Hey, Scripting Guy! Weekend Scripter: Using Functions to Convert Weight Measurements (Part 2)

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Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. I am still hanging out down here in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, in the United States of America. The laid-back, relaxed attitude has allowed me time to reflect on the new Weekend Scripter series I am writing. The following seagull picture I took seems to reflect this deep thought. Looks pensive, no?

Yesterday, I added the ConvertTo-Pounds function to the ConversionModule.psm1 module. In that function, multiple parameters were created to allow the conversion of different units of measurement to pounds. The same technique will be used now to add a ConvertTo-Liters function to the ConversionModule.psm1 module. I have incremented the name of the ConversionModule.psm1 module to allow for easy version tracking during this project. Before copying the module to the modules directory, I have been deleting the previous version of the module to make it easy to load and test the cmdlets.

The new ConvertTo-Liters function is seen here.

ConvertTo-Liters

Function ConvertTo-Liters
{
 <#
  .Synopsis
    Converts cubic centimeters, cubic feet, gallons, pints, and quarts into liters
   .Description
    The ConvertTo-Liters function will accept an input in 
    cubic centimeters, cubic feet, gallons, pints, and quarts and convert to liters.
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -cCentimeter 100
    Converts 100 cubic centimeters into liters
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -cFeet 10
    Converts 10 cubic feet into liters
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -Gallon 1
    Converts 1 gallon into liters
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -pint 5
    Converts 5 pints into liters
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -quart 5
    Converts 5 quarts into liters
   .Parameter cCentimeter
    The number of cubic centimeters to be converted
   .Parameter cFeet
    The number of cubic feet to be converted
   .Parameter Gallon
    The number of gallons to be converted
   .Parameter Pint
    The number of pints to be converted
   .Parameter Quart
    The number of quarts to be converted
   .Inputs
    [double]
   .Outputs
    [string]
   .Notes
    NAME:  ConvertTo-Liters
    AUTHOR: Ed Wilson
    AUTHOR BOOK: Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices, Microsoft Press 2010
    LASTEDIT: 2/9/2010
    KEYWORDS: WeekEnd Scripter, modules, getting started
   .Link
     Http://www.ScriptingGuys.com
     Http://www.bit.ly/HSGBlog
 #>
 #Requires -Version 2.0
 [CmdletBinding()]
 param(
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $cCentimeter,
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $cFeet,
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $Gallon,
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $Quart,
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $Pint         
) #end param

The ConvertTo-Liters function will accept cubic centimeters, cubic feet, gallons, quarts, and pints for input. It will perform a conversion and display the result in liters. The cubic centimeters and the cubic feet parameters use cCentimeter and cFeet for their parameter names. Most of the work involved in creating the ConvertTo-Liters function is similar to the ConvertTo-Pounds function that was created yesterday. The one thing that is a bit different is found in the conversion to cubic centimeters. The formula is cCentimeter * 10^-3 . To do that, you need to use the pow static method from the system.math .NET Framework class, which is documented on MSDN and provides a number of static methods. The pow static method is used to create powers. To access a static method from the system.math class, put the word math in square brackets and use double colons to call the method. This is seen here:

PS C:> 25 * [math]::pow(10,-3)
0.025
PS C:>

After the new function has been added to the ConversionModule, the function can be accessed as seen in the following image.

The complete ConversionModuleV4.psm1 module is seen here.

ConversionModuleV4.psm1

Function ConvertTo-Liters
{
 <#
  .Synopsis
    Converts cubic centimeters, cubic feet, gallons, pints, and quarts into liters
   .Description
    The ConvertTo-Liters function will accept an input in 
    cubic centimeters, cubic feet, gallons, pints, and quarts and convert to liters.
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -cCentimeter 100
    Converts 100 cubic centimeters into liters
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -cFeet 10
    Converts 10 cubic feet into liters
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -Gallon 1
    Converts 1 gallon into liters
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -pint 5
    Converts 5 pints into liters
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Liters -quart 5
    Converts 5 quarts into liters
   .Parameter cCentimeter
    The number of cubic centimeters to be converted
   .Parameter cFeet
    The number of cubic feet to be converted
   .Parameter Gallon
    The number of gallons to be converted
   .Parameter Pint
    The number of pints to be converted
   .Parameter Quart
    The number of quarts to be converted
   .Inputs
    [double]
   .Outputs
    [string]
   .Notes
    NAME:  ConvertTo-Liters
    AUTHOR: Ed Wilson
    AUTHOR BOOK: Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices, Microsoft Press 2010
    LASTEDIT: 2/9/2010
    KEYWORDS: WeekEnd Scripter, modules, getting started
   .Link
     Http://www.ScriptingGuys.com
     Http://www.bit.ly/HSGBlog
 #>
 #Requires -Version 2.0
 [CmdletBinding()]
 param(
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $cCentimeter,
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $cFeet,
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $Gallon,
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $Quart,
      [Parameter(Mandatory = $false,valueFromPipeline=$true)]
      [Double]
      $Pint         
) #end param

Function ConvertTo-Fahrenheit
{
 <#
  .Synopsis
    Converts Celsius into Fahrenheit
  .Description
    The ConvertTo-Fahrenheit function accepts a value in Celsius and
    returns a string indicating the temperature in Fahrenheit.
   .Example
    ConvertTo-Fahrenheit 1
    Converts 1 degree Celsius into Fahrenheit
   .Parameter celsius
    The  temperature to be converted into Fahrenheit
   .Inputs
    [double]
   .Outputs

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