{"id":12561,"date":"2011-09-28T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-28T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/heyscriptingguy\/2011\/09\/28\/simplify-creating-items-with-powershell-providers\/"},"modified":"2011-09-28T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-28T00:01:00","slug":"simplify-creating-items-with-powershell-providers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/simplify-creating-items-with-powershell-providers\/","title":{"rendered":"Simplify Creating Items with PowerShell Providers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/strong>: Learn how to use the same syntax to create different types of items via Windows PowerShell providers.\n \n\"Hey,Hey, Scripting Guy! I am wondering about the Windows PowerShell idea of providers. I have seen you mention them before, but not recently. I am not even sure that the Scripting Wife has talked about Windows PowerShell providers. Is this something that is not very important? Have you just overlooked something? What is the deal?<\/p>\n

—GB
 \n\"Hey,Hello GB,\nMicrosoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. This week I am onsite with customers talking to them about Windows PowerShell. In fact, I had a number of questions about providers today, so the ideas are fresh in my mind. I cannot check to see how many articles I have actually mentioned Windows PowerShell providers, because the search is not working very well on the Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog right now. We are in the process of transitioning to a new mechanism, and it is busy rebuilding new indexes.\nThe topic of providers has not been overlooked, but maybe just not highlighted too much. For example, in getting ready for the 2010 Scripting Games<\/a>, the Scripting Wife had a lesson using the registry provider<\/a>.\nThe cool thing about Windows PowerShell providers is they provide a single way to access different types of data. For example, the provider cmdlets all have the word Item<\/b> in the noun (either in part or completely). These cmdlets are shown here:<\/p>\n

PS C:> Get-Command -Noun *item* | Select-Object name<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Name<\/span><\/p>\n

Clear-Item<\/p>\n

Clear-ItemProperty<\/p>\n

Copy-Item<\/p>\n

Copy-ItemProperty<\/p>\n

Get-ChildItem<\/p>\n

Get-Item<\/p>\n

Get-ItemProperty<\/p>\n

Invoke-Item<\/p>\n

Move-Item<\/p>\n

Move-ItemProperty<\/p>\n

New-Item<\/p>\n

New-ItemProperty<\/p>\n

Remove-Item<\/p>\n

Remove-ItemProperty<\/p>\n

Rename-Item<\/p>\n

Rename-ItemProperty<\/p>\n

Set-Item<\/p>\n

Set-ItemProperty\nThe reason they use the word Item<\/b> is because they can work against different data sources, so they could be one of many different types of items. For example, if I am on my C: drive, and I use the New-Item cmdlet, I can create either a new file or folder. This command will use the filesystem<\/b> provider. I must tell the provider what I want to create: either a file or folder. This is shown here:<\/p>\n

PS C:> New-Item -Name example1 -Path c: -ItemType directory<\/p>\n

    Directory: Microsoft.PowerShell.CoreFileSystem::C:<\/p>\n

Mode<\/span>               LastWriteTime<\/span>                            Length Name<\/span><\/p>\n

d—-                 9\/27\/2011  8:51 PM                    <DIR> example1 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS C:> New-Item -Name example.txt -Path C:example1 -ItemType file<\/p>\n

    Directory: Microsoft.PowerShell.CoreFileSystem::C:example1<\/p>\n

Mode<\/span>               LastWriteTime<\/span>                Length Name<\/span><\/p>\n

-a—                 9\/27\/2011  8:52 PM        0 example.txt<\/p>\n

 \nIf I change to the variable drive and use the New-Item<\/b> cmdlet, I will create a new variable. Only one type of item exists on a variable drive (a variable), so there is no need to use the itemtype<\/i> parameter with the command. This technique is shown here where I use the New-Item<\/b> cmdlet to create a new variable. I then call the variable to illustrate that it is created, and that it contains the string value “example variable.”<\/p>\n

PS C:> Set-Location variable:<\/p>\n

PS Variable:> New-Item -Name example -Value “example variable”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Name<\/span>                           Value<\/span><\/p>\n

Example                        example variable<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS Variable:> $example<\/p>\n

example variable<\/p>\n

PS Variable:><\/p>\n

 \nWhen I change my working drive to the env (environmental variable drive) drive, the exact same command I used to create an example variable creates an example environmental variable. In the following code, I first change my working drive to the env:<\/b> drive. Next, I create an environmental variable named example<\/b>, and I assign the string value “example variable” to this environmental variable. I then retrieve the value of the new environmental variable by accessing it from the $env:<\/b> drive. This code is shown here:<\/p>\n

PS Variable:> Set-Location env:<\/p>\n

PS Env:> New-Item -Name example -Value “example variable”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Name<\/span>               Value<\/span><\/p>\n

