PowerShell GitHub API Programming

GitHub reaching to web servies on the web gives scripts data power

Overview

Use PowerShellForGitHub module
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More about Git & GitHub

I wanted to make calls to GitHub’s API from a PowerShell script.

While looking for examples, I found several libraries that already do it:

PsGitHub by Trevor Sullivan
Posh-GitHub by Ethan J. Brown installed by Chocolately.
GitHubConnect by David O’Brien
PowerShellForGitHub by Microsoft’s PowerShell team.

Do you know of others? Please let me know.

Use PowerShellForGitHub module

PowerShellForGitHub by Microsoft’s PowerShell team.

which exists within Microsoft’s PSGallery repository ecosystem which consists of modules.

It’s a package manager like Chocolatey for Windows Desktops and the Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) of Linux distributions.

The module exists within several other PS modules (in a PowerShell CLI Terminal window):


(Find-Module).count
$response = Find-Module
$response[0] | format-list # details for first item
Set-PSRepository -Name PSGallery -InstallationPolicy Trusted

(Find-Module).count returned 1084 on November 4, 2016. So list commands are not appropriate:

$response | Sort-Object
$response.GetEnumerator() | Sort-Object Value -descending

List the many fields in metadata for module PowerShellForGitHub:

$response.GetEnumerator() | ?{ $_.Name -eq "PowerShellForGitHub" } | format-list

The response:

Name                       : PowerShellForGitHub
Version                    : 0.1.0
Type                       : Module
Description                : PowerShell wrapper for GitHub API
Author                     : Microsoft Corporation
CompanyName                : PowerShellTeam
Copyright                  : (c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights 
                          reserved.
PublishedDate              : 7/27/16 8:33:44 PM
InstalledDate              : 
UpdatedDate                : 
LicenseUri                 : https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShellForGitHub/
                          blob/master/LICENSE
ProjectUri                 : https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShellForGitHub
IconUri                    : 
Tags                       : {GitHub, API, PowerShell, PSModule}
Includes                   : {Cmdlet, Workflow, Function, DscResource...}
PowerShellGetFormatVersion : 
ReleaseNotes               : 
Dependencies               : {}
RepositorySourceLocation   : https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/
Repository                 : PSGallery
PackageManagementProvider  : NuGet
AdditionalMetadata         : {developmentDependency, FileList, 
                          isLatestVersion, IsPrerelease...}

This command is necessary to avoid errors when modules are installed:

Set-PSRepository -Name PSGallery -InstallationPolicy Trusted

If it worked, no text is returned, just the PowerShell prompt again.
The GitHub README says to rename ApiTokensTemplate.psm1 to ApiTokens.psm1 and update value of $global:gitHubApiToken with GitHub token for your account.

QUESTION: how do I do that before having the file???

Install the latest module in PS Gallery within the PowerShell CLI:

Install-Module -Name PowerShellForGitHub

If Set-PSRepoitory was not run before this, the following would appear:

Untrusted repository
You are installing the modules from an untrusted repository. If you trust this 
repository, change its InstallationPolicy value by running the Set-PSRepository
 cmdlet. Are you sure you want to install the modules from 'PSGallery'?
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help 
(default is "N"):

Rerun after Set-PSRepository:

BLAH: The response I got is aother error, but the message showed me where the file is installed on my Mac:

PackageManagement\Install-Package : Could not find a part of the path 
'/usr/local/microsoft/powershell/6.0.0-alpha.10/Modules/PowerShellForGitHub/0.1.0'.
Installing package 'PowerShellForGitHub'                                  
At /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/6.0.0-alpha.10/Modules/PowerShellGet/PSModul e.psm1:1711 char:21                                                             + ...          $null = PackageManagement\Install-Package @PSBoundParameters
       +                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (Microsoft.Power....InstallPackage 
:InstallPackage) [Install-Package], Exception
       + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand,Microsoft.PowerShell.PackageManagement.  
  Cmdlets.InstallPackage

Looking into the folder, there are a lot of .dll files. So it’s not applicable to me. Thus, I …

Uninstall

Uninstall-Module PowerShellForGitHub

BLAH: This is the error message I received:

PackageManagement\Uninstall-Package : No match was found for the specified 
search criteria and module names 'PowerShellForGitHub'.
At /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/6.0.0-alpha.10/Modules/PowerShellGet/PSModul
e.psm1:2096 char:21
       + ...        $null = PackageManagement\Uninstall-Package @PSBoundParameters
       +                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (Microsoft.Power...ninstallPacka 
ge:UninstallPackage) [Uninstall-Package], Exception
 + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NoMatchFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.PackageManagem 
ent.Cmdlets.UninstallPackage

Since I was running a Mac, I got rid of it and went without using a library.

More on API Microservices

This is one of a series:

More about Git & GitHub

This is one of a series on Git and GitHub:

Wilson Mar

PowerShell GitHub API Programming

Use PowerShellForGitHub module

More on API Microservices

More about Git & GitHub

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