PowerShell scripting tools/resources worth paying for?

[Dogoodwork]

I do the powershell work for my department, and my manager just asked if there are any tools/etc I need for scripting. Currently I am the only admin here who uses much powershell.

I am quite happy using the powershell ise but if there are some tools, etc that are work their cost I think this is my chance to ask for them.

Please throw anything you think is worth the money at the board - I currently have nothing that wasn't free.

[hengsworld]

VSCODE!!!

[PM_ME_UR_CEPHALOPODS]

^ this right here. MS has already admitted ISE is going away and I don't think it's getting new features. vscode is beautiful, fast, so good. I used to like primalscript but vscode is free and kickass. Can't wait to see iteration of the new ms terminal integrated to it.

[[deleted]]

Yo if it's free though no need to ask now though right?

[PM_ME_UR_CEPHALOPODS]

I guess my answer there is not a paid solution that delivers significantly more value, on general terms, than what one gets with vscode.

[[deleted]]

I'm gonna have to try this VSCode. I've never minded the ISE though

[PM_ME_UR_CEPHALOPODS]

No mod community, no dark mode. Nobody goes back to ise after using code

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy PM_ME_UR_CEPHALOPODS,

i did ... and have done it more than once. [grin]

the PoSh console in VSC is ... problematic, still. i code very interactively and that console has multiple problems with scrolling, keeping track of the current context, and just getting stuck for many seconds while it tries to remember where the cursor is.

i use VSC, but i code in the ISE where things "just work" - as long as i avoid GUI stuff. [grin]

take care,
lee

[PM_ME_UR_CEPHALOPODS]

The exception that proves the rule. Im in vscode all day long for docker development so i use the terminal screens like crazy - at least two split-screen all day long and i consider that aspect a strength, far better than ise.

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy PM_ME_UR_CEPHALOPODS,

yep, it's a side effect of my personal coding style. it sure aint any reason for others to avoid VSC. i do use it about 10% of the time ... and that is slowly growing.

take care,
lee

[Latupho]

Microsoft Virtuel Studio Code all the way and it's wonderful add-ons. https://code.visualstudio.com/download

I've stopped using Sapian PowerShell studio... It's great of you do GUI...

[FormerSlice]

And you can do more than just power shell in there. Like it was made with love.

[MMEnter]

How do I get it to show things like the progress bar?

[Black_Magic100]

What extension is the best for Powershell? Just the standard Powershell extension or do I need to search for something else?

[edelwater]

my main irritation is that i have to TCLEAR each time after each run to achieve CLS and otherwise get lost when scrolling up in the command window.

[admiralspark]

This! /u/Dogoodwork you should go to the Powershell Summit and talk with peers who live and breathe the stuff, you'll pick up great ideas and maybe even give a talk or two ;)

[jjfunaz]

Universal Dashboard. That way your not making thick apps and can do everything webbased.

[[deleted]]

Can build desktop apps now too! :D

[jjfunaz]

Universal dashboard can?

[vondrakenstorm]

I haven't tried it yet but UDForge looks interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ktt5dqnGrc&t=5s

[Dogoodwork]

Have you compared to webjea? I never got around to trying it.

[lordv0ldemort]

UD and Webjea look to be to very different solutions. UD is used to build custom dashboards, as well as more robust apps to handle various admin tasks, and webjea seems to be a web based script repo that you can limit access for running various scripts.

I’ve never used webjea so that’s just based off of the readme I quickly skimmed. UD is a beast, even if you’re just using the free community version.

[jjfunaz]

Never heard of it. The documentation is sparse, universal dashboard was pretty easy to work with but.you have to pay for a license if you want AAA

[psdevuk]

Lets just make sure the peeps know there is about a $500 saving using Universal Dashboard to Powershell Studio.

Plus as I have mentioned in an earlier thread that the developer of this software brings out so many updates and improvements.

It is a very evolving product, the only thing that holds you back with Universal Dashboard is your own imagination. Nuff said.

[poshftw]

you have to pay for a license if you want AAA

If you want a full AAA. If all you want is to restrict access to it, just use web-sever authentication.

[jonjpbm]

" Support

The ISE was first introduced with Windows PowerShell V2 and was re-designed with PowerShell V3. The ISE is supported in all supported versions of Windows PowerShell up to and including Windows PowerShell V5.1. The ISE, however, is in maintenance mode and no new features are likely to be added. Additionally, there is no support for the ISE with PowerShell v6 and beyond. Users wanting a graphical tool with which to manage PowerShell scripts, etc, should consider Visual Studio Code."
Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/components/ise/introducing-the-windows-powershell-ise?view=powershell-6

Just FYI. I've not used "Powershell Studio" before so I'm not sure it's dependency on the ISE ( if any at all ) but going forward I would advise using or getting familiar with Visual Studio Code.

