We are excited to provide you with the first release of our new interactive console experience! When you open up a PowerShell script file, you will be greeted with a new VS Code integrated terminal window called "PowerShell Integrated Console"
In this console you will have an experience that falls somewhere between the PowerShell ISE and the PowerShell console host:
- Tab completion of commands and their parameters
- Basic command history, accessed using the up/down arrow keys
- The
pseditcommand opens existing files in an editor pane - Pressing F8 in an editor pane runs the current line or selection in the console
- Native applications like
gitare fully supported - Script debugging shares the same console session with the editor for a true ISE-like debugging experience
It even works with your fancy prompt function if configured in your
VS Code profile ($HOME\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.VSCode_profile.ps1):
The integrated console is supported on PowerShell v3 through v6 and works
on Linux and macOS with PowerShell Core. By default you don't have to
configure which PowerShell to run, we will pick an appropriate default
based on your platform. If you'd like to choose a different install
of PowerShell you can always change the powershell.developer.powerShellExePath
setting.
Keep in mind that this is the first release for this feature and there are bound to be issues and missing functionality. Please feel free to file GitHub issues for any bugs or feature requests!
- #535 PSReadline is currently not supported in the integrated console. We will enable this in a future release.
- #534 Integrated console prompt is not restarted when you stop the debugging of a local runspace in another process. This will be addressed soon in a patch update.
- #533 Backspace key does not work in the integrated console on Linux and macOS. The workaround for now is to use Ctrl+H instead of the Backspace key. This will be addressed soon in a patch update.
- #536 Integrated console sometimes does not have a scrollbar at startup. The workaround is to resize the width of the VS Code window slightly and the scrollbar will appear. This will be addressed soon in a patch update.
Now that we have the integrated console, we have added support for the Get-Credential
cmdlet, Read-Host -AsSecureString, and any input prompt of type SecureString or PSCredential.
When you run any of these cmdlets you will be prompted inside the integrated console:
We now support VS Code's editor.formatOnType setting so that your code gets formatted
as you type! Formatting will be triggered when you press Enter or the closing curly
brace character }.
Based on your feedback, we've also added new code formatting options, all of which are turned on by default:
powershell.codeFormatting.newLineAfterCloseBrace- Causes a newline to be inserted after a closing brace in multi-line expressions like if/elsepowershell.codeFormatting.whitespaceBeforeOpenBrace- Causes whitespace to be inserted before an open brace likeForeach-Object {powershell.codeFormatting.whitespaceBeforeOpenParen- Causes whitespace to be inserted before an open parentheses likeif (powershell.codeFormatting.whitespaceAroundOperator- Causes whitespace to be inserted around operators like=or+powershell.codeFormatting.whitespaceAfterSeparator- Causes whitespace to be inserted around separator characters like;and,powershell.codeFormatting.ignoreOneLineBlock- Single-line expressions, like small if/else statements, will not be expanded to multiple lines.
We've also made many improvements to the performance and stability of the formatter.
We've added a new configuration for debugging your Pester tests. By default it
merely runs Invoke-Pester at the workspace path, but you can also edit the
configuation to add additional arguments to be passed through.
We've also added support for column breakpoints. Now you can set a breakpoint
directly within a pipeline by placing your cursor at any column on a line and
running the Debug: Column Breakpoint command:
For the latest PowerShell Core release (6.0.0-alpha.17),
we have also added the ability to step into ScriptBlocks that are executed on another
machine using Invoke-Command -Computer.
Set a breakpoint on an Invoke-Command line and then once it's hit:
Press F11 and you will step into the ScriptBlock. You can now continue to use
"step in" and trace the ScriptBlock's execution on the remote machine:
Note that you cannot currently set breakpoints in the script listing file as this code is being executed without an actual script file on the remote machine.
