Table of Contents

• Table of Contents
• PowerShell Module Template
  • README
  • CHANGELOG
  • CI
    • Build-Module.ps1
      • Usage
    • Module-Settings.json
  • Code
    • Get-PRETemplate.ps1
    • Write-PRELog.ps1
  • Module-Folder
    • Manifest-File
    • Module-File
  • Tests
    • Functions.Tests.ps1
    • Failed.Tests.json
    • Module.Tests.ps1

PowerShell Module Template

How to create a new PowerShell-Module with PSModuleTemplate?

1. Create a new project in Git and clone it to your computer
2. git clone https://github.com/tinuwalther/PSModuleTemplate.git
3. Copy the content from PSModuleTemplate into your new project
4. Update the README.md with your information
5. Save your function-files in the folder Code
6. Build your Module with Build-Module.ps1

README

Information about your project.

CHANGELOG

The Build-Module.ps1 update this file with your last change description.

CI

This is the folder for all Continous Integration scripts like a script to automate the Module-File (Build-Module.ps1) and other scripts.

Build-Module.ps1

This script builds your module automatically.

Build-Module.ps1 running the Functions.Tests.ps1, if no errors occured it delete the existent Module-File (PSM1) and create a new Module-File (PSM1) with all of your functions. The script also updates the Manifest-File (PSD1) with the functions to export. If the Manifest-File doesn't exists, it will be created.

Finally Build-Module.ps1 tests if your Module can be imported and removed without any errors. It tests also if the Module contains all of your exported functions.

Usage

Open the Terminal and navigate to the Git-Project. Start the Build-Module.ps1 and enter the answers:

./CI/Build-Module.ps1

[BUILD] [START] Launching Build Process
Enter the name of the module without the extension: Test-PSModuleTemplate
Enter the Version number of this module in the Semantic Versioning notation [1.0.0]: 0.0.1
Enter the Description of the functionality provided by this module: This is a PowerShell-Module to create simple PowerShell-Modules
Enter the Author of this module: Martin Walther  
Enter the Company or vendor of this module: Martin Walther Foto & IT
Enter the Prefix for all functions of this module: MWA
Describe what did you change: Initial upload
[BUILD] [TEST]  Running Function-Tests

Starting discovery in 1 files.
Discovery found 0 tests in 13ms.
Running tests.
Tests completed in 13ms
Tests Passed: 0, Failed: 0, Skipped: 0 NotRun: 0

[BUILD] [Code ] Loading Class, public and private functions
[BUILD] [START] [PSM1] Building Module PSM1
[BUILD] [END  ] [PSM1] building Module PSM1 
[BUILD] [START] [PSD1] Manifest PSD1
[BUILD] [PSD1 ] Adding functions to export
[BUILD] [END  ] [PSD1] building Manifest
[BUILD] [END]   Launching Build Process

Import-Module ./test.psmoduletemplate/                                                                
Get-Command -Module test.psmoduletemplate       

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Function        Get-PRETemplate                                    0.0.1      test.psmoduletemplate

Module-Settings.json

The settings-file will be created, if you build the module at the first time and contains the following properties:

ModuleName
ModuleVersion
ModuleDescription
ModuleAuthor
ModuleCompany
ModulePrefix
LastChange

Code

In this folder save all your functions as PS1-Files with the Name of the function you want to have in the Module. e.g. Get-PRETemplate.ps1.

Get-PRETemplate.ps1

This is an example function-file, you can copy and rename this file for your own use. Before you build your module, please be sure that you renamed the function name within the file.

Write-PRELog.ps1

This is an example Log-function to write information to the specified logfile. If no logfile is ommited, the default logfile will be used (<ModulePath\ModuleName.log>).

Module-Folder

The Module-Folder will be created automatically with the Build-Module.script.

Manifest-File

Automatically generated Manifest-file (PSD1), please update some settings by editing the file in vs-code.

Module-File

PowerShell-Module-file (PSM1), contains all your functions from the Code-folder.

Tests

This folder contains all the Pester-Test-scripts.

Functions.Tests.ps1

Functions.Tests.ps1 tests all of your scripts/functions in the folder Code.

Failed.Tests.json

This file will be created, if there were some errors in the Build-Module.

Module.Tests.ps1

This is the file for your Function-Tests. Here you should write a test for each function to ensure, that your code is not damaged and is valid. You can call this Tests in a GitHub-Action or CI/CD-Pipeline or simple manually.

$TestsResult = Invoke-Pester -Script ./Tests/Module.Tests.ps1 -Output Detailed  -PassThru

Describing Module Tests
 Context Import Module
   [+] Import test.psmoduletemplate should not throw 8ms (5ms|3ms)
   [+] Get-Command -Module test.psmoduletemplate should not throw 11ms (3ms|8ms)
   [+] Get-Command -Module test.psmoduletemplate should return commands 10ms (8ms|1ms)
 Context Functions
   [+] Get-PRETemplate should not throw 53ms (51ms|2ms)
 Context Remove Module
   [+] Removes test.psmoduletemplate should not throw 8ms (6ms|2ms)
   [+] Get-Module -Name test.psmoduletemplate should be NullOrEmpty 4ms (3ms|1ms)
Tests completed in 238ms
Tests Passed: 6, Failed: 0, Skipped: 0 NotRun: 0