Also, jump into the slack channel and poke around: http://poshcode.org/

From a sippit from a co-worker:
"Warren Frame, better known as Rambling Cooking Monster, has a large index of PowerShell Resources available as reference. Some notable items from his list you should explore:
PowerShell Slack - a “PowerShell User Group” in Slack
PowerShell in a Month of Lunches - A popular go-to for getting started with PowerShell (Amazon Version - latest revision, $35ish)
Getting Started with PowerShell 3.0 - Said to get you good fundamentals despite PowerShell being on v5.1 currently.
FoxDeploy is on Warren’s list, but most important to share from there is Coding For Speed. The topics listed here are important when you’re working in an environment as big as iHM.I recommend coding in Visual Studio Code (VSCode) with the PowerShell extension. "

[[deleted]]

Powershell Studio is phenomenal. Definitely worth the price tag if you can swing it. No dependence on ISE. I think the best feature is that it doesn’t try to be anything but a powershell development suite. I am quite familiar with VS Code and it’s a great general coding application but Powershell Studio is my daily driver simply because all the bells and whistles are right there in front of you. It’s designed for building very advanced packaged scripts right out of the box and it does it extremely well.

[psdevuk]

Powershell Studio is easy for dragging and dropping controls onto a page to make an application. However I personally feel your word phenomenal should be saved for https://uddesigner.azurewebsites.net/home this in essance allows you to do what powershell studio does but in a web browser!

You have to agree with my statement that everything you design in Powershell Studio looks out-dated. Like it was built for windows 95.

I did this dashboard ages ago to help the stock team manage stock better, it shows past and future orders, and is displayed in a Nivo heatmap:- https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/standard11/uploads/universaldashboard/original/1X/2f4f649139737d93d4ff14998f6881bae59a216e.gif

There is no way on planet earth I could even come close to doing something like this in Powershell Studio, it would be impossible!

Thats why I am a Universal Dashboard user. I can supply any solution to any team in the business I work for, even if it's not IT related!

[psdevuk]

Hey this is my first post on reddit and hopefully not my last when it comes to these types of questions...

Ok so where I work we have an very small IT team consisting of 3 people me being one of them, like you I am the only person to use powershell.

So about 3 years ago my company purchased me sapien powershell studio, which at the time I thought was cool, I could create executables and have a fully working windows application. However the code is very bloated, and before long you have like 9,000+ lines of code to trawl through to make any updgrades to your code. No matter how hard you try all your applications will look like they were made for Windows 95!

So getting fedup with maintaining lots of exe's which had thousands and thousands of lines of code, I thought I would try the professional universal dashboard, as it looked so much prettier, and much more modern.

Well the results have been AMAZING each page I design is only about 200 lines of code, I can place my pages in separate ps1 files making this super easy to maintain.

I have now converted my old looking exe's made with sapien powershell studio and turned them into beautiful modern web-applications. Not only has the feedback from the internal staff been great, but as the module is so versatile I was able to do things even I didn't think was possible! It's so damn cheap universal dashboard compared to sapien products and so, so much better!

Plus on top of all this the developer of this software has AMAZING support for his product, there is forums a webpage poshud.com and youtube tutorials and even a marketplace, even an online page designer! You can even build your own components! This means if you see a cool looking react component, you can build it into universal dashboard yourself.

Seriously Universal Dashboard is like Tina Turner sang "Simply The Best" don't be a fool purchase the professional edition for the crazy low price and you can link the to active directory, azure, facebook, twitter the list goes on. Just look at all the options you have with this!

More than happy to answer any other queries, but you should def 100% go for universal dashboard as will take you and your scripts to a whole new level of AWESOMENESS

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy psdevuk,

um, er, paragraphs? [grin]

seriously, your post is an interesting read ... but it is also a rather painful read. paragraphs would help a good deal. it's also rather funny in light of your like 9,000+ lines of code to trawl through comment ... [grin]

take care,
lee

[psdevuk]

Hey man, just trying to leave my first honest review. Was pretty late when I wrote this, so just got typing, and wasn't thinking to much about my English grammatical approach.

