en-US/about_mytasks.help.txt

TOPIC
    about_mytasks
 
SHORT DESCRIPTION
    The commands in the module are intended to be used as a simple solution for
    personal project management or as a more extensive To-Do list. The goal is
    to put all of your work items at your fingertips in a PowerShell session. At
    a glance you should be able to see project status and update your tasks.
 
LONG DESCRIPTION
    The core of this module is an object defined in a PowerShell class. The
    class has a number of properties, some of which are hidden, meaning you won't
    see them unless you specify the property name.
    Note: ID and OverDue values are calculated at run time.
 
        [int]$ID
        [string]$Name
        [string]$Description
        [datetime]$DueDate
        [bool]$Overdue
        [String]$Category
        [ValidateRange(0,100)][int]$Progress
        hidden[bool]$Completed
        hidden[datetime]$TaskCreated = (Get-Date)
        hidden[datetime]$TaskModified
        hidden[guid]$TaskID = (New-Guid)
 
    A MyTask object might look like this:
 
        ID : 8
        Name : Lab Setup
        Description : DSC Labs
        DueDate : 9/1/2018 12:00:00 AM
        Overdue : False
        Category : Work
        Progress : 0
 
    The class methods are invoked by the different functions within this module.
    The ID property is calculated at run time when all the tasks are loaded into
    the PowerShell session. These numbers might change in the same way that job
    numbers change from session to session. The hidden TaskID is the unique id
    for each task.
 
    DESIGN
    All task information is stored in an XML file which is created in the user's
    documents folder. On Linux with PowerShell Core the $home folder will be
    used. This path is stored as a global variable myTaskPath and will have a
    value like: C:\Users\Jeff\Documents\myTasks.xml. There is also an XML file
    for archiving completed tasks. This too is in the Documents or $home folder
    and can be referenced via the myTaskArchivePath variable.
 
    NOTE: Starting with version 2.0.0 of this module the home location is determined
    by using [Environment]::GetFolderPath([Environment+SpecialFolder]::MyDocuments)
    Use the `Get-MyTaskHome` command to view your current settings. Use the
    Set-MyTaskHome to modify the home variable. All other variables will be set
    from that.
 
    As tasks are created, modified, completed and archived, these XML files are
    updated. Select-XML is used extensively to make this process as efficient
    as possible.
 
    CATEGORIES
    The MyTask object has a provision to tag or label each task with a category.
    By default the class includes an enumeration with a default set of categories:
 
        + Work
        + Personal
        + Other
        + Customer
 
    Or you can create your own text list of categories which override the
    default settings. For example, you might want to add a priority category
    such as High, Medium and Low.
 
    The module is designed to look for a specific text file of category names.
    Instead of manually creating the text file, it is strongly recommended to
    use the MyTaskCategory commands.
 
        + Add-MyTaskCategory
        + Get-MyTaskCategory
        + Remove-MyTaskCategory
 
    The commands should be self-explanatory. It is also recommended to keep your
    custom category list as short as possible as several commands have a dynamic
    parameter to expand this list. You should avoid removing any item from a
    custom category list as long as you have an active task with that category.
 
    CREATING A TASK
    Use the New-MyTask command to create a new task. The required parameters
    are Name and Category. You can specify a deadline date or a number of days
    in which to complete the task. If you don't specify anything the default is
    7 days from the current date.
 
        New-MyTask -Name "Rebuild DC02" -Category Work -Days 30
 
    DISPLAYING A TASK
    The Get-MyTask command will read all tasks from the task XML file and
    create mytask objects. During this process the OverDue property is
    calculated based on comparing the current date to the DueDate. All tasks
    will be assigned an ID value. Tasks are sorted by due date in descending
    order and completed tasks are filtered out by default. This means that you
    might see gaps in the IDs. Use the -All property to display everything or
    -Completed to see only completed tasks.
 
