HelpCache/readme.txt
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This file explains how to enable full PowerShell help and documentation for all of your PowerShell modules and commands.
It also explains a new feature in ISESteroids that enables non-Administrators to benefit from full PowerShell help and documentation. Limited Help by Default ======================= By default, PowerShell 3 and better does not ship help files. When you use Get-Help, or when you click a command in the ISE editor and press F1, you will see only basic information like command syntax. You miss full documentation and code samples. Updating PowerShell Help ======================== To enjoy a comprehensive PowerShell help experience, you can download and install the latest help files from the Internet for all of your PowerShell modules. This requires two things that you may or may not have: (a) Administrator privileges, and (b) Internet access. If you are missing either one, skip the next steps and read on. Else, update PowerShell help with these simple steps: 1. Launch a PowerShell console (do not use the ISE editor in PSv3. There is a bug.) with Administrator privileges 2. Run this command: Update-Help -UICulture en-US -Force 3. If you are running PowerShell Version 3 on a non-US system, copy the contents of $pshome\en-us to the subfolder with your locale id (i.e. $pshome\de-de for German systems). This is not necessary when using PowerShell version 4 or better. Using HelpCache Locations Instead ================================= If you cannot update your help files because of missing Administrator privileges, ISESteorids provides three alternative locations to store help files. (a) ISESteroids Module Base Folder\HelpCache (THIS folder, prepopulated with a number of help files from popular Microsoft modules) (b) $env:profile\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\HelpCache (always writeable for a user) (c) $env:appdata\ISESteroids\HelpCache (always writeable for a user) If ISESteroids detects that a help file is missing at the default location, it automatically looks up the help file in these three folders (if they exist): Scope of HelpCache ================== HelpCache is designed as a caching mechanism for for MAML-based help files. MAML-based help files typically contain help for cmdlets and functions. The file name looks like "Modulename-help.xml", and such help files can be found either in the root folder of modules, or in localized subfolders named "en-US", "de-de", etc. HelpCache does not support plaintext-based help files (about_...txt files). If you want to cache plaintext-based help files, simply copy these files to any module stored in a location where you have write access, i.e. $env:profile\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\[ModuleName]. You may want to create a dummy module simply for this purpose. |