{"id":17001,"date":"2010-09-26T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-26T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/heyscriptingguy\/2010\/09\/26\/modify-the-powershell-console-title-and-display-a-rabbit\/"},"modified":"2010-09-26T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-26T00:01:00","slug":"modify-the-powershell-console-title-and-display-a-rabbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/modify-the-powershell-console-title-and-display-a-rabbit\/","title":{"rendered":"Modify the PowerShell Console Title and Display a Rabbit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/strong>: Modify the Windows PowerShell console title and display a rabbit at random locations. The Microsoft Scripting Guys have fun.<\/p>\n

Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. I love Microsoft Outlook 2010.<\/p>\n

\n

United States FTC disclaimer:<\/a> The Microsoft Scripting Guys work for the Microsoft Corporation. I have been provided with a cooperate laptop that runs 64-bit Windows 7, and a 64-bit copy of Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Edition. In addition, the Microsoft Corporation provides me a salary, health insurance, bonus, U.S. national holidays off, and annual leave. The Microsoft Corporation, however, has not purchased for me a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard. Nor did the Microsoft Corporation purchase my Zune HD, which is currently blasting Buddy Guy. I also had to purchase the Buddy tracks.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

One of the things I love so much about Microsoft Outlook 2010 is the ability to set reminders. I use the calendar feature extensively. For example, today is the birthday of the female scripter who hangs out with me at the Charlotte domicile. Last year, I took her to the Smokey Mountains for a woodworking class I was attending. She enjoys the mountains, but I think she probably would enjoy a different activity than my attending a woodworking class for her birthday. However, she seems to like the keepsake box I made for her. The trick is to do something nice for her without being caught in the prep work for the activity. To that end, I came up with the perfect present: a Windows PowerShell script! Everyone loves cool Windows PowerShell scripts, and this one is really cool. I hope she likes it. The complete Set-Rabbit.ps1 script is shown here.<\/p>\n

Set-Rabbit.ps1<\/strong><\/p>\n

function global:set-ConsolePosition ([int]$x,[int]$y) {
# Get current cursor position and store away
$position=$host.ui.rawui.cursorposition
# Store new X and Y Co-ordinates away
$position.x=$x
$position.y=$y
# Place modified location back to $HOST
$host.ui.rawui.cursorposition=$position
} # end function set-consolePosition<\/p>\n

Function Invoke-Rabbit
{
 <\/span>$str1 = @”<\/p>\n

^         <\/span> <\/span>^
^          <\/span>^
^          <\/span>^
^          <\/span>^
   <\/span>0    <\/span>0
    <\/span>=o=
    <\/span>\\!\/<\/p>\n

“@<\/p>\n

for($i = 0 ; $i -le 15 ; $i++)
{
 <\/span>
 <\/span>clear-host
 <\/span>set-ConsolePosition -x $x -y $y
 <\/span>Write-Host -ForegroundColor $i $str1
 <\/span>Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 125
 <\/span>[int]$x = Get-Random -Minimum 5 -Maximum 80
 <\/span>[int]$y = Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 20
}
} #end function invoke-rabbit<\/p>\n

# *** Entry point to script ***
$Host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = “Happy Birthday Scripting Wife”
invoke-rabbit<\/span><\/p>\n

I decided to use Microsoft MVP Sean Kearney’s console helper functions from last Sunday’s Weekend Scripter post<\/a> to set the position for the rabbit.<\/p>\n

The Invoke-Rabbit<\/strong> function begins with a here-string<\/strong> that draws the bunny to the Windows PowerShell console. This code is shown here:<\/p>\n

$str1 = @”<\/p>\n

^          <\/span>^
^          <\/span>^
^          <\/span>^
^          <\/span>^
   <\/span>0    <\/span>0
    <\/span>=o=
      <\/span>\\!\/<\/p>\n

“@<\/p>\n

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

The Invoke-Rabbit<\/strong> function loops several times, clears the Windows PowerShell console host, and then calls the Set-ConsolePosition<\/strong> function and passes initial coordinates. The rabbit, contained in $str1<\/strong>, is then written to the Windows PowerShell console in the first color (color 0<\/strong>). The Start-Sleep<\/strong> cmdlet is used to pause the script for 125 milliseconds. Next, the Get-Random<\/strong> cmdlet is called twice to get values for $x<\/strong> and for $y<\/strong>. These values will be passed to Set-ConsolePosition<\/strong> on the next time through. The script loops until the value of $i<\/strong> is less than or equal to 15. This portion of the script is shown here:<\/p>\n

for($i = 0 ; $i -le 15 ; $i++)
{
 <\/span>
 <\/span>clear-host
 <\/span>set-ConsolePosition -x $x -y $y
 <\/span>Write-Host -ForegroundColor $i $str1
 <\/span>Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 125
 <\/span>[int]$x = Get-Random -Minimum 5 -Maximum 80
 <\/span>[int]$y = Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 20
}
} #end function invoke-rabbit<\/span><\/p>\n

The entry point to the script sets a custom title for the Windows PowerShell console, and calls the Invoke-Rabbit<\/strong> function. This portion of the script is shown here:<\/p>\n

$Host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = “Happy Birthday Scripting Wife”
invoke-rabbit<\/span><\/p>\n

When the script runs, output similar to that shown in the following image appears in various locations on the Windows PowerShell console.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

We invite you to follow us on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>. If you have any questions, send email to us at scripter@microsoft.com<\/a>, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum<\/a>. See you tomorrow when we begin a fresh week of Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog posts. Until then, peace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ed Wilson and Craig Liebendorfer, Scripting Guys<\/b><\/p>\n


<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: Modify the Windows PowerShell console title and display a rabbit at random locations. The Microsoft Scripting Guys have fun. Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. I love Microsoft Outlook 2010. United States FTC disclaimer: The Microsoft Scripting Guys work for the Microsoft Corporation. I have been provided with a cooperate laptop that runs 64-bit […]<\/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":[25,3,4,61,45],"class_list":["post-17001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scripting","tag-displaying-output","tag-scripting-guy","tag-scripting-techniques","tag-weekend-scripter","tag-windows-powershell"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

Summary: Modify the Windows PowerShell console title and display a rabbit at random locations. The Microsoft Scripting Guys have fun. Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. I love Microsoft Outlook 2010. United States FTC disclaimer: The Microsoft Scripting Guys work for the Microsoft Corporation. I have been provided with a cooperate laptop that runs 64-bit […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17001","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=17001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17001\/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=17001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}