The question is simple: How can a document the content of a certain directory tree and all its content. There are many possibilities in a Unix environment (perl, bash,etc.) , but in the Microsoft Windows world it is more difficult to get such informations using command line scripts.

I wrote a simple vbscript that can do the job in at least three different ways:

• It generates an xml structure which reflects all the dirctory informations
• It generates an Excel Spreadsheet, which can be used for other processes
• It generates a printout

All three possibilities are useful in different situations.
But what is the script really doing ?

(more…)

semantics

The rule to write the names of cmdlets in the form - suggests some semantic implications on the particular task: if we have the cmdlet

    PS c:>get-psdrive 

    Name       Provider      Root
    ----       --------      ----
    A          FileSystem    A:
    Alias      Alias
    C          FileSystem    C:
    cert       Certificate   
    D          FileSystem    D:
    E          FileSystem    E:
    Env        Environment
    Function   Function
    HKCU       Registry      HKEY_CURRENT_USER
    HKLM       Registry      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
    Variable   Variable

this implies as set of tripels

  < c >     < is a > < FileSystem >
  < env >   < is a > < Environment >
  < hklm >  < is a > < Registry >
  < alias > < is a > < Alias >
  …

Such tripels are the basic structure in the data model of the Resource Description Framework. Every such statement as above is called a tripel.
My question is now if there any useful application of this interpretation of cmdlet semantics?
Also piping could make sense in this picture:

  PS c:>get-process m*

might look like be

  Handles  NPM(K)    PM(K)      WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)     Id ProcessName
  -------  ------    -----      ----- -----   ------     --   -----------
       94        2     1032        1896    29     2,21    964   mdm
      189      129     1940        2524    40     1,46   2944   mqsvc
      118        3     1392        1428    34     0,25   3468   mqtgsvc
      159        6     1888        1292    36     1,26   1132   msdtc

If we pipe this thru to the get-command mdlet

  PS c:>get-process m* | get-command

this is

  CommandType     Name           Definition
  -----------     ----                ----------
  Application     mdm.exe           C:\WINDOWS\system32\mdm.exe
  Application     mqsvc.exe         C:\WINDOWS\system32\mqsvc.exe
  Application     mqtgsvc.exe       C:\WINDOWS\system32\mqtgsvc.exe
  Application     msdtc.exe         C:\WINDOWS\system32\msdtc.exe

this implies a typical graph of resources

  < handle : id=964 > < is a > < running process starting, name with m >
  < handle : id=964 > < is the programm >  < c :\WINDOWS\system32\mdm.exe >

Could it help to categorize items of the systems and relate them in such semantic graphs?
What is the difference to other shells ? They don’t have such a clear classification of commands (or cmdlets) in groups. In this case the result of

  PS c:>get-command get-*

should be the typical representant for such < is a > statement generators. Or tripelified

   < get-command get-* > < are > < "is a" generators >

(it’s late in the night, things getting weird, I should go to bed…

Further resources

Just as a presonel reminder another random collection of ´resources on powershell

• /\\/\\o\\/\\/ PowerShelled
• http://www.karlprosser.com/coder/?page_id=14
• http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/04/25/powershell_windows_command_line_to_ship_q4/
• microsoft.public.windows.server.scripting
• http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx
• WindowsPowerShellFaq
• Windows PowerShell Community Extensions