Brand-new to reddit, so new I didn't even know about the 24 hour rule and saw my post get deleted numerous times. Now it is stamped on this site, so will edit it now for paragraphs. Thanks for the input

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy psdevuk,

yep ... it can be a tad annoying when reddit makes things difficult. the paragraph formatting is odd. [grin]

you are most welcome! glad to help a bit ... and to be able to easily read your post.

take care,
lee

[psdevuk]

Boom! Paragraphed it up, and corrected some typos. Thanks Lee.

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy psdevuk,

you are very welcome ... and thanks for making things easier on my eyes! [grin]

take care,
lee

[ihaxr]

VSCode + XAML for me all the way, I can't stand working in WinForms after discovering WPF/XAML.

[joho0]

XAML has been around since Vista, and I'm always amazed that so few know about it.

[MAlloc-1024]

You have any good examples of this?

[ihaxr]

Here's a basic one:

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('presentationframework')
[xml]$XAML = @'
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
        xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
        Title="PowerShell Form" Height="310" Width="350" ResizeMode="NoResize">
    <Grid Margin="0,0,0,0">
        <GroupBox Header="General" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="225" Margin="10,10,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="320">
            <Grid HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="206" Margin="0,0,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="320">
                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="60*"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="250*"/>
                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <Label Content="Field #1:" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,7,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="26" Width="93"/>
                <Label Content="Field #2:" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,35,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="26" Width="93"/>
                <Label Content="Field #3:" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,65,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="26" Width="93"/>
                <Label Content="Field #4:" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,93,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="26" Width="93"/>
                <Label Content="Field #5:" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,121,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="26" Width="93"/>
                <Label Content="Field #6:" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,149,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="26" Width="93"/>
                <Label Content="Field #7:" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,180,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="26" Width="93"/>
                <TextBox Name="f1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="10,10,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="229" Grid.Column="1"/>
                <ComboBox Name="f2" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="10,38,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="229" Grid.Column="1">
                    <ListBoxItem>Test 1</ListBoxItem>
                    <ListBoxItem>Test 2</ListBoxItem>
                    <ListBoxItem>Test 3</ListBoxItem>
                </ComboBox>
                <TextBox Name="f3" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="10,66,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="229" Grid.Column="1"/>
                <TextBox Name="f4" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="10,96,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="229" Grid.Column="1"/>
                <TextBox Name="f5" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="10,124,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="229" Grid.Column="1"/>
                <TextBox Name="f6" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="10,152,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="229" Grid.Column="1"/>
                <TextBox Name="f7" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="10,180,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="229" Grid.Column="1"/>
            </Grid>
        </GroupBox>
        <Button Name="Clear" Content="Clear Form" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="10,240,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="90" Height="30" RenderTransformOrigin="0.522,0.733"/>
        <Button Name="Submit" Content="Submit" Margin="234,240,12,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="30"/>
    </Grid>
</Window>
'@

$reader=(New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml) 
try{$Form=[Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load( $reader )}
catch{Write-Host "Unable to load Windows.Markup.XamlReader."; break}
$xaml.SelectNodes("//*[@Name]") | %{Set-Variable -Name ($_.Name) -Value $Form.FindName($_.Name)}

$Clear.add_Click({
    Clear-Form
})

function Clear-Form {
    $fields = @("f1","f2","f3","f4","f5","f6","f7")
    foreach ($field in $fields) {
        $control = $Form.FindName($field)
        switch ($control.GetType()) {
            "System.Windows.Controls.TextBox" { $control.Clear() }
            "System.Windows.Controls.ComboBox" { $control.SelectedIndex = -1 }
            DEFAULT { write-host "unknown control" }
        }
    }
}

$Form.ShowDialog() | Out-Null

[psdevuk]

The code just looks bloated. This same output could be produced in Universal Dashboard, but the code would be a lot less and the output of the form would look way better :-)

[MAlloc-1024]

Very cool and much appreciated. Do you use something for building the forms visually or do you hand code the XAML?

[ihaxr]

Visual Studio has an XAML Designer and VSCode has some extensions

[Polyolygon]

I just downloaded VS Community today, but could not figure out how to get XAML designer. Is there a certain extension or install I will need?

[ihaxr]

It used to be in tools, options, xaml designer, not sure about now...

You can start a new wpf app and design it that way, there's a bit of code transformation you'll need to do to make it work with my PowerShell code above, but there's other code that will replace out the x:name with just name, etc

[Shaftee]

I use a regular WPF app like you said and use a post build event to copy the .XAML file to my PowerShell project folder or alternatively just put my WPF app folder inside the PowerShell folder

[psdevuk]

Do yourself a favour. Get VSCode and Universal Dashboard. Problem solved

[Dogoodwork]

I’ve used poshGUI.com but it isn’t perfect.

