{"id":148,"date":"2007-06-13T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-13T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/testblog.sapien.com\/index.php\/2007\/06\/13\/one-prompt-to-rule-them-all\/"},"modified":"2007-06-13T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-13T19:00:00","slug":"one-prompt-to-rule-them-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.sapien.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/13\/one-prompt-to-rule-them-all\/","title":{"rendered":"One Prompt to Rule Them All"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s my last word on the subject of PowerShell prompts, for now anyway.  The more I worked with prompts, the more I realized the prompt could be a powerful administrative tool. Why not use a prompt to display system information like CPU and drive utilization? Why not system uptime?  Why stop there?  What about the weather so I can at least know what I’m missing?<\/p>\n

First off, here’s the code for the prompt (which is also attached so you don’t have to copy and paste)<\/p>\n

Function prompt {
#this function requires the Show-Weather function to be loaded
#$global:zip should be defined in your function for your zip code <\/font><\/p>\n

#add global variable if it doesn’t already exist
if ($global:LastCheck -eq $Null) {
    $global:LastCheck=Get-Date
}
if ($global:weather -eq $Null) {
    $global:weather=Show-Weather $global:zip
}
if ($global:cddrive -eq $Null) {
    [wmi]$Global:cdrive=gwmi -query “Select * from win32_logicaldisk where deviceid=’c:’”
} <\/font><\/p>\n

#only refresh weather and disk check once every 15 minutes
$min=(New-TimeSpan $Global:lastCheck).TotalMinutes
if ($min -ge 15) {
$global:weather=Show-Weather $global:zip
[wmi]$Global:cdrive=gwmi -query “Select * from win32_logicaldisk where deviceid=’c:’”
$global:LastCheck=Get-Date
} <\/font><\/p>\n

$w=([char]0x263c)+” “+$Global:weather.Condition +” “+$Global:weather.Temp
$cpu=(gwmi win32_processor).loadpercentage
$pcount=(Get-Process).Count
$diskinfo=” Free C:”+”{0:N2}” -f (($global:cdrive.freespace\/1gb)\/($global:cdrive.size\/1gb)*100)+”%”
#get uptime
$time=Get-WmiObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem
$t=$time.ConvertToDateTime($time.Lastbootuptime)
[TimeSpan]$uptime=New-TimeSpan $t $(get-date)
$up=”$($uptime.days)d $($uptime.hours)h $($uptime.minutes)m $($uptime.seconds)s” <\/font><\/p>\n

$text=”CPU:”+$cpu+”% Procs:”+$pcount+$diskinfo+ ” “+([char]0x25b2)+$up +” “+`
(Get-Date -format g)+” “+$w <\/font><\/p>\n

$myPrompt=[char]0x250c
$myPrompt=$myPrompt+([char]0x2500).ToString()*$text.length
$myPrompt=$myPrompt+[char]0x2510
$myPrompt=$myPrompt+”`n”
$myPrompt=$myPrompt+([char]0x2502)+$text+([char]0x2502)
$myPrompt=$myPrompt+”`n”
$myPrompt=$myPrompt+[char]0x2514
$myPrompt=$myPrompt+([char]0x2500).ToString()*$text.length
$myPrompt=$myPrompt+[char]0x2518
Write-Host $myPrompt -fore Green
Write-Host “PS $(Get-Location) >” -nonewline
return ” “
}<\/font> <\/p>\n

To use this prompt, you should add these global variables to your profile:<\/p>\n

$global:zip=your zip code
[wmi]$Global:cdrive=gwmi -query “Select * from win32_logicaldisk where deviceid=’c:’”
$global:LastCheck=Get-Date<\/font><\/p>\n

The zip code is required if you want to use the weather reporting feature. You’ll also need to add the Show-Weather <\/a>function to your profile before the Prompt function. Ideally, I would add<\/p>\n

$global:weather=Show-Weather $global:zip
<\/font><\/p>\n

To get current weather conditions. If you don’t define the others, the function has code to create them if they don’t exist.<\/p>\n

When you put it all together you should get something like this (the graphic is wider than the entry column so save a copy locally if you want to see the entire thing):<\/p>\n

\"jdhboxprompt.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The box shows CPU load percentage and the number of processes. These values are calculated every time the prompt refreshes. I’m also showing the percent of free space on drive C:. If you look at the code you’ll see I’m using the -f operator to format the expression. I tried using the percent expression but didn’t like where it left the % symbol so I’ve hacked something together that works for me.  This figure is refreshed every 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

The system uptime is represented by the Unicode character for the up triangle. It saves some space instead of typing out “Uptime:”.<\/p>\n

After the date is the current weather conditions for my zip code. Again, I’m using a Unicode character to indicate weather. The weather will also be updated every 15 minutes. Because I’ve set $weather has a global variable, you can access it any time by typing $weather. The Show-Weather function returns other information but I’m only using the current conditions and temperature.  For non-US, you’ll need to go to Weather.yahoo.com and find your location abbreviation. Then you can use that in place of the zip code. The function will work the same. <\/p>\n

(Occasionally, the weather condition data doesn’t get populated, but after the next refresh period it usually does. This might also just be me.)<\/p>\n

So there you have it.  A PowerShell prompt that is more than just a pretty face. There’s almost no limit to what you can do.  Want to keep an eye on a critical service or server? Add some WMI code to get the values and display them in your prompt.<\/p>\n

Here are some other ideas you might want to try out:<\/p>\n