This PowerShell module is designed to make it easier to manage your projects and modules. It provides a snapshot overview of the project's status. You can use this to quickly determine when you last worked on a module and what high-level tasks remain. Status information is stored in a JSON file that resides in the module's root directory. If you have initialized git for the module, the project status will include the current branch.
Install this module from the PowerShell Gallery.
Install-Module PSProjectStatusOr you can use the Microsoft.PowerShell.PSResourceGet module.
Install-PSResource PSProjectStatus -Scope AllUsersThis module is supported in Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7.
The project status is based on a private class-based definition. The PowerShell classes are used to construct the JSON file which in turn is used to create a PSProject object and update its properties.
Class PSProjectRemote {
[string]$Name
[string]$Url
[gitMode]$Mode
PSProjectRemote ($Name, $url, $mode) {
$this.Name = $Name
$this.url = $url
$this.mode = $mode
}
#allow an empty remote setting
PSProjectRemote() {
$this.Name = ''
$this.url = ''
}
}
Class PSProject {
[string]$Name = (Split-Path (Get-Location).path -Leaf)
[string]$Path = (Convert-Path (Get-Location).path)
[DateTime]$LastUpdate = (Get-Date)
[string[]]$Tasks = @()
[PSProjectStatus]$Status = 'Development'
[Version]$ProjectVersion = (Test-ModuleManifest ".\$(Split-Path $pwd -Leaf).psd1" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).version
[string]$GitBranch = ''
#using .NET classes to ensure compatibility with non-Windows platforms
[string]$UpdateUser = "$([System.Environment]::UserDomainName)\$([System.Environment]::Username)"
[string]$Computername = [System.Environment]::MachineName
[PSProjectRemote[]]$RemoteRepository = @()
[string]$Comment = ''
[void]Save() {
$json = Join-Path -Path $this.path -ChildPath psproject.json
#convert the ProjectVersion to a string in the JSON file
#convert the LastUpdate to a formatted date string
$this | Select-Object @{Name = '$schema'; Expression = { 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jdhitsolutions/PSProjectStatus/main/psproject.schema.json' } },
Name, Path,
@{Name = 'LastUpdate'; Expression = { '{0:o}' -f $_.LastUpdate } },
@{Name = 'Status'; Expression = { $_.status.toString() } },
@{Name = 'ProjectVersion'; Expression = { $_.ProjectVersion.toString() } },
UpdateUser, Computername, RemoteRepository, Tasks, GitBranch, Comment |
ConvertTo-Json | Out-File -FilePath $json -Encoding utf8
}
[void]RefreshProjectVersion() {
$this.ProjectVersion = (Test-ModuleManifest ".\$(Split-Path $pwd -Leaf).psd1" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).version
}
[void]RefreshUser() {
$this.UpdateUser = "$([System.Environment]::UserDomainName)\$([System.Environment]::Username)"
}
[void]RefreshComputer() {
$this.Computername = [System.Environment]::MachineName
}
[void]RefreshRemoteRepository() {
if (Test-Path .git) {
$remotes = git remote -v
if ($remotes) {
$repos = @()
foreach ($remote in $remotes) {
$split = $remote.split()
$RemoteName = $split[0]
$Url = $split[1]
$Mode = $split[2].replace('(', '').Replace(')', '')
$repos += [PSProjectRemote]::new($RemoteName, $url, $mode)
} #foreach
$this.RemoteRepository = $repos
} #if remotes found
}
}
[void]RefreshAll() {
$this.RefreshProjectVersion()
$this.RefreshUser()
$this.RefreshComputer()
$this.RefreshRemoteRepository()
$this.Save()
}
}```
The class includes a status enumeration.
```powershell
enum PSProjectStatus {
Development
Updating
Stable
AlphaTesting
BetaTesting
ReleaseCandidate
Patching
UnitTesting
AcceptanceTesting
Other
}At this time it is not possible to include a user-defined project status. It is hoped that you can find something appropriate from the current status list.
