Donnie's Azure, Automation, Monitoring, and Management Blog

Preview 2 has dropped! Let’s look at some of the major things that are coming in this preview.

First – let’s look at the breaking changes:

Breaking Changes

• Adjustments have been made to the -OlderThan and -NewerThan parameters for Test-Path, addressing issues when used with PathType and a date range​
• The default CatalogVersion for New-FileCatalog has been changed to 2​​
• Restrictions have been added to block help from network locations in restricted remoting sessions​

And now to the improvements:

Tab Completion Improvements

• Efforts led by contributors like @ArmaanMcleod have refined tab completion, including preventing fallback to file completion when tab completing type names and adding argument completers for various cmdlets like Set-StrictMode, Get-Verb, Start-Process, and more​

Web Cmdlets Improvements

• Fixes have been made to Invoke-WebRequest to ensure accurate size reporting when the -Resume parameter is specified​
• Web Cmdlets have been adjusted to allow WinForm applications to work correctly​

Other Cmdlet Improvements

• A range of cmdlet improvements and fixes, including for Test-Connection, Get-Service, and adding new parameters to New-Guid. For instance, New-Guid now supports -Empty and -InputObject parameters​

Engine Improvements

• Enhancements in the engine include telemetry for module imports, adjustments to module load telemetry, and fixes for regressions introduced by the WDAC logging feature​

Experimental Features

• Introduction of tilde expansion for Windows native executables, demonstrating PowerShell’s ongoing evolution and adaptation​

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PowerShell 7 introduces several lesser-known features that can significantly enhance your scripting prowess. Let’s dive into these hidden gems.

Ternary Operator for Concise Conditional Logic

PowerShell 7 brings the ternary operator (?:), a shorthand for simple if-else statements, allowing for more concise and readable code.

$result = ($value -eq 10) ? "Equal to 10" : "Not equal to 10"

Pipeline Parallelization with ForEach-Object -Parallel

The -Parallel parameter in ForEach-Object can dramatically improve performance by executing script blocks in parallel. Note that it requires the use of the -ThrottleLimit parameter to control the number of concurrent threads.

1..50 | ForEach-Object -Parallel { $_ * 2 } -ThrottleLimit 10

Simplified Error Viewing with $ErrorView and Get-Error

PowerShell 7 introduces a new view for error messages through the $ErrorView variable, which can be set to ConciseView for a more streamlined error display. Additionally, Get-Error provides detailed error information, perfect for troubleshooting.

$ErrorView = 'ConciseView'
Get-Error

Null Conditional Operators for Handling $null

The null conditional operators ?. and ?[] provide a safe way to access properties and methods or index into arrays when there’s a possibility of $null values, preventing unnecessary errors.

$obj = $null
$name = $obj?.Name  # Returns $null without throwing an error
$value = $array?[0] # Safely attempts to access the first element

The switch Statement Enhancements

PowerShell 7 enhances the switch statement with the -Regex and -File options, allowing pattern matching against regex expressions and simplifying file content parsing.

switch -Regex ($inputString) {
    'error' { Write-Output 'Error found' }
    'warning' { Write-Output 'Warning found' }
}

Coalescing Operators for Default Values

The null coalescing operators ?? and ??= simplify the process of providing default values for potentially $null variables, reducing the need for verbose if statements.

$name = $null
$displayName = $name ?? 'Default Name'

Automatic Unwrapping of Single-Element Arrays

A subtle but handy feature; when a command or expression returns an array with a single element, PowerShell 7 automatically unwraps it, eliminating the need for manual indexing to access the single item.

Enhanced JSON Handling with ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json

Improvements to ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json cmdlets include better depth handling and the ability to work with PSCustomObject instances, streamlining JSON serialization and deserialization.

$json = '{"name": "PowerShell", "version": 7}'
$obj = $json | ConvertFrom-Json

Invoke DSC Resources Directly from PowerShell 7

Directly invoking Desired State Configuration (DSC) resources within PowerShell 7 scripts bridges traditional configuration management with modern PowerShell scripting, enhancing automation capabilities.

There ya go! Hope you find something in here that makes coding a bit more fun/easy!