Author: Jake Bolton

Categories
PowerShell Quick Tips

Creating a Discord Webhook in a few lines of PowerShell

Discord Web Hooks are easier than you’d think. It uses a regular `HTTP` web request .

Step1: Creating your webhook url

Go to: Server Settings -> Integrations -> View Webhooks
Then click create webhook.

Choose a name, the channel, then copy webhook url

Step2: Invoke-RestMethod

$webhookUri = 'https://discord.com/api/YourWebhookUrlHere'

$Body = @{
  'username' = 'Nomad'
  'content' = 'https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Nomad'
}
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $webhookUri -Method 'post' -Body $Body

Success!

Docs

There are optional webhook arguments to customize the output: https://discord.com/developers/docs/resources/webhook#execute-webhook

Comparison with curl

I tried making curl easier to read by splitting content, and pipe so that you don’t have to manually escape Json

$Json = @{ 'username' = 'Nomad'; 'content' = 'https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Nomad' } | ConvertTo-Json -Compress

$Json | curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '@-' $webhookUri

Categories
Command Line

Improving ‘diff’ readability on Windows | Tip

The output of diff -q path1 path2 is pretty verbose. This function

  • Converts full paths to relative
  • Differences are red.

Missing ‘diff’ ?

If git is installed, you may need to update your %PATH% environment variable.

# in your profile
$Env:Path = "$Env:ProgramFiles\Git\usr\bin", $Env:Path -join ';'

Stand-Alone function Compare-Directory

This is an isolated version of Ninmonkey.Console: Compare-Directory . I removed all dependencies except coloring is provided by the module PoshCode/Pansies.

function Invoke-NativeCommand {
    <#
    .synopsis
        wrapper to both call 'Get-NativeCommand' and invoke an argument list
    .example
        PS> # Use the first 'python' in path:
        Invoke-NativeCommand 'python' -Args '--version'
    #>

    param(
        # command name: 'python' 'ping.exe', extension is optional
        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 0)]
        [string]$CommandName,

        # Force error if multiple  binaries are found
        [Parameter()][switch]$OneOrNone,

        # native command argument list
        [Alias('Args')]
        [Parameter(Position = 1)]
        [string[]]$ArgumentList
    )

    $binCommand = Get-NativeCommand $CommandName -OneOrNone:$OneOrNone -ea Stop
    & $binCommand @ArgumentList
}

function Compare-Directory {
    <#
    .SYNOPSIS
    Compare Two directories using 'diff'
    .EXAMPLE
    Compare-Directory 'c:\foo' 'c:\bar\bat'
    #>
    [Alias('DiffDir')]
    param(
        # Path1
        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 0)]
        [string]$Path1,

        # Path2
        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 1)]
        [string]$Path2,

        # Output original raw text?
        [Parameter()][switch]$OutputRaw
    )

    $Base1 = $Path1 | Get-Item -ea Stop
    $Base2 = $Path2 | Get-Item -ea Stop
    $Label1 = $Base1 | Split-Path -Leaf | New-Text -fg 'green'
    $Label2 = $Base2 | Split-Path -Leaf | New-Text -fg 'yellow'

    "Comparing:
        Path: $Path1
        Path: $Path2
    " | Write-Information

    $stdout = Invoke-NativeCommand 'diff' -args @(
        '-q'
        $Base1
        $Base2
    )

    $outColor = $stdout
    $outColor = $outColor -replace [regex]::Escape($path1), $Label1
    $outColor = $outColor -replace [regex]::Escape($path2), $Label2
    $outColor = $outColor -replace 'Only in', (New-Text 'Only In' -fg 'red')
    $outColor = $outColor -replace 'Differ', (New-Text 'Differ' -fg 'red')

    if ($OutputRaw) {
        h1 'Raw' | Write-Information
        $stdout
        return
    }

