Scripting

The Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE) is a great way to group together commands and save for later use. This tool helps you write scripts in Powerful Ways!

The default security configuration for SPE requires the ISE to be in an Elevated Session State before executing scripts. The following figure shows the ISE when the User Account Controls (UAC) are disabled. While this is a common configuration for developers, we highly encourage you to ensure UAC is enabled in higher environments.

Let's have a quick walk through of each ribbon tab available.

Home Tab

PowerShell ISE

• Write:

  • New - Creates a new script or module.

  • Open - Opens an existing script for the library.

  • Save - Saves the current script to the library.

  • Save As - Saves a copy of the current script to the library.

  • Reload - Opens the original copy of the current script without saving any modifications.

• Script Execution:

  • Execute - Runs the current script as a background job or in the HttpContext.

  • Selection - Runs the selected text of the current script.

  • Debug - Runs the current script with the debugging mode enabled. A temporary file is generated on the file system to support the use of breakpoints.

  • Abort - Stops the execution of an executing script.

• Context:

  • Context - Specifies the current item in the script. Helpful if you write a script dependent on a specific path, or the current directory is denoted as a . (dot) or _$pwd (_present working directory). An MRU and tree view are provided for choosing a path.

  • Session - Specifies the session to use when executing the script. Reused sessions live in the HttpSession. Options include the session created for the ISE instance, One-Time session, or the Persistent Session ID configured on the script.

• UI Context:

  • Language - Specifies the context language to use when executing the script.

  • User - Specifies the context user to impersonate when executing the script. This can be used to emulate UserSwitcher code.

Settings Tab

ISE Settings Tab

• Preferences:

  • Settings - This is where you configure the Console and ISE font family, font size, and other useful things.

• Integration:

  • Rebuild All - This is where you rebuild the integration points for Control Panel, Gutters, and Ribbons. Without running this you will not see those integrations appear (or disappear).

Plugins Tab

The plugins feature is a great way to add custom behaviors while in the ISE. Any plugin added can make use of the Enable or Show rules to control how it appears in the ribbon.

ISE Plugins Tab

• Platform: Custom scripts added to the ISE Plugins integration point script library will appear here.

The Open dialog provides both a search and tree view of the scripts stored in the script libraries.

Open Script Dialog

Shortcuts

Below are the shortcuts available in the ISE.

Shortcut	Usage
TAB	Indent
Ctrl-Space	Autocomplete commands. Use the up or down direction keys to cycle through options.
Ctrl-Enter	Displays the command help window.
Ctrl-Z	Undo the previous change.
Ctrl-Alt-Shift +	Increase the font size
Ctrl-Alt-Shift -	Decrease the font size
Ctrl-E	Executes the script
Alt-E	Executes the selected text in the script
Ctrl-D	Debugs the script
Ctrl-Shift-E	Aborts the running script
Ctrl-F	Search for keywords in the script

For more commands built into the script editor see here