The Age ScriptProperty and VersionInfo property sets are added to the object as type extensions.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Types>
<Type>
<Name>PSProject</Name>
<Members>
<PropertySet>
<Name>versionInfo</Name>
<ReferencedProperties>
<Name>Name</Name>
<Name>Status</Name>
<Name>Version</Name>
<Name>GitBranch</Name>
<Name>LastUpdate</Name>
</ReferencedProperties>
</PropertySet>
<AliasProperty>
<Name>Version</Name>
<ReferencedMemberName>ProjectVersion</ReferencedMemberName>
</AliasProperty>
<AliasProperty>
<Name>Username</Name>
<ReferencedMemberName>UpdateUser</ReferencedMemberName>
</AliasProperty>
<ScriptProperty>
<Name>Age</Name>
<GetScriptBlock> (Get-Date) - $this.lastUpdate </GetScriptBlock>
</ScriptProperty>
</Members>
</Type>
</Types>Note that some screen shots may be incomplete as I am still adding properties to the PSProject class.
To create a project status file, navigate to the module root and run New-PSProjectStatus. The default status is Development
You can update properties when you create the project status.
New-PSProjectStatus -LastUpdate (Get-Item .\*.psd1).LastWriteTime -Status Updating -tasks "update help"
The command will create psproject.json in the root folder.
{
"$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jdhitsolutions/PSProjectStatus/main/psproject.schema.json",
"Name": "PSHelpDesk",
"Path": "C:\\Scripts\\PSHelpDesk",
"LastUpdate": "2023-02-20T09:47:33-05:00",
"Status": "Updating",
"ProjectVersion": "0.1.0",
"UpdateUser": "PROSPERO\\Jeff",
"Computername": "PROSPERO",
"RemoteRepository": [],
"Tasks": [
"update help"
],
"GitBranch": "dev",
"Tags : [],
"Comment": ""
}Note that the update time is formatted as a UTC string. The project version will be pulled from the module manifest if found. You can set this to a different value manually in the JSON file or by running Set-PSProjectStatus.
If you are using git with your module you may want to add
psproject.jsonto your.gitignorefile.
The easiest way to view a project status is by using Get-PSProjectStatus.
PS C:\scripts\PSCalendar> Get-PSProjectStatus
Name: PSCalendar [C:\Scripts\PSCalendar]
LastUpdate Status Tasks GitBranch Age
---------- ------ ----- --------- ---
3/3/2022 10:24:49 AM Patching {Update help docu... 2.9.0 12.07:07If the PowerShell host supports ANSI, a status of Stable will be displayed in Green. Development will be shown in Red and Updating in Yellow.
The module has a default list view.
PS C:\scripts\PSCalendar> Get-PSProjectStatus | Format-List
Project: PSCalendar [C:\Scripts\PSCalendar]
Version : 2.9.0
Status : Patching
Tasks : {Update help documentation, Issue #31, Issue #34, Issue #33}
GitBranch : 2.9.0
LastUpdate : 3/3/2022 10:24:49 AMThis makes it easier to view tasks.
To update the project status, you could always manually update the JSON file in your script editor. Use this code snippet to get the DateTime value in the proper format.
Get-Date -format o | Set-ClipboardPaste the value into the file.
The Status value is an integer indicating a private enumeration value.
Development = 0
Updating = 1
Stable = 2
AlphaTesting = 3
BetaTesting = 4
ReleaseCandidate = 5
Patching = 6
UnitTesting = 7
AcceptanceTesting = 8
Other = 9
Archive = 10
Or use the Set-PSProjectStatus function.
