PoshBoard 2.5 available

New version of PoshBoard available, read this

PoshBoard in Get-Scripting PodCast

I've made an interview with Alan and jonathan from Get-Scripting Podcast. Great guys, great meeting !

http://get-scripting.blogspot.com/2009/10/get-scripting-podcast-episode-13.html

Exclusive news about PoshBoard and future evolutions. Grab it now :)

Events management in PoshBoard 2 Part 1 published

I've published an article on events management in PoshBoard 2.0

you can read it here

PoshBoard Out-PBChart and new PBDataGrid parameter

A new article on the new PoshBoard 2.0 version is available here.

Out-PBChart, Out-PBChartSerie and new DataGrid parameter !

PoshBoard 2.0.1027 available

What's new in this version ?

Update 2.0.1027 (9th October 2009)

[ADDED] “Dynamic Update” mode: when writing scripts, if Dynamic mode is set to off, the page isn't refreshed

in real time

[ADDED] KeyBoard shortcut for Dynamic Update mode: CTRL+U to enabled/disable this feature

[MODIFIED] Management layout

[ADDED] LiveUpdate settings for users in ConfigFile, you can manage this in the PoshBoard Configuration page

[MODIFIED] Default impersonation for SuperAdmins set to False

[ADDED] Two new buttons to Move Portals in list (Up/down)

[ADDED] New embedded Samples

Warning :

This new release add an attribute to users/groups in the config file. Older config file won't work with this version.

Simply Copy/paste your old script in the new config file, or add this attribute to every user/group :

LiveUpdate="True"

Example :

LiveUpdate="True" />

You can use CTRL+U ShortCut to Enable or Disable the fact that PoshBoard send your script to the WCF Service when you stop typing (cool when you doesn't type as fast as you want :) )

Enjoy

Now MVP PowerShell :)

I was awarded MVP PowerShell !

A great news that confort me to continue working on this fabulous language and promote it as much as I can :)

PoshBoard 2.0 available !

A major upgrade of PoshBoard is available : Informations and video preview here

PoshBoard Cmdlets Part 1

The first part of the PoshBoard cmdlets tutorial is available here on poshboard.com

Poshboard PowerShell Snapin

General Snapin and objects Architecture

Poshboard comes with a PowerShell Snapin with several cmdlets that generate PowerShell custom objects. These objects are then converted to Silverlight controls in Poshboard. The properties / methods used for these cmdlets are equivalent of Silverlight controls properties.

The logic of Silverlight objects is respected: you’ll find the corresponding properties of Silverlight controls in the PowerShell objects (It ease the learning process as you’ll find Silverlight sample on internet that you can convert to Poshboard PowerShell objects).

Note: not every Silverlight controls properties are available in Poshboard cmdlets, because they are not useful in the context of Poshboard (or due to a lack of time..). But the main idea was to keep the object model simple to understand. In the future, if some properties prove to be really needed, they will be added to the solution easely in future updates.

.NET developer that got previous experience on Silverlight development will also be able to rapidly develop PowerShell controls, as the logic is the same (but with the benefice of the Dynamic and model of PowerShell! )

Snapin relationship with PoshBoard and Silverlight

Poshboard use WCF to enable communicate between Silverlight clients (your web page) and the Poshboard server. PowerShell objects are created by the user scripts, and these objects are then converted to Silverlight control and dynamically added to the Silverlight GUI, along with the results of other PowerShell cmdlets (you can re use any kind of script that you already designed, or downloaded from internet)

Sample Architecture of Poshboard Silverlight conversion of Visifire charts

Snapin Installation

Installing the snapin is really simple, you don’t even need to have Poshboard installed to use it and to design your future Silverlight objects.

Copy the two Dll from the Snapin zip file in a directory of your server or workstataion (Example : c:\ressources)

Launch the following line in a console (with administrator privilege in Vista / Seven / W2K8) :

• For x86 Systems:

c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\installutil.exe c:\ressources\poshboard.dll

• For x64 systems:

c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\installutil.exe c:\ressources\poshboard.dll

You’re ready to script :

• Open a PowerShell console, and type :

Add-PSSnapin poshboard

• List all cmdlets

get-command *PB*

The Cmdlets

Here’s the list of these cmdlets:

Cmdlets	Description
New-PBAgDataGrid	Create a Silverlight DataGrid (based on DevExpress AgDataGrid control)
New-PBButton	Create a Silverlight Button
New-PBChart	Create a Silverlight Chart (based on Visifire Charts control)
New-PBComboBox	Create a Silverlight ComboBox
New-PBContainer	Create a Silverlight Grid (container for other controls)
New-PBDataSerie	Create a DataSerie (used for Charts)
New-PBElement	Create a blank Element
New-PBEvent	Create an event on a control
New-PBFlipBook	Create a FlipBook (based on SLMitsu Flip book control)
New-PBGridData	Create Data object for Datagrid
New-PBTextBlock	Create a Text Block control
New-PBTextBox	Create a TextBox control
Add-PBDataSerie	Add a DataSerie to a Chart object
Add-PBElement	Add an Element to a container
Add-PBEvent	Add an event to a control
Add-PBGridData	Add Grid data to a Datagrid

We will describe all these cmdlets and the corresponding controls in the next post.