- Fixed #427 - The keybinding for "Expand Alias" command has been changed to Shift+Alt+E
- Fixed #519 - Debugger hangs after continuing when watch expressions are set
- Fixed #448 - Code formatter should keep indentation for multi-line pipelines
- Fixed #518 -
Code formatter fails when dollar-paren
$()expressions are used - Fixed #447 - Code formatter crashes when run on untitled documents
We've added a formatter for PowerShell code which allows you to format an
entire file or a selection within a file. You can access this formatter by
running VS Code's Format Document and Format Selection commands inside
of a PowerShell file.
You can configure code formatting with the following settings:
powershell.codeFormatting.openBraceOnSameLine- Places open brace on the same line as its associated statement. Default istrue.powershell.codeFormatting.newLineAfterOpenBrace- Ensures that a new line occurs after an open brace (unless in a pipeline statement on the same line). Default istrueeditor.tabSize- Specifies the indentation width for code blocks. This is a VS Code setting but it is respected by the code formatter.editor.formatOnSave- If true, automatically formats when they are saved. This is a VS Code setting and may also affect non-PowerShell files.
Please note that this is only a first pass at PowerShell code formatting, it may not format your code perfectly in all cases. If you run into any issues, please file an issue and give us your feedback!
NOTE: This improvement depends on VS Code 1.9.0 which is due for release early February! However, you can try it out right now with the VS Code Insiders release.
Thanks to a new improvement in VS Code's debugging APIs, we are now able to
launch the PowerShell debugger on a script file without the need for a launch.json
file. You can even debug individual PowerShell scripts without opening a
workspace folder! Don't worry, you can still use a launch.json file to configure
specific debugging scenarios.
We've also made debugger startup much more reliable. You will no longer see the dreaded "Debug adapter terminated unexpectedly" message when you try to launch the debugger while the language server is still starting up.
We now support remote PowerShell sessions via the Enter-PSSession
cmdlet. This cmdlet allows you to create a PowerShell session on another machine
so that you can run commands or debug scripts there. The full debugging
experience works with these remote sessions on PowerShell 4 and above, allowing
you to set breakpoints and see remote files be opened locally when those breakpoints
are hit.
For PowerShell 5 and above, we also support attaching to local and remote PowerShell
host processes using the Enter-PSHostProcess
and Debug-Runspace
cmdlets. This allows you to jump into another process and then debug a script that
is already running in one of the runspaces in that process. The debugger will break
execution of the running script and then the associated script file will be opened
in the editor so that you can set breakpoints and step through its execution.
We've also added a new launch.json configuration for debugging PowerShell host processes:
When launched, the default "attach" configuration will prompt you with a list of PowerShell host processes on the local machine so that you can easily select one to be debugged:
You can also edit the launch configuration to hardcode the launch parameters, even setting a remote machine to connect to before attaching to the remote process:
{
"type": "PowerShell",
"request": "attach",
"name": "PowerShell Attach to Host Process",
"computerName": "my-remote-machine",
"processId": "12345",
"runspaceId": 1
}Please note that we currently do not yet support initiating remote sessions from Linux or macOS. This will be supported in an upcoming release.
Another nice improvement is that we now support the psedit command in remote and
attached sessions. This command allows you to open a file in a local or remote session
so that you can set breakpoints in it using the UI before launching it. For now these
remotely-opened files will not be saved back to the remote session when you edit and
save them. We plan to add this capability in the next feature update.
You can now create a new launch configuration which drops you directly into the debug console so that you can debug your scripts and modules however you wish. You can call Set-PSBreakpoint to set any type of breakpoint and then invoke your code through the console to see those breakpoints get hit. This mode can also be useful for debugging remote sessions.
Please note that this is NOT a replacement for a true interactive console experience. We've added this debugging configuration to enable a few other debugging scenarios, like debugging PowerShell modules, while we work on a true interactive console experience using VS Code's Terminal interface.