PS C:\scripts\PSHelpDesk> Set-PSProjectStatus -LastUpdate (Get-Date) -Status Development -Tasks "add printer status function","revise user password function" -Concatenate
Name: PSHelpDesk [C:\Scripts\PSHelpDesk]
LastUpdate Status Tasks GitBranch Age
---------- ------ ----- --------- ---
3/15/2023 5:53:54 PM Development {update help, add... dev 00.00:00When defining tasks, use -Concatenate to append the tasks. Otherwise, tasks will be overwritten with the new value.
The commands in this module assume you are most likely using git for source control. The status object will automatically detect the local git branch. It will also detect the primary remote repositories.
The PSProject class has been updated since the first version of this module was released. You can use the object's methods to refresh some properties. Here is an example of an incomplete status.
PS C:\Scripts\WingetTools> Get-PSProjectStatus | Select-Object *
Name : WingetTools
Status : Stable
Version :
GitBranch : main
LastUpdate : 3/17/2023 9:46:35 AM
Age : 9.00:22:39.3936893
Path : C:\Scripts\WingetTools
ProjectVersion :
UpdateUser : THINKX1-JH\Jeff
Computername :
RemoteRepository : {}
Tasks : {}
Comment :
Tags : {}To update, get a reference to the project status object.
$p = Get-PSProjectStatusGet-Member will show you the available methods.
Invoke the methods that apply to your project. You need to invoke the Save() method to commit the changes to the JSON file.
$p.RefreshComputer()
$p.RefreshUser()
$p.RefreshProjectVersion()
$p.RefreshRemoteRepository()
$p.save()![refresh a project status]As an alternative can use the RefreshAll() method which will invoke all the refresh methods and save the file.
This module is intended to be a simple project management tool. You can use it to track tasks or to-do items. These are added to the Tasks property as an array of strings. You can manually add them to the JSON file or use the Set-PSProjectStatus function.
C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus> Set-PSProjectStatus -Tasks "Update missing online help links" -Concatenate
Name: PSProjectStatus [C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus]
LastUpdate Status Tasks GitBranch Age
---------- ------ ----- --------- ---
12/22/2023 9:08:30 AM Updating {Consider a schema … 0.11.0 00.00:00Or you can use the task-related commands.
If the PowerShell host supports it, you should get ANSI formatting. The task ID is automatically generated for each item and displayed in square brackets.
You can also add a task.
You can manually remove items from the JSON file or use the Remove-PSProjectTask function. You will need to know the task id.
Remove-PSProjectTask -TaskID 4If you have many projects, you can use this module to manage all of them.
Get-ChildItem -Path c:\scripts -Directory | Get-PSProjectStatus -WarningAction SilentlyContinue
You will want to suppress Warning messages. If you are running PowerShell 7 and have the Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleGuiTools module installed, you can run a script like this:
#requires -version 7.2
#requires -module Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleGuiTools
#open a project using the PSProject status
Import-Module PSProjectStatus -Force
$all = Get-ChildItem -Path C:\scripts -Directory |
Get-PSProjectStatus -WarningAction SilentlyContinue
$all | Sort-Object Status, LastUpdate |
Select-Object Path, Status,
@{Name = "Tasks"; Expression = { $_.Tasks -join ',' } },
GitBranch, LastUpdate |
Out-ConsoleGridView -Title "PSProject Management" -OutputMode Single |
ForEach-Object { code $_.path }This will give you a list of projects.
You can select a single project, press Enter, and open the folder in VS Code. You could write a similar script for Windows PowerShell using Out-GridView.
Beginning with version 0.10.0 you can use Get-PSProjectReport to simplify project management.
You can get all of your projects.
Get-PSProjectReport c:\scriptsYou can filter by status.
PS C:\> Get-PSProjectReport c:\scripts -Status Other
Name: PSMessaging [C:\Scripts\PSMessaging]
LastUpdate Status Tasks GitBranch Age
---------- ------ ----- --------- ---
7/20/2022 11:58:54 AM Other {} master 192.02:11And you can filter by age.
