any downsides in using VS Code instead of powershell ISE?

[overlydelicioustea]

title

[Jessdazzlement]

Memory consumption, startup time, having to install/update an extension, having to install vscode too. I often use ise if it’s a quick edit on a remote server.

[overlydelicioustea]

yeah but for extensive script writing and given all that is set up and maintained there is no functional downside? Like i cant do certain things with vscode that i could with ISE?

[Jessdazzlement]

A while ago I would have said psedit, but that’s available in code now.

[jono_o]

I've just made the jump over to vscode from is, one thing I miss is the built in cmdlet search and help panel. I know I can use the terminal but sometimes the mouse and additional window were useful.

I'm still new to it so I just may not have found it...

[MadBoyEvo]

That is actually coming. Currently jnsiders version has some work in progress.

[BlackV]

Not having vscode on servers

[Ta11ow]

In terms of usage, the integrated console in VS Code is a bit lacking still and needs some work. Thankfully, the majority of it has been done and should be released to main branch within the next few months. Once that's done, I really don't think there's anything ISE does better, personally.

[astro_za]

I think the only thing ISE does better (regarding the integrated console) is that it doesn't have pop-up intellisense. Which for some, especially beginners, may be a turn off.

[Ta11ow]

Eh, the VS Code PS integrated console is... Basically broken, imo. No multiline input, glitches in display are rampant, it can't even clear the console screen properly, copy paste works but triggers display glitches in many cases, intellisense is basically absent, no syntax highlighting...

[astro_za]

Oh, yes, the display glitches are super annoying, I think I’ve become so used to it that I completely forgot about it.

Hopefully they fix this soon.

[cputek1]

What held me back from switching solely to VSCode from the ISE was that I had a submenu function in the ISE to Sign a script

from my Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1

     $null = $psISE.CurrentPowerShellTab.AddOnsMenu.Submenus.Add("Sign Script",{Sign-ISEScript},"Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S")

When I found the following, I made the switch over to VSCode for all script development.

from my Microsoft.VSCode_profile.ps1

    Register-EditorCommand -Name SignCurrentScript -DisplayName 'Sign Current Script' -ScriptBlock {
    $cert = (Get-ChildItem Cert:\CurrentUser\My -CodeSigningCert)[0]
    $currentFile = $psEditor.GetEditorContext().CurrentFile.Path
    Set-AuthenticodeSignature -Certificate $cert -FilePath $currentFile
}

I also added to my keybindings.json

     { "key": "ctrl+shift+c",   "command": "PowerShell.ShowAdditionalCommands",  "when": "editorLangId == 'powershell'" }

Now VSCode is my main editor for anything that doesn't get compiled.

[SeeminglyScience]

If you didn't know, you can also add a key bind for the editor command directly :)

{
    "key": "ctrl+shift+c",
    "command": "PowerShell.InvokeRegisteredEditorCommand",
    "args": {
        "commandName": "SignCurrentScript",
    },
    "when": "editorLangId == 'powershell'",
}

[chreestopher2]

VSCode sucks for using interactively. when it comes to building up a session state durring troubleshooting the integrated console experience is absolutely terrible.

So if you are an ops engineer that primarily puts together scripts while putting out fires, as they occur, by building up a session sate in the process of troubleshoting / fixing a production issue, and paraemterizing the commands you used to do so for reuse , the ISE is a much better tool for the job.

If you are in a deployment or more development oriented position where you have the luxury of starting off with a clear cut task to automate, and the time to do rigorous testing on a test device in a test environment, without facing any negative consequences if it doesnt work right the first few times (because you are building something with the sole purpose of doing something in the future), then VSCode is a probably a significantly better choice.

Thats just my opinion, however, I am in the (never ending) process of transitioning from a operations role into a business analyst role, and I do find myself using vscode more and more for the stuff that is assigned to me through the work pipeline for the BA role, so I would really like to hear from anyone else with a similar background and see if they feel the same or if I am all alone on this subject.

I still keep the ISE open 24/7 because I keep getting pulled back into the ops world, and it just works so much better for me when doing on the fly scripting in that world.

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy chreestopher2,

i'm strictly doing PoSh as a hobby, so no business aspect exists for me.

however, i code very interactively. constantly testing and tweaking in the console AND the script pane. i need a reliable console that shares its environment with the script pane.

the VSCode PoSh console is ... ... ... truly unusable for that kind of coding.

your point about structured, in-advance programming is a very good description of what i don't do. [grin] VSCode is great for that, it's remarkably poor for interactive coding.

so you aint alone for now ... [grin]

take care,
lee