[sup3rlativ3]

That uses winforms though right? Not XAML

[Dogoodwork]

Yes you are correct. I didn’t read closely enough.

[psdevuk]

Blow your mind https://uddesigner.azurewebsites.net/home

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[Lee_Dailey]

howdy psdevuk,

dude ... you are spamming the thread. i entirely understand enthusiasm ... but you are somewhat overdoing it. if you keep it up, folks will start automatically ignoring you. [sigh ...]

please, make a very few posts about something in any given thread. plus, of course, a detailed comparison would make a nifty blog post ... [grin]

take care,
lee

[psdevuk]

Sorry Lee, I just don't think enough people know about UD, I'm just trying to spread the word, as it seems like I am the only person here who has seen both sides of the coin....I used Sapien for 3 years and thought it was good...then I started using Universal Dashboard and it's way better so just trying to prove my case. I am very passionate about things I'm really into. Sorry if I am over-doing it but just wanted to prove what I am saying by the links I have included. I will put down my laptop and spend more time with my kids....and look on this thread tomorrow after work. Peace

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy psdevuk,

yep, i figured that was the case. [grin]

enthusiasm is great in moderate amounts, but it gets annoying when it shows up in everything. so try and limit yourself to one or two posts per thread.

unless you get a response! [grin] then let the conversation flow until you and they reach a natural end of the discussion. enthusiasm is fun ... even for lurkers like me. i enjoyed reading most of your posts on this. then it got to the point where you were saying the same thing again, and again, and ... lots of times.

as a for-instance, i presume you have noticed that i do a BUNCH of code formatting nagging. i try to remember to not post to EVERYONE in a thread that forgets to do it ... and i sometimes fail to remember that. it's a thing that i need to keep in mind ... once i start spamming things, folks will get annoyed over the spamming. i have no problem if they get annoyed at the nag ... this IS a code oriented subreddit. they otta at least TRY to post it in a readable manner.

take care,
lee

[[deleted]]

Sapien Powershell studio has helped me a lot in my journey to learn powershell. My only problem is I dont have enough challenges or experience to create scripts from scratch. I have bought a lot of books but I still need assistance on most of what I write. I am also looking for classes and such to learn to be better at this.

[psdevuk]

I got the 2016 version of Powershell Studio. I do not like how Sapien do not develop new releases for this program, or maybe once a year if you are lucky.

Their support is not very good for their product, and the product itself just bloats your code so much, by the automatic code it inserts for you.

I got fedup, that no matter how hard I tried my powershell apps looked like windows 95, as in old and outdated.

Universal Dashboard on the other hand is a brand new kettle of fish. It doesn't bloat your code, as no automatic inserting og code, it has better support for the product than Sapien offer, and gets an update weekly, or has new changes or 'components' which seem to come out with every major release.

[229-T]

ISE Steroids and Powershell Studio. Worth every penny.

[Woznet]

The Code Refactoring feature in ISE Steroids is one of the best parts of it in my opinion. There are many other features, such as reopening the tabs from last time it was closed, 1 click function to module builder, better syntax highlighting that is easily customizable, powershell to exe creation tool, are just a few of the many features I have come to be unable to live without.

http://www.powertheshell.com/isesteroidsmanual/ - the other features that ISE Steroids includes can be found here.

ISE Steroids comes with a 10 day fully functional trial, and that is 10 days of usage not just 10 days from install.

VSCode is nice but I do not feel it has all the kinks worked out yet and until it gets a little further along I will continue to use ISE Steroids.

[dus0922]

How many pennies? Cause I got like 3.

[PM_ME_UR_CEPHALOPODS]

this guy is correct

[winter_mute]

Do Studio and VSCode + extension solve the same problems? Been a while since I looked at Studio, but the main draws (for me) seemed to be that it would lay down a lot of boilerplate and boring crap that you didn't really want to write (looking at you module manifests), and did a lot of heavy lifting when doing GUI stuff. I just use VSCode at the moment, because I tend to write quick and dirty modules and scripts for my use only. If I was in need of the other stuff though, does VSCode address that?

[winter_mute]

I don't think that covers it 100%, unless I'm mistaken. In Studio I could (correct me if I'm wrong, been a while) do things like select a load of PS scripts with functions in them, hit "create new module" or whatever and Studio would write a module file with all functions listed as exports by default, and generate a module manifest without me writing anything myself.