PS C:\> Get-PSProjectReport c:\scripts -NewerThan 10 -Status Stable
Name: PluralsightTools [C:\Scripts\PluralsightTools]
LastUpdate Status Tasks GitBranch Age
---------- ------ ----- --------- ---
1/20/2023 2:20:39 PM Stable {convert modu... main 07.23:51Support for tags was added in version 0.12.0. You can define tags when you create the project status file.
New-PSProjectStatus -Tasks "prototype" -Tags tui - -version 0.2.0Or you can add them later.
Set-PSProjectStatus -Tags "beta","tui"When using this command you need to redefine existing tags. Or add the tags manually to the JSON file.
You can view tags with a formatted list view.
PS C:\work\terminalgui> Get-PSProjectStatus | Format-List
Project: terminalgui [C:\work\terminalgui]
Version : 0.2.0
Status : Development
Tasks : {prototype}
Tags : {beta, tui}
GitBranch :
LastUpdate : 12/27/2023 5:11:30 PM
Age : 00:02:48.0251636You are most likely to use tags when managing multiple projects. Get-PSProjectReport includes a -Tag parameter so that you can filter from your parent folder.
PS C:\> Get-PSProjectReport -path c:\scripts -Tag json
Name: PSProjectStatus [C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus]
LastUpdate Status Tasks GitBranch Age
---------- ------ ----- --------- ---
12/27/2023 5:16:52 PM Updating {Create TUI-based m… 0.12.0 00.00:00If you want to remove tags, either manually edit the JSON file or use Set-PSProjectStatus and set an empty array.
Set-PSProjectStatus -Tags @()If no you longer want to track the project status for a given folder, simply delete the associated JSON file. As an alternative, you can set the status to Archive.
The commands in this module have defined type extensions. Alias and script properties have been defined.
PS C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus> Get-PSProjectstatus | Get-Member -MemberType Properties,PropertySet
TypeName: PSProject
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Username AliasProperty Username = UpdateUser
Version AliasProperty Version = ProjectVersion
Comment Property string Comment {get;set;}
Computername Property string Computername {get;set;}
GitBranch Property string GitBranch {get;set;}
LastUpdate Property datetime LastUpdate {get;set;}
Name Property string Name {get;set;}
Path Property string Path {get;set;}
ProjectVersion Property version ProjectVersion {get;set;}
RemoteRepository Property PSProjectRemote[] RemoteRepository {get;set;}
Status Property PSProjectStatus Status {get;set;}
Tags Property string[] Tags {get;set;}
Tasks Property string[] Tasks {get;set;}
UpdateUser Property string UpdateUser {get;set;}
Info PropertySet Info {Name, Status, Version, GitBranch, Tasks...
versionInfo PropertySet versionInfo {Name, Status, Version, GitBranch...
Age ScriptProperty System.Object Age {get=(Get-Date) - $this.las...The property sets make it easier to display a group of related properties.
PS C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus> Get-PSProjectstatus | Select Info
Name : PSProjectStatus
Status : AcceptanceTesting
Version : 0.13.0
GitBranch : 0.13.0
Tasks : {Create TUI-based management tools, Consider extending schema for a
structured Task item [Issue 10],
Pester tests}
Tags : {}
Comment : none
PS C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus> Get-PSProjectStatus | Select-Object VersionInfo,age
Name : PSProjectStatus
Status : AcceptanceTesting
Version : 0.13.0
GitBranch : 0.13.0
LastUpdate : 12/30/2023 1:43:37 PM
Age : 00:03:56.0703713The module uses custom and default formatting for projects and tasks. The default format is a table. There are examples you can see in several screenshots above. You can use also Format-List.
PS C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus> Get-PSProjectStatus | Format-List
Project: PSProjectStatus [C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus]
Version : 0.12.0
Status : Updating
Tasks : {Create TUI-based management tools, Consider extending schema for a structured Task item [Issue 10],
Pester tests, Update README…}
Tags : {json}
GitBranch : 0.12.0
LastUpdate : 12/28/2023 5:51:42 PM
Age : 00:14:21.9538891There is also a named view you can use.
