Microsoft Script Browser is an add-on for PowerShell ISE which helps you locate, download and analyse PowerShell scripts.
The program equips the ISE with a simple TechNet search tool. Enter a keyword or two here, click Enter and it displays a list of any matches, including script name, rating, description and author. Double-clicking displays more details - including the script itself - and you can copy it to the clipboard, or open it in the ISE.
If your search has returned a lot of hits then it could be difficult to decide which is best. Fortunately, that doesn't matter, as a "Download All" button will grab them all, perfect for offline development.
There's also an excellent set of filters, which allow you to choose scripts by their category (Multimedia, Networking, Office and many others) and contributor (Community, Microsoft, Exchange Team). There's a "Programming Languages" filter, too, so you're not restricted to PowerShell. The Script Browser can search for code in VBScript, SQL, JavaScript, Python, Perl, Object REXX, HTML, CSS and more.
The Script Browser also includes a Script Analyzer which scans the current script to see whether it follows best practice. This is mostly based around a set of rules recommending that you avoid cmdlet alias use, positional arguments and empty catch blocks, while being cautious about Invoke-Expression and ensuring that function names follow the standard verb-noun convention.
If you disagree with any of that, you can customise the Analyzer by telling it to ignore particular rules entirely. Or, if you're not interested, you can just ignore it entirely. It's just an optional extra, the Technet Search is the main feature here.
Verdict:
A handy PowerShell add-on which makes it easier to find and browse some excellent scripts.
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