[Heads-up] PowerShell provider for device navigation — contribution or separate module?

[yotsuda]

Hi @MartinGC94,
Thanks again for merging the recent PR on MonitorConfig #6 — really enjoyed working on it.

While reading through DeviceManager I got interested in exposing the same domain as a PowerShell NavigationCmdletProvider, so navigation would feel like a filesystem:

cd Device:\Net
Get-ChildItem
Get-Item 'Device:\Net\Realtek PCIe 5GbE Family Controller' | Disable-Device
Remove-Item 'Device:\USB\Old USB Device'

Before I start writing, I'd like to check with you on how this should fit in:

• (a) Contribute provider support to DeviceManager itself, as small focused PRs to keep review manageable.
• (b) A separate module (working name DeviceDrive) with my own SetupAPI bindings, crediting DeviceManager as the design reference.
• (c) You'd rather I not pursue this — happy to drop it.

Either (a) or (b) works on my end. Just wanted to give you a heads-up rather than surface it later as a surprise. No rush to reply, and a one-liner is plenty.

Thanks!

[MartinGC94]

I don't see much value in the provider system for this module (and in general I'm not really a fan of the provider system). Therefore I'll go with option B. My reasoning is below.

The provider system is not really intuitive to most users. For example, I have an old module called PSRegistry which as the name suggests is used for working with the registry. PowerShell already includes a registry provider, my module simply allows a few more advanced features and yet my module has over 800k downloads from the PowerShell gallery. Why? Do so many users really need the advanced capabilities? I doubt it. Most likely it's beginners who thought there were no built-in commands for the registry due to the generic command names like "Get-ChildItem" and "Get-Item" so they just searched and found my module.

For this module the only advantage of the provider system that I see is that you can specify a device by its name and have tab completion for it. If I wanted to add that feature then the easier and more intuitive approach would be to simply add a Name parameter to Get-Device with an argument completer attribute. That way your examples could be replicated like this:

Get-Device -Class Net
Get-Device -Class Net -Name 'Realtek PCIe 5GbE Family Controller' | Disable-Device
Get-Device -Class USB -Name "Old USB Device" | Remove-Device

So I don't want it in this module, but you are welcome to make your own DeviceDrive module based around the provider model if you want.

[yotsuda]

Fair enough — option B sounds good.

I had no idea you were the author of PSRegistry, by the way — that module is excellent. I've used it for years.

I like the provider model and find it technically interesting, so I'll have a go at a separate DeviceDrive module. Probably won't see anywhere near the adoption yours does, but it'll be a fun exercise.

Happy to send a PR for the -Name parameter on Get-Device too if you'd like — otherwise feel free to do it yourself.