Getting Started

This page walks you through the most common first steps.

Before continuing, make sure prerequisites and installation are complete:

1. Display your first tree

Show-PSChristmasTree

2. Play the carol

Show-PSChristmasTree -PlayCarol 1

3. Tune animation speed and duration

Show-PSChristmasTree -AnimationLoopNumber 30 -AnimationSpeed 250
  • AnimationLoopNumber: number of animation loops
  • AnimationSpeed: frame delay in milliseconds

4. Customize colors

Use the shorthand -Colors for a quick palette override:

Show-PSChristmasTree -Colors @('Blue', 'White', 'Red')

Note: -Colors automatically sets ColorMode to Palette. If you want a different color mode, use -ColorMode explicitly.

Or use the explicit color model:

Show-PSChristmasTree -ColorMode Palette -Palette @('Blue', 'White', 'Red')

For a single color:

Show-PSChristmasTree -ColorMode Single -SingleColor Cyan

Available console colors are documented in .NET ConsoleColor. Invalid color names are silently filtered out.

5. Customize ornament-pattern colors

Show-PSChristmasTree -DecorationMode Custom -Decorations @{ 'i' = 'Yellow'; '*' = 'Red' }

This maps colors to ornament symbols already present in the ASCII tree text.

5b. Change the trunk color

The trunk is automatically rendered in red by default. Override it at runtime:

Show-PSChristmasTree -TrunkColor DarkYellow

This works with all built-in styles and custom trees alike, regardless of the trunk's exact ASCII pattern.

6. Change message language

Show-PSChristmasTree -UICulture fr-FR

7. Save your preferences

Set-PSChristmasTreeConfig

Run the command with no parameters to open the interactive wizard, then run Show-PSChristmasTree with your saved defaults.

# Hide the cursor while the tree is displayed
Set-PSChristmasTreeConfig -HideCursor $true

# Save a color palette persistently
Set-PSChristmasTreeConfig -ColorMode Palette -Palette @('Green', 'Yellow', 'White')