PlatyPS
PlatyPS
Your guide to PowerShell documentation
About the Book
In February 2016, the first version of PlatyPS was released to the public. Since then, it has become one of the most beloved modules for generating PowerShell documentation. The documentation you see in many open-source projects and content around PowerShell on Microsoft Learn, is created using this module.
At the beginning of 2024, Jason Helmick announced upcoming changes to the module during the PowerShell community call, hinting at a completely re-branded module. This was confirmed with the first preview release in October 2024. James Truher gave an excellent demo during PSConfEU 2024 Minicon, showcasing the module's capabilities and the underlying codebase changes. While PlatyPS was a fully script-based module, the newly branded module, Microsoft.PowerShell.PlatyPS, is written in C#.
Even though PlatyPS has many guidelines circulating among communities and experts, the preview launch inspired me to compile everything from these guidelines and include the new commands in a single book.
This book is divided into five chapters and includes many exercises in each chapter:
- Getting started with Microsoft.PowerShell.PlatyPS module
- Creating help content
- Importing and exporting help content
- Update and maintaining help content
- Real word examples and use cases
All of the code content will be available for download in ZIP format.
Feedback
You can simply use the "Email the Author(s)" link if you have any feedback. I'm always open for feedback. Was something unclear or not right? Or do you feel complementary? Let me know, all are welcome!
Table of Contents
- Foreword
- About this book
- Who is this book for?
- Code listings and typographic conventions
- What you need for this book
- Feedback
- Coding samples
- Lab environment
- About the author
- Chapter 1 - Getting Started with Microsoft.PowerShell.PlatyPS
- History and development
- Installing Microsoft.PowerShell.PlatyPS
- Discovering commands
- Creating your first help file
- Summary
- Chapter 2 - Creating help content
- Deep dive in CommandHelp objects
- Arbitrary front matter data
- Exploring New-MarkdownCommandHelp command
- Creating module file with New-MarkdownModuleFile
- Summary
- Chapter 3 - Importing and exporting help content
- Microsoft.PowerShell.PlatyPS schema version analysis
- Comparing help content
- How to import help content in various formats
- Export MAML, YAML and Markdown
- Techniques for migrating older documentation
- Summary
- Chapter 4 - Updating and maintaining help content
- How to update CommandHelp object with Update-CommandHelp
- Updating Markdown help files
- Guidelines for maintaining help files
- Summary
- Chapter 5 - Real world examples and use cases
- Common scenarios and solutions
- Release notes
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