Getting started with the Configuration system

The configuration system provides a central way to offer and discover settings. It can also be used to control & manage those settings from outside of scriptcode. It is designed to be used in both modules and individual scripts.

Implementing configuration

In order to set configuration up, you need to declare the configuration setting in a script that is run during import (in case of module) or at the top of the scriptfile (in case of a script).

Set-PSFConfig -FullName "MyModule.Mail.Server" -Value "mail.mydomain.com" -Validation string -Initialize -Description "Mail server used by the module to send alerts."

• FullName contains the module-qualified name of the setting. Each name must be unique.
• Value is the initial value of the setting.
• Validation is the test input is run through before accepting a setting change. It supports the common value types by default (e.g. string, bool, integer)
• Initialize always use this when declaring a setting.
• Description allows you to describe whsat the setting does. This makes it easier to remember what it does and helps the user understand settings.

Later in the script / module we will want to use this setting. In the specific example, when sending an email obviously:

Send-MailMessage -SmtpServer (Get-PSFConfigValue -FullName 'MyModule.Mail.Server' -Fallback 'mail.mydomain.com') # ...

Additional Information

• All settings can be set by registry, both as default or mandatory per user or per machine.
• All settings can be set by configuration file, per user or per computer
• Settings can be persisted by using the function Register-PSFConfig, allowing a user to flexibly customize and keep settings.
• You can add a scriptblock that is executed when the setting is changed (That ScriptBlock is being ignored when using -Initialize)
• You can add your own custom validation rules

Further reading

• Documentation root for the Configuration System