Poshboard Beta 1 rev 3 available

an updated version of the Beta 1 of Poshboard is available on codeplex here

Changelog :

[CHANGED] default widgets height to 400 px

[CHANGED] Widgets icons and order in add stuff menu

[ADDED] 3 new properties to Chart Widgets : AnimationEnabled and scrollerenabled for PBChart, LineTickness for PBDataSerie

AnimationEnabled can be set to true for animation (works only for "shot" update, play update disable this boolean)

ScrollerEnabled enable or disable the scroller in chart (now disable by default): if you disable this property, chart will "fit"

your current control (Datapoint bar/column... size will change dynamically)

LineTickness : change the tickness of line in charts (1 for smallest line)

[ADDED] 1 new property to Datagrid : ShowGroupPanel (Boolean)

Enable or disable the top group panel (for datagrid filtering)

[ADDED] FlipBook Widget

[ADDED] BlackLight Dashboard Widgets

Poshboard V1 Beta 1 Available Today !

See presentation article here : http://www.poshboard.com/

Download the release here : http://poshboard.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=28457

Enjoy !

Poshboard v1 : Technical preview 1

Poshboard v1 development is going well and the the first release should be available in june. 

Several Beta will be available in the meantime, I will also publish "technical preview" videos before this release.

Here is a first video presenting you different topics (go fullscreen for HD) :

I'll present the following functionnalities :

1) "Live update" with WCF push server mode.

Poshboard now use the polling duplex feature of WCF that let us refresh dynamically script results in widgets (string output, charts, datagrids...). 

2) Poshboard Tester widget

This widget use this push server mode et let you test your scripts. You'll see different examples and you'll discover a first preview of statistic mode.

3) Poshboard Powershell Snapin : Chart object

Poshboard will provide several PowerShell snapins to enhance the experience. This first series of cmdlets let you design and debug your charts widgets, and permit widget objet creation directly in a standard PowerShell console. Pipeline, objet visualization will ease the development process.

Feel free to share your feelings and suggestions on the Poshboard Forum ! Your feedback will help me finalize the portal ;)

Poshboard installation guide available for W2K8 - IIS7

The installation guide of Poshboard on a Windows 2008 - IIS 7 server is available here on poshboard.com

PoshBoard Community website is open !

After a bit of work and a dive in the CMS Matrix :

PoshBoard Website is now Open !

http://www.poshboard.com/

Forum, News, Videos, Tutorials, development survey... Everything related to PoshBoard will be there !

Have a visit and share with us !

Note : Site is multilingual English/French, Click on the proper icon above the main menu to select your favorite language.

PoshBoard 0.4.2 update (bugfix)

I've just updated PoshBoard to 0.4.2 (bugfix release)

Bugs Fixed :

* modification of visifire.ps1 to handles long xAxis

* Source code lacked proper dll reference to several silverlight librairies

Source are now properly set up and you can build the project right after download

Project downsized (delete of unused debug in folders)

In order to use the AgDatagrid project, you need to download the source from DevExpress website.

Then, simply copy the file "C:\Program Files\Developer Express\Free Controls for Silverlight\Sources\DevExpress.Dll\DevExpress.AgDataGrid.v8.2.dll" to the "Components" folder of the solution

Download it here

Some infos on PoshBoard 0.4

Edit : release has been updated (0.4.1) to add correction of Christopher. Thank you ! 

After several discussions with early poshboarders, here is some infos.

How to install the PoshBoard website

a Thread is open on this subject with usefull info on installation. The user guide will be updated soon, you can take the previous version here.

Refreshers

The two refreshers (the one on the Header and the widget) don’t have the same behavior.

Header Refresher

The Header refresher adds an URL parameter : /Default.aspx?Refresh=true

This parameter is checked in each widgets at Postback. If Refresh is true, scripts are launched. The “refresh enabled” button activate this parameter, the other button changes it to false.

edit : a bug is identified when you switch pages, this will be corrected soon.

The Refresher widget

Like a pack of beer, this widget is a simple thing, but it do it's job. This will be much improved in the V1. For now, it takes a small strings in CSV format :

SourceArg;TargetArg

This one create a session variable. As for the header, this session variable is checked when the widgets are reloaded on postback.

if the variable contains something, the widget try to change the the first arg with the second (yes, a basic replace). If nothing is found, nothing changes.