    $outColor
}

function Get-NativeCommand {
    <#
    .synopsis
        wrapper that returns Get-Item on a native command
    .example
        # if you want an error when multiple options are found
        PS> Get-NativeCommand python -OneOrNone
    .example
        # note: this is important, $cmdArgs to be an array not scalar for '@' usage
        $binPy = Get-NativeCommand python
        $cmdArgs = @('--version')
        & $binPy @cmdArgs
    .example
    #>
    [cmdletbinding()]
    param(
        # Name of Native .exe Application
        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 0, ValueFromPipeline)]
        [object]$CommandName,

        # One or None: Raise errors when there are more than one match
        [Parameter()][switch]$OneOrNone
    )

    process {
        try {
            $query = Get-Command -Name $CommandName -All -CommandType Application -ea Stop
            | Sort-Object Name

        } catch [CommandNotFoundException] {
            Write-Error "ZeroResults: '$CommandName'"
            return
        }

        if ($OneOrNone -and $query.Count -gt 1) {
            $query | Format-Table -Wrap -AutoSize -Property Name, Version, Source
            Write-Error "OneOrNone: Multiple results for '$CommandName'"
            return
        }

        if ($query.Count -gt 1) {
            $query = $query | Select-Object -First 1
        }

        Write-Debug "Using Item: $($query.Source)"
        $query
    }
}
Categories
PowerShell Quick Tips Reference

Easy way to cache results on the Command Line | Power Shell Tip

Sometimes you’ll need to run a command with the same input with different logic.
This can be a hassle using a slow command like Get-ADUser or Get-ChildItem on a lot of files like ~ (Home) with -Depth / -Recurse

ls ~ -Depth 4 | Format-Table Name

PowerShell 7.0+

Powershell 7 added the Ternary Operator, and several operators for handling $null values.

All of these examples will only run Get-ChildItem the first time. Any future calls are cached.

Null-Coalesce ??= Assignment Operator

This is my favorite on the Command line. The RHS (Right Hand Side) skips evaluation if the left side is not $null

$AllFiles ??= ls ~ -Depth 4

Using the Null-Coalesce ?? Operator

$AllFiles = $AllFiles ?? ( ls ~ -Depth 4  )

Ternary Operator ? whenTrue : WhenFalse

$allFiles = $allFiles ? $allFiles : ( ls ~ -Depth 4 )

Windows PowerShell and Powershell < 7

Windows Powershell can achieve the same effect with an if statement

if(! $AllFiles) { $AllFiles = ls ~ -Depth 4 }
Categories
Power BI Power Query

Web.Contents: Using Dynamic and Duplicate key names in a Query

Power BI Discord asked the question:
> How do you use duplicate keys, and dynamic urls with Web.Contents ?
(They were using a web API that required duplicate keys)
After I wrote this, Chris Webb found an easier solution.

Requirements

  1. You can’t use a regular record because keys must be distinct. Query = [ Key1 = 1, Key1 = 10] will throw an error.
  2. You can’t put the **dynamic url** in the first argument Web.Contents or else refreshes can break

I built a RelativePath by Uri-escaping a list.

Building RelativePath by Uri-escaping a list

The final query will request the url: https://www.google.com/search?q=dog&q=cat
This function generates the query string q=dog&q=cat

This Input"q", { "dog", "cat" }
Will Returnq=dog&q=cat
let
    QueryStr_UsingDuplicateKeys = (key as text, values as list) as text =>
    // values are the 'value' of 'key'-> 'value' pairs
        let
            escapedList = List.Transform(
                values,
                each 
                    key & "=" & Uri.EscapeDataString( Text.From(_) )
            ),    
            joinedArgs = Text.Combine(escapedList, "&")
        in
            joinedArgs
in
    QueryStr_UsingDuplicateKeys

Now you can use Web.Contents as normal. 

let
    BaseUrl = "https://www.google.com",
    queryStr = QueryStr_UsingDuplicateKeys(
        "q", {"dog", "cat"}
    ),
    Options = [
        RelativePath = "/search?" & queryStr,
        Headers = [ Accept="application/json" ]
    ],
    response_binary = Web.Contents(BaseUrl, Options)
in
    response_binary

Note: BaseUrl is for the static part of the url. Everything else should be in options[RelativePath] or options[Query] See docs: Web.Contents for details.

