MyTasks

This PowerShell module is designed as a task or simple To-Do manager. The module contains several commands for working with tasks. It should work with both Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core with a few limitations. You can install the latest version from the PowerShell Gallery. You will need the -Scopeparameter for PowerShell Core.

Install-Module MyTasks [-scope currentuser]

Task data is stored in an XML file. Other configuration information is stored in simple text files. Here are a few highlights.

Class Based

This module uses a class definition for the task object and is designed to work on both Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core.

Class MyTask {

    <#
    A class to define a task or to-do item
    #>

    #Properties
    # ID and OverDue values are calculated at run time.

    [int]$ID
    [string]$Name
    [string]$Description
    [datetime]$DueDate
    [bool]$Overdue
    [String]$Category
    [ValidateRange(0, 100)][int]$Progress
    hidden[bool]$Completed
    hidden[datetime]$TaskCreated = (Get-Date)
    hidden[datetime]$TaskModified
    hidden[guid]$TaskID = (New-Guid)

    #Methods

    #set task as completed
    [void]CompleteTask([datetime]$CompletedDate) {
        Write-Verbose "[CLASS  ] Completing task: $($this.name)"
        $this.Completed = $True
        $this.Progress = 100
        $this.Overdue = $False
        $this.TaskModified = $CompletedDate
    }

    #check if task is overdue and update
    hidden [void]Refresh() {
        Write-Verbose "[CLASS  ] Refreshing task $($this.name)"
        #only mark as overdue if not completed and today is greater than the due date
        Write-Verbose "[CLASS  ] Comparing $($this.DueDate) due date to $(Get-Date)"

        if ($This.completed) {
            $this.Overdue = $False
        }
        elseif ((Get-Date) -gt $this.DueDate) {
            $this.Overdue = $True
        }
        else {
            $this.Overdue = $False
        }

    } #refresh

    #Constructors
    MyTask([string]$Name) {
        Write-Verbose "[CLASS  ] Constructing with name: $name"
        $this.Name = $Name
        $this.DueDate = (Get-Date).AddDays(7)
        $this.TaskModified = (Get-Date)
        $this.Refresh()
    }
    #used for importing from XML
    MyTask([string]$Name, [datetime]$DueDate, [string]$Description, [string]$Category, [boolean]$Completed) {
        Write-Verbose "[CLASS  ] Constructing with due date, description and category"
        $this.Name = $Name
        $this.DueDate = $DueDate
        $this.Description = $Description
        $this.Category = $Category
        $this.TaskModified = $this.TaskCreated
        $this.Completed = $completed
        $this.Refresh()
    }

} #end class definition

While you could use the object's properties and methods directly, you should use the appropriate module command.

XML Data

All of the task information is stored in an XML file. The commands in this module will read in, update, and remove items as needed using PowerShell commands such as Select-XML. By default these files are stored in your Documents folder (on Windows systems) or in Home (on Linux). You can change the default location by using the Set-myTaskHome command. This is helpful if you are sharing task information between computers via a service like Dropbox or OneDrive.

Set-MyTaskHome -path C:\Users\Jeff\dropbox\mytasks\

If you use this feature, you'll need to make sure you run this command before doing anything. It is recommended to put this command in a PowerShell profile script.

You shouldn't have to manage the module related variables directly. Use Get-MyTaskHome to view your current settings.

Categories

The Task object includes a Category property. The module will define a default set of categories ("Work","Personal","Customer","Other"), but users can create their own by using the MyTaskCategory commands:

• Add-MyTaskCategory
• Get-MyTaskCategory
• Remove-MyTaskCategory

Task information is stored in a text file in the $myTaskHome location.

Basic Usage

You create a task with at least a name and category. The default due date will be 7 days from the current date and time.

New-MyTask "return library books" -Category personal

You can also specify a due date.

New-MyTask "Pluralsight" -duedate "2/1/2019" -description "renew subscription" -category other

You can use Set-MyTask to modify a task.

Get-MyTask Pluralsight | Set-Mytask -DueDate 3/1/2019

Because the task has a Progress property, you can use Set-MyTask to update that as well.

Set-Mytask "book review" -Progress 60

To view tasks you can use Get-MyTask. Normally, you will use Get-MyTask to display tasks, all, some or a single item:

PS S:\> get-mytask -name MemoryTools

ID  Name         Description                DueDate OverDue Category  Progress
--  ----         -----------                ------- ------- --------  --------
8   MemoryTools  update module            7/22/2019 False   Projects        10

The default behavior is to display incomplete tasks due in the next 30 days. Look at the help for Get-MyTask for more information.

There is also a command called Show-MyTask which is really nothing more than a wrapper to Get-MyTask. The "Show" command will write output directly to the host. Incomplete tasks that are overdue will be displayed in red text. Tasks that will be due in 24 hours will be displayed in yellow. If you select all tasks then completed items will be displayed in green. This command may not work as expected in the PowerShell ISE.

When a task is finished you can mark it as complete.

Complete-MyTask -name "order coffee"

The task will remain but be marked as 100% complete. You can still see the task when using the -All parameter with Get-MyTask or Show-MyTask. At some point you might want to remove completed tasks from the master XML file. You can use Remove-MyTask to permanently delete them. Or use the Archive-MyTask command to move them to an archive xml file.

Format Views

The module includes a format.ps1xml file that defines a default display when you run Get-MyTask. You will get a slightly different set of properties when you run Get-MyTask | Format-List. There is also a custom table view called Category which will create a table grouped by the Category property. You should sort the tasks first:

Get-MyTask | Sort-Object Category | Format-Table -view category

Or you can use the DueDate table view - sort on DueDate

Get-MyTask -days 180 | sort duedate | Format-table -view duedate

Archiving and Removing

Over time your task file might get quite large. Even though the default behavior is to ignore completed tasks, you have an option to archive them to a separate XML file using Save-MyTask which has an alias of Archive-MyTask:

Get-Mytask -Completed | Archive-MyTask

There is an option to archive tasks when you run Complete-MyTask. Or you can completely delete a task with Remove-MyTask.

Use the Get-myTaskArchive to view archived tasks.

Email Reminders

If you are running this module on Windows PowerShell that includes the PSScheduledJob module, you can create a scheduled PowerShell job that will send you a daily email with tasks that are due in 3 days or less. The default is a plain text message but you can also send it as HTML. Use the Enable-EmailReminder command to set up the job.

You should read full help and examples for all commands as well as the about_MyTasks help file.

• Add-MyTaskCategory
• Backup-MyTaskFile
• Complete-MyTask
• Get-MyTask
• Get-MyTaskCategory
• New-MyTask
• Remove-MyTask
• Remove-MyTaskCategory
• Save-MyTask
• Set-MyTask
• Show-MyTask
• Enable-EmailReminder
• Disable-EmailReminder
• Get-EmailReminder
• Set-MyTaskHome
• Get-MyTaskHome
• Get-MyTaskArchive

Limitations

Please post any issues, questions or feature requests in the Issues section.

Last Updated 2019-08-28 15:54:42Z UTC