Rod at work (10/17/2012)
Mad Hacker, I appreciate the mention of the book on PowerShell you found useful. I should look it up. Often the PowerShell tips I see are how to use a command or something of that nature. That's great, but I'm trying to do simple stuff get write my own PowerShell scripts. I created a folder and put a .ps1 file in it, then got into the PowerShell command line and tried to execute the .ps1. Failed right away. And as often happens with me, I don't have the time to dig into why it failed, so it sits there. I hope that book covers little details like that.
It sounds like your needs are similar to mine in that you need a more in depth resource with some real life examples rather than a simple command tutorial. If that's the case, then the book will probably fit your needs. I would also highly recommend using some kind of IDE. I personally like the free edition of "PowerGUI" from Quest.
Regarding your issue with the .pd1 file, it sounds like Powershell doesn't reconize it as a cmdlet, and it won't unless you create a cmdlet from the script.
Good Luck and Happy Scripting!!!