We've extended our document symbol support to .psd1 files to make it really easy to
navigate through them. When you have a .psd1 file open, run the Go to Symbol in File...
command (Ctrl + Shift + O) and you'll see this popup:
You can type a symbol name or navigate using your arrow keys. Once you select one of the symbol names, the editor pane will jump directly to that line.
- Added a new
Open Examples Foldercommand to easily open the extension's example script folder. - Added a new setting
powershell.developer.powerShellExeIsWindowsDevBuildwhich, when true, indicates that thepowerShellExePathpoints to a Windows PowerShell development build. - Fixed #395: Quick Fix for PSAvoidUsingAliases rule replaces the entire command
- Fixed #396: Extension commands loaded in PowerShell profile are not being registered
- Fixed #391: DSC IntelliSense can cause the language server to crash
- Fixed #400: Language server can crash when selecting PSScriptAnalyzer rules
- Fixed #408: Quick fix requests meant for other extensions crash the language server
- Fixed #401: Extension startup should indicate if the current PowerShell version is unsupported
- Fixed #314: Errors/Warnings still show up in Problems window when file is closed
- Fixed #388: Syntax errors are not reported when powershell.scriptAnalysis.enable is set to false
It's now much easier to manage the active PowerShell session. We've added a new item to the status bar to indicate the state of the session and the version of PowerShell you're using:
When this status item is clicked, a new menu appears to give you some session management options:
You can restart the active session, switch between 32-bit and 64-bit PowerShell on
Windows or switch to another PowerShell process (like a 6.0 alpha build) that
you've configured with the powershell.developer.powerShellExePath.
We've also improved the overall experience of loading and using the extension:
- It will prompt to restart the PowerShell session if it crashes for any reason
- It will also prompt to restart the session if you change any relevant PowerShell
configuration setting like the aforementioned
powershell.developer.powerShellExePath. - You can easily access the logs of the current session by running the command
Open PowerShell Extension Logs Folder.
In this release we've added integration with the Plaster
module to provide a Create New Project from Plaster Template command. This command will
walk you through the experience of selecting a template and filling in all of
the project details:
We include one basic project template by default and will add more in the very near future. However, you won't need to update the PowerShell extension to get these new templates, they will appear when you install an update to the Plaster module from the PowerShell Gallery.
Check out Plaster's documentation for more details on how it can be used and how you can create your own templates.
The PowerShell extension now uses any "suggested corrections" which are returned with
a rule violation in your script file to provide a "quick fix" option for the affected
section of code. For example, when the PSAvoidUsingCmdletAliases rule finds the use
of a non-whitelisted alias, you will see a light bulb icon that gives the option to
change to the full name (right click or Ctrl+. on the marker):
If you'd like to see more quick fixes for PowerShell code, head over to the PSScriptAnalyzer GitHub page and get involved!
Another improvement related to PSScriptAnalyzer is the ability to change the active PSScriptAnalyzer rules in the current editing session using a helpful selection menu:
You can enable and disable active rules by running the Select PSScriptAnalyzer Rules
command. For now this only changes the active session but in a future release we will
modify your PSScriptAnalyzer settings file so that the changes are persisted to future
editing sessions.
When debugging PowerShell scripts you can now set "hit count" breakpoints which cause the debugger to stop only after the breakpoint has been encountered a specified number of times.
- We now provide snippets for the
launch.jsonconfiguration file which make it easier to add new PowerShell debugging configurations for your project. - In PowerShell
launch.jsonconfigurations, theprogramparameter has now been renamed toscript. Configurations still usingprogramwill continue to work. - Fixed #353: Cannot start PowerShell debugger on Windows when offline
- Fixed #217: PowerShell output window should be shown when F8 is pressed
- Fixed #292: Check for Homebrew's OpenSSL libraries correctly on macOS
- Fixed #384: PowerShell snippets broken in VS Code 1.8.0
- Fixed #243: Debug adapter process has terminated unexpectedly
- Fixed #264: Add check for OpenSSL on OS X before starting the language service
- Fixed #271: PSScriptAnalyzer settings path isn't being passed along
- Fixed #273: Debugger crashes after multiple runs
- Fixed #274: Extension crashes on Ctrl+Hover
- "Auto" variable scope in debugger UI now expands by default
- Fixed #244: Extension fails to load if username contains spaces
- Fixed #246: Restore default PSScriptAnalyzer ruleset
- Fixed #248: Extension fails to load on Windows 7 with PowerShell v3
This release marks the beginning of our support for Linux and macOS via the new cross-platform release of PowerShell. You can find installation and usage instructions at the PowerShell GitHub repository.