PS C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus> Get-PSProjectStatus | Format-List -View info
Project: PSProjectStatus [C:\Scripts\PSProjectStatus]
Status : Updating
Tasks : {Create TUI-based management tools, Consider extending schema for a structured Task item [Issue 10], Pester tests, Update README…}
Tags : {json}
Comment : none
Age : 00.00:16:04The commands in this module use localized string data to display verbose, warning, and debug messages. The module uses a private helper function to display verbose messaging. Each module command can be identified with a different ANSI color scheme.
The defined ANSI sequences are stored in a hashtable variable called $PSProjectANSI.
$PSProjectANSI = @{
'Get-PSProjectGitStatus' = '[1;38;5;51m'
'Get-PSProjectReport' = '[1;38;5;111m'
'Get-PSProjectStatus' = '[1;96m'
'Get-PSProjectTask' = '[1;38;5;10m'
'New-PSProjectStatus' = '[1;38;5;208m'
'New-PSProjectTask' = '[1;38;5;159m'
'Remove-PSProjectTask' = '[1;38;5;195m'
'Set-PSProjectStatus' = '[1;38;5;214m'
Default = '[1;38;5;51m'
}You can change a setting by modifying the variable. You can use ANSI sequences or $PSStyle
$PSProjectANSI["Get-PSProjectStatus"] = "[1;92m"
$PSProjectANSI["Get-PSProjectGitStatus"] = $PSStyle.Foreground.CyanThese changes only persist for the duration of your PowerShell session or until you re-import the module. Use your profile script to import the module and update the variable.
Import-Module PSProjectStatus
$PSProjectANSI["Get-PSProjectStatus"] = "[1;38;5;140m"
$PSProjectANSI["Get-PSProjectGitStatus"] = "[1;38;5;77m"❗ You must use a PowerShell console that supports ANSI escape sequences. The PowerShell ISE does not support this feature.
If you import this module into your PowerShell editor, either Visual Studio Code or the PowerShell ISE, the module will add an update function called Update-PSProjectStatus. You can run the command from the integrated terminal or use the appropriate shortcut (see below). The command will the status based on user input, update the LastUpdate time to the current date and time, update the project version from the module manifest (if found), and update the git branch if found.
You need to make sure your terminal or console window is set to your project's root directory.
If you import the module in the PowerShell ISE, it will add a menu shortcut under Add-Ons.
Click the shortcut and a status menu will be displayed in the console pane.
Select a status and press Enter The function will call Set-PSProjectStatus and display the updated versioninfo property.
Likewise, in VS Code open the command palette and go to PowerShell: Show Additional commands from PowerShell modules. You should see an option to update.
Select the menu choice and switch to the integrated terminal window.
The menu will loop and display until you enter a valid number or press Enter with no value. The summary will be displayed as a VSCode information message.
A public JSON schema file was published with v0.8.0. If you edit the psproject.json file in VSCode, you should get tab completion for many of the settings. If you have a configuration file created with an earlier version of the module, run Set-PSProjectStatus with any parameter. This will insert the schema reference into the JSON file. Then you can edit the file in VSCode.
The commands in this module should work under PowerShell 7.x cross-platform. Beginning with version 0.14.0, commands have been updated to store the path using operating system-appropriate paths. The only potential issue you might encounter is if you manage the same project files in Windows and Linux, e.g. using WSL. If that is the case, I recommend you run Set-PSProjectStatus before running any other commands. This will ensure the path in the JSON file is correct.
These are a few things I'm considering or have been suggested.
- Additional properties
- priority
- project type
- Editor integration to manage project tasks.
- A WPF or TUI form to display the project status and make it easier to edit tasks.
🗨️ If you have any suggestions on how to extend this module or tips to others on how you are using it, please feel free to use the Discussions section of this module's GitHub repository.
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