PowerWF v2.7 Released

Devfarm Software, a Windows 8 Launch Partner, today announced the release of version 2.7 of the award winning PowerWF. With this release, PowerWF begins the transition from a popular PowerShell workflow orchestration tool to a complete windows automation platform.

For the past 3 years PowerWF has seamlessly combined Windows PowerShell with Workflow technologies to provide users with PowerShell Orchestration. PowerWF provides a rich automation platform that lets IT Administrators harness the strengths and versatility of Windows PowerShell with a workflow Orchestration layer required to cross technical disciplines.

The latest version of PowerWF provides instant return on investment with one-click automation solutions for many common IT and VMware administrative tasks. The solutions can be run as-is, or easily modified using PowerWF’s visual authoring environment.

“The focus of this release has been jump starting the automation process,” said Ben Vierck, CTO of Devfarm Software. “We want our users to see the value of automation as soon as they launch the product.”

“PowerWF has always provided a powerful authoring environment,” added PowerWF Product Manager Kirk Munro. “This version ensures that users gain the benefits of automation even before exploring PowerWF’s authoring experience.”

PowerWF’s new features include:

•     New Start Page - Immediately run dozens of automation workflows included with the product and leverage the power of Workflow and PowerShell without requiring the technical knowledge behind the automation scripts.
•     Improved Microsoft System Center Service Manager (SCSM) support - Deploy management packs right from the Start Page. Management Packs for SCSM include: automatically close resolved incidents; expire inactive problem announcements; cancel pending activities for closed change requests; identify problems from incident trends; notify incident authors about unresolved incidents; and retrieving SCSM statistics.
•     Improved Toolbox Search - search using command names or keywords.

PowerSE’s new features include:

•     Easier Breakpoint Management - Breakpoints pane shows all breakpoints set in the scripting environment. Manage breakpoints using the breakpoint cmdlets.
•     Breakpoints Preserved Across Sessions - Allows continued debugging of PowerShell scripts from one session to the next, even if the file is closed inside PowerSE.
•     Improved Help Search - search using keywords topic headings. PowerSE includes a keyword search in command descriptions to allow users to discover commands using related terms, such as “vMotion”.

(view press release)

• #press
• #PowerWF
• #PowerSE

Devfarm Software Announces PowerSE OEM Integration Program

St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) December 13, 2011

Devfarm Software, a Windows 8 Launch Partner, today announced the start of a PowerSE OEM Integration Program. PowerSE is the script editor that is embedded in Devfarm’s flagship product, PowerWF – Visual PowerShell Orchestration. The PowerSE OEM Integration Program allows third party applications to integrate quickly and easily with the state-of-the-art PowerShell editor the same way that PowerWF does.

“PowerShell is showing up in new applications at an incredible rate, and each application vendor that adds PowerShell integration needs to decide how they will handle editing and testing the PowerShell scripts,” said Kirk Munro, Product Manager, Devfarm Software. “Joining the PowerSE OEM integration program will allow these vendors to save significant development effort while providing a fully functional PowerShell editor and optionally an embedded PowerShell console as well.”

PowerSE makes PowerShell more accessible to everyone from the reluctant Administrator and casual user to the PowerShell Guru. Automatic PowerShell code generation and advanced debugging features like breakpoints and a watch window, provide instant value and time savings. PowerSE’s built in visualization can customize results and drill into complex data structures.

“We always look at existing technology for integration options before deciding to invest in new development. When we looked at PowerShell editors, we couldn’t find one that would easily integrate with our products to the level required,” said Brian Butler, CEO of Devfarm Software. “From day one, PowerSE was designed to function as both an embedded editor and a standalone application.”

(read more)

• #PowerSE
• #press

SCSM User Group Recap - Video of PowerWF In Action

PowerWF for Service Manager (SCSM) was highlighted at the December 2011 SCSM User Group.  Topics discussed include:

• SCSM 2012 Implementation Briefing from Acceleres
• Extending Service Manager with PowerWF
• SCSM 2012 News
• General Q&A for SCSM 2010/2012
• 2012 Release Request Activities and SSP Example Demo from Travis Wright

Click over to watch the video.

• #powerwf
• #SCSM
• #System Center
• #press

PowerWF Named 2011 Editor’s Best

St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) November 18, 2011

Devfarm Software today announced that PowerWF – Visual PowerShell Orchestration was named as a Silver medal winner of the “2011 Editors’ Best Awards” in the Script Editor category by Penton Media’s Windows IT Pro magazine.

The 2011 Editors’ Best Awards are based on a product’s strategic importance to market, its competitive advantages, and its value to customers.

