This example shows the shortest code you need to draw vector graphics in PowerShell. However, this code demonstrates a problem rather than a solution. The .NET Framework wants you to inherit a Form class when you describe a picture, because you will need to be able to access protected properties and to respond to events. But since the CreateGraphics function is public, you can still do some hacking with an instance of a Form class. This code creates a window, draws an X on it, and leaves it visible for 5 seconds.

#Load the Windows Forms library.
[string]$WindowsFormsLibrary =
"System.Windows.Forms,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::Load($WindowsFormsLibrary)

#Load the Drawing library.
[string]$DrawingLibrary =
"System.Drawing, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::Load($DrawingLibrary)

#Create a window, and set its properties.
[System.Windows.Forms.Form]$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Width = 500
$f.Height = 300

#Display the form.
$f.Show()
#Force a complete draw before we add any graphics.
$f.Refresh()

#Acquire the graphics interface.
[System.Drawing.Graphics]$g = $f.CreateGraphics()

#Draw anything you like here using GDI+.
$g.DrawLine([System.Drawing.Pens]::Black, 50, 20, 450, 250)
$g.DrawLine([System.Drawing.Pens]::Black, 450, 20, 50, 250)

#Dispose the graphics interface.
$g.Dispose()

#Wait for 5 seconds before closing it all down.
Start-Sleep -s 5
$f.Close()
$f.Dispose()

If we take the trouble to create a custom type based on the Form class, we can create form has double buffering enabled by definition, and is of correct size by definition. The size can be set from outside the form as shown above, but the DoubleBuffered property that controls double buffering could not. So by just replacing the predefined Form class with a custom extension, we are slightly closer to our goal.

#Load the Windows Forms library.
[string]$WindowsFormsLibrary =
"System.Windows.Forms,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::Load($WindowsFormsLibrary)

#Load the Drawing library.
[string]$DrawingLibrary =
"System.Drawing, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::Load($DrawingLibrary)

#Create a custom form with double buffering.
$Refs = @("System.Windows.Forms", "System.Drawing")
Add-Type -ReferencedAssemblies $Refs @'
public class MyGraphicsForm:System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
   private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;

   protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
   {
      if (disposing && (components != null))
      {
         components.Dispose();
      }
      base.Dispose(disposing);
   }

   private void InitializeComponent()
   {
      this.SuspendLayout();
      this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(500, 300);
      this.DoubleBuffered = true;
      this.Text = "My graphics form";
      this.ResumeLayout(false);

   }
}
'@

#Create our custom window.
[System.Windows.Forms.Form]$f = New-Object MyGraphicsForm

#Display the form.
$f.Show()
#Force a complete draw before we add any graphics.
$f.Refresh()

#Acquire the graphics interface.
[System.Drawing.Graphics]$g = $f.CreateGraphics()

#Draw anything you like here using GDI+.
$g.DrawLine([System.Drawing.Pens]::Black, 50, 20, 450, 250)
$g.DrawLine([System.Drawing.Pens]::Black, 450, 20, 50, 250)

#Dispose the graphics interface.
$g.Dispose()

#Wait for 5 seconds before closing it all down.
Start-Sleep -s 5
$f.Close()
$f.Dispose()

To be continued.

If you want to create and run a ps1 script, make sure to give yourself the permission to execute scripts. If you are running a newer operating system, you must start PowerShell as an administrator the time that you grant yourself the right to run scripts.

When you type DIR, a list of DirectoryInfo and/or FileInfo objects are created and sent to the script host. Each object, no matter type, are displayed as strings, meaning that the directory name or file name is displayed. How ever, you can use the pipeline to access actual objects. I have some directories and a few files in my C root, so if I pipe the output from the DIR command to an iteration that displays the object’s type name, like so:

DIR C:\ | ForEach-Object { Write-Host $_.GetType().Name }

From that I will get the word DirectoryInfo for each directory and the word FileInfo for each file in my C root. These are the .NET classes that represent directories and files. Since the PowerShell pipeline actually is handling objects, you can use these objects by accessing the properties or calling the functions of each object. A simple task such as displaying the number of files in each directory, is a walk in the park, when the actual object you need to do this, already is in the pipeline.

DIR C:\ | ForEach-Object {
If ($_.GetType().Name -like "DirectoryInfo")
   {
      Write-Host $_.Name "(" $_.GetDirectories().Length
         " dirs and " $_.GetFiles().Length " files.)"
   }
}

The output for this, is the name of the directory and the number of child directories and files that it holds. I can see that my Windows folder holds 66 directories and 45 files.