Example from book by Jones & Hicks

Hello Sir/Madam,

I am stuck with the second of two examples on Page 96 (Chapter 8 - Objects)of this book Learn Windows Powershell in a Month of Lunches (3rd ed.). The second command, which is:
Get-Process | Select-Object -property Name,ID,PD,VM | Convert-ToHTML | Out-File test2.html
generates an error message that says: “Convert-ToHTML is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function …”.
After several “closer examinations” of the example, I realized that it mis-spells “Convert-ToHTML”: the correct syntax should be “ConvertTo-HTML”. I have changed this post after discovering the reason for the error.
Sincerely,
Ramon Tan

It’s because this…

Convert-ToHTML

… is not a cmdlet in PoSH. It’s a typo.

 
Get-Command -Name *html* 

CommandType Name           Version Source                      
----------- ----           ------- ------                      
Cmdlet      ConvertTo-Html 3.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
...

When you run into messages the say X or Y is not valid, always look it up in the built-in help files.

Here is a snippet I pulled together for such efforts. Just save it as a snippet in you PoSH snippets so you can bring it up as needed when looking up stuff.

# Get parameters, examples, full and Online help for a cmdlet or function

# Get a list of all functions
Get-Command -CommandType Function | 
Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Available functions'

# Get a list of all commandlets
Get-Command -CommandType Cmdlet | 
Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Available cmdlets'

# Get a list of all functions for the specified name
Get-Command -Name '*ADGroup*' -CommandType Function | 
Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Available named functions'

# Get a list of all commandlets for the specified name
Get-Command -Name '*ADGroup**'  -CommandType Cmdlet | 
Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Available named cmdlet'

# get function / cmdlet details
(Get-Command -Name Get-ADUser).Parameters
Get-help -Name Get-ADUser -Examples
Get-help -Name Get-ADUser -Full
Get-help -Name Get-ADUser -Online

Get-Help about_*
Get-Help about_Functions

# Find all cmdlets / functions with a target parameter
Get-Command -CommandType Function | 
Where-Object { $_.parameters.keys -match 'credential'} | 
Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Available functions which has a specific parameter'

Get-Command -CommandType Cmdlet | 
Where-Object { $_.parameters.keys -match 'credential'} | 
Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Results for cmdlets which has a specific parameter'

# Get named aliases 
Get-Alias | 
Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Available aliases'

# Get cmdlet / function parameter aliases
(Get-Command Get-ADUser).Parameters.Values | 
where aliases | 
select Name, Aliases | Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Alias results for a given cmdlet or function.'


# All Help topics locations
explorer "$pshome\$($Host.CurrentCulture.Name)"

# Get any .NET types and their static methods from PowerShell. 
# Enumerate all that are currently loaded into your AppDomain.
#  
[AppDomain]::CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies() | 
foreach { $_.GetTypes() } | 
foreach { $_.GetMethods() } | 
where { $_.IsStatic } | 
select DeclaringType, Name | 
Out-GridView -PassThru -Title '.NET types and their static methods'

# Instantiate the types using new-object and call instance methods. 
# You can use get-member on an instance to get the methods on a type.