“Our Editors’ Best Awards let us leverage our contributing editors’ expertise to provide well-earned recognition to products that exceed industry standards,” said Jason Bovberg, senior editor, Windows IT Pro. “As we did last year, we’ve also added valuable, in-the-trenches insight from our reader community about the winning products. We’re proud to now share this invaluable information with our Windows IT Pro and SQL Server Magazine communities. Our winners should be extremely proud of this recognition from our editorial experts.”

“We are very excited to have PowerWF receive this award,” said Brian Butler, CEO of Devfarm Software. “We have big plans for the future of the PowerWF product family, and with Microsoft’s continued investment in PowerShell and workflow, PowerWF grows stronger every day.”

(read more)

• #powerwf
• #PowerSE
• #press

PowerScripting Podcast - Jim and Kirk

The PowerScripting podcast with Jim Hofer (me) and Kirk Munro has been posted.

Tonight on the PowerScripting Podcast, we talk to Jim Hofer and Kirk Munro with Devfarm Software

---

22:01:20] <alexandair> ## how do you see the future of powershell script editors now that powershell ise v3 is becoming very good?

[22:02:19] <ScriptingWife> ##be sure to have them talk about their dialog pop up window on their webpage. IT is so AWESOME

Jim – Superhero: Dark Phoenix

Kirk – Favorite software: Social media

• #powerwf
• #PowerSE
• #powervi
• #v3
• #powershell
• #powercli
• #press

PowerWF on the PowerScripting Podcast

Kirk Munro and Jim Hofer (that’s me) will be on the PowerScripting Podcast tonight.

Details:

Up Next Kirk Munro and Jim Hofer Talk about PowerWF and PowerSE

25 10 2011

This week our guest will be Kirk Munro and Jim Hofer from DevFarm Software to talk about PowerSE and PowerWF. Please join us Thursday October 27th at 9:30 pm EDT at our new and permanent live chat location which is live.powerscripting.net!

• #powerwf
• #PowerSE
• #powervi
• #media
• #powershell
• #press

PowerSE 2.5.3 is now available!

A little over a week ago we released PowerSE 2.5.3 to the web. You can download the latest release here. This release includes many great improvements to the PowerSE product, many of which were requested by you, so thanks for your feedback and please keep it coming!

No time limit for freeware

With this release, we’ve removed the requirement to re-download this product every 60 days. This was our number one feature request since we made PowerSE a freeware product. Now when you download PowerSE 2.5.3, it is truly freeware and you can use it as long as you like!

PowerVI Integration

Since PowerVI has joined the Devfarm family of products, we have now improved the integration between PowerVI and PowerSE and PowerWF. This enables easier authoring and testing of VMware automation scripts and workflows before you publish them to be integrated in the vSphere client, and it highlights one of the greatest values of the Devfarm products – the rich integration between them that make everything much easier.

Tabs to spaces support

We’ve added support for configuring how tabs are used in the PowerSE Script Editor. If you want spaces inserted when you press the Tab key while editing scripts, all you need to do is to set $psise.Settings.AutoConvertTabsToSpaces to $true in the embedded console. If you want the tab size to be something other than the default value of 4, you simply set $psise.Settings.TabSize to the number of spaces you want to use for tab characters. These only need to be set once, so you can simply make the calls in the embedded console and then you’ll always have it configured that way going forward.

Enhanced history pane

The history pane in PowerSE has always been useful, but now it’s much better! With the history pane in PowerSE 2.5.3, you can identify which commands were successful and which were not, all at a glance by looking at the icon. You can also tell which commands were allowed to run to completion and which were cancelled. Most importantly, you can identify the duration of any command that you run, so if you are trying to get the most performance from your scripts, this is an easy way to compare the performance for several related commands so that your scripts run as fast as they can.

Greatly improved support for international environments

In previous releases of PowerSE, there were a number of defects preventing international keyboard layouts (i.e. those other than “US English”) from working properly in the embedded console. Those defects have been fixed, so now you can use the embedded console with international keyboards just fine.

We also added support for Unicode characters to the embedded console, making it easier for customers to get the output they expect regardless of where they happen to be.

Multi-select support in the File|Open dialog

With PowerSE 2.5.3, you can open multiple files in one folder at once by simply selecting the files you want before you click on the Open button. This can be a big timesaver when you are working with modules containing many files!

Smarter variable Intellisense

When you enter a variable name in a script, it can be difficult to determine if you are entering the name of an existing variable or if you are creating a new variable. Previous releases would sometimes complete a variable name incorrectly when you were in fact creating a new variable name. This shouldn’t be a problem any longer, because we now allow you to enter new variable names and the auto-completion should only happen when you want it to happen.

Proper ps1xml file support

In PowerSE 2.5.3, if you are working with ps1xml files, you will now get proper Intellisense as well as auto-completion of xml elements as you would expect.

