get acl from folders with file open dialog - powershell

Question

I have built a little gui for getting the acl permissions for folders. with the path button i want to specify the folder path with a folder browser dialog and with the permissions button i want to get the acl. unfortunately the permissions button don't work because it can't get the folder path from the get-folder function. what's wrong with the function?
#################################################### Functions #######################################################
$path = Function Get-Folder ($initialDirectory)
{
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms")|Out-Null
$Ordnername = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog
$Ordnername.Description = "Ordner auswählen"
$Ordnername.rootfolder = "MyComputer"
if($Ordnername.ShowDialog() -eq "OK")
{
$Ordner += $Ordnername.SelectedPath
}
return $Ordner
}
############################################## GetPermissions function
function GetPermissions{
#$Folder = get-folder
$Result = (Get-ACL $path).access | Format-Table IdentityReference,FileSystemRights,AccessControlType,IsInherited,InheritanceFlags | Out-string
$outputBox.Text = $Result
}
function Close{
$Form.Close()
}
###################### CREATING PS GUI TOOL #############################
#### Form settings #################################################################
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$Form.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedSingle #modifies the window border
$Form.Text = "Folder Permissions"
$Form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(1120,330)
$Form.StartPosition = "CenterScreen" #loads the window in the center of the screen
$Form.BackgroundImageLayout = "Zoom"
$Form.MinimizeBox = $False
$Form.MaximizeBox = $False
$Form.WindowState = "Normal"
$Form.SizeGripStyle = "Hide"
$Icon = [system.drawing.icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon($PSHOME + "\powershell.exe")
$Form.Icon = $Icon
#### Input window with "Folder Path" label ##########################################
#$InputBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
#$InputBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,50)
#$InputBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(180,20)
#$Form.Controls.Add($InputBox)
#$Label2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
#$Label2.Text = "Folder Path:"
#$Label2.AutoSize = $True
#$Label2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(15,30)
#$Form.Controls.Add($Label2)
#### Group boxes for buttons ########################################################
$groupBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox
$groupBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,95)
$groupBox.size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(180,180)
$groupBox.text = "Controls:"
$Form.Controls.Add($groupBox)
###################### BUTTONS ##########################################################
#### Path ###################################################################
$Path = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$Path.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,10)
$Path.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,60)
$Path.Text = "Path"
$Path.Add_Click({Get-folder})
$Path.Cursor = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursors]::Hand
$Form.Controls.Add($Path)
#### Permissions ###################################################################
$Permissions = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$Permissions.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(15,25)
$Permissions.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,60)
$Permissions.Text = "Permissions"
$Permissions.Add_Click({GetPermissions})
$Permissions.Cursor = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursors]::Hand
$groupBox.Controls.Add($Permissions)
#### Close ###################################################################
$Close = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$Close.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(15,100)
$Close.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,60)
$Close.Text = "Close"
$Close.Add_Click({Close})
$Close.Cursor = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursors]::Hand
$groupBox.Controls.Add($Close)
###################### END BUTTONS ######################################################
#### Output Box Field ###############################################################
$outputBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox
$outputBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(200,20)
$outputBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(900,265)
$outputBox.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font("Consolas", 8 ,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular)
$outputBox.MultiLine = $True
$outputBox.ScrollBars = "Vertical"
$Form.Controls.Add($outputBox)
##############################################
$Form.Add_Shown({$Form.Activate()})
[void] $Form.ShowDialog()

Answer 1

The reason for that mainly has to do with scoping, plus you should not write the function as $path = Function ... making it a call to the function.
Also, $Ordner += $Ordnername.SelectedPath is wrong, because you have never defined what $Ordner is in the function.
Below a rewrite of your code where I took the liberty to change some variable names to make them more self-explanatory:
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Drawing
###################### CREATING PS GUI TOOL #############################
# define your selected path variable and initialize to nothing
$SelectedPath = $null
#################################################### Functions #######################################################
function Get-Folder {
$Ordnername = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog
$Ordnername.Description = "Ordner auswählen"
$Ordnername.rootfolder = "MyComputer"
if($Ordnername.ShowDialog() -eq "OK") {
$script:SelectedPath = $Ordnername.SelectedPath # use script scoping here
$outputBox.Text = $script:SelectedPath
}
}
############################################## GetPermissions function
function Get-Permissions {
$outputBox.Text = '' # clear the textbox
if (-not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($script:SelectedPath)) {
$Result = (Get-ACL $script:SelectedPath).Access | # use script scoping here
Format-Table IdentityReference,FileSystemRights,AccessControlType,IsInherited,InheritanceFlags | Out-string
$outputBox.Text = $script:SelectedPath + "`r`n`r`n" + $Result
}
}
#### Form settings #################################################################
$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$Form.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedSingle #modifies the window border
$Form.Text = "Folder Permissions"
$Form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(1120,330)
$Form.StartPosition = "CenterScreen" #loads the window in the center of the screen
$Form.BackgroundImageLayout = "Zoom"
$Form.MinimizeBox = $False
$Form.MaximizeBox = $False
$Form.WindowState = "Normal"
$Form.SizeGripStyle = "Hide"
$Icon = [System.Drawing.Icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon((Join-Path -Path $PSHOME -ChildPath 'powershell.exe'))
$Form.Icon = $Icon
#### Group boxes for buttons ########################################################
$groupBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox
$groupBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,95)
$groupBox.size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(180,180)
$groupBox.text = "Controls:"
$Form.Controls.Add($groupBox)
###################### BUTTONS ##########################################################
#### Path button ###################################################################
$PathButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$PathButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,10)
$PathButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,60)
$PathButton.Text = "Path"
$PathButton.Cursor = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursors]::Hand
$PathButton.Add_Click({Get-Folder})
$Form.Controls.Add($PathButton)
#### Permissions button ###################################################################
$Permissions = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$Permissions.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(15,25)
$Permissions.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,60)
$Permissions.Text = "Permissions"
$Permissions.Cursor = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursors]::Hand
$Permissions.Add_Click({Get-Permissions})
$groupBox.Controls.Add($Permissions)
#### Close ###################################################################
$Close = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$Close.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(15,100)
$Close.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,60)
$Close.Text = "Close"
$Close.Cursor = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursors]::Hand
$Close.Add_Click({$Form.Close()})
$groupBox.Controls.Add($Close)
###################### END BUTTONS ######################################################
#### Output Box Field ###############################################################
$outputBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox
$outputBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(200,20)
$outputBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(900,265)
$outputBox.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font("Consolas", 8 ,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular)
$outputBox.MultiLine = $True
$outputBox.ScrollBars = "Vertical"
$Form.Controls.Add($outputBox)
##############################################
$Form.Add_Shown({$Form.Activate()})
[void] $Form.ShowDialog()
# destroy the form from memory
$Form.Dispose()