This post shows PowerShell code sending output to an interactive table in a Web Browser. The interactive table is achieved using JQuery and JQuery Datatables.
Out-DataTableView
The first example pipes the Get-Process command output to Out-DataTableView (aliased to odv) and the properties Name, Company and Handles are selected.
If you don’t specify any properties, Out-DataTableView will inspect and display all the properties of the piped output.
Get-Process | odv Name, Company, Handles
Below is the result. Using JavaScript, JQuery, JQuery DataTables and Style Sheets (all out out of the box) you get a sortable (click on the column headings), serachable and pageable view of the data. Ready to slice and dice.
JQuery DataTables is very customizable. It has numerous options and styled with CSS.
Searching the Results
Type the letter g in the search box to search all columns that contain that letter. The list subsets as you type.
Works with any PowerShell Output
Get-Service | odv Status, ServiceType, Name
Type int in the search box:
Challenges
Currently, Out-DataTableView code-gens an HTML page and saves it to disk. This means it has to process all the output piped to it before it can be viewed in the browser. The data is converted to an HTML Table, headers and all, plus adds the style sheets, script tags and the initial JQuery code to instantiate and load the JQuery Datatables.
Download Here
- Download and unzip the PowerShell code to a directory.
- Change to that directory
- Do an Import-Module .\OutDataTableView
This is a fun experiment. I am looking for ways to stream the data directly to the browser bypassing the file creation step. Suggestions are welcome.
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If you want to go directly to IE, then you can use the IE object model : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa140078(v=office.10).aspx, the obvious downside being that the user may want to see it in their default browser (currently you get that for free). An alternative may be if you can convince a browser to accept HTML through STDIN.
I noticed one minor issue – if the data contains angle brackets or it’s not escaped. One of my tools I use internally will generate a hash for some data stream on an object, or put <<NO DATA>> if the stream was null. This is rendered as <>. (Yeah maybe aren’t good delimiters for that kind of thing but I couldn’t think of anything else and leaving it empty caused some confusion amongst some of the people using it).
It’s not the end of the world because it’s still fairly clear that there’s no data for that object, but it’d be nice if it was escaped.
Sorry that link should have been http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Visual_Basic/VB_Script/Q_22786372.html
I am looking for ways to stream the data directly to the browser
PowerShell dsl for a web server with comet support? Check out what’s available in Zappa, particularly the section on Bi-directional messaging.
This looks very cool, but I haven’t been able to get it to work. Lots of undefined variables.
BTW: I added
to the Begin block and removed the join-path function and that cleared up my runtime issues. I’m also going to insert the text of the CSS and JS files inline so I get a single portable HTML file.
This is such a great alternative to Export-CSV.
Is this on github or any other code hosting sites?
Found the github for this code: https://github.com/dfinke/powershell/tree/master/jqueryDataTable
Thanks! I was looking for something comparable to Out-Gridview in a website, and this gives way more flexibility.
Hello Doug,
Nice work. I have seen alot of mention about Jquery and wanted to look into it, and you have given me the perfect excuse. All this functionally in less than half a meg.
With your Powershell to Odata post, and call Powershell from c# (can someone say ‘build a GUI front-end’?), I am starting to understand that powershell can be more than an automation scripting tool. Do you see Powershell ever reaching the level of a ‘Framework’? Like a Java or Python.
Keep the ideas coming.
Regards,
Peter
Thanks for the comment Peter. I’m not sure if I understand exactly what you mean by ‘Framework’.
I do see PowerShell being able to do more like Python/Perl/Ruby. Those communities have decade long contributions. Plus, being able to seamlessly shift to a .NET language to extend it is tremendous.
For GUIs, check out ShowUI. Also, here is an article I got published in MSDN Magazine Secrets to Building a WPF Application in Windows PowerShell