Fast clearing of the embedded console window

In today’s era of PowerShell, we all want to do more in less time, so much so that even typing in cls in the embedded console and pressing Enter can be cumbersome when you do it repeatedly. PowerSE 2.5.3 allows you to clear the embedded console window at any time by simply pressing Ctrl+Del.

And more…

This is just a short list of some of the key changes we have made in this release. There are others that I want to talk about, but I’m going to save a few for follow-up blog posts. We’ve been spending a lot of time on PowerSE recently, and between our hard work and your great feedback, we’ve built a fantastic, best-in-class PowerShell script editor! If you write PowerShell scripts, I encourage you to give this release a try, and be sure to let us know what you think! Also, if you have any questions, feel free to leave me a note on my blog or pop over to www.devfarm.com and ask us directly in the chat window. We’re always listening!

• #PowerShell
• #PowerSE
• #PowerVI
• #press

VMworld Europe Special Pricing - 25% Discount on PowerVI and PowerWF for VMware

St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) October 13, 2011 

Devfarm Software is offering special pricing on PowerVI – PowerScripter and PowerWF for VMware, concurrently with VMware’s VMworld Europe conference and through the end of October. PowerVI lets users automate their vSphere management by running prebuilt and custom PowerShell scripts directly from the vSphere client. PowerWF for VMware makes it easy to author, edit, and test VMware automation scripts and workflows.

“The vSphere Client has always been seen as rigid, often VMware Admins wish they could add shortcuts and features which make their life easier,” said Alan Renouf, VMware Technical Marketing. “PowerVI allows them to do just this, it breaks down the walls of the rigid GUI and allows VMware admins to use the Power of PowerShell and PowerCLI whilst remaining within the vSphere Client, a fantastic must have product which will increase productivity and save much needed time in any admins life.”

PowerVI will be discussed during Alan Renouf’s PowerCLI sessions at VMworld Europe and Devfarm’s Gary Lockwood will be onsite with product information. Additionally, Devfarm Software is offering PowerVI and PowerWF for VMware at a discount (read press release)

• #press
• #powercli
• #powerwf
• #powervi
• #vmware

PowerWF Delivers PowerShell Orchestration on Windows 8

PRESS RELEASE
Devfarm Software, a Windows 8 Launch Partner, today announced that it has released a new version of its popular PowerShell workflow orchestration tool, PowerWF, and its PowerShell editor, PowerSE, with support for the preview release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform.

Windows 8 Server, Microsoft’s next generation Operating System, reconfirms Microsoft’s commitment to provide platforms to meet the challenges of the next generation of cloud computing.  A robust automation framework is essential in delivering cloud computing.   As such, organization will quickly discover that leveraging and orchestrating features available only in PowerShell will be paramount to survival in a Windows 8 environment.

For the 3 years PowerWF has seamlessly combined Windows PowerShell with Workflow technologies to provide users with PowerShell Orchestration.  PowerWF provides a rich automation platform that lets IT Administrators harness the strengths and versatility of Windows PowerShell with a workflow Orchestration layer required to cross technical disciplines.  Microsoft’s continued investment in PowerShell makes PowerWF stronger than ever.

“As a Windows 8 launch partner we have been working closely with Microsoft to insure that PowerWF and PowerSE will thrive in the Windows 8 world,” said Brian Butler, CEO of Devfarm Software.  “It is especially exciting to see Microsoft adopting our belief that PowerShell and Workflow are really two sides to the same coin.”

“We are very proud of this release,” added PowerWF Product Manager Kirk Munro.  “Not only have we brought PowerShell Orchestration to Windows 8, we are continuing to invest in our free PowerShell script editor, PowerSE .”

Read the release

• #powershell
• #windows8
• #powerwf
• #PowerSE
• #press

PowerShell MVP Kirk Munro Joins Devfarm

Devfarm Software is proud to announce the addition of Microsoft PowerShell MVP Kirk Munro to our PowerWF development team.  Kirk has been an active member of the PowerShell community for many years and his depth of experience will be a major asset in shaping the future of PowerWF and PowerSE.

In Kirk’s own words…

As of this morning, I am now working as Product Manager for the PowerWF and PowerSE products at Devfarm Software!  I am absolutely thrilled about this new position!  Devfarm has a great team and a great set of products, and I’m really happy to be able to help them drive those products forward.

…

Now that I’ve found my new direction and focus, it’s time to get down to business.  Whether you’re a current user of PowerWF or PowerSE or someone who is interested in trying PowerWF or PowerSE, I’d love to connect with you to hear what you like (or don’t like) about these products as well as what you would like to see added to them in the future.  Feel free to reach out to me

Learn More About Kirk Munro

• Visit Kirk’s Poshoholic PowerShell Blog
• Contact Kirk
• Twitter: @poshoholic

• #powershell
• #powerwf
• #PowerSE
• #press