Example            example variable <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS Env:> $env:example<\/p>\n

example variable<\/p>\n

PS Env:>\nOnce again, I use the Set-Location<\/b> cmdlet to change to a new drive. This time, it is the alias:<\/b> drive. I again use the New-Item<\/b> cmdlet in exactly the same way I used it earlier: to create a new alias for the Get-PSDrive<\/b> cmdlet. To create the new alias, I give it a name, psd<\/b>, and I assign a value, Get-PSDrive<\/b>. The command and associated output are shown here:<\/p>\n

PS Env:> Set-Location alias:<\/p>\n

PS Alias:> New-Item -Name psd -Value Get-PSDrive<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CommandType<\/span>              Name<\/span>               Definition<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias                              psd                   Get-PSDrive\nTo see if the new alias works, I type psd on the Windows PowerShell console. The output is shown here:<\/p>\n

PS Alias:> psd<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Name<\/span>               Used (GB)<\/span>          Free (GB)<\/span>           Provider<\/span>                        Root<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias                                                                  Alias<\/p>\n

C                      99.85                47.66                FileSystem                     C:<\/p>\n

Cert                                                                  Certificate                      <\/p>\n

D                                                                      FileSystem                     D:<\/p>\n

E                                                                      FileSystem                     E:<\/p>\n

Env                                                                   Environment<\/p>\n

Feed                                                                 FeedStore<\/p>\n

Function                                                            Function<\/p>\n

Gac                                                                   AssemblyCache              Gac<\/p>\n

HKCU                                                                Registry                         HKEY_CURRENT_USER<\/p>\n

HKLM                                                               Registry                         HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE<\/p>\n

Pscx                                                                  PscxSettings<\/p>\n

Variable                                                                        Variable<\/p>\n

WSMan                                                             WSMan\nI can even use the function drive to create a new function. This is COOL! In the following example, I create a new function that returns information about the winword<\/b> process (the process name used by Microsoft Word). Normally, I would need to write the function as is shown here:<\/p>\n

Function get-word<\/p>\n

{<\/p>\n

 Get-process winword<\/p>\n

}\nThe key items to creating the function are the function<\/b> keyword, the name of the function (get-word<\/b>), the script block {}<\/b>, and the code itself: Get-process winword<\/b>.\nAs shown in the code that follows, by using the function drive and the New-Item<\/b> cmdlet, I leave off the braces that mark the script block and the function<\/b> keyword:<\/p>\n

PS Alias:> sl function:<\/p>\n

PS Function:> New-Item -Name get-word -Value “get-process winword”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CommandType<\/span>              Name<\/span>                           Definition<\/span><\/p>\n

Function                        get-word                       get-process winword\nBut does the new Get-Word<\/b> function actually work? As shown here, it does work:<\/p>\n

PS Function:> get-word<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Handles<\/span>             NPM(K)<\/span>             PM(K)<\/span>   WS(K)<\/span>   VM(M)<\/span>  CPU(s)<\/span>               Id<\/span>         ProcessName<\/span><\/p>\n

746                   74                     37872   87000   404       31.72                1280     WINWORD\nIf I pop over to the HKCU registry drive, I can even use the New-Item<\/b> cmdlet to create a new registry key:<\/p>\n

PS Function:> Set-Location hkcu:<\/p>\n

PS HKCU:> New-Item -Path HKCU:Software -Name example<\/p>\n

    Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftware<\/p>\n

SKC<\/span>      VC<\/span>        Name<\/span>               Property<\/span><\/p>\n

0          0          example            {}<\/p>\n

 \nSo, GB, I hope this quick tour of the various Windows PowerShell drives that the Windows PowerShell providers create will inspire you to experiment with this powerful tool. The really revolutionary thing is using exactly the same command—and in any case the same syntax—to create a new alias, file, folder, variable, environmental variable, function, and registry key. Exploring the Windows PowerShell provider subsystem will pay great dividends.\n \nTomorrow, I will continue talking about Windows PowerShell providers.\nI invite you to follow me on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>. If you have any questions, send email to me at scripter@microsoft.com<\/a>, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum<\/a>. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace.\nEd Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy<\/b>\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: Learn how to use the same syntax to create different types of items via Windows PowerShell providers.   Hey, Scripting Guy! I am wondering about the Windows PowerShell idea of providers. I have seen you mention them before, but not recently. I am not even sure that the Scripting Wife has talked about Windows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":595,"featured_media":87096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[51,3,4,45],"class_list":["post-12561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scripting","tag-getting-started","tag-scripting-guy","tag-scripting-techniques","tag-windows-powershell"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

Summary: Learn how to use the same syntax to create different types of items via Windows PowerShell providers.   Hey, Scripting Guy! I am wondering about the Windows PowerShell idea of providers. I have seen you mention them before, but not recently. I am not even sure that the Scripting Wife has talked about Windows […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}