PowerShell MVP Don Jones and Will Steele tackle a problem with PowerShell variable syntax over at PowerShell.com. Chadrat writes:
…
I found […] syntax that I haven’t seen explained but seems to be used frequently and I was hoping you could explain. I’ve simplified the example as it really is the syntax that throws me.
What is with the “$()” syntax wrapping the column1 value as both methods seem to work just fine?
foreach($Line in $CSVFile)
{
$Column1 = “$($line.Column1)”
$Column2 = $line.Column2
}
Don provides a good summary of how PowerShell parses the $() syntax and Will provides a little additional insight.
So, here’s the short of it: The $ isn’t part of a variable name, ever. It’s actually a cue to the shell that what follows is a variable name. So when the shell sees a $, either alone or within double quotes, it knows that whatever comes next needs special treatment.
Parentheses work just like they do in algebra: They tell the shell to “execute this first.”
(read more)
6 months ago - link
Custom Toolboxes Activities
The “Creating Toolbox Activities” tutorial discussed how to create a new toolbox activity. It is possible to create multiple toolbox activities simultaneously and to extend the existing toolboxes rather than creating new ones.
Creating Multiple Activities
To create multiple toolbox activities at once:
- Open all the workflows that will be converted to activities.
- Click the Toolbox Activity button on the Deploy tab.
- All open workflows are automatically added.
- Enter the desired Toolbox Name.
- Make sure the “Install in Toolbox…” checkbox is checked
- Click the Build button.
Extending Existing Toolboxes
To extend an existing toolbox with custom activities:
- Open the workflow or workflows to be added.
- On the Deploy tab, click the Toolbox Activity button
- For the Toolbox Name, specify the EXACT toolbox name of an existing toolbox
2 years ago - link
PowerWF Studio’s appearance and directories can be changed by clicking the PowerWF icon and selecting the Settings button.
General Settings
The General Settings are used to set basic user information like name, company name, and email address, but is also used to set some of the basic visualization options. “Animation” and “Auto Resize Icons” are self explanatory and a matter of preference.
“Right to Left Rendering” would most likely only be used in countries where the reading order is right to left, but is also a matter of preference.
The “Show commands in Property Grid” allows for some commands, such as promoting bindable properties to be exposed to the user. Most users will not want or need to do these actions, or when they do need them, PowerWF has provided a more user friendly way of doing the command. Advanced users may decide to bypass having PowerWF walk them through these commands and therefore decide to have them accessible in the property control.
Theme Application Settings
The application settings under the theme options allow for fine-tuning the appearance of PowerWF Studio. The Font drop-down allows the font-size for menu items, properties, toolbar items, etc. to be set to the system settings or to a specific value (Normal, Large, or Extra Large).
The Docking Window Theme affects the appearance for all dockable windows, including the ToolBox, Property, and Output Windows. The Caption for these docking windows can be turned off if desired or can be rotated a specific direction via the Captions position drop down. Available options are Horizontal, Vertical, Auto by Size, or Auto by Position.
The Toolbox Theme specifies both how the toolbox looks and acts. The Theme and Behavior effect both scrolling and how many toolboxes can be opened simultaneously.
2 years ago - link
Organizing The Toolbox
The toolbox initially displays all of the activity packs that are installed for PowerWF Studio in alphabetical order. Although each pack contains useful activities, users undoubtedly find themselves using some packs more than others and some not at all. PowerWF allows activity packs to be arranged in any order or hidden from view.
Using Search
The easiest way to find activities is to use the search bar at the top of the toolbox. Type the first few letters of the search term and PowerWF will start filtering the list to only activities that match the search. PowerWF maintains the organization by grouping of activities in their respective activity packs.
Moving Activity Packs
To move an activity pack, drag the heading up or down in the toolbox.
Hiding Activity Packs
To hide one or more activity packs, right click on the activity pack heading and select either Hide or Hide All. See “Showing Activity Packs” for information on displaying hidden activity packs.
Showing Activity Packs
To show activity packs that have been hidden, right click anywhere in the toolbox and select Show or Show All.
2 years ago - link
PowerWF Studio allows multiple workflows to be open at one time to allow easy copy and paste between workflows. The easiest way to work with multiple workflows is to create multiple tab groups. This is done by clicking and dragging the workflow tab to the edge of the canvas.
Dragging the workflow to the right edge tells PowerWF that a new vertical tab group should be created. Once multiple tab groups are opened, activities can be moved from one workflow to another by selecting and dragging. To copy activities, hold down the CTRL key while dragging the activities.
PowerWF Studio supports standard features, such as SHIFT – CLICK or CTRL – CLICK to multi-select workflow activities. Holding down SHIFT while pressing down the left mouse button and then dragging allows the rubber-banding of multiple activities.
Right-click on an activity or group of activities to Cut, Copy, Paste, or Delete those activities. Activities can be copied from one workflow to another or within the same workflow.
2 years ago - link
If you have to explain a process or script to someone, you will likely end up drawing them a picture to explain the process. If your process or script is already a PowerWF Workflow, you can simply click the “Save” button and select “Save as Image” to get a representation of your workflow that you can email or include in a document or presentation.
Glancing at this workflow, it is pretty easy to tell what it does:
Just reading the names of the activities, it should be obvious that the workflow gets a list of processes where something is special about them and sets a variable based on the results. It then checks some condition, and if that condition is met it starts a process. Finally it opens a VM, powers it on, and logs into the guest.
- PowerWF supports outputting the workflow as a PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF, WMF, EXIF, and EMF
2 years ago - link