Easier Solution

First try Chris’s method where you use Query‘s Key-Value pairs a list
Results may vary. If it does not work, you can try this method.
I have not seen Query publicly documented.

Query = [
    q = {"dog", "cat"}
]

Tips from Chris Webb

Using Optional Parameters with Query

Handling Multiple URL Query Parameters With The Same Name Using Web.Contents In Power Query/Power BI
Chris has a tip to optionally use null query parameters.
If set to an empty list, {} — the request drops the parameter.
Web.Contents(
    "http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/comments",
    [Query = [postId = {}] ]
)

Which results in the url: http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/comments
This is a good place to use Power Query‘s null coalesce operator (Which isn’t in the official docs) 

Query = [postId = myPostId ?? {}]

Capturing HTTP Requests without Fiddler

Troubleshooting Web Service Refresh Problems In Power BI With The Power Query Diagnostics Feature
The Query Editor is an alternate to using Fiddler to capture web requests.
Categories
Power BI Power Query Quick Tips

Preserving Types When using “Add Custom Column” in Power Query

The default UI sets your column to type any.

You can use the optional argument of Table.AddColumn to set it to number
Or you can declare your function’s return type

Why doesn’t the original [Num] * 2 work?

Powerquery does not know what type will be returned by your function. That’s because each is by definition a function that returns type any

See More

Categories
PowerShell Quick Tips What's New

PowerShell : Prefixing lines with the Pipe operator |

There’s a lot of ways to use line continuations in Windows Powershell without backticks . Powershell added a new one, the | pipe operator. It’s cleaner to read, and makes it easier to insert, delete, or toggle comments on the console.

Now you can write:

# Powershell
ls | sort Length
| Select -First 10
| ft Name, Length

Instead of piping on line endings

# Windows Powershell
ls | sort Length |
Select -First 10 |
ft Name, Length

# or
ls | sort Length | Select -First 10 | ft Name, Length
Categories
Formatting PowerShell Snippets

Reusable Calculated Properties in PowerShell

The function Label is from the module: github.com/Ninmonkey.Console

$basePath = 'C:\Program Files'
$calcProp = @{}
$calcProp.FileSize = @{
    n         = 'Size'
    e         = { $_.Length | Format-FileSize }
    Alignment = 'right'
}
# relative path defaults to relative your current location, so I override it
$calcProp.RelativePath = @{
    n = 'RelativePath'
    e = {
        Push-Location $baseBath
        $_.FullName | Resolve-Path -Relative
        Pop-Location
    }
}
$calcProp.ColorizedName = @{
    n = 'ColorName'
    e = {
        $Color = ($_ | Test-IsDirectory) ? 'blue' : 'green'
        Label $_.Name -fg $Color -Separator ''
    }
}

$DefaultPropList = 'Name', $calcProp.ColorizedName, $calcProp.RelativePath

Label 'basePath' $basePath

$files = Get-ChildItem $basePath -Depth 2
$files | Format-Table Name, Length, $calcProp.FileSize, $calcProp.RelativePath

$files | Format-Table  $calcProp.FileSize, $calcProp.ColorizedName

# Using pre-declared property lists, which may include scriptblocks like $calcProp.FileSize
$files | Format-Table -Property $DefaultPropList

Categories
Excel Power BI Power Query

Which Power Query Functions exist in Power BI but not Excel?

The final number of missing identifiers*

The only function that Power BI is missing is Facebook.Graph (on my machine)

* This query checks for missing identifiers (which may be functions).
( You can filter by type if you convert #shared to a table instead of calling Record.FieldNames() )

Generating the list using #shared

To get a list of all identifiers (functions, variables, constants) I use the variable named #shared . Create a new blank query, then paste this 

let
    IdentifierList = List.Sort(Record.FieldNames( #shared ))
in
    IdentifierList

I copy using Copy Entire List, then storing the results into a PowerShell variable. I Repeat the same with Power BI.

That’s more than I expected.

