As for…
If I run this in Powershell ISE it will pop up to the front of the screen like I would expect.
It should, because these are two different apps that are being ran. The ISE is of course PowerShell_ise.exe, the console window in the ISE is not a real ConsoleHost. When you run code in the ISE, it actually spawn a PowerShell.exe instance to run it and that is separate from the powershell_ise.exe instance all the while returning the output back to the ISE console. Hence why it can come to the front.
In VSCode, the code is run as a child process. Hence not coming front. You can see this in Get-Process in both tools.
When you do this in the ISE, you will see a single powershell_ise.exe process.
When you run the code in the ISE, and do Get-Process again, you will see a new powershell.exe process.
When you run VSCode, you will see several powershell.exe processes. One for the start of VSCode (default ConsolHost) and the other for when you start the Editor which triggers the ‘PowerShell Integrated Console - Visual Studio Code Host’.
VSCode
Get-Process -Name '*powershell*'
Handles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
------- ------ ----- ----- ------ -- -- -----------
590 28 83808 93452 1.09 32 26 powershell
728 43 140340 139116 3.86 6840 26 powershell
If you open TaskManager, you’ll see only one VSC task, but expand that and you’ll see double digit child processes, depending on what you loaded up.
The VSCode console dropdown will show the number of powershell.exe process are running in the parent process. So, at the start and a blank editor / pane, there will be two. The moment you run this code in the Editor, it will spawn a third powershell.exe instance. If you open TaskManger you will see the VSC process until you expand it and see all the child processes.
Get-Process -Name '*powershell*'
Handles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
------- ------ ----- ----- ------ -- -- -----------
584 28 83696 93408 1.19 32 26 powershell
626 31 85092 95592 1.14 6544 26 powershell
1246 71 328936 349968 16.95 6840 26 powershell
Also, if you look at the bottom right of the VSC console, you will see the work PowerShell with a spinning icon to the left of it. This means that the parent editor (which itself seems to be model) is running the new PowerShell instance and in a model dialog box thus behind the parent. However, if you go back to TaskManager, you’ll see a separate ‘Windows PowerShell’ task running.
So, in order for you to bring this to the front, you have to minimize the VSCode window. You can do this in your code. Yet, this just means you have to click the taskbar icon (or ALT+TAB) to bring the VSCode window back up to work on your code again. Otherwise you are going to have to write additional code to try and grab that process and make it active. That is a bit more of a challenge, especially for model dialog boxes. Been there, done that, not successful.
So, when I do this sort of thing like you are, I just minimize VSC…
Function Get-FileName($initialDirectory)
{
[system.reflection.assembly]::loadwithpartialname("System.Windows.Forms")
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::Sendwait("% {n}")
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms") |
Out-Null
$OpenFileDialog = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
$OpenFileDialog.initialDirectory = $initialDirectory
$OpenFileDialog.filter = "CSV (*.csv)| *.csv"
$OpenFileDialog.ShowDialog() | Out-Null
$OpenFileDialog.filename
$OpenFileDialog.ShowHelp = $true
} #end function Get-FileName
Get-FileName -initialDirectory D:\Temp
… and work with my dialogs, and ALT+TAB to maximize VSC when done.
Even using the above, sometimes it will minimize to show the dialog behind, other times it will bring the dialog to the front, depending on what other screens / dialogs I had up at the time. I have a 4 monitor setup with many items up at once.
Otherwise, I write my code, save the file and shell-out, so as to not have to minimize VSC. Both at not the best experience, but it is what it is. Well, unless someone else tells me I am smoking something, that is causing my in ability to accomplish this. 8^}
I also spent a good bit of time VSC editor settings and PowerShellEditorServices for a fix, no luck.
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