Windows Server Automation with PowerShell Cookbook - Fourth Edition

5

Exploring .NET

In this chapter, we cover the following recipes:

• Exploring .NET assemblies
• Examining .NET classes
• Leveraging .NET methods
• Creating a C# extension
• Creating a PowerShell cmdlet

Introduction

Microsoft first launched the Microsoft .NET Framework in June 2000, amid a frenzy of marketing zeal, with the code name Next Generation Windows Services. Microsoft seemed to add the .NET moniker to every product. There was Windows .NET Server (renamed Windows Server 2003), Visual Studio .NET, and even MapPoint .NET. As is often the case, over time, .NET provided features which were superseded by later and newer features based on advances in technology. For example, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and XML-based web services have given ...