Variable Pane Ineffective

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jstiles24
Posts: 4
Last visit: Fri Jul 07, 2017 7:20 am

Variable Pane Ineffective

Post by jstiles24 »

Product, version and build: PS Studio 2016, 5.2.124
32 or 64 bit version of product: 64
Operating system: Windows 10
32 or 64 bit OS: 64

To put it simply, I've seen other users request (over the period of several years) a variable pane such as the one in PowerGUI which contains the values of the variables in real-time and last value at the end of the script. I've read the "solutions" of adding breakpoints (seriously? A breakpoint for every variable I want to know the value of?) or running in console and querying each variable individually (again, seriously?). The short of it is that I was trying to get my company to buy licenses for Sapien Software Suite but if you can't provide a pane as useful as the one in PowerGUI, then we're not buying your product. PowerGUI has had this feature for well over 7 years. If you're not going to listen to the requests of a good number of your customers then I can't have confidence in your product.

The variable pane in PowerGUI is extremely efficient and its persistent variable state makes querying variables and debugging much simpler.

Here's a simple example:
$global:compname = Get-QADComputer -SizeLimit 0 -OSName 'Windows Server*' | sort name
foreach ($name in $global:compname)
{
$server = $name.Name}

The $global:compname holds a list of all the servers in the domain. The $name.Name variable holds an individual servername. If I decided that I wanted to change $name.Name to $name.ConanicalName and execute the rest of the script, in PS Studio I'd have to re-run the entire script as the variable isn't persistent. That Get-QADComputer command takes a long time, so you're greatly slowing down my debug time.

You say you run each script with a "clean slate" so that variable values don't "muddy" (your words) the environment. I easily remedy that IF I WANT TO with a simple Remove-Variable * command, just like everyone else. I don't need you to claim you're "protecting me" when it really just sounds like a cop-out so you don't have to develop your product the way your users want you to. Please provide a VIABLE solution if you want to earn our business.
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Alexander Riedel
Posts: 8478
Last visit: Tue Mar 26, 2024 8:52 am
Answers: 19
Been upvoted: 37 times

Re: Variable Pane Ineffective

Post by Alexander Riedel »

Thank you for your input. I will make sure to forward it to everyone here at SAPIEN.
Alexander Riedel
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
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