- Fixed #231: In VS Code 1.4.0, IntelliSense has stopped working
- Fixed #193: Typing "n" breaks intellisense
- Fixed #187: Language server sometimes crashes then $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
- Fixed #180: Profile loading should be enabled by default
- Fixed #183: Language server sometimes fails to initialize preventing IntelliSense, etc from working
- Fixed #182: Using 'Run Selection' on a line without a selection only runs to the cursor position
- Fixed #184: When running a script in the debugger, $host.Version reports wrong extension version
- We've added a new extensibility model which allows you to write PowerShell
code to add new functionality to Visual Studio Code and other editors with
a single API. If you've used
$psISEin the PowerShell ISE, you'll feel right at home with$psEditor. Check out the documentation for more details!
- We've now introduced the
$profilevariable which contains the expected properties that you normally see inpowershell.exeandpowershell_ise.exe:AllUsersAllHostsAllUsersCurrentHostCurrentUserAllHostsCurrentUserCurrentHost
- In Visual Studio Code the profile name is
Microsoft.VSCode_profile.ps1. $host.Namenow returns "Visual Studio Code Host" and$host.Versionreturns the version of the PowerShell extension that is being used.
- IntelliSense for static methods and properties now works correctly. If you
type
::after a type such as[System.Guid]you will now get the correct completion results. This also works if you pressCtrl+Spaceafter the::characters. $envvariables now have IntelliSense complete correctly.- Added support for new VSCode command
Debug: Start Without Debugging. Shortcut for this command is Ctrl+F5. - Changed the keyboard shortcut for
PowerShell: Expand Aliasfrom Ctrl+F5 to Ctrl+Alt+e. - Added support for specifying a PSScriptAnalyzer settings file by
providing a full path in your User Settings for the key
powershell.scriptAnalysis.settingsPath. You can also configure the same setting in your project's.vscode\settings.jsonfile to contain a workspace-relative path. If present, this workspace-level setting overrides the one in your User Settings file. See the extension'sexamples\.vscode\settings.jsonfile for an example. - The debug adapter now does not crash when you attempt to add breakpoints for files that have been moved or don't exist.
- Fixed an issue preventing output from being written in the debugger if you don't set a breakpoint before running a script.
powershell.scriptAnalysis.settingsPath: Specifies the path to a PowerShell Script Analyzer settings file. Use either an absolute path (to override the default settings for all projects) or use a path relative to your workspace.
- Support for PowerShell v3 and v4 is now complete! Note that for this release, Script Analyzer support has been disabled for PS v3 and v4 until we implement a better strategy for integrating it as a module dependency
-
Added support for command breakpoints.
Hover over the Debug workspace's 'Breakpoints' list header and click the 'Add' button then type a command name (like
Write-Output) in the new text box that appears in the list. -
Added support for conditional breakpoints.
Right click in the breakpoint margin to the left of the code editor and click 'Add conditional breakpoint' then enter a PowerShell expression in the text box that appears in the editor.
- Added a preview of a possible project template for PowerShell Gallery modules in
the
examplesfolder. Includes a PSake build script with Pester test, clean, build, and publish tasks. See theexamples\README.mdfile for instructions. Check it out and give your feedback on GitHub! using 'module'now resolves relative paths correctly, removing a syntax error that previously appeared when relative paths were used- Calling
Read-Host -AsSecureStringorGet-Credentialfrom the console now shows an appropriate "not supported" error message instead of crashing the language service. Support for these commands will be added in a later release.
powershell.useX86Host: If true, causes the 32-bit language service to be used on 64-bit Windows. On 32-bit Windows this setting has no effect.
