the Build keyboard shortcut in Visual Studio Code.

When you execute the Build command, the build task from the .vscode\tasks.json file is executed. This task invokes PSake on the file Build.ps1. This file contains items you might want to customize such as $PublishRepository or the $ReleaseNotesPath. It also contains two PSake tasks which you might want to customize: PrePublish and PostPublish. If you sign your scripts, you can use the PrePublish task and the script in it will get executed after the build but before the Publish task is executed.

To execute the Publish task, press Ctrl+P then type "task publish" and press Enter.

NOTE: the Publish task does not actually publish to allow for experimentation. If you wish to publish, remove the -WhatIf parameter on the Publish-Module command in Build.ps1. But make sure you've modified the module manifest (psd1) file or supplied your own in order to give your module a unique name and guid.

NOTE: the very first time you execute the publish task, you will be prompted for a NuGet API Key. This would normally be the NuGet API Key you are assigned when you register for an account on the PowerShell Gallery. However since this is just an example of how this feature could work in the future, you can supply any string you want.

For more details on how this works, inspect the .vscode\tasks.json file and the Build.ps1 file.

Feedback

We would love to hear your feedback! Please post feature requests or issue reports on our GitHub issues page.

If you are experiencing any errors or crashes, please include the following two log files:

The language service log file: $Home\.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.PowerShell-<version>\bin\EditorServices.log
The debugging service log file: $Home\.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.PowerShell-<version>\bin\DebugService.log
- NOTE: This file may not exist if you haven't use the debugger yet. Replace <version> in the paths above with the version number of the extension.

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