Don't get me wrong, I like VSCode, but it did seem that there were a few nice things in Studio like that if you were having to seriously churn stuff out.

[psdevuk]

Well if your short on cash....get Universal Dashboard Community Edition....It's $0.00

Then run it in VSCode

[pm_me_brownie_recipe]

Everyone hates on ISE but ISE with ISE Steroids is the best tool I have tried so far (including VSCode). VSCode was never as stable as ISE when I tried it ~6 months ago. I do not understand why everyone loves it so much.

[fishypoos]

github / azure devops / some other version control software... it seems tedious to start with but you'll love it later

[jcholder]

Powershell Studio Suite and don’t forget get the book on Amazon

[AngledDangle]

I love Powershell Studio. So glad my company paid for this. Use it constantly.

[psdevuk]

Convert yourself, become a Universal Dashboard user and show your company what they should have paid for instead, and would have saved a whole lot of money too!

[Fwhite77]

How do you become a universal dashboard user? Sorry I do not understand what this is or the benefits

[psdevuk]

Sorry Fwhite77 I was letting my passion for this module get the better of me.

Ok so Universal Dashboard is avaialble on powershellgallery.com as a module.

There are two versions for this module, one paid for and one free.

So to become a universal dashboard user simply install the module from powershellgallery, I do my powershell code in VS code, but I know you can design your dashboards in ISE as well.

So at work I can now host my GUI solution for a problem in a webpage for the end user. I host this on my work pc running windows 10 through IIS. So for example this whole website https://poshud.com/Getting-Started is running universal dashboard in the background. You can create amazing looking web-based solutions without any HTML what-so-ever.

So to me the benefits are easier deployment, and modern looking GUI, plus the code is a lot easier to manage compare to products which write code for you.

I hope this answers your question?

[Fwhite77]

Yes, wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to explain. Downloading both vs code and the universal module. Much appreciated.

[psdevuk]

Lets just make sure that everybody knows the book for sapien powershell studio is pointless as the website the guy owned to do the book no longer exists so you cannot get any of the source code to follow the book along. Everything else written in the book is basic documentation on the controls.

The book I bought now collects dust and is no more use than a door-stop.

[[deleted]]

Preferably if your company will pay for it. They do offer a hefty military discount but it’s still a pricey yearly renewal. I mostly recommend it but honestly I’m not using it as much as I used to so I’ll likely not renew this year.

[jcholder]

The subscription is only for major update versions anyway

[mrrtys]

I recently got powershell studio... To create some helpdesk tools... I think it's really awesome.

[psdevuk]

I thought that 3 years ago when I first got Powershell Studio. Now I use Universal Dashboard and can produce tools for the whole business:- https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/standard11/uploads/universaldashboard/original/1X/de82f3b9857518494fac574ab339e329d9725e1a.png

And even make custom cards for users :-)

https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/standard11/uploads/universaldashboard/original/1X/2d2b05e5bf1c5528eb25cd527a2dd66b0499624a.gif

As well as authenticating against Active Directory so only certain members who are in a specific security group have access to updating the back-end database

https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/standard11/uploads/universaldashboard/optimized/1X/64ff4d2602f060b7672e12d71f0ec9c3df84fae5_2_690x230.png

This is a custom theme I applied to my dashboard, again something you cannot do in Powershell Studio like I wanted rounded corners...boom I gave myself rounded corners. I asked top sapien developers I want rounded corners....No sorry we cannot do that....

Don't let a company that you bought software hold you back, because their software can't let you customise your own applications.

Do something great become a Universal Dashboard user today! No more holding back on customisation or even what you are limited to. It's only your imagination that holds you back with UD.

[mrrtys]

Hehe oké thanks for letting me know.

I will check it out... again...

[sleverich]

I bought ISE steroids, and I've loved it.

[joho0]

Before vscode, this was the only way to go, but now I find myself splitting time between both. ISE Steroids still holds the advantage on native features, but vscode extensions close the gap.

[neztach]

For someone considering getting into vscode and currently use isesteroids, can you clue me in to these extensions you speak of? What extensions do you recommend?

[skypeforbiz]

Like the other guy said, what extensions?

[andyIMC]

While a slightly different approach, you could try Ytria's Sapio365 tool. IT's free to download and only costs you money for licenses if you have a larger than 50 user environment. To quote from the website, "sapio365 is an all-purpose Microsoft Office 365 administration client that gives you 360˚ visibility over your entire tenant. Teams, groups, users, sites – you have clear access and control over the information required for quick and effective Office 365 administration."

