Show Elapsed Time on Console Title bar

PowerShell Help
1

Hello Everyone,

I am trying display elapsed time on powershell console Title bar. I have two functions first one displays the clock and works fine. The second one displays elapsed time but the issue i am running it does not let me run any commands on the PS console while displaying elapsed time. However the first function that displays the clock and i can run any other commands on the PS console.

Any help greatly appreciated.

First function:

function Start-Clock
{
  # create a timer that fires every 300ms
  $script:timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer
  $timer.Enabled = $true
  $timer.Interval = 300
  $timer.AutoReset = $true

  # respond to the timer "Elapsed" event
   $null = Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName Elapsed -SourceIdentifier Clock -Action {
    # execute this whenever the timer fires
    $titleText = $host.Ui.RawUI.WindowTitle
    
    # is there a date information displayed already?
    $hasTime =  $titleText -match '^\[\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}\] - '
    if ($hasTime) 
    {
      # remove old date
      $titleText = $titleText.SubString(13)
    }
    # set new date
    $time = '[' + (Get-Date -Format 'HH:mm:ss' ) + '] - '
    $host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = $time + $titleText
  }
}
Start-Clock

Second Function:

function Start-ElapsedTimer
{
  # create a timer that fires every 3 Seconds
  $script:timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer
  $timer.Enabled = $true
  $timer.Interval = 3000
  $timer.AutoReset = $true

  # respond to the timer "Elapsed" event
   $null = Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName Elapsed -SourceIdentifier Clock -Action {
    # execute this whenever the timer fires
    $titleText = $host.Ui.RawUI.WindowTitle
    
    # is there a ElapsedTimer information displayed already?
    $hasElapsedTimer =  $titleText -match '^\[\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}\] - '
    if ($hasElapsedTimerTime) 
    {
      # remove old ElapsedTimer
      $titleText = $titleText.SubString(13)
    }
    # set new ElapsedTimer
    $elapsedTime = [system.diagnostics.stopwatch]::StartNew()
     while($true)
	{
    $displayetimer = 'Elapsed Time [' + ($elapsedtime.Elapsed.ToString('hh\:mm\:ss')) + '] - '
	sleep 1
    $host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = $displayetimer + $titleText
  }
}
}

Start-ElapsedTimer
2

The second function has an infinite while loop, hence it will not come out and you will not be able to enter until the while loop finishes.

3

is there any other way to accomplish this? Showing elapsed timer either on the title bar or on the stop of PS console? I am just trying display how long is the script running so operators can take action if it is running for a long time. Thanks.

4

Have you looked at Write-Progress: PowerShell's Write-Progress Explored -- Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online

5

If you want to measure how much time a script/cmdlet took to complete execution, you can use Measure-Command

Measure-Command {sleep 10}

Get-Help Measure-Command -Full

6

As @Rob mentioned, Write-Progress will be a great value add for you.

7

You can put virtually whatever string you want in the title bar…

Example:

https://learn-powershell.net/2012/01/28/turn-your-powershell-console-title-bar-into-a-rssweather-ticker
...but you also have to clean that up when you are done with whatever you did.

Adding date, time , timers is a similar approach…

http://community.idera.com/powershell/powertips/b/tips/posts/add-a-clock-to-powershell

Adding Clock to PowerShell Console | IderaBlog


As far as measuring how long a script took, that is a common test done and documented all over the web.

Example:

https://www.pluralsight.com/blog/tutorials/measure-powershell-scripts-speed