Add a Clock to PowerShell

PowerShell 2+

Here is a fun example that illustrates how to work with timers. It adds a clock to the title bar of the PowerShell console or the PowerShell ISE.

Simply run the script, then call Start-Clock to start the clock, and Stop-Clock when you want to get rid of it again.

function Start-Clock
{
  # create a timer that fires every 300ms
  $script:timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer
  $timer.Enabled = $true
  $timer.Interval = 300
  $timer.AutoReset = $true

  # respond to the timer "Elapsed" event
   $null = Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName Elapsed -SourceIdentifier Clock -Action {
    # execute this whenever the timer fires
    $titleText = $host.Ui.RawUI.WindowTitle
    
    # is there a date information displayed already?
    $hasTime =  $titleText -match '^\[\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}\] - '
    if ($hasTime) 
    {
      # remove old date
      $titleText = $titleText.SubString(13)
    }
    # set new date
    $time = '[' + (Get-Date -Format 'HH:mm:ss' ) + '] - '
    $host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = $time + $titleText
  }
}

function Stop-Clock
{
  if ($script:timer -eq $null) { return }
  
  # remove timer and event
  $script:timer.Stop()
  Get-EventSubscriber -SourceIdentifier Clock | Unregister-Event
  Remove-Variable -Name timer -Scope script
  
  # restore title text
  $host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = $host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle.SubString(13)
}

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