Workplace Automation

Category: PowerShell

Run PowerShell script | a clear tutorial made for beginners
PowerShell is the language, when it comes to automation of tasks and configuration in the Microsoft cosmos. Meanwhile, you can use it cross-platform, e.g., on Linux systems. This article intends to show you in few steps how to run a PowerShell script.

There are many possibilities to run a PowerShell script. I want to show you the ways I know. If I forgot something, write me a mail: Serkar@workplace-automation.com.

Scenario

In the first step, I want to describe you, which script I run. For this purpose, I am starting the PowerShell ISE by clicking on the start menu button and typing ISE. PowerShell ISE is the preinstalled tool, where you can script your PowerShell scripts.

After clicking on Windows PowerShell ISE, a window pops up.

The PowerShell ISE is structured in two panes — the script and command pane. In the script pane you can develop your PowerShell script and if you run this developed script, its output will be displayed in the command pane. You can also use the command pane to run cmdlets interactively.

For my scenario, I am writing a code, where I prompt the user how the weather is. If you are seeking to learn something, I would recommend you to join me.

Source code:
```
Read-Host "How is the weather?"
```
Save this script to your desktop, so you can find it later.

Run PowerShell script from ISE

When you want to run a PowerShell script directly from ISE, you have two possibilities:

You can run a PowerShell script by clicking on the F5 button. As you can see, the prompt came up in the command pane.

I am stopping the script with the stop button

You can also run the script, by clicking on the play button.

Run PowerShell script from explorer

If we want to know how to run PowerShell script from explorer, we have to browse to our previously written PowerShell script, right-click the file and click on Run with PowerShell. A PowerShell window will pop up which runs the PowerShell script.

Run PowerShell Script from PowerShell

You also have the possibility to run PowerShell scripts directly from PowerShell. To do this, open Windows PowerShell.

Again, I am clicking on the Windows start button and type in PowerShell. The search result will show me Windows PowerShell, which I want to start.

Now I am getting the path of my file by using the keyboard combination of shift and mouse right click to copy the path.

I am switching back to Windows PowerShell and press right click of the mouse to paste in my clipboard.

Run PowerShell script – the standard way

I am removing the quotes and press enter. As you see, the PowerShell script was started:

Run PowerShell script – the dot sourcing

You can also start your PowerShell script by adding a dot before the quoted path. This is called dot sourcing and it runs the contents of the script in your current context.

Run PowerShell Script from Command Prompt

You may know Command Prompt — the predecessor of PowerShell. You can also run PowerShell scripts in the Command Prompt. To run PowerShell scripts in Command Prompt, start Command Prompt, by pressing the windows button and typing command prompt. Click on the app and a black box should open.

Now you can start your script like this:

Start PowerShell.exe “pathtoyourscript”

You will notice, that PowerShell will open in a separate window and run your specified script:

Run PowerShell script from a folder

Run PowerShell script from a session, opened in script location

You can also run a PowerShell script if you open a folder in Windows Explorer and start a PowerShell session there:

So navigate to your folder and click on file

Now click on Open Windows PowerShell

You might notice, that the position is showing now the path, where the session has been started.

If you enter a dot now, you can press the tabulator button and tab through each file in your path until you find your PowerShell script. My desktop is a bit messy, but after a while I could find the demo. By pressing on enter, the PowerShell script runs.

Troubleshooting

You might experience, that you cannot start a PowerShell script, because PowerShell states, that your script, which you try to run isn’t digitally signed. In this case, the execution policy of PowerShell blocks you from running scripts. Its purpose is to protect your computer from malicious scripts.

In this case, read the script first and if you can confirm, that it is not harmful, you can unblock the script by following cmdlet:
```
Unblock-File -Path "C:\Users\Serkar\Desktop\Demo.ps1"
```
For more, please read the documentation of Microsoft:

Set-ExecutionPolicy (Microsoft.PowerShell.Security) – PowerShell | Microsoft Docs

Conclusio

I hope that you have learned how to run a PowerShell script. Give it a try and try to run PowerShell scripts from by using various methods.

