As you may know there are two ways of launching PowerShell script: you can use -File or -Command parameter.

powershell -File test.ps1

or

powershell -Command .\test.ps1

-Command could be ommitted:

powershell .\test.ps1

Now let’s say you want to execute PowerShell script from a scheduled task or from continuous integration server. Naturally, you would be interested if the script fails or not.

And here’s the bug: if you launch your script using -File parameter powershell.exe exits with zero code even if there was an exception.

You can confirm this by creating a script that always throws an error:

throw 'oops'

Now if you launch it using -File parameter exit code is 0:

powershell.exe -File testerror.ps1
echo Error level is %ERRORLEVEL%

oops
At C:\testerror.ps1:1 char:6
+ throw <<<<  'oops'
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (oops:String) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : oops

Error level is 0

But if you use -Command parameter exit code is set as expected:

powershell.exe -Command .\testerror.ps1
echo Error level is %ERRORLEVEL%

Chris Oldwood also came across this bug:

depending on whether I use the “-File” or “-Command” switch to execute the .ps1 script I get different behaviour. Is this a PowerShell bug or is there something fundamental about the execution model the differs between -File and -Command that I’ve yet to understand?

Bonus

How to execute PowerShell script from NAnt script:

<exec program="powershell.exe" append="true">
  <arg value="-noprofile" />
  <arg value="&amp;'C:\your-script.ps1'" />
  <arg value="param1" />
  <arg value="'param 2 with spaces'" />
</exec>

References

• Windows PowerShell Exit Codes
• Get Legacy Exit Codes in PowerShell

• Ctrl+Ins copies selected file name
• Alt+Shift+Ins copies full path to selected file

These shortcuts also work if multiple files are selected which is great for creating batch renames.

Let’s say file name contains spaces. In this case Far Manager adds quotes around file name. Supposedly this saves time if you construct some command line somewhere. Personally I find this totally unnecessary. I can add quotes myself, thank you very much.

Here’s how to disable this behaviour:

1. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Far2\System
2. Create QuotedName as DWORD value
3. Set it to 1

Official documentation for this feature is a bit obscure:

File or folder names, containing characters specified in rule  34,  will
be quoted when inserted into the editor/command line or the clipboard.
The key "System/QuotedName" of DWORD type controls this behaviour.
Bits:
  0 - if set then file or folder names will be quoted inserted into
      the editor/command line.
  1 - if set then file or folder names will be quoted inserted into
      the clipboard.
The default value = 0xFFFFFFFF (quote file or folders names).

I think you need to be a developer to understand this.

Note two similar shortcuts:

• Ctrl+Enter copies selected file name to command line
• Ctrl+F copies full path

For this auto-quoting is actually useful, therefore I set QuotedName to 1, not 0.

Idea: let’s use F4 key to open file in Visual Studio.

Here’s how to achieve it:

* Open Commands menu, select File associations.
* Add new association, enter *.htm;*.html as a mask. Enter this command for F4:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /edit "!.!"

Change path to devenv.exe if you have different version of Visual Studio.

Note the /edit parameter. It makes Visual Studio to re-use existing window if it is alredy running. Visual Studio is not exactly a lightweight editor so let’s be efficient here.

What if you want to open HTML file in internal Far editor? Simple: press Alft+F4.

Reference:

Devenv Command Line Switches

Ingredients

• 700 g beef
• 6-10 types of ham, smoked ribs, sausages, salami, hot dogs, small sausages etc. Total weight 1 kg.
• 150 g carrot
• 150 g onion
• 200 g pickled cucumbers
• 5 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons capers
• black pepper
• 3-4 bay leaves
• vegetable oil
• 1 lemon
• olives to taste
• dill or parsley

Method

Place beef in a pan. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for one and half hour (on medium, skim off the scum).

Take the meat out, let it cool, chop into small pieces.

Chop onion.

Grate carrot on medium grater.

Dice cucumbers.

Dice or julienne meat items (cervelat, ham, smoked ribs, sausages, salami, hot dogs, small sausages, bacon etc).

Fry meat items slightly on vegetable oil.

Fry onion slightly on vegetable oil.

Add carrot, fry a bit.

Add cucumbers, fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add tomato paste, simmer for 5-7 minutes on low.

If tomato paste is too thick you can add some water.

Add meat items to the boiling stock.

Then add beef. Simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Add few capers to taste.

Add fried onion, carrot and cucumbers.

Add half of cup of cucumber or olive pickle. Simmer for 5-7 minutes more.

Add bay leaves, pepper, dill, parsley.

Add salt if needed. Leave it covered for 15-20 minutes. Remove bay leaves.

Pour soup into bowls. Put lemon and olives into each bowl.

Enjoy!

I have lots of photos to backup: 900,000 files in 4,000 folders.

Obivously it is impractical to copy all files on every backup – it will take forever. s3.exe has exact feature that I need:

/sync is used with the put command and only uploads files that do not exist on S3 or have been modified since last being uploaded, based on the timestamp. It can be used alone or in conjunction with the /sub option for a fast incremental backup of a whole directory.