- Updated PSScriptAnalyzer 1.4.0 for improved rule marker extents
- Added example Pester task for running tests in the examples folder
- Fixed #94: Scripts fail to launch in the debugger if the working directory path contains spaces
@rkeithhill spent a lot of time polishing the script debugging experience for this release:
- You can now pass arguments to scripts in the debugger with the
argsparameter in launch.json - You can also run your script with the 32-bit debugger by changing the
typeparameter in launch.json to "PowerShell x86" (also thanks to @adamdriscoll!) - The new default PowerShell debugger configuration now launches the active file in the editor
- You can also set the working directory where the script is run by setting the
cwdparameter in launch.json to an absolute path. If you need a workspace relative path, use ${workspaceRoot} to create an absolute path e.g."${workspaceRoot}/modules/foo.psm1".
We recommend deleting any existing launch.json file you're using so that a new one will
be generated with the new defaults.
-
Improved PowerShell console output formatting and performance
- The console prompt is now displayed after a command is executed
- Command execution errors are now displayed correctly in more cases
- Console output now wraps at 120 characters instead of 80 characters
-
Added choice and input prompt support
- When executing code using the 'Run Selection' command, choice and input prompts appear as VS Code UI popups
- When executing code in the debugger, choice and input prompts appear in the Debug Console
- "Find/Install PowerShell modules from the gallery" (
Ctrl+K Ctrl+F): Enables you to find and install modules from the PowerShell Gallery (thanks @dfinke!) - "Open current file in PowerShell ISE" (
Ctrl+Shift+i): Opens the current file in the PowerShell ISE (thanks @janegilring!)
- Path auto-completion lists show just the current directory's contents instead of the full path (which had resulted in clipped text)
- Parameter auto-completion lists are now sorted in the same order as they are in PowerShell ISE where command-specific parameters preceed the common parameters
- Parameter auto-completion lists show the parameter type
- Command auto-completion lists show the resolved command for aliases and the path for executables
- Many improvements to the PowerShell snippets, more clearly separating functional and example snippets (all of the latter are prefixed with
ex-) - Added some additional example script files in the
examplesfolder
powershell.developer.editorServicesLogLevel: configures the logging verbosity for PowerShell Editor Services. The default log level will now write less logs, improving overall performance
- Fix issue #49, Debug Console does not receive script output
- Major improvements in variables retrieved from the debugging service:
- Global and script scope variables are now accessible
- New "Auto" scope which shows only the variables defined within the current scope
- Greatly improved representation of variable values, especially for dictionaries and objects that implement the ToString() method
- Added new "Expand Alias" command which resolves command aliases used in a file or selection and updates the source text with the resolved command names
- Reduced default Script Analyzer rules to a minimal list
- Fixed a wide array of completion text replacement bugs
- Improved extension upgrade experience
- (Experimental) Added a new "Run selection" (F8) command which executes the current code selection and displays the output
- Added a new online help command! Press Ctrl+F1 to get help for the symbol under the cursor.
- Enabled PowerShell language features for untitled and in-memory (e.g. in Git diff viewer) PowerShell files
- Added
powershell.scriptAnalysis.enableconfiguration variable to allow disabling script analysis for performance (issue #11) - Fixed issue where user's custom PowerShell snippets did not show up
- Fixed high CPU usage when completing or hovering over an application path
Initial release with the following features:
- Syntax highlighting
- Code snippets
- IntelliSense for cmdlets and more
- Rule-based analysis provided by PowerShell Script Analyzer
- Go to Definition of cmdlets and variables
- Find References of cmdlets and variables
- Document and workspace symbol discovery
- Local script debugging and basic interactive console support