Function Output Piped to a PowerGadget using -refresh

[Dastari]

Hey guys, I'v just got the trial of PowerGadgets to see what I can do with it and have my first question.

 I am trying to monitor hard drive space on a remote server that is firewalled except for port 80. What I am doing is running a batch file on the server every minute that dumps the result of a "dir" into a text file on the web folder so I can read it remotly. As an example I wrote this quick function to give you an idea:

 function GetBytesFree(){  $Url = "http://www.somewebsite.com/dir.txt"    $WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient

    $Random = New-Object system.random   $DirResult = $WebClient.DownloadString($Url+"?t="+$Random.nextdouble())  $BytesFree = $DirResult | find "bytes free"  $BytesFree = $BytesFree.split(" ")[17]  return [double]$BytesFree}

PS C:\> GetBytesFree55153283072

Running this from the powershell console returns a double with the bytes free. It is correct and works fine. Now if i do a:

PS C:\>  GetBytesFree | out-gauge -type digital -floating

I get a nice digital display with the number in it, this works fine. But what I want to be able to do is update this every minute. However when I try to do a:

PS C:\>  GetBytesFree | out-gauge -type digital -floating -refresh 0:1:0

I get the output the first time, but when 1 minute passes I get the following error from the gauge:

Failed to connect to Data "The term 'GetBytesFree' is not recognised as a cmdlet, function, operable program, or script file. Verify the term and try again.' 

I realise that this is probalby not a PowerGadgets problem, but can anyone suggest a solution? Is it possible to put the function somewhere so it is exposed to the PowerGadget?

Edit:

After hunting around a bit more on the forums I found a post that mentioned when the -refresh is triggered a new instance of the Gadget with it's own runspace is created.  I will have a play around and see what I can work out.

 

Thanks in advance.

[IGSFX]

Try moving your script to a folder that appears in your PATH environment variable. This way PowerShell will find it regardless of your current path location.

[marco.shaw]

So along the same lines as Ivan...  Drop these lines in a .ps1 script

$Url = "http://www.somewebsite.com/dir.txt"    $WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient

    $Random = New-Object system.random   $DirResult = $WebClient.DownloadString($Url+"?t="+$Random.nextdouble())  $BytesFree = $DirResult | find "bytes free"  $BytesFree = $BytesFree.split(" ")[17] [double]$BytesFree

Then pipe that .ps1 to out-gauge.  If you decide to leave the original code, and put all of that in a .ps1 script, make sure to invoke the function at the end of the .ps1.  Either put the script in your path, or pass the full path to out-gauge.

[Dastari]

Thanks for the help,

Those solutions did work however I got the powershell console flashfor a quick second every time the refresh happened. In the mean time I had aplay around with the sidebar packaging tool and just pasted my code into thatas the data source. This actually worked phenomenally well and gave me a sidebar gadget to boot.

*stares dreamily at his new sidebar gadget* 

[marco.shaw]

Those solutions did work however I got the powershell console flash for a quick second every time the refresh happened.

Strange, I've never noticed the console flashing during refreshes.  Is this still happening?

Marco