What's this curly braces syntax?

PowerShell Help
#1

I’m trying to follow this WPF tutorial. The guy uses syntax like this:

$Button.Add_Click{$CurrentValue ++}

Powershell 2.0 is unhappy about it but in 5.0 it’s fine. Well I know that Add_Click is a method so I replaced it with

$Button.Add_Click({$CurrentValue ++})

and 2.0 swallowed it.

But the question is since what version the omission of parentheses in method calls became legitimate?

#2

I’ve always known it to be () in all versions. You might ask Jvierra over on the sapien forums, he’s been around a lot longer than I.

#3

The {} is a script block

PS C:\Users\Rob> $test = {}

PS C:\Users\Rob> $test.GetType()

IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType                                                                                                                                                                
-------- -------- ----                                     --------                                                                                                                                                                
True     True     ScriptBlock                              System.Object

As Powershell has progressed, the developers attempt to take redundant code and let you use ‘shortcuts’. For instance, in v2 you have to do | Where {$_.Param -eq “Blue”} and in v3 and above you can do Where Param -eq “Blue”. The language is built for administrators and simplicity. If you are writing a production script and not a quick query, it’s best to make the code as strongly-typed as possible, in IMHO. I use my code in multiple environments and many, sadly, still use V2, which makes me ensure that all code runs on V2 - V5.