beautypg.com

Script writing methodology – HP Scripting Tools for Windows PowerShell User Manual

Page 20

background image

Script writing methodology

When deciding to write a script, you generally know what you want to accomplish. One of the
powerful features of PowerShell ISE is that you can build a script piece-by-piece, testing code and
viewing objects to get a better understanding how to accomplish what you want to do.

Here is a typical process you might want to use for creating PowerShell scripts.
1.

Determine what type of data you want to get.

2.

Execute the appropriate command interactively to retrieve the data.

3.

After viewing the command results, decide what part of the object you are interested in.

4.

Determine iLOs or other sources of information that will drive the process.

5.

Create the main processing loop.

6.

Summarize or output the data in the desired format.

If there are many steps, repeat the process until all of the requirements of the data collection or
setting have been completed.

As demonstrated in the preceding examples, consider using .CSV files to drive input when there
are multiple inputs to act on. It is also possible to use XML files and import data from a source that
generates or maintains XML type data, such as a database. To get the same object from an XML
file, you could create it by using the Export-Clixml command to see what it looks like. The
same input3.csv data that is exported to an XML file looks like this:




System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject
System.Object


192.168.1.9
admin
admin123





192.168.1.14
admin
admin123


20

HP Scripting Tools for Windows PowerShell cmdlets