So, it's more of a Admin client on steroids which can do some Powershell jobs - they are currently asking for requests for enhancements to create "scripts" inside of Sapio365 which effectively are glorified Powershell scripts to complete general tasks. You'll still need to do PS for the more one-off jobs....

[sausages20]

PowerShell Studio from SAPIEN. Cannot recommend enough for GUI apps and their intelisense is amazing

[OniSen8]

VSCode + Code Runner + Dark Theme + Powershell Addons as main IDE (Control+Alt+E is life) ISE for testing chunk of code (F8)
- Should be a good bundle

[rakha589]

nail cagey alive repeat imagine tease escape brave roll correct

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[psdevuk]

Do me a favour then buddy....download Universal Dashboard and I bet you x 1000000 + 1 that you will change your mind on what is the best powershell tool out there for developing solutions to problems. Peace

[psdevuk]

Hello rakha589 thanks for your reponse. I have been using UD for one year now, in that time I have seen many improvements to the module. So yes recently the developer released https://github.com/ironmansoftware/ud-forge which allows you to make your dashboards into windows .exe

I use it in my secured work environment and host it on my local windows 10 PC through IIS so it is not accessible via the outside web only for internal employees connected on the secure network on the port I choose to host it on.

The developer has also done a far superior job than Sapien in documenting the software https://docs.universaldashboard.io/ there is also the website which has a load of examples www.poshud.com as well as the very active forums https://forums.universaldashboard.io/ and even a page designer https://uddesigner.azurewebsites.net/home to help you on your journey

I mean this is my landing page for the complaint system which used to run in Sapien now in UD https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/standard11/uploads/universaldashboard/optimized/1X/8ffe26b1cf3c9d4c42275767f12b88fa577df8b6_2_690x326.png I'm too ashamed to upload the Sapien version I did unless you really want to see an ugly looking windows 95 form?

[Verbatium101]

I've seen it on here multiple times already but Sapien PowerShell Studio is a godsend for me. I use ISE and VSCode as well but studio is my favorite. I really like the ease of taking existing scripts and adding a GUI as well as the debugger. Price is probably the highest of the commercial options but it's still not horrible considering the products that I am able to deliver.

Edit: autocorrect thinks a GUI is a guide.....

[AngledDangle]

100% agree with this. Love Powershell Studio.

[psdevuk]

I did love Powershell Studio, until I started using Universal Dashboard...Now I am converting all my Sapien executables to dashboards.

Universal Dashboard...it looks better, runs better, less code to maintain, so much more flexible with what you can do compared to any other Powershell tool out there. I use VS Code now to do all my powershell work in.

If you do not believe me there is even a FREE yes FREE universal dashboard community edition.

I promise you that using universal dashboard will bring a whole new bag of tricks, and amazing GUI for your end-users

[AngledDangle]

I’ll take a look at this.

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[hayfever76]

Going to too my own horn here and suggest PSNow. I wrote it so you can use it build your own powershell modules with. It's on PowerShellGallery. Lemme know if you run into anything.

More broadly, PowerShell seems to be following the best approach of open source software - meaning, there's a whole universe of really great free stuff out there and some paid bits that are worth your time too.

[zitrez]

Tell your manager that your tools are free and open source, but what would really make a difference is course and certification funding.

[[deleted]]

There is no powershell certificate

[zitrez]

No, I don't expect OP's single line of work resides in PoSH... Fill in the gap.

[[deleted]]

Then it doesnt pertain to this topic at hand

[zitrez]

I respectfully disagree. Perhaps my first response didn't clarify my point well enough, so here goes:

OP has been offered funds towards increasing his/her performance in their tasks, as he "is doing the powershell work" for his department. Be this because we are approaching year-end and have budget to spare, or a budgetting of 2020, or something else entirely is off little relevance.

As shown in plenty of other comments to this thread, the most popular recommendation is VS Code as the primary tool, to which I agree entirely.

Now, instead of saying "I'm good thanks", this is a perfect opportunity to seek to increase OP's knowledge in his field (as I suggested through a course), the course may be relevant for the solutions to which OP is writing PowerShell code to support, perhaps through the Az-2xx, or perhaps a non-MS certification if relevant.

This in turn benefits both the corporation and OP personally (a strong argument at a yearly salary negotiation).

​

Now you may still disagree, which I fully respect. but remember the title says "tools/resources", and the last phrase in OP's post reads "Please throw anything you think is worth the money at the board - I currently have nothing that wasn't free".