Further Reading

You may also want to get to know in detail what is PowerShell. I can recommend the docs of Microsoft, which give you a good understanding of PowerShell: What is PowerShell? – PowerShell | Microsoft Docs
September 10, 2021
Multi value arrays in PowerShell: How to create them really easy
Hello together, in my latest activity as an consutlant I encountered following issue: I got a objects with two meta data. In my example it was a milestone with an link to the milestone activity. Since it were more than 30 items, I didn’t want to work with PSObjects. I was searching for a solution to create multi value arrays in PowerShell with little code as possible. If I would work with PSObjects, it would blow up my code. In this article, I will show you how you can create “normal” arrays and also how you can enhance this arrays, to multi value arrays in PowerShell.

Create Standard PowerShell Arrays in PowerShell

A standard array is set up like this:
```
$array = @("Value1","Value2")
```
You can also write it like this:
```
$Array = @( 
    "Value1"
    "Value2"
)
```
So you can get the single values, by putting in the index number of it in square brackets – like $Array[0] for the first value and $Array[1] for the second value. With [-1] you can get the last value of the array.

Add Value to Standard PowerShell Arrays

You can add new lines in the array like this:
```
$Array.Add("Value3")
```
Remove Value from Standard PowerShell Arrays

You can remove the lines of an array like this:
```
$Array.Remove("Value2")
```
Create multi value arrays in PowerShell

Displayname Link
Microsoft https://microsoft.com
SPOScripts https://workplace-automation.com/
Azure Portal https://portal.azure.com
ZMYLER https://zmyler.com

For creating a multi value arrays in PowerShell, we have to inject a hashtable to each array line.

A hashtable looks like this:
```
@{KEY="VALUE"; KEY2 = "VALUE2"; KEYn = "VALUEn"}
```
So your multi value arrays will look like this:
```
$Array = @( 
    @{ Key1=("Value1"); Key2=("Value2")}
    @{ Key1=("Value3") ;Key2=("Value4")}
)
```
For my example it looks like this:
```
$Array = @( 
    @{ Displayname=("Microsoft"); Link=("https://microsoft.com")}
    @{ Displayname=("Google"); Link=("https://google.com")}
    @{ Displayname=("Azure Portal"); Link=("https://portal.azure.com")}
    @{ Displayname=("ZMYLER"); Link=("https://zmyler.com")}
)
```
As you can see, you can also get the single values of each line in array:

Add Value to mutli value Arrays in PowerShell

You can add a value to a multi value array in PowerShell like this:
```
$Array.Add( @{ Displayname=("Ad-equum"); Link=("https://www.ad-equum.de/")} )
```
Remove Value from multi value arrays in PowerShell

Removing a value from a multi value arrays in PowerShell is more complicated. You have to redefine the array, by filtering out the value, which you don’t want in your array:
```
$Array = $Array | Where-Object {$_.displayname -ne "Ad-equum"}
```
Conclusio

If you want to create a multi value arrays in PowerShell, the only thing you have to do is to inject a hashtable to each line. I hope, that I have saved you a ton of work 🙂

Further Reading

Here is the official reference of Microsoft to arrays: Everything you wanted to know about arrays – PowerShell | Microsoft Docs

If you are interested in hasthables, check Microsofts docs: Everything you wanted to know about hashtables – PowerShell | Microsoft Docs
August 24, 2021
How to filter for PowerShell objects easily
If you are working interactively with PowerShell, It might be unhandy to define all the filtering options with Where-Object. I will show you how to filter for PowerShell objects the traditional way and doing it with Out-Gridview.

Filter for PowerShell objects – the traditional way with Where-Object

If we are looking forward to filter in PowerShell, we normaly make use of Where-Object this. In my example I am looking forward for all proccesses, which contain the name msedge and the value for Handles is greater than 292. My query would look like this:
```
#traditional way
Get-Process  | Where-Object {$_.processname -contains "msedge" -and $_.Handles -gt 292}
```
Get-Process the traditional way with Where-Object

Filter for PowerShell objects – Out-Gridview

I want to show you how to filter for Powershell objects easily by using following cmdlet:
```
Out-GridView -PassThru
```
Example:
```
Get-Process | Out-GridView -PassThru
```
Doing that results in a grid popping up.

