Command Naming Reference

GENESIS PowerShell commands follow a small, consistent set of naming patterns. Because the same patterns apply to every provider, you can derive almost any command name from a verb and an entity rather than looking it up. This topic documents those patterns and the special-purpose commands that fall outside them. For the concepts behind entities and keys, see Entities, Keys, and the Command Model; to find which module a command belongs to, see the PowerShell Module Reference.

Entity Command Pattern

Most commands take the form Verb-PrefixEntity, where the verb is one of four standard actions, the prefix identifies the provider module, and the entity is the configurable item. For example, New-AcEquipment is New + Ac (Assets) + Equipment.

Verb	Purpose	Example
Get	Reads an entity, all entities of a type, or the children of a parent.	Get-AcEquipment 'Baking line'
New	Creates a new entity.	New-AcEquipment -Name 'Press01'
Set	Updates an existing entity; only the supplied parameters change.	Set-AcEquipment 'Press01' -Enabled $true
Remove	Deletes an entity.	Remove-AcEquipment 'Press01'

Get Forms

The Get verb has three forms for every entity type:

Form	Returns	Example
Get-PrefixEntity <name>	The single entity you identify by name, key, or identifier.	Get-TrgDataItem 'HighTemp'
Get-PrefixEntitys	Every entity of the specified type.	Get-TrgDataItems
Get-PrefixEntitysByParent <parent>	The children of the specified parent entity.	Get-AcEquipmentsByParent 'Line A'

Common Entity Parameters

Most New and Set commands accept the following parameters in addition to the entity-specific ones:

Parameter	Notes
-Name	The entity to act on, identified by a name, key, or identifier. Mandatory and positional (position 0) on single-entity commands.
-ParentName	The parent entity, identified by a name, key, or identifier. Omit to create at the provider's root. Default: (null)—root.
-Description	Free-text description. Default: (null).
-NewName	On Set commands, renames the entity. Default: (null)—name unchanged.

Special Commands

Some commands sit outside the entity pattern and provide cross-cutting capabilities. These come from the IcoWorkbenchPowershell and IcoConfigPowershell modules.

Targeting a host

Command	Purpose
Get-WbHost	Reports the host whose configuration the session is currently changing.
Set-WbHost <computer>	Retargets the session to a different Workbench host. Every subsequent command applies there.

Examples:

Building keys

Keys reference an entity without loading it. Learn more

Command	Purpose
New-WbKey -TypeName <type> -Id <id>	Builds a key from an entity type name and database identifier.
New-WbEmptyKey	Creates an empty key that is used where the command requires a key placeholder.
New-WbRootKey	Creates a key that refers to a provider's root.
New-WbType -TypeName <type>	Creates a type reference.

Examples:

Configuration and helpers

Command	Purpose
Export-WbConfiguration	Exports configuration from the current host.
Import-WbConfiguration	Imports configuration into the current host.
Set-WbMultiply	Bulk-duplicates the configuration.
Get-Guid	Generates a GUID for parameters that require one.
Set-WbBackupDatabase / Get-WbRestorePoints	Backs up a configuration database and lists available restore points.

Worked Example

The following example uses the patterns together: it builds a key for a collector group, reads a logging group's key, and passes both into a New command to create a Data Historian tag.

Related Topics:

• PowerShell Module Reference

• Entities, Keys, and the Command Model

• Discovering Commands and Accessing Help