Programming with PowerShell

Introduction
I'm in a project to program PowerShell to control ActiveDirectory and ExchangeServer2007.
It was my first time to use PowerShell, and I had a lot of trouble to find help about
writing PowerShell scripts. So, for my next time, and for people who's looking for more
information, I would write down what I learned during this project.

About PowerShell
PowerShell is a name of Microsofts' new Shell Environment and its' Script language.
It has the same purpose with DOS, but it is made much more powerful and easy to script.
You can use it as a shell or use it as a language to create scripts to manage Windows,
ActiveDirectory(using ADSI), ExchangeServers(using Exchange Snapin). It is based on
.NET Framework technology, so you can call the whole class library to create more
advanced programs.

There is more detail about PowerShell here.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms714674(VS.85).aspx


Getting Started

You can get one for Windows XP here.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=30125A46-B97C-4704-AA10-605E809D5933

After downloading and installing, you will be able to use PowerShell like your Command Prompt. The basic commands are same with DOS. You can move around with "cd" command, and see inside your current directory using "dir" or "ls".
There are many other dos commands you can use. These commands are not the real commands in PowerShell. They are defined as aliases to a real PowerShell command, to let you use some commands more easily. Execute "get-alias" to see all the aliases and PowerShell commands related to them. The "real" PowerShell commands are called "Cmdlets", and their name are defined like "'Verb'-'Noun'". "get-alias" that I used above, is one of those Cmdlets too.

You can check the Cmdlet list, by executing "get-command".

You can page the list by piping the command to an alias "more".
> get-command | more

For more command information, use the "get-help" Cmdlet.
> get-help | more
> get-help | more

You can use options for more and full information.
> get-help -detailed | more
> get-help -full | more


I think this would be enough to find and use Cmdlets to control PowerShell.

Creating a PowerShell Script
It is not so difficult to read PowerShell commands from a script file and execute it.

First, create a file with ".ps1" extension. like, "helloworld.ps1".
c:\ps\helloworld.ps1

write-host "helloworld!"

Next, call your script in powershell.
> cd c:\ps
> .\helloworld.ps1

The script will be executed, and you'll see a message output.
> helloworld!

Started using Vim-BloggerBeta Plugin to Post Entries

The Geek Wannabe: Vim-BloggerBeta Plugin Release
http://djcraven5.blogspot.com/2006/12/vim-bloggerbeta-plugin-release.html

I found and started using a plugin to post entries to Blogger.
It is great that I can use my favorite editor to post blogs.

Test post from vim plugin

This is a test post from vim plugin.

Next step

I was satisfied to just create some web applications so far, and didn't pay attention to call people to my application. Now I stop creating new applications, and will update my existing application to call many people.

Snippet Sharing Service

I am now working in a personal snippet service project.

HachinosSnippets (Japanese version only for now)

I wanted a useful tool to save some code snippets that I wrote, and thought it would be nice if I can find many snippets that other people wrote in one place.
An idea to share snippets is not so new, and there are some snippet sharing services already movind in the world, but I wanted to create something to learn more about django.

I finished coding the first version, so next I will add some new functions like RSS feeds.

Twitting

What I believe is that, I should not stop and keep going to achieve something.

So, for learning English, maybe I should keep twitting on this blog like people do in Twitter.

Yes, I must keep writing (at least when I'm at home).

Charlotte's Web

To increase my vocabulary, I decided to read books written in English.
The first book is "Charlotte's Web".
I have read it before, when I was in elementary school, and remembered about it when I saw a TV commercial of the movie.

I read about half of the story, and I realized that my English level is still at elementary level. The English level of this book exactly matched my English level. It was a good choise to start with this book.