[FEATURE] Cleanup PnP PowerShell cmdlets naming: `verb-component-noun`

[schittli]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

• Unfortunately, the PnP PowerShell cmdlets project feels like an unstructured collection of many hundreds of cmdlets.
• Scripts that use the PnP PowerShell cmdlets are extremely hard to read because the cmdlets are almost never clear about which component (AAD? SPO? Teams? Exchange?, ...) is being addressed.
• It's extremely hard to start using and navigate with PnP PowerShell cmdlets because you can't easily view all the cmdlets grouped / filtered by component and e.g. select just the SPS order AAD cmdlets.

To summarize: It is extremely unfortunate, the project has failed to structure the cmdlets names from the beginning.

Describe the solution you'd like

It's a shame that a Microsoft(!) PowerShell(!) developer group didn't understand, or worse, ignored the ingenious concept of cmdlets naming. Therefore, please:

1. Please structure each PnP PowerShell cmdlets name according to the very useful and common scheme: verb-component-noun. Example: Add-PnPListDesign » Add-SPO-ListDesign Add-PnPAzureADGroupMember » Add-AAD-GroupMember

   If the user would like to have a PnP prefix, then he can use the PowerShell standard feature: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/import-module?view=powershell-7.3#example-6-import-the-members-of-a-module-and-add-a-prefix

2. To maintain backward compatibility, please rename each PnP PowerShell cmdlet to the well-structured name and add the old name as an alias.

With this concept,

• your used DocFX generator will continue to work normally
• and users will be able to filter cmdlets by component very easily 😄
• so the PnP PowerShell cmdlets are likely to become much more popular,
• and your elaborate, great work would get the attention it deserves.

Thanks a lot, kind regards, Thomas

Describe alternatives you've considered None

Additional context None

[veronicageek]

@schittli

It's a shame that a Microsoft(!) PowerShell(!) developer group didn't understand, or worse, ignored the ingenious concept of cmdlets naming

This module is community driven since the beginning of times, and Microsoft has nothing to do with it.

Please structure each PnP PowerShell cmdlets name according to the very useful and common scheme: verb-component-noun

No module in the PowerShell world uses this format. But Microsoft provides a description as to why cmdlets are the way they are: "PowerShell uses a verb-noun pair for the names of cmdlets and for their derived .NET classes"

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/developer/cmdlet/approved-verbs-for-windows-powershell-commands?view=powershell-7.3

Because the primary focus of the PnP PowerShell was SharePoint at its creation, there's no need to have a "SP" or "SPO" prefix (the latter would actually conflict with the SPO Management Shell module from Microsoft).

All other cmdlets are using the workstream in them: AzureAD, Teams, Planner, etc...

If you want to find all the cmdlets related to Azure AD: gcm -Module pnp.powershell | ? {$_.Name -like "*AzureAD*"}

If you want to find all the cmdlets related to Microsoft Teams: gcm -Module pnp.powershell | ? {$_.Name -like "*Teams*"}

so the PnP PowerShell cmdlets are likely to become much more popular, and your elaborate, great work would get the attention it deserves.

I think the module does OK...

Closing the issue.