    The module includes a custom format type extension file which includes
    several custom views. You can try commands like these:
 
    Get-Mytask | Sort-object Category | format-table -view Category
    Get-Mytask | format-list -view All
 
    The second command is especially useful as it will display all properties,
    even hidden ones.
 
    An alternative to Get-MyTask is Show-MyTask. This command behaves the
    same as Get-MyTask except that output is written directly to the console
    using Write- Host so that it can be colorized. Overdue tasks will be
    displayed in Red. Items that are due in the next 24 hours will be displayed
    in Yellow. Completed tasks will be displayed in Green.
 
    MODIFYING A TASK
    Use Set-MyTask to modify an existing task. You can update any combination
    of these properties:
 
        + Name
        + Category
        + DueDate
        + Description
        + Progress
 
    You can specify a task by its name or ID, although it might be easiest to
    use Get-MyTask and pipe to Set-MyTask.
 
    Get-MyTask -id 6 | Set-MyTask -Progress 33 -DueDate 8/20/2018 -Passthru
 
    ID Name Description DueDate OverDue Category Progress
    -- ---- ----------- ------- ------- -------- --------
    6 Rebuild DC02 8/20/2018 False Work 33
 
    COMPLETING A TASK
    When a task if finished, use Complete-MyTask to mark it as complete. This
    will set the Progress to 100 and set the hidden Completed property to TRUE.
 
      Get-MyTask -id 6 | Complete-MyTask
 
    The completed task will remain in the task XML file until you archive it or
    delete it. You can delete any task from the XML file with Remove-MyTask.
 
    ARCHIVE AND BACKUP
    If you will be making changes to your tasks, you might want to backup the
    XML task file. Instead of manually copying the file use the Backup-MyTask
    command. By default the command will create a backup copy in your documents
    folder using a timestamp filename.
 
     PS C:\> backup-mytaskfile -Passthru
 
        Directory: C:\Users\Jeff\documents
 
 
    Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
    ---- ------------- ------ ----
    -a---- 7/19/2018 6:19 PM 16461 MyTasks_Backup_20180719.xml
 
    Or you can specify your own location and file name.
 
    Finally, if you have a number of completed tasks that you wish to save but
    not be imported every time you run Get-MyTask, you can archive them to a
    separate XML file. The command is technically called Save-MyTask but you
    can also use its alias Archive-MyTask.
 
        PS C:> archive-mytask
 
    By default all completed tasks will be removed from the tasks XML file and
    stored in a file called myTasksArchive.xml in the user's documents folder.
    You also have the option of archiving specific tasks. This will move the
    task to the new file in its current state.
 
        PS C:> get-mytask TaskX | save-mytask -Path C:\Work\Other.xml
 
    You can also archive a file when completing it.
 
        Complete-MyTask -Name "setup CEO laptop" -archive
 
    Although this will automatically archive it to the myTasksArchive.xml file.
    There is no provision to specify an alternate location like Save-MyTask.
    Use the `Get-MyTaskArchive` to retrieve archived tasks.
 
    EMAIL REMINDER
    If you are running this module on Windows PowerShell with the PSScheduled
    jobs module you can create a scheduled PowerShell job to send a daily email
    message showing tasks that are due in the next 3 days or whatever you
    choose. The default behavior is to send a text message but you can send an
    HTML message which will add color coding to highlight overdue and impending tasks.
    Use Enable-EmailReminder to set up the scheduled job. The default time is
    8:00AM daily but you can pick a different time. The job name is hard coded.
    You will need to re-enter your current credentials for the task so that the
    task scheduler has access to the network. Run Disable-EmailReminder to
    remove the task in case you want to change it. Get-EmailReminder will show
    you the current state of the task.
 
NOTE
    This module is not intended as a full-feature project management tool. It is
    intended to serve as a light-weight reminder or to-do list system. However,
    feature requests and comments are welcome on the project's GitHub site at
    https://github.com/jdhitsolutions/MyTasks.
 
TROUBLESHOOTING NOTE
    There are no known issues at this time.
 
SEE ALSO
KEYWORDS
    + task
    + project
    + to-do