SAPIEN Technologies

We are happy to announce the release of PowerShell HelpWriter 2018, which is included as part of the regular update cycle for our subscribers.

New Features

These new features provide more flexibility and control over your PowerShell help.

Parameter – Accepted Values

You can now edit, add and remove accepted values for parameters:

When generating a help file, PowerShell HelpWriter will load the accepted values list using the Validation Set values, or in the case of an enumerator (Enum), it will use the enumerator values.

The accepted values are now included in the exported HTML and Markdown:

Note: If you use PowerShell Studio’s New Module from Help File feature, it will automatically create a ValidationSet using the accepted values.

Parameter – Value Required

You can specify if a parameter’s value is required. In other words, if you use the parameter you must define a value.

Value Required is not the same as a required parameter. According to Microsoft’s documentation:

“The Required attribute of a parameter value is different from the Required attribute of a parameter.

The required attribute of a parameter indicates whether the parameter (and its value) must be included when invoking the cmdlet. In contrast, the required attribute of a parameter value is used only when the parameter is included in the command. It indicates whether that particular value must be used with the parameter.

Typically, parameter values that are placeholders are required and parameter values that are literal are not required, because they are one of several values that might be used with the parameter.”

Source: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb525442(v=vs.85).aspx

Parameter View – Help Tooltips

We added help tooltips explaining the purpose of each field in the designer’s parameter view.

Output Panel – Coloring

PowerShell HelpWriter will now change the color of the text to denote errors and warnings in the Output Panel, making important messages stand out.

Validate errors are also colored:

Please continue providing your feedback. Many of the new features included in the service builds are suggestions from users like you. Submit your suggestions or feature requests on the Wish List and Feature Requests forum or the new Feature Request page.

You can view the complete service build log here.