To find out exactly which functions are different, use the Power Shell operator -NotIn

# Find functions in PBI but not Excel
$MissingExcel = $PowerBI | ? { $_  -notin $Excel }

# Find functions in Excel but not PBI
$MissingPowerBI = $Excel | ? { $_  -notin $PowerBI }

The list of functions Power BI is Missing

Facebook.Graph

The list of functions Excel is Missing

Note: This is the list for today, on my machine. Run the #shared query to find any changes.

AI.ExecuteInProc
AI.ExecuteInternal
AI.ExternalSort
AI.GetAutoMLEntity
AI.SampleStratifiedWithHoldout
AI.TestConnection
AIFunctions.Capacities
AIFunctions.Contents
AIFunctions.ExecuteInternal
AIFunctions.GetAutoMLEntity
AIFunctions.PostProcess
AIInsights.Contents
AIInsights.ContentsGenerator
AML.Execute
AML.ExecuteBatch
Acterys.Contents
Actian.Contents
AmazonRedshift.Database
Anaplan.Contents
ApacheHiveLLAP.Database
ApacheSpark.Tables
Asana.Tables
AtScale.Cubes
AutomationAnywhere.Feed
AzureCostManagement.Contents
AzureCostManagement.Tables
AzureDataExplorer.Contents
AzureDataExplorer.Databases
AzureDevOpsServer.AccountContents
AzureDevOpsServer.AnalyticsViews
AzureDevOpsServer.Feed
AzureDevOpsServer.Views
AzureEnterprise.Contents
AzureEnterprise.Tables
AzureHiveLLAP.Database
AzureMLFunctions.Contents
AzureMLFunctions.Execute
AzureMLFunctions.ExecuteBatch
AzureSpark.Tables
AzureTimeSeriesInsights.Contents
BI360.Contents
BIConnector.Contents
Binary.Range
Cdm.Contents
Cdm.MapToEntity
Cds.Contents
Cds.Entities
Cherwell.SavedSearches
Cognite.Contents
CommonDataService.Database
Compression.Brotli
Compression.LZ4
Compression.None
Compression.Snappy
Compression.Zstandard
CustomerInsights.Contents
DataVirtuality.Database
DataWorld.Contents
DataWorld.Dataset
Databricks.Contents
Denodo.Contents
DocumentDB.Contents
Dremio.Databases
Dynamics365BusinessCentral.Contents
Dynamics365BusinessCentral.EnvironmentContents
Dynamics365BusinessCentralOnPremises.Contents
DynamicsNav.Contents
Emigo.Contents
Emigo.GetExtractFunction
EmigoDataSourceConnector.GetExtractFunction
EmigoDataSourceConnector.NavigationFunctionType
EntersoftBusinessSuite.Contents
Essbase.Cubes
Exasol.Database
FactSetAnalytics.AuthenticationCheck
FactSetAnalytics.Functions
Fhir.Contents
Foundry.Contents
Geography.FromWellKnownText
Geography.ToWellKnownText
GeographyPoint.From
Geometry.FromWellKnownText
Geometry.ToWellKnownText
GeometryPoint.From
Github.Contents
Github.PagedTable
Github.Tables
GoogleAnalytics.Accounts
GoogleBigQuery.Database
Graph.Nodes
HexagonSmartApi.ApplySelectList
HexagonSmartApi.ApplyUnitsOfMeasure
HexagonSmartApi.ExecuteParametricFilterOnFilterRecord
HexagonSmartApi.ExecuteParametricFilterOnFilterUrl
HexagonSmartApi.Feed
HexagonSmartApi.GenerateParametricFilterByFilterSourceType
HexagonSmartApi.GetODataMetadata
HexagonSmartApi.Typecast
HiveProtocol.HTTP
HiveProtocol.Standard
HiveProtocol.Type
Html.Table
IRIS.Database
Impala.Database
Indexima.Database
IndustrialAppStore.NavigationTable
InformationGrid.Contents
Intune.Contents
JamfPro.Contents
JethroODBC.Database
Kyligence.Database
Linkar.Contents
LinkedIn.SalesContracts
