Thanks, I thought that had something to do with the beginner mode mentioned just above it, but you were correct. I have since wrapped my bat file into an exe with this ( http://www.f2ko.de/programs.php?lang=en&pid=b2e ) converter. Nonetheless, I am getting an error about the executable seems to be no executable Perl interpreter, and the system default ( real strawberry Perl ) is being used instead. Any ideas on how I can resolve this? Would it be difficult to add an alternate run button to Padre for my Perl to Text scripts?

Here is the current version of the Powershell script

# perltxt.a4.ps1

Param(
    $perl_script_name = $NULL,
    $document_target_directory = [String]::join('', ($HOME, '\Desktop\
+PerlTxt Documents'))
)

if($perl_script_name -ne $NULL){
    $file_name_array = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileName($perl_script_name
+).split('.')
    $file_location =  [System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($perl_script_
+name)

    if(
        (test-path $perl_script_name -PathType leaf) -and 
        ($file_name_array[-1] -eq 'pl')
      ){
         if ($file_name_array.length -gt 2){
            $file_name = [String]::join('.', $file_name_array[0..($fil
+e_name_array.length - 2)])
         }
         else {
            $file_name = $file_name_array[0]
         }
         $time = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd-hh-mm-ss'
         #$time = 'time'
         $new_file_location = [String]::join('', ([IO.Path]::GetFullPa
+th($document_target_directory), '\', $file_name))
         $new_script_name = [String]::join('', ($new_file_location, '\
+', $file_name, '.', $time, '.pl'))
         $new_document_name = [String]::join('', ($new_file_location, 
+'\', $file_name, '.', $time, '.txt'))
         $out = & perl $perl_script_name 2>&1
    }
}
else{
    $out = [String]::join([Environment]::NewLine, (
            'No valid .pl (Perl) script specified', '', 
            'Perl to Text ( perltxt.exe )', '', 
            'is a hackish and slow tool to run Perl ( .pl ) scripts th
+at are passed to it as an argument,',  
            '    save the scripts and the output to timestamped text f
+iles in a directory specified as the second argument', 
            '        ( $HOME\Desktop\PerlTxt Documents\[Script name] i
+s the default ),',
            '    and load the output onto the Windows clipboard.', '',
+ 
            '    A sound is played when the script has finished and th
+e clipboard is ready.', '', 
            'Use:> perltxt [path to your_perl.pl script] [optional pat
+h to the target directory for the output files]', '',
            'Direct comments and suggestions to horstman.jesse@yahoo.c
+om'))
}

if($out -is [System.Management.Automation.ErrorRecord]) {
    # email or some other action here
    #Send-MailMessage -to me@example.com -subject "Error in gpg " -bod
+y "Error:`n$out" -from error@example.com -smtpserver smtp.example.com
}

# Load System.Windows.Forms assembly. 
$null = [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.For
+ms") 

# Create a data object. 
$dataObject = New-Object windows.forms.dataobject 

# Add generated strings to the data object. 
$text = $out
$dataObject.SetData([Windows.Forms.DataFormats]::UnicodeText, $true, $
+text) 

# Place the data object in the system clipboard. 
[Windows.Forms.Clipboard]::SetDataObject($dataObject, $true)

$document = $dataObject.GetData([Windows.Forms.DataFormats]::UnicodeTe
+xt)

if($perl_script_name -ne $NULL){

#    if((test-path $document_target_directory -isvalid) -and !(test-pa
+th $document_target_directory -pathtype container)){
#       new-item $document_target_directory -type directory
#    }

    if((test-path $new_file_location -isvalid) -and !(test-path $new_F
+ile_location -pathtype container)){
        new-item $new_file_location -type directory | Out-Null
    }
    #echo "PerlTxt has generated new files in $new_file_location"

    If(-not(Test-Path -path $new_script_name))
      {
        Copy-Item $perl_script_name $new_script_name
      }
    else{
        Remove-Item $new_script_name
        Copy-Item $perl_script_name $new_script_name    
    }


    If(-not(Test-Path -path $new_document_name))
      {
        New-Item -Path $new_document_name -ItemType file -Value $($doc
+ument) -force | Out-Null
      }
    else{
        $stream = [System.IO.StreamWriter] $new_document_name
        $stream.Write($document)
        $stream.close()
    }
}
cls
echo $document
[System.Media.SystemSounds]::Asterisk.Play();
exit
[download]

Here is the current version of the batch file that is used to invoke Powershell

REM perltxt.a4.cmd
REM horstman.jesse@yahoo.com

@echo off
powershell.exe -sta .\perltxt.a4.ps1 %*
[download]