Advanced PowerShell Development

Advanced PowerShell Development (PWS202)

Course Length: 5 days
Delivery Methods: Available as private class only
Course Overview

This Advanced PowerShell Development course is designed to enhance the skills of professionals aiming to master PowerShell tool creation and management. Perfect for teams or solo learners from companies, this course dives into the modern capabilities and evolution of PowerShell, ensuring participants can build robust, reusable, and maintainable PowerShell tools.

We begin the journey with Introduction to PowerShell Tool Design, where you’ll learn the core principles and best practices for developing effective PowerShell tools. You'll participate in building a basic tool to solidify your understanding before moving forward. The course then transitions to Starting with Commands and Interactive Shell, emphasizing the importance of engaging with the interactive shell to explore and test commands effortlessly. Here, you’ll gain insights into using Visual Studio Code alongside the PowerShell extension for a seamless development experience.

Next, we focus on Building PowerShell Functions and Modules, teaching you to create reusable functions and transform scripts into modules. You'll learn about input validation and dependency management, ensuring your scripts are reliable and scalable. In Parameterizing Functions with CmdletBinding, we introduce techniques for using CmdletBinding, managing parameters, and accepting pipeline input, providing the flexibility needed for dynamic tooling.

The course progresses with Generating Object-Based Output, covering PowerShell’s object pipeline and designing functions that return structured objects, ensuring your output is both formatted and usable. In Managing Output Streams and Messaging, you will learn to handle various PowerShell output streams effectively, utilizing verbose, warning, and informational messages for enhanced logging and debugging.

Further, you’ll explore Handling Errors and Exceptions, mastering robust error handling through structured approaches like Try-Catch-Finally blocks, essential for creating resilient tools. Debugging PowerShell Scripts follows, offering hands-on practice with VS Code’s debugging tools to refine your scripts and solve complex issues.

The course also covers Implementing Help and Documentation, emphasizing writing comprehensive inline documentation and generating external help with PlatyPS, crucial for creating user-friendly tools. Publishing to the PowerShell Gallery teaches you to utilize ScriptAnalyzer, create manifests, and publish your modules, expanding your tools' reach and accessibility.

Finally, we delve into Refining your PowerShell Tools and Working with Data, where you’ll enhance your tools using extended type systems, menu systems, and proxy functions. You'll also engage in interacting with various data formats, including JSON, XML, and SQL Server, providing robust data handling capabilities.

By course completion, you and your team will be equipped to develop sophisticated PowerShell tools designed for efficiency and scalability, positioning your organization to leverage the full potential of PowerShell in advanced development environments.

Course Benefits
  • Enhance proficiency in PowerShell tool development.
  • Learn best practices for writing maintainable code.
  • Gain skills in creating reusable functions and modules.
  • Master parameterizing functions with CmdletBinding.
  • Understand generating object-based output for better utility.
  • Develop error handling strategies for robust scripting.
  • Improve debugging techniques using advanced tools.
  • Learn to document scripts for better user accessibility.
  • Acquire knowledge in publishing to the PowerShell Gallery.
  • Refine tools for enhanced functionality and performance.
  • Expand skills in working with diverse data formats.
  • Explore advanced scripting concepts and applications.
  • Increase efficiency in managing output streams and messaging.
Course Outline
  1. Introduction to PowerShell Development
    1. Understanding PowerShell’s Evolution and Modern Capabilities
    2. Core Principles of PowerShell Development
    3. Best Practices for Writing Reusable and Maintainable Code
  2. Tools for Advanced PowerShell Development
    1. Why Begin in the Interactive Shell?
    2. Exploring and Discovering Commands
    3. VS Code and the PowerShell Extension
    4. Exploring and Understanding Commands
    5. Exploring and Understanding Commands Review
  3. Building PowerShell Functions and Modules
    1. Creating Reusable Functions
    2. Turning a Script into a Module
    3. Validating Inputs and Managing Dependencies
    4. PowerShell Function & Module Practice
    5. PowerShell Function & Module Practice Review
  4. Parameterizing Functions with CmdletBinding
    1. Using CmdletBinding and Common Parameters
    2. Mandatory Parameters and Default Values
    3. Using CmdletBinding and Common Parameters Practice
    4. Working with the Pipeline
    5. Parameter Validation & Aliases
    6. Cmdlet Parameter Sets
    7. Using Pipeline Input, Validation & Parameter Sets Practice
    8. Parameterizing Functions with CmdletBinding Review
  5. Generating Object-Based Output
    1. Understanding PowerShell’s Object Pipeline
    2. Designing Functions that Return Structured Objects
    3. Testing Output for Proper Formatting and Usability
    4. PowerShell Object-Based Output Practice
    5. PowerShell Object Pipeline Practice Review
  6. Managing Output Streams and Messaging
    1. Understanding the Six PowerShell Output Streams
    2. Using Verbose, Warning, and Informational Messages
    3. Structuring Output for Logging and Debugging
    4. Explore PowerShell Output Streams
    5. Explore PowerShell Output Streams Review
  7. Handling Errors and Exceptions
    1. Understanding Try-Catch-Finally in PowerShell
    2. Writing Robust Error Handling
    3. Logging and Debugging Error Outputs
    4. Error Handling Practice
    5. Error Handling Scenarios Review
  8. Debugging PowerShell Scripts
    1. Using Debugging Tools in VS Code
    2. Leveraging Breakpoints for Troubleshooting
    3. Testing Edge Cases and Unexpected Inputs
    4. Debugging PowerShell Scripts Practice
    5. Debug PowerShell Script for System Audit Review
  9. Implementing Help and Documentation
    1. Writing Comprehensive Inline Documentation
    2. Understanding the Need for External Help
    3. Generating External Help Using PlatyPS
    4. Ensuring Updatable and Online Help Access
    5. Implementing Help Practice
    6. Creation of Inline Documentation Review
  10. Publishing to the PowerShell Gallery
    1. Using ScriptAnalyzer
    2. Creating Manifests
    3. Publishing to the Gallery
    4. Practice Publishing a Module to the PowerShell Gallery
    5. Practice Publishing a Module to the PowerShell Gallery Review
  11. Refining your PowerShell Tools
    1. Extended Type System
    2. Creating a Menu System
    3. Proxy Functions
    4. Building a Simple PowerShell Menu System
    5. Building a Simple PowerShell Menu System Review
  12. Working with Data
    1. Interacting with SQL Server
    2. Importing and Exporting JSON Data
    3. Working with XML and CliXML in PowerShell
    4. Converting Between Different Data Formats
    5. Data Conversion Practice
    6. Data Conversion Challenge Review
Class Materials

Each student will receive a comprehensive set of materials, including course notes and all the class examples.

Class Prerequisites

Experience in the following is required for this PowerShell class:

  • Basic knowledge of scripting and programming concepts
  • Familiarity with command-line interfaces
  • Experience working with PowerShell
  • Understanding of core PowerShell commands and syntax
  • Ability to use Visual Studio Code or similar text editors
  • Knowledge of Windows OS and its features
Live Private Class
  • Private Class for your Team
  • Live training
  • Online or On-location
  • Customizable
  • Expert Instructors
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