Scott Hanselman

Free PowerShell IDE

June 07, 2006 Comment on this post [6] Posted in PowerShell | Bugs | Tools
Sponsored By

PowershellideHoly crap! Run, don't walk, over to http://powershell.com/ to pick up the FREE PowerShellIDE from ScriptInternals. (The direct download link is here)

Do your best to spread the word and these link. Why? Because:

A. PowerShell rocks the house. Check out my Podcast on it, when it was still called "Monad."

2. It's freaking FREE.

Jeffrey Snover, PowerShell Architect and all-around nice guy sez:

Check out the amazing PowerShellIDE at http://PowerShell.com .   Many of you probably already know Dr Tobias Weltner from his product SystemScripter http://www.scriptinternals.com.  The PowerShell team has been talking to Tobias on and off for years now and those discussions have clearly paid off.  PowerShellIDE is a free "experimental editor" whose functions will be integrated into SystemScripter.

The things that I really like are the rich intellisense, rich syntax coloring, rich inspection capabilities, and rich debugging that PowerShellIDE brings to the table.  Did I mention that it was RICH?  Check it out yourself and you'll see exactly what I mean.  This tool can really accelerate learning and scripting PowerShell. 

One word of caution:  Be careful using PowerShellIDE, if you drool too much on your keyboard, it could stop working.  :-)

Jeffrey Snover
Windows PowerShell Architect

To use PowerShellIDE, you need to install Microsoft Windows PowerShell Beta first. This product requires the .NET 2.0 Runtimes which you can get here:

.NET Framework 2.0 Runtimes for X86
.NET Framework 2.0 Runtimes for X64
.NET Framework 2.0 Runtimes for Ia64

Microsoft Windows PowerShell is available here:

Microsoft Windows PowerShell for X86
Microsoft Windows PowerShell for X64
Microsoft Windows PowerShell for Ia64

And download PowerShellIDE here.

Potential "competition" (either way, we all win) for PowerShellIDE is, of course, Karl Prosser's totally fabulous PowerShell Analyzer. Karl really should release his Alpha ASAP because the functionality in his editor is slightly ahead of PowerShellIDE. These two guys need to either TALK to each other and join forces or start a giant WordPerfect vs. Word thing in the PowerShell world.:)

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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June 07, 2006 9:45
Thanks for direct link, Scott!
June 07, 2006 11:00
Nice! This is also the first app I've seen to mimic the Office 12 look and feel. Shiney.
June 07, 2006 14:43
arrghh I've finally caved in and I'm downloading powershell now. I've resisted until now because I'm learning a gazillion things at once here... but this will make me all powerful right ?
June 07, 2006 18:42
Powershell truely rocks! It's one of the best things that MS have done in years. It makes Unix shells look pedestrian by comparison. Piping objects is so obvious in retospect that is makes you wonder why no-one did it before....

But the PowerShell IDE is buggy and redundant. There is no reason to build a GUI onto a shell. Expesially on such great shell.

Having said that I'm sure Dr. Tobias Weltner will make a fair amount on it in the end.

Long live Monad!!
June 07, 2006 20:39
This is something Monad needed, now I find out there's *two* awesome IDEs? super sweet!

Monad was my favorite session at PDC.
June 09, 2006 2:39
There's lotsa IDEs. I'm not even sure this one is the first (as noted, PSHAnalyzer's beenbopping around for a while now). PrimalScript 4.1 (http://www.primalscript.com/psnextpreview.asp), the aforementioned PowerShellIDE and PSHAnalyzer, and I'm sure the other major VBS editors (like VBSEdit) are working hard. I mean, you have to expect that much of the VBS market is looking at PowerShell, right?

One counter-comment on the "no need for a GUI for a shell..." well, sure... if all you're using PowerShell for is as a shell. If you're developing scripts in it, though, then an IDE is pretty much a necessity. PowerShell just doesn't have any kind of file-editing capabilities built in. I think that's where most of these IDEs are going, is with script development, not just straight interactive shell usage.

Disclaimer: My site, www.ScriptingAnswers.com, is owned by SAPIEN Technologies, maker of the PrimalScript product I mentioned.
Don

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.