Early in the web development world, scripting languages such as ASP or PHP were used to compose pages. Although this proved great for relatively static pages, the dynamic web, filled with rich applications called for a more powerful framework. Thus, frameworks like ASP.NET were born.
ASP.NET solved a good number of problem spaces, but has made creating simple pages (such as a resume or menu, or other primitive list of data) more cumbersome. With the world of COM development becoming less common and less preferable, the gap for a scripting language to replace VBScript/ASP is needed. PowerShell scripting has filled the gap left by the demise of VBScript, but nothing has come along to replace ASP.
PowerShell Pages is an ASP like language, based on the PowerShell runtime. Using a simple HTTP Handler, ASP.NET can render pages scripted using PowerShell script (including cmdlets, and CLR/.NET objects) to the web. Simple, fast and intuitive programming for simple pages that just need to display some content.
The PowerShell Pages project is an open source project that I am starting. Its implementation will be based on ASP.NET using a simple handler capable of consuming PowerShell HTML (PSH) scripts and writing HTML. Because the script is hosted in ASP.NET, the ASP.NET HttpContext and the other components of the object model are available. PSH scripts can work side-by-side with ASPX pages.
Ready to see what PowerShell Pages look like?
Sample Page: http://decav.com/psp/resume.psh
Sample Page Code: http://decav.com/psp/viewsource.psh?page=resume.psh
View Source Code: http://decav.com/psp/viewsource.psh?page=viewsource.psh
Join the Project - Visit the PowerShell Pages CodePlex project workspace