Here’s command line that I use for backups:

s3.exe put mybucket C:\photos\ /sub:withdelete /sync /acl:public-read /yes /nogui

Charges

When I started using S3 however I was surpised with the bill from Amazon.

Let’s open source code to see how backup is done. Here are relevant bits:

foreach (string file in Sub.GetFiles(directory, filename, sub))
...
DateTime? lastModified = svc.getLastModified(bucket, key);
if (lastModified.HasValue && lastModified.Value > File.GetLastWriteTimeUtc(file))
{
Progress.reportProgress(key, 0, 0);
continue;
}

For each file s3.exe gets last modified date from the storage. If it is greater than last modified date of local file then no upload is performed.

Let’s do some calculations. To get last modified date s3.exe sends HEAD request. Amazon charges $0.01 per 10,000 HEAD requests. So I would end up paying $0.09 every time I perform backup. If I do it every day that’s $27 per month.

Let’s try to optimize it. How about this: for every local folder get the corresponding list of files in storage. Last modified date will be included in response. Now we’re going to issue about 4,000 LIST requests (1 for each folder). 1,000 LIST requests is $0.01 so that would be $0.04 in total. Or $1.20 per month – that’s saving of $25.80 – a big win

Making the Patch

I have created a patch by following steps from Scott Hanselman’s blog post.

I have submitted my patch to Codeplex, let’s see if project owner decides that it’s good enough to be applied.

Idea

Idea is very simple:  web gallery with shopping cart for wedding photographers. For more details see my older post.

Pricing

Fotrel is a web application. My clients use it as a service. The whole software-as-a-service model has a great appeal to me. I can make money while I sleep. There is no pain of acquiring new clients.

I’ve set the price to $95 per month right from the beginning. I didn’t want my product to look cheap. On the other hand it is flat price. I don’t like the idea of charging commission for this kind of service. For some reason it feels like putting my hands in client’s pocket. After all, my expenses are exactly the same regardless of how many orders my client gets.

Then, after reading Jay Abraham’s book I got an idea: charge $95 per month only if photographer has sales in that month. This creates a safety net for my clients: if my product doesn’t bring profit to them at least they are not losing money on it. This should be especially appealing to small (one-person) studios. Also, when you have sales paying $95 feels like giving away part of the profit, not parting with your own money. So far people like this idea. It certainly makes it easier to say yes rather than no.

Clients

Not everyone pays me each month because of the pricing structure. So it is somewhat hard to tell if someone is my customer. A photographer could sign up for my service just to try it out and then never come back. I define my client as someone who has uploaded at least one wedding or portrait gallery in past 3 months.

At the moment I have 15 clients.

Profits

On average, I get $300 per month.

Expenses

You might be wondering why I have those red months with negative profit.

• I hired web designer twice.
• I sponsored few AIPP mentoring sessions.

Hosting is the biggest part of my expenses at the moment – about $150 per month. I’m using Amazon EC2 and Softsys Hosting.

Conclusion

Overall, I’m happy with my progress. For now, my focus is on preventing those red bars from appearing again.

P.S. You can take a look at my product here: Fotrel.

If a long-running process (for example, archiving) was run in a FAR console, and for some reasons this very instance of FAR is needed (an editor in the background) or it is undesirable to run a new instance ofFAR, pressing this key combination will create a new console for FAR where it will continue running as if the process has already ended, and the process will continue working in the old console.

Unfortunately this doesn’t work on Windows 7. Instead of detaching you get Windows task switcher:

Interestingly the switcher is in “sticky” mode. It doesn’t disappear when you release keys. You can use arrow keys to select a window.

The fix is easy:

1. Start regedit, open HKCU\Software\far2\System key.
2. Create ConsoleDetachKey string value, set it to some keyboard shortcut. I use CtrlAltX.
3. Restart Far Manager

To test it try executing this command from Far:

ping google.com -t

Press Ctrl+Alt+X to get back to Far without stopping pings.

public static class DateTimeJavaScript
{
   private static readonly long DatetimeMinTimeTicks =
      (new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc)).Ticks;

   public static long ToJavaScriptMilliseconds(this DateTime dt)
   {
      return (long)((dt.ToUniversalTime().Ticks - DatetimeMinTimeTicks) / 10000);
   }
}

Usage:

var dt = new Date(<%= DateTime.Today.ToJavaScriptMilliseconds() %>);
alert(dt);

Reference

Java System.currentTimeMillis() equivalent in C#

Sometimes you need to see error details (think shared hosting). Add these entries to your web.config file to disable generic errors:

<configuration>
  <system.web>
    <customErrors mode="Off" />
  </system.web>

  <system.webServer>
    <httpErrors errorMode="Detailed" />
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Resources

• How to Use HTTP Detailed Errors in IIS 7.0
• What to expect from IIS7 custom error module
• IIS 7 Error Pages taking over 500 Errors
• IIS7 Overrides customErrors when setting Response.StatusCode?

You can do the same with Far Manager. Open drive menu (Alt+F1 or Alt+F2), select your flash drive and press Shift+Del. You should get this confirmation:

Select “Remove” and you’re done. Note that the key combo (Shift+Del) is different from ejecting CD/DVD (Del).