Now you have multiple options.

You can make use of the filter of the out of the box filtering options. Let’s say I just want to find the msedge processes.

So I am adding the Processname as a filter criteria:

Adding ProcessName eligibles setting filtering following operators:

contains does not contains beginns with is equal to is not equal to ends with is empty is not empty

Entering msedge to the contains field, shows only process entries, which contain msedge

filtering for processes which contain msedge in the name

Now you can add additional filters.

I do add NPM(K) for the value 19

We can even now sort all the stuff by clicking on the column, which we want to sort for.

Sorting for highest CPU usage

Export objects to Excel

If you mark everything with CTRL + A, you can copy all the stuff and put it e.g. straigth to Excel

Easy way to export to excel

If you want to process further with powershell, you can mark the entities needed and click on OK. I selected the first and the thridh entity.

selecting only two entities

As you see, PowerShell returns my selection

Conclusio

As you can see you can save time and coding lines, when use are working inteactively on PowerShell by filter forPowerShell objects with Out-Gridview.

You might find intersting

Filtering items with CAML. For further learnings check out the post: Filtering for SharePoint items with CAML Queries | SPO Scripts

Official documentation of Microsoft for the cmdlet Out-Gridview: Out-GridView (Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility) – PowerShell | Microsoft Docs
August 22, 2021
Use credentials in PowerShell
Credentials are necessary, if you want to access systems or APIs. Credentials can be used interactively and within a script. If you want to use credentials in PowerShell to automate processes, you might have to export your credentials and import them within your automation solution.

In this article I will show you a few ways to make use of credentials, how to export and import credential objects and security considerations.

Functionality

You export the credentials with PowerShell the context the user whith which you are running the cmdlets, also the machine will be considered. So if you copy the credential file to another machine, it won’t work with the same user and you have to re-export the credential file.

Security considerations

Every initialization of credentials (interactive or automated) will lead to a prompt like this. When you export credentials with PowerShell consider following advice:

Be sure, that you do this close to your authentication and do not enter your credentials on client/ servers, which are not trusted.

Why?

You might think this is safe. If we try to read the password, it looks like this:

But there is still a way to read the password:

The risk will be there, when you enter your credentials to a shell, which you are not owner of.
- Recommendation
  1. If you have to enter it in a Shell, which you do not controll, ensure, that the credential object will be initialized like this $Credential = $null
  2. If possible, try to run your scripts within windows authentication. In PNP.PowerShell it looks like this:
```
Connect-PNPOnline -Url $Url -UseCurrentCredentials
```
Using credentials interactively

This will lead to a prompt.
```
$UserName = "John.Doe@Contoso.com"
$Credential = Get-Credential ($UPN)
```
You can than make use of the credentials like this:
```
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://devmodernworkplace.sharepoint.com/sites/sales" -Credentials $Credential
```
Using credentials non-interactively

For this use case I wrote two ready-to-use functions.
```
Function Export-CredentialFile 
{
    param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=0)]
    $Username,
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=1)] 
    $Path
    )
    
    
    While ($Path -eq "")
    {
        $Path = Read-Host "The path does not exist. Where should the credentials be exported to?"
    }

    $ParentPath = Split-Path $Path
    If ((Test-Path $ParentPath) -eq $false)
    {
        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $ParentPath
    }

    $Credential = Get-Credential($Username)
    $Credential | Export-Clixml -Path $Path
    Return $Credential
}

Function Import-CredentialFile ($Path)
{
    if (! (Test-Path $Path))
    {
        Write-Host "Could not find the credential object at $Path. Please export your credentials first"
        Export-CredentialFile
    }
    Import-Clixml -Path $Path
}
```
You can call the functions like this:
```
$Path = "C:\keys\serkar.key"
$UserName = "Serkar@devmodernworkplace.onmicrosoft.com"

Export-CredentialFile -Username $UserName -Path $Path
$Credential = Import-CredentialFile -Path $Path
```
And afterwards you can connect to SharePoint. If you feel unsure about it, check out this post: Connect to SharePoint Online with PowerShell (workplace-automation.com/)
```
Connect-PnPOnline -Url https://devmodernworkplace.sharepoint.com/sites/sales -Credentials $Credential
```
But be sure to initialize the $Credential afterwards, so the potential security vector is as small as possible when you export credentials with PowerShell.

