Part II: http://tommymaynard.com/quick-learn-give-a-parameter-a-default-value-part-ii-2015/
If you’re into Windows PowerShell, then you probably think a little like me. You want to do things fast, and efficiently. There’s a reason we pound out commands and write scripts: we want to make the most of our time, and PowerShell let’s us do that. With that in mind, I decided I should modify a cmdlet I often use, so that using it takes less time, by default.
The Test-Connection cmdlet does for us what ping always has. It sends ICMP request packets to a remote computer or device. If the remote computer or device sends us a reply, then we know the device is up. It should be stated, that ICMP replies can be restricted so that a computer or device that is up, may not reply. Although I’ve opted to use Test-Connection for my example, this concept can be used with any number of other cmdlets and their parameters.
Let’s start by taking a look at the default output of the Test-Connection cmdlet. By default, Test-Connection will ping a given computer four times. If I were checking for latency, four replies would probably be better than one, but because I just want to know if the computer is up or down, a single reply is suitable.
PS C:\> Test-Connection -ComputerName bing.com Source Destination IPV4Address IPV6Address Bytes Time(ms) ------ ----------- ----------- ----------- ----- -------- TOMMYMAYNA... bing.com 204.79.197.200 32 14 TOMMYMAYNA... bing.com 204.79.197.200 32 13 TOMMYMAYNA... bing.com 204.79.197.200 32 14 TOMMYMAYNA... bing.com 204.79.197.200 32 13
This cmdlet includes a -Count parameter, and so I could have used that, as -Count 1, so that my computer only sent a single packet. But remember, I want be fast and efficient — I don’t want type more to see less. I want to type the same and make things faster. To accomplish this, what I’ll do is change the default behavior of this command to only send one packet. These means I’ll need to make use of the $PSDefaultParameterValues variable.
The $PSDefaultParameterValues variable stores any modifications to the default values of any of our cmdlet’s parameters. Since I don’t have any modified default values, the variable has nothing to return.
PS C:\> $PSDefaultParameterValues PS C:\>
In the example below, we’ll use the Add() method to add a key/value pair to the variable. The keys are anything in the Name property, and the values are anything in the Value property. There is a one-to-one ratio between keys and values. These are also referred to as hash tables, associative arrays, or a dictionary object.
After we’ve added our key/value pair, we’ll try Test-Connection again, as we did in the first example.
PS C:\> $PSDefaultParameterValues.Add('Test-Connection:Count','1')
PS C:\> $PSDefaultParameterValues
Name Value
---- -----
Test-Connection:Count 1
PS C:\> Test-Connection -ComputerName bing.com
Source Destination IPV4Address IPV6Address Bytes Time(ms)
------ ----------- ----------- ----------- ----- --------
TOMMYMAYNA... bing.com 204.79.197.200 32 13
PS C:\>
As we can see, Test-Connection will now only ping a computer one time by default. Now, what happens when I do want to test for latency? I can use the -Count parameter and supply whatever number I want, so long as it’s 1 through 2147483647. Using zero or less, or 2147483648 will not work. I know, I tried.
You can read more information on the about_Parameters_Default_Values page here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh847819.aspx.