Many of the examples used in this chapter have involved typing the full namespace path to get to a class name. This requirement can be eased with the using keyword.

For example, if a script does a lot of work with the System.Net.NetworkInformation class, the requirement to type the namespace every time can be removed. This allows the System.Net.NetworkInformation.NetworkInterface class to be used with a much shorter type name:

using namespace System.Net.NetworkInformation 

With this statement in place, classes can be used without the long namespace:

[NetworkInterface]::GetAllNetworkInterfaces() 

If the namespace is present within an assembly which is not loaded by default, the using assembly command should be added first. For example, if a script is to work with the Windows Presentation Framework, the following might be useful:

# Load the the Windows Presentation Framework 
using assembly PresentationFramework 
# Use the System.Windows namespace 
using namespace System.Windows 
 
$window = New-Object Window 
$window.Height = 100 
$window.Width = 150 
# Create a System.Windows.Controls.Button object 
$button = New-Object Controls.Button 
$button.Content = 'Close' 
$button.Add_Click( { $window.Close() } ) 
$window.Content = $button 
$window.ShowDialog() 

PowerShell only allows one using namespace statement in the console. The last used is valid. In a script, more than one using namespace statement may be declared.