Additional links

Get-Credential (Microsoft.PowerShell.Security) – PowerShell | Microsoft Docs
July 13, 2021
How to use LINQ in PowerShell to compare arrays
LINQ stands for Language Integrated Query and if you use LINQ in PowerShell it might boost the performance of your scripts. In this article, I’ll show you how to use LINQ in PowerShell for comparing arrays.

In this article, I will show you except and intersect of LINQ. There are many more methods. If you are interested in other methods, check out the official documentation of Microsoft.

Concept of using LINQ in PowerShell

We have three amounts red, orange and yellow. The aim is to only get a specific amount e.g. only the red portion.
```
$Red = @( "A", "B", "C")
$Yellow = @("C","D","E")
```
We also can do this for integer values.
```
$Red = @( 1..5)
$Yellow = @(4..10)
```
Using LINQ for Strings in arrays

I will show you how to use LINQ for string in this chapter. We will cover the methods except and intersect.

String – Get the red amount

In order to get the red amount, you have to do following:
```
$Red = @( "A", "B", "C")
$Yellow = @("C","D","E")

$Left  = [string[]]$Red
$Right = [string[]]$Yellow

[string[]][Linq.Enumerable]::Except($Left, $Right)
```
By doing this, you’ll get only A and B:

String – Get the yellow amount

In order to get the red amount, you have to change Right and Left in the LINQ cmdlet:
```
$Red = @( "A", "B", "C")
$Yellow = @("C","D","E")

$Left  = [string[]]$Red
$Right = [string[]]$Yellow

[string[]][Linq.Enumerable]::Except($Right, $Left)
```
By doing this, you’ll get only D and E:

String – Get the orange amount

If we want to get the orange amount, we have to make use of intersect
```
$Red = @( "A", "B", "C")
$Yellow = @("C","D","E")

$Left  = [string[]]$Red
$Right = [string[]]$Yellow

[string[]][Linq.Enumerable]::Intersect($Left, $Right)
```
String – Get everything except orange
```
$Red = @( "A", "B", "C")
$Yellow = @("C","D","E")

$Left  = [string[]]$Red
$Right = [string[]]$Yellow

[string[]]([Linq.Enumerable]::Except($Left, $Right) + [Linq.Enumerable]::Except($Right, $Left))
```
By doing this, you’ll everything but not C:

Using LINQ for integers in arrays

I will show you how to use LINQ for integers in this chapter. We will cover the methods except and intersect.

Integer – Get the red amount

In order to get the red amount, you have to do following:
```
$Red = @( 1..5)
$Yellow = @(4..10)

$Left  = [int[]]$Red
$Right = [int[]]$Yellow

[int[]][Linq.Enumerable]::Except($Left, $Right)
```
By doing this, you’ll get only 1, 2, 3:

Integer – Get the yellow amount

In order to get the red amount, you have to change Right and Left in the LINQ cmdlet:
```
$Red = @( 1..5)
$Yellow = @(4..10)

$Left  = [int[]]$Red
$Right = [int[]]$Yellow

[int[]][Linq.Enumerable]::Except($Right, $Left)
```
By doing this, you’ll get only 6, 7, 8, 9, 10:

Integer – Get the orange amount

If we want to get the orange amount, we have to make use of intersect
```
$Red = @( 1..5)
$Yellow = @(4..10)

$Left  = [int[]]$Red
$Right = [int[]]$Yellow

[int[]][Linq.Enumerable]::Intersect($Right, $Left)
```
Integer – Get everything except orange
```
$Red = @( 1..5)
$Yellow = @(4..10)

$Left  = [int[]]$Red
$Right = [int[]]$Yellow

[int[]]([Linq.Enumerable]::Except($Left, $Right) + [Linq.Enumerable]::Except($Right, $Left))
```
By doing this, you’ll everything but not 5:

Read more
July 8, 2021