PowerShell function for creating a script module template
I’m curious to know what process others use to create new PowerShell script modules?
Since the initial process of creating a PowerShell script module seems redundant and tedious, I decided to create a function that creates a template for new script modules that I create which includes creating both the script module PSM1 and manifest PSD1 files and filling in the information that I would normally include:
function New-MrScriptModule {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Creates a new PowerShell script module in the specified location.
.DESCRIPTION
New-MrScriptModule is an advanced function that creates a new PowerShell script module in the
specified location including creating the module folder and both the PSM1 script module file
and PSD1 module manifest.
.PARAMETER Name
Name of the script module.
.PARAMETER Path
Parent path of the location to create the script module in. This location must already exist.
.PARAMETER Author
Specifies the module author.
.PARAMETER CompanyName
Identifies the company or vendor who created the module.
.PARAMETER Description
Describes the contents of the module.
.PARAMETER PowerShellVersion
Specifies the minimum version of Windows PowerShell that will work with this module. For example,
you can enter 3.0, 4.0, or 5.0 as the value of this parameter.
.EXAMPLE
New-MrScriptModule -Name MyModuleName -Path "$env:ProgramFiles\WindowsPowerShell\Modules" -Author 'Mike F Robbins' -CompanyName mikefrobbins.com -Description 'Brief description of my PowerShell module' -PowerShellVersion 3.0
.INPUTS
None
.OUTPUTS
None
.NOTES
Author: Mike F Robbins
Website: https://mikefrobbins.com
Twitter: @mikefrobbins
#>
[CmdletBinding()]
param (
[Parameter(Mandatory)]
[string]$Name,
[ValidateScript({
If (Test-Path -Path $_ -PathType Container) {
$true
}
else {
Throw "'$_' is not a valid directory."
}
})]
[String]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory)]
[string]$Author,
[Parameter(Mandatory)]
[string]$CompanyName,
[Parameter(Mandatory)]
[string]$Description,
[Parameter(Mandatory)]
[string]$PowerShellVersion
)
New-Item -Path $Path -Name $Name -ItemType Directory | Out-Null
Out-File -FilePath "$Path\$Name\$Name.psm1" -Encoding utf8
Add-Content -Path "$Path\$Name\$Name.psm1" -Value '#Dot source all functions in all ps1 files located in the module folder
Get-ChildItem -Path $PSScriptRoot\*.ps1 -Exclude *.tests.ps1, *profile.ps1 |
ForEach-Object {
. $_.FullName
}'
New-ModuleManifest -Path "$Path\$Name\$Name.psd1" -RootModule $Name -Author $Author -Description $Description -CompanyName $CompanyName `
-PowerShellVersion $PowerShellVersion -AliasesToExport $null -FunctionsToExport $null -VariablesToExport $null -CmdletsToExport $null
}
When the previous function is run, a folder with the specified module name is created along with the PSM1 and PSD1 files. The PSM1 is set to dot source any function that exists in the module’s folder. I could have easily coded the specific user and all users paths for modules into the function, but I rarely develop new modules in either of those locations.
New-MrScriptModule -Name MyModuleName -Path "$env:ProgramFiles\WindowsPowerShell\Modules" -Author 'Mike F Robbins' -CompanyName mikefrobbins.com -Description 'Brief description of my PowerShell module' -PowerShellVersion 3.0
The function shown in this blog article is a work in progress and can be downloaded from my PowerShell repository on GitHub. Feel free to fork the repository and submit pull requests if you can think of improvements that could be made to the code shown in this blog article.
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