PowerShell Tools

Overview of PowerShell Tools

If you are the beginner or never used PowerShell before, and if you need to start exploring the commands in PowerShell there are some free and paid tools available for PowerShell cmdlets. Powershell is a free technology and to integrate and debug its commands and scripts, PowerShell GUI tools are required.

Tools of PowerShell

Given below are top 7 PowerShell Tools:

1. PowerShell Console

You can write codes into the PowerShell debug console itself. It is installed default with the Windows operating systems (Windows 7 SP1 and new versions, Windows Server 2008 SP2 and new versions). This console is useful when you write shortcodes.

2. PowerShell ISE (Integrated Scripting Environment)

PowerShell ISE is the default tool that comes with the supported Windows Servers and Windows client operating systems if PowerShell 2.0 installed on them. It was first introduced with PowerShell v2 and was again re-designed with PowerShell v3. ISE supports all the versions of PowerShell.

This tool has the PowerShell script editor and the debug console. In addition, it auto-suggest parameters and commands when you start typing and that is helpful for scripters to not remember, google or search for the help. It is a multiline script editor and you can open multiple windows to write different scripts and can execute them in the same console. You can also change the text font, size, foreground color, and background color.

3. Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio (VS Code) is the most famous tool among PowerShell scripters. It is the product of Microsoft and available freeware. This tool is available in different OS flavors like Windows, Linux, and MAC.

You can download the latest version from the website below.

https://code.visualstudio.com/

We can check the exciting features from the visual studio from the above website. The beauty of the Visual studio is it supports multiple extensions like (Powershell, Python, Yaml, XML, JS and many more) and multiple debuggers as well.

4. Notepad++

You can also use the Notepad++ for writing the PowerShell Scripts but comparatively to PowerShell ISE and Visual Studio code, notepad++ is not much effective and lagging of some functionality like debugging tool and autosuggestion for parameters and cmdlets, but it also supports tabbed editing, which allows working with the multiple open files in a single window.

This software is freeware and you can get it from

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/

5. PowerGUI

This is another top free licensed software used for PowerShell scripting. This software is provided by DELL Inc. It is also similar to PowerShell ISE where debug console, multi-tabbed script editors provided into the single window and on the right pane, you can see assigned variables.

6. PowerShell Plus

This free tool provided by Idera Inc. It has some rich features like Powerful IDE, Pre-loaded scripts, Advanced Script Editor and debugger. In addition, they provide an interactive learning center and online community to discuss PowerShell script development and troubleshoot issues related to scripts.

• Powerful IDE: Development kit for the PowerShell scripting. The left side of the page, you can browse the system explorer (Files, services, applications, etc.), On the right side, you can see the available modules like Hyper-V, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server and more, as displayed in below image.
• There are also code snippets and variable monitor available on this page.
• Pre-loaded Scripts: Access to hundreds of different technology scripts like MS SQL, Exchange Server, SharePoint, Active Directory.
• Advanced Script Editor: This advanced script debugger and editor lets you build and test complex PowerShell scripts.

You can download the software from their website below and to download it requires your business email.

https://www.idera.com/productssolutions/freetools/powershellplus/overview

7. PowerShell Studio 2019

PowerShell studio provides many features and advanced level of functionalities. This tool is paid software and it costs around $399.00.

Below features that are supported by PowerShell Studio.

• Fully featured PowerShell Editor.
• Visually create the PowerShell GUI tool.
• Convert script into executable (.exe) files.
• Create MSI installers.
• Source control and Git integration.
• Local and remote debugging.
• Code formatting.
• Built-in PowerShell help.
• 32-bit and 64-bit PowerShell integration.
• Supports Windows PowerShell 2.0 – 5.1 and PowerShell core (v6).
• Code formatting and many other features.

There are many other free and paid tools, you can just search for it and some of them might have expired or company might not supporting the legacy versions.

Conclusion – PowerShell Tools

PowerShell is a free technology and comes default with supported Windows Servers and Client versions and to manage it we can use the different editors. Visual Studio Code is the most used and popular editor and debugger freeware software provided by Microsoft and it also supports many other extensions but for the GUI integration, you need to use the PowerShell Studio or the Visual Studio enterprise or professional edition which are paid.

This has been a guide to PowerShell Tools. Here we discuss the overview and top 7 different tools of PowerShell in detail. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –

1. PowerShell Environment Variables
2. Web Designing Tools
3. PowerShell Run Command
4. PowerShell Remove-Item
5. PowerShell Get-Location | Syntax | Parameters
6. Guide to PowerShell Scheduled Task