LinkedIn.SalesContractsWithReportAccess
LinkedIn.SalesNavigator
LinkedIn.SalesNavigatorAnalytics
LinkedIn.SalesNavigatorAnalyticsImpl
List.ConformToPageReader
MailChimp.Collection
MailChimp.Instance
MailChimp.Tables
MailChimp.TablesV2
MariaDB.Contents
MarkLogicODBC.Contents
Marketo.Activities
Marketo.Leads
Marketo.Tables
MicroStrategyDataset.Contents
MicroStrategyDataset.TestConnection
MicrosoftAzureConsumptionInsights.Contents
MicrosoftAzureConsumptionInsights.Tables
MicrosoftAzureConsumptionInsights.Test
MicrosoftGraphSecurity.Contents
Mixpanel.Contents
Mixpanel.Export
Mixpanel.FunnelById
Mixpanel.FunnelByName
Mixpanel.Funnels
Mixpanel.Segmentation
Mixpanel.Tables
Netezza.Database
PQ_Hi_World.Contents
Parquet.Document
Paxata.Contents
Pdf.Tables
PlanviewEnterprise.CallQueryService
PlanviewEnterprise.Feed
PlanviewProjectplace.Contents
PowerBI.Dataflows
PowerPlatform.Dataflows
ProductInsights.Contents
ProductInsights.QueryMetric
Projectplace.Feed
Python.Execute
QubolePresto.Contents
QuickBase.Contents
QuickBooks.Query
QuickBooks.Report
QuickBooks.Tables
QuickBooksOnline.Tables
R.Execute
Roamler.Contents
ShortcutsBI.Contents
Siteimprove.Contents
Smartsheet.Content
Smartsheet.Query
Smartsheet.Tables
Snowflake.Databases
Spark.Tables
SparkPost.GetList
SparkPost.GetTable
SparkPost.NavTable
SparkProtocol.Azure
SparkProtocol.HTTP
SparkProtocol.Standard
SparkProtocol.Type
Spigit.Contents
StarburstPresto.Contents
Stripe.Contents
Stripe.Method
Stripe.Tables
SurveyMonkey.Contents
SweetIQ.Contents
SweetIQ.Tables
Table.AddFuzzyClusterColumn
Table.CombineColumnsToRecord
Table.ConformToPageReader
Table.FuzzyGroup
TeamDesk.Database
TeamDesk.Select
TeamDesk.SelectView
Tenforce.Contents
TibcoTdv.DataSource
TimeSeriesInsights.Contents
Troux.CustomFeed
Troux.Feed
Troux.TestConnection
Twilio.Contents
Twilio.Tables
Twilio.URL
VSTS.AccountContents
VSTS.AnalyticsViews
VSTS.Contents
VSTS.Feed
VSTS.Views
Value.Alternates
Value.Expression
Value.Lineage
Value.Optimize
Value.Traits
Vena.Contents
Vertica.Database
VesselInsight.Contents
Web.BrowserContents
Webtrends.KeyMetrics
Webtrends.Profile
Webtrends.ReportContents
Webtrends.Tables
WebtrendsAnalytics.Tables
Witivio.Contents
WorkforceDimensions.Contents
WorkplaceAnalytics.Data
Zendesk.Collection
Zendesk.Tables
Categories
Quick Tips Snippets SQL

Generating Random Numbers in SQL

To generate random integers from min to max, including min and max

SELECT FLOOR( RAND()*( Max - Min + 1 )) + Min;

Example: To create a random integer between 5 and 10

SELECT FLOOR( RAND()*( 10 - 5 + 1 )) + 5;
Categories
PowerShell Reference

Learning PowerShell

Getting started with PowerShell

Main

Grammar

Important Topics, Language quirks

For( ;; ) vs ForEach vs ForEach-Object

It’s first argument is a ScriptBlock so it appears like a control loop.

Notice return verses break in ForEach-Object . Remember that the { ... stuff ... } in this case is an anonymous function , not a language control statement
It is a parameter to the ForEach-Object . When not specified, it’s the -Process Parameter

Flow Control with language Keywords

Attributes for validation

Best Practices

Naming