Example

Put this script in the PowerShellOutput widget :

gwmi Win32_logicalDisk –Filter “DriveType = 3” -ComputerName @MachineName@

In the Refresher widget, put :

@MachineName@;MYSERVER001

Important point : the original script (saved in the widget) isn’t modified. This permit to keep the original script and update the page with other parameters without changing sourceArg.

After the Page load, the Session variable is discarded brutally.

The final version of the Refresher will let you define more advanced refresher webforms / silverlight forms, more infos in the near future.

 

This conclude the first post about PoshBoard 0.4, more to come !

(like the fun story behind these strange variables generated for BlackLight/Flip book widget, filled with £,µ, ¤ or even §…)

PoshBoard 0.4 is out !

I'm pleased to tell you that you can now download the last version of PoshBoard 0.4

Here on codeplex.

Another good news : this is the last 0.x version of PoshBoard. Now we target the V1 !

Now that things are clear, there'll be a massive refactoring of the code to meet the objectives. A lot of things will be simplified/optimized in order to gives you an enjoyable experience.

But let's talk about this released version :

In this "0.4", you'll be able to test the new widgets based on Blacklight and Silverlight book control

It reintroduce the refresher widgets, and a new refresh feature in the header, to refresh (or not) all your script with a single click.

This is of course still beta and a lot of things aren't as smart as they could be, but you'll be able to see what V1 will be like and the way things are getting together.

I'll post several tutorial on this version and how to use it. You have sample scripts available on codeplex.

Enjoy !

fell free to comment this new release

PoshBoard 0.4 : webcast on the Techdays 2009 version

Version française disponible ici

Here is the webcast of the PoshBoard 0.4 edition presented at the french Techdays 2009

PoshBoard 0.4 Techdays 2009 edition from Antoine Habert on Vimeo.

Important : Go FULLSCREEN and choose HD mode for a good experience !

Agenda :

1) a presentation of the basis of PoshBoard (01:23)

2) Demo on the classic controls (08:12)

3) PowerShell web service with WCF (12:59)

4) new widgets : blacklight, mitsu flipbook control (16:03)

5) the features envisionned for PoshBoard V1 (27:24)

Have fun !

Credits :

Dropthings : http://www.codeplex.com/dropthings

Visifire : http://www.visifire.com

BlackLight : http://www.codeplex.com/blacklight

Mitsu Flipbook control : http://www.codeplex.com/wpfbookcontrol

Silverlight 3D flip animation  : http://joel.neubeck.net/2008/04/silverlight-3d-flip-animation/

DevExpress AgDatagrid : http://devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/Silverlight/Grid/

Poshboard 0.4 video available today

Just a short notice to tell you that the webcast on the Techdays poshboard version is done !

Some video processing and upload on Vimeo is required, so this video should be available today.

edit : The webcast is available here

Back From Techdays 2009

It was a real pleasure to present PoshBoard yesterday : Great room, great public, and nearly none "Demo Effect" bugs :)

You missed this event ?

You want to understand what was said without learning French ?

Don't want to wait for the Techdays webcast ?

You're definitevely Lucky !

I'll post next week an English webcast that present the last version of poshboard with the widgets presented at this Techdays Session. You'll see brand new silverlight widgets in action, learn what "PoshBoard V1" will be like, benefits of PowerShell webservices for Poshboard...

Don't miss this webcast and stay tuned to Devinfra-us !

Dashboard in Dashboard : Techdays, Blacklight, new PoshBoard version

I’ll present next week a session on Powershell adn PoshBoard at the French Techdays 2009. I’ll talk about the last development of PoshBoard and new features.

More info here

What is scheduled ?

Creation from scratch of a dashboard page on Active Directory, Exchange and Windows 2008, in 10 minutes

PowerShell and webservices : how to use powershell directly from within Silverlight control in PoshBoard ?

New widgets based on the great Blacklight controls :

Yes, this is dashboard in dashboard :)

We’ll discover how to build the widget above in only 4 lines of PowerShell code.

This new version of poshboard will be available just after at codeplex, and several videos in english will be published on how to use, build and share widgets/pages with the coming PoshBoard 1.0 !

More news after the Techdays ;)

PoshBoard quick installation

You'll find below the steps required to build and test Poshboard on a fresh OS (XP/Vista/2003/2008...) :

1) Install PowerShell here

2) Install Silverlight 2 Client here

3) Install Web developper Express 2008 SP1 with SQL EXPRESS 2008 options here

4) Install Silverlight tools here

5) Download and install AgDatagrid here

6) Download poshboard 0.3.5 or above here

7) Download visifire 2.05 or above, copy "SLVisifire.Charts.dll" and "visifire2.js" in the dropthings/xapfiles folder of poshboard here

8) Open the project in web developper express (poshboard/dropthings.sln), build and test !