Hey, Scripting Guy! Quick-Hits Friday: The Scripting Guys Respond to a Bunch of Questions (11/27/09)

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In this post:

• Please Clarify This Script You Published Previously
• How Can I Report a Bug I Found in the Windows PowerShell ISE?
• How Can I Close an Open Folder on a Network Drive?
• Can I Automate the Scheduling of Offline File Tasks?

Please Clarify This Script You Published Previously

How Do I Back Up Files That Have Been Modified in the Last Day? In the article, you say the following:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

Next we use the Get-Date cmdlet to retrieve the current date and time. We store this in a variable named $dte as seen here:

$dte = get-date

I understand that. You are storing the current date in a variable. So far so good. Then, a little bit later, you decide to turn the date into a string. This is what you said:

Now we want to turn the datetime object that was returned by the Get-Date cmdlet into a string.

We do? Why do we want to do that? I don’t follow. But leaving that for a minute, you continue:

To do this, we use the tostring() method. When we have a string, we have something that looks like this:

PS C:> (get-date).tostring()
12/12/2008 1:00:59 PM”

Wait a sec…why did you not use $dte.ToString()?

— MM

Hello MM,

Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. In this particular case, it would work. However, from a best practice standpoint, it would require a revision to the code.

The $dte variable is created in the previous function. Because the other function is calling the previous function, it means that variables created within that function will be available to the following function. I do not like to rely on that because it makes the code more difficult to read and to troubleshoot. Therefore, when I plan to use a variable from a calling function I like to make sure that I actually pass the variable as a parameter to the called function—and I like to use the same variable names if possible.

However, you are correct. In this case, the $dte variable was available and could have been used. Why did I convert the date to a string? Because I was using regular expressions to create a particular pattern for the file names. The pattern was a requirement from the originator of the original e-mail question.

How Can I Report a Bug I Found in the Windows PowerShell ISE? 

— PC

Hello PC,

I just checked with one of the PMs, and he says you can use the Microsoft Windows PowerShell connect site to file a bug on Windows Windows PowerShell or on the Windows PowerShell ISE. You can see in the following image that you can browse the bugs that have been submitted, report a bug, or submit a suggestion:

In most cases, you should browse the list of reported bugs before submitting a new bug because you can see the status of the bug. The bug status page is shown here:

The bugs will be listed as “Active” or “Closed.” If the bug is “Closed,” it might be fixed or marked as “By design,” which means that the behavior seen is the way Windows PowerShell or the Windows PowerShell ISE was designed to behave. If your bug is marked as “Closed by Design,” you could submit a feature request to request that the design be changed. If your feature request is accepted, it will be put on the work list for the next version of Windows PowerShell, which is version 3.0. We are currently accepting requests for features for Windows PowerShell 3.0, and now is the time to get those feature requests in.

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How Can I Close an Open Folder on a Network Drive? 

Can I Automate the Scheduling of Offline File Tasks?

— FK

Hello FK,

Have you taken a look at the WMI Offline Files provider? The documentation for the WMI Offline Files provider on MSDN is quite extensive, and there is a decent amount of capability supplied via that provider. For example the WMI Class Win32_OfflineFilesCache has the methods that are listed in Table 1.

Table 1  Methods of the Win32_OfflineFilesCache WMI Class

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