How do I modify this script to take parameters? - powershell

Question

I have a power shell script that combines power points. The issue is it only works on power points in the current directory (the directory the script is in) and saves the combined power point to documents. How do I change the script to work from any directory that is given as a parameter. I run the power shell script like this ./Merge-Presentation -Source $Presentations -Destination $save -Verbose -Open;. Where $Presentations is the path of the individual power point and $save is the path where the combined power point is saved. Here is the script.
#region function definitions
#Function for releasing a COM object
Function Remove-Ref
{
param
(
[Object]
$ref
)
$null = Remove-Variable -Name $ref -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
while ([System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject([System.__ComObject]$ref) -gt 0)
{
}
[System.GC]::Collect()
[System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
}
#Main function for merging PowerPoint presentations
Function Merge-PowerPointPresentation
{
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Merge multiple PowerPoint presentation files to one file
.DESCRIPTION
Merge multiple PowerPoint presentation files to one file
.PARAMETER Source
The PowerPoint presentation files to merge specified by its full name
.PARAMETER Destination
The target PowerPoint presentation file specified by its full name
.PARAMETER Open
A switch to specify if we keep the PowerPoint application opened after the processing
.EXAMPLE
$Get-ChildItem -Path $CurrentDir -filter *.pptx | Sort-Object -Property Name | Merge-PowerPointPresentation -Verbose -Open
Will merge all the PowerPoint files into the current directory into one single Powerpoint file by using a timestamped filename (ie. yyyyMMddTHHmmss.pptx like 20170126T091011.pptx)
The output will be verbose
The PowerPoint application won't be left after the processing
.EXAMPLE
$Presentations = "$CurrentDir\0.pptx","$CurrentDir\1.pptx","$CurrentDir\2.pptx","$CurrentDir\3.pptx","$CurrentDir\4.pptx","$CurrentDir\5.pptx","$CurrentDir\6.pptx","$CurrentDir\7.pptx","$CurrentDir\8.pptx","$CurrentDir\9.pptx"
Merge-PowerPointPresentation -Source $Presentations -Destination C:\Temp\MergedPresentation.pptx
Will merge all the specified PowerPoint files into into the C:\Temp\MergedPresentation.pptx Powerpoint file
#>
[CmdletBinding()]
Param(
#The collection of the powerpoint files to merge
[Parameter(Mandatory = $True,ValueFromPipeline = $True,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $True)]
[ValidateScript({
(Test-Path -Path $_ -PathType Leaf) -and ($_ -match "\.ppt(x{0,1})$")
})]
[alias('FilePath', 'Path', 'FullName')]
[string[]]$Source,
#The path of the generated powerpoint file
[Parameter(Mandatory = $False)]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[alias('OutputFile')]
[string]$Destination = $(Join-Path -Path $([Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyDocuments')) -ChildPath $('{0:yyyyMMddTHHmmss}' -f (Get-Date))),
#To keep open the generated Powerpoint presentation
[parameter(Mandatory = $False)]
[switch]$Open
)
begin
{
#Opening the PowerPoint application once
Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint
$Powerpoint = New-Object -ComObject Powerpoint.Application
#Creating a new PowerPoint presentation
$NewPresentation = $Powerpoint.Presentations.Add($True)
# Adding an empty slide : mandatory
$null = $NewPresentation.Slides.Add(1, [Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.PpSlideLayout]::ppLayoutBlank)
$SlidesNb = 0
}
process
{
#For all files passed as argument outside a pipeline context
foreach ($CurrentSource in $Source)
{
#Getting the base name of the processed presentation
$CurrentPresentationName = (Get-Item -Path $CurrentSource).BaseName
#Inserting the slide of the current presentationt o the new one
$InsertedSlidesNb = $NewPresentation.Slides.InsertFromfile($CurrentSource, $SlidesNb)
#Applying the original template
$NewPresentation.Slides.Range(($SlidesNb+1)..($SlidesNb+$InsertedSlidesNb)).ApplyTemplate($CurrentSource)
#Adding a new section for the inserted context with the name of the processed presentation
Write-Verbose -Message "Adding the section $CurrentPresentationName before Slide $($SlidesNb+1)..."
$null = $NewPresentation.SectionProperties.AddBeforeSlide($SlidesNb+1, $CurrentPresentationName)
Write-Verbose -Message "Processed file $CurrentSource by inserting $InsertedSlidesNb slides ($($SlidesNb+1) ==> $($SlidesNb+$InsertedSlidesNb)) ..."
$SlidesNb += $InsertedSlidesNb
}
}
end
{
#Deleting the useless empty slide (added at the beginning)
$NewPresentation.Slides.Range($SlidesNb+1).Delete()
#Saving the final file
$NewPresentation.SaveAs($Destination)
Write-Host -Object "The new presentation was saved in $($NewPresentation.FullName) ($SlidesNb slides)"
#If the -Open switch is specified we keep the PowerPoint application opened
if (!$Open)
{
$NewPresentation.Close()
#$Powerpoint.Quit() | Out-Null
Write-Verbose -Message 'Releasing PowerPoint ...'
Remove-Ref -ref ($NewPresentation)
Remove-Ref -ref ($Powerpoint)
}
}
}
#endregion
Clear-Host
#Getting the current directory (where this script file resides)
$CurrentDir = Split-Path -Path $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path
#Loading the PowerPoint assembly
#Example 1 : Processing all the PowerPoint presentation in current directory in the alphabetical order
Get-ChildItem -Path $CurrentDir -Filter *.pptx |
Sort-Object -Property Name |
Merge-PowerPointPresentation -Verbose -Open
#Example 2 : Processing a list of some PowerPoint presentations specified by their absolute path
$Presentations = "$CurrentDir\0.pptx", "$CurrentDir\1.pptx", "$CurrentDir\2.pptx", "$CurrentDir\3.pptx", "$CurrentDir\4.pptx", "$CurrentDir\5.pptx", "$CurrentDir\6.pptx", "$CurrentDir\7.pptx", "$CurrentDir\8.pptx", "$CurrentDir\9.pptx"
Merge-PowerPointPresentation -Source $Presentations -Destination $CurrentDir\all.pptx -Verbose
The expected result is to load the power points from the directory specified as parameter and save the combined power point in the directory specified as a parameter.

Answer 1

You can just add a parameter declaration at the top, something like:
Param(
[parameter(Mandatory = $false, Position = 1)]
[ValidateScript( {Test-Path $_} )]
[String]$SourcePath = ( Split-Path $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path ),
[parameter(Mandatory = $false, Position = 2)]
[ValidateScript( {Test-Path $_} )]
[String]$DestinationPath
) #End Parameter Block...
I used Path as the parameter because it's quite common and $CurrentDirector wouldn't make sense here. I defaulted the parameter to the same as you had it. In the script body you'll want to replace $CurrentPath with $Path.
Get-ChildItem -Path $SourcePath -Filter *.pptx |
Sort-Object -Property Name |
Merge-PowerPointPresentation -Verbose -Open -Destination $DestinationPath
Note: The addition of -DestinationPath in the above call. That should override the default value in the Merge-PowerPointPresentation function.
If you don't use the parameters the script should behave same as before. If you do use it It will operate against whatever paths you gave it.
Obviously not tested, but let me know if that helps. Thanks.