ArrayList not displaying when first referenced in function - powershell

Question

Facing a couple logistical issues in PowerShell - clearly I'm missing a basic concept:
Setup: Create the menu.ps1 file (shown below), launch PowerShell 7.2.2 and call the file locally.
Issues:
The first time you choose option 1 for the ArrayList ($psArrayList), it does not display (although we see from the initial screen load that the items are populated). If you return to the menu and choose option 1 again, it will display on the second pass. ($psArray does load fine on first try, so is this is a type issue.?)
When the script ends, $psArrayList and $psArray are still in the current session variables, as indicated by: Get-Variable psArray*. Even if I instantiate them with $script:psArrayList = [System.Collections.ArrayList]#() and $script:psArray = #() they seem to stay within the session scope. Is there a "right" way to clear them when the ps1 ends?
menu.ps1 contents:
$psArrayList = [System.Collections.ArrayList]#()
# example of populating later in function etc...
$psArrayList.Add([pscustomobject]#{name="bird";color="blue"})
$psArrayList.Add([pscustomobject]#{name="cat";color="orange"})
$psArrayList.Add([pscustomobject]#{name="bear";color="brown"})
$psArray = #()
# example of populating later in function etc...
$psArray += "dog"
$psArray += "fish"
$psArray += "squirrel"
function End-Script {
Remove-Variable psArray*
Exit
}
function Display-Menu {
[int]$choice=-1
Write-Host "This is a menu..." -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "Here are your options:"
Write-Host
Write-Host "`t1 - ArrayList"
Write-Host "`t2 - Array"
Write-Host "`t0 - quit (do nothing)"
Write-Host
while ($choice -lt 0) { $choice= Read-Host -Prompt "Choose 1-2 (or 0 to quit)" }
Process-Menu($choice)
}
function Process-Menu([int]$choice) {
switch($choice) {
1 { Write-Host "You chose ArrayList:"; Write-Output $psArrayList }
2 { Write-Host "You chose Array:"; Write-Output $psArray }
0 { Write-Host "You chose to quit. Exiting."; End-Script }
}
$yn=""
while ($yn -eq "") { $yn= Read-Host -Prompt "Return to main menu? (y/n)" }
if ($yn -eq "y") { Display-Menu } else { Write-Host "Ending..."; End-Script }
}
Display-Menu

Answer 1

Regarding the first issue, you would need to use Out-Host or Out-Default so that both outputs (Write-Host together with the arrays) are correctly displayed to the console. See these helpful answers for in depth details on this:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/50416448/15339544
https://stackoverflow.com/a/34858911/15339544
Regarding the second issue, your End-Script function would have a scope issue, Remove-Variable is trying to remove variables defined inside the function's scope (Local), if you want to target the variables defined outside it (Script), you would need to use the -Scope parameter, for example:
function End-Script {
Get-Variable psArray* | Remove-Variable -Scope Script
# `Remove-Variable psArray* -Scope Script` would be valid too
}
From the cmdlet's Parameters section we can read the following for the -Scope parameter:
A number relative to the current scope (0 through the number of scopes, where 0 is the current scope and 1 is its parent)
In that sense, -Scope 1 would also work.
Below you can see an example of your script with some improvements as well as input validation:
$psArrayList = [System.Collections.ArrayList]#()
$psArrayList.AddRange(#(
[pscustomobject]#{name="bird";color="blue"}
[pscustomobject]#{name="cat";color="orange"}
[pscustomobject]#{name="bear";color="brown"}
))
$psArray = "dog", "fish", "squirrel"
function End-Script {
Get-Variable psArray* | Remove-Variable -Scope Script
}
function Display-Menu {
Write-Host "This is a menu..." -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "Here are your options:"
Write-Host
Write-Host "`t1 - ArrayList"
Write-Host "`t2 - Array"
Write-Host "`t0 - quit (do nothing)"
Write-Host
# one of many methods for input validation is a Recursive Script Block:
$tryInput = {
try {
[ValidateSet(0, 1, 2)] $choice = Read-Host "Choose 1-2 (or 0 to quit)"
$choice
}
catch {
Write-Warning 'Invalid choice!'
& $tryInput
}
}
Process-Menu (& $tryInput)
}
function Process-Menu([int] $choice) {
switch($choice) {
1 {
Write-Host "You chose ArrayList:"
$psArrayList | Out-Host
}
2 {
Write-Host "You chose Array:"
$psArray | Out-Host
}
0 {
Write-Host "You chose to quit. Exiting."
End-Script
Return # => Exit this function
}
}
$tryInput = {
try {
[ValidateSet('y', 'n')] $choice = Read-Host "Return to main menu? (y/n)"
$choice
}
catch {
Write-Warning 'Invalid choice!'
& $tryInput
}
}
# No need to check for `N`
if((& $tryInput) -eq 'y') { Display-Menu }
}
Display-Menu