Trial #43: Paging OData with PowerShell
Problem: If you want to explore or utilise an OData API in PowerShell without any extra dependencies it is quite easy using just Invoke-WebRequest to acquire...
Scripting
Trial #42: Saving Sensitive Data to SecureStore with PowerShell
Problem: This post generally supersedes the post Trial#41 - Saving Sensitive Data to File with PowerShell with a better solution to the same problem.
Trial #41: Saving Sensitive Data to File with PowerShell
Problem: You may want to store credentials on a computer for later use, either to save repeated entry or to allow for automation. However, this information ...
Trial #40: Populate Active Directory with iSAMS Pupil Data
Problem: If you work at a school using iSAMS, it is probably your trusted data source for pupil info such as preferred name. But who maintains AD to make su...
Trial #39: Making Class Teams with the MicrosoftTeams PowerShell Module
Problem: We have c. 500 different sets, each with at least one teacher and many pupils. This information is all available from our MIS but how can we automa...
Trial #38: Parsing and Transforming MidYIS grade export data
Problem: At the school at which I work, we had no way of importing our baseline MidYIS scores into our MIS and other custom reporting tools. At times this i...
Trial #37: Parsing and Transforming ALIS grade export data
Problem: At the school at which I work, we had no way of importing our baseline ALIS scores into our MIS and other custom reporting tools. At times this inf...
Trial #35: Querying the gov.uk website for COVID-19 Tier by PostCode
Problem: The UK Government has a special COVID-19 Data Website.
Trial #20: Passing a Scriptblock with Arguments to a New Powershell Instance
Problem: Its quite hard to Pass a Scriptblock with Arguments to a new powershell instance.
Trial #19: Installing Microsoft User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) 2.1 SP1
Problem: Microsoft User Experience Virtualization or UE-V has largely replaced more traditional roaming profiles. I’m currently rolling this out on Windows ...
Trial #18: Installing PowerShell 5.1
Problem: PowerShell 5.1 is available. To standardise the version of PowerShell on the network to the level of newer Server 2016 and Windows 10 machines I wan...
Trial #16: Task Scheduler Custom Event Trigger with XML Filter and Parameter Output
Problem: I want to archive user files to a secure location on their logout. I could probably do this with a logout script but I don’t want the user to have ...
Trial #15: Wake on Lan Utility with PDQ Query and DHCP Option
Problem: Wake on LAN for client machines on a domain with c.400 computers using a database of MAC addresses.
Trial #14: Netsh for Windows Network Problems
Problem: You have a network adapter that is not working. You’ve tried everything you can think of under change adapter settings - No unwanted IP address, Pro...
Trial #13: Why is Write-Verbose not Doing Anything?
Problem: I made a script with some functions in it and the built in PowerShell verbose switch is doing absolutely nothing. ./MyScript.ps1 -verbose #I'm ...
Trial #12: Enable Wake on a Windows Client
Problem: I found a lot of posts suggesting to enable WOL from a windows GUI and maybe others offering a registry modification. I had no luck with either on o...
Trial #11: Does C# have something like php’s isset()?
Problem: I’ve been making a dogs ear of an if statement in PowerShell but what I need is an isset like method. if($var1 -eq $null -or $var1 -eq ""){ "There ...
Trial #10: Wake on Lan Utility with DHCP Query
Problem: Wake on LAN for client machines on a domain with c.400 computers using a database of MAC addresses.
Trial #9: Filter Unique Elements in A Set
Problem Using Powershell, find and count the unique entries in a set $set containing unsorted, repeated characters.
Trial #8: Lego Mindstorm & WeDo
Problem Create a Silent Installer for Mindstorm EV3 Edu & WeDo. These packages seem to contain development platforms, drivers and configuration upload u...
Trial #6: Relative Paths in Scripts
Problem: I want to put a batch file in with a load of installation media on a server share, access it from a UNC path, and have it install a list of programs...