Debugging PowerShell Modules with Pester Unit Tests in Visual Studio Code

If you are the author of a PowerShell module, you can use the built-in debugging tools in Microsoft Visual Studio Code to debug your script modules. In this video, we'll build a simple PowerShell script module, and then use the Pester unit testing module to write some failing tests. Then, we'll set a breakpoint in our module and break into the debugger when we execute the Pester unit tests. Once execution is paused, we'll step through the module code line by line, to discover where things are going wrong. We'll then fix the module code, and ensure that our Pester unit tests are passing.

Relevant Links

https://github.com/powershell/vscode-powershell
https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/debugging
https://twitter.com/pspester
https://github.com/pester/Pester

Why should you use PowerShell classes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgvZYJVkdow
PowerShell v5 Classes :: Property Validation Attributes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXKlRVvMkv4
PowerShell 5.0 Classes :: All About Object Constructors: https://youtu.be/wLMTlNIddds
PowerShell 5.0 Classes :: Inheritance and Base Class Methods: https://youtu.be/Lfx_H36GRKg
PowerShell 5.0 Classes :: What are .NET Enumerations? https://youtu.be/LfPr7BXRCNM
Introduction to PowerShell 5.0 Classes: https://youtu.be/gjaR8rB_YsY

Producer: Trevor Sullivan
Website: https://trevorsullivan.net
Patreon: https://patreon.com/trevorsullivan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pcgeek86
Gab: https://gab.ai/trevors

Intro music "Amen Tune" used, with permission, from Aaron Static. Check out his music here: https://soundcloud.com/aaronstatic

#Microsoft #PowerShell #VSCode

0:00 Intro to Debugging PowerShell Modules
2:30 Create Sample PowerShell Module
3:53 Add Function to Return Class Instance
10:10 Create Pester Test File
12:15 Add Describe Block
15:22 Debug PowerShell Module Function
19:05 Fix Bug in PowerShell Function
23:20 Run Final Successful Test