selecting multiple options from the menu list - powershell

Question

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force;
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072;
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
}
# Step 2) define the array of packages you are offering
$Packages = 'googlechrome',
'firefox',
'codeblocks',
'windbg',
'nasm',
'explorersuite',
'pestudio',
'vscode',
'sysinternals',
'python',
'ccleaner',
'anaconda3',
'wireshark',
'sublimetext3',
'notepadplusplus',
'Exit'
# Step 3) define the Show-Menu function
function Show-Menu
{
Clear-Host
Write-Host "**********************************************"
Write-Host "LIST OF SOFTWARES"
# write the options using the array of packages
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $Packages.Count; $i++)
{
# {0,10} means right align with spaces to max 2 characters
Write-Host ('{0,10}. {1}' -f ($i + 1), $Packages[$i])
}
Write-Host " q. Exit the script"
Write-Host "*************************************************"
Write-Host
}
# Step 4) enter an endless loop you only exit if the user enters 'q'
while ($true)
{
Show-Menu
# $UserInput = Read-Host "Enter the software number to be installed"
$UserInput = Read-Host "Select the softwares number(s) to be installed"
$ok = $UserInput -match '[123456789101112131415]+$'
if( -not $ok)
{
write-host "Invalid selection"
sleep 2
write-host ""
}
until ($ok)
switch -Regex ($UserInput)
{
"1" {googlechrome}
"2" {firefox}
"3" {codeblocks}
"4" {windbg}
"5" {nasm}
"6" {explorersuite}
"7" {pestudio}
"8" {vscode}
"9" {sysinternals}
"10" {python}
"11" {ccleaner}
"12" {anaconda3}
"13" {wireshark}
"14" {sublimetext3}
"15" {notepadplusplus}
} until ($ok)
# test if the user wants to quit and if so, break the loop
if ($UserInput -eq 'q') { break }
# test if the user entered a number between 1 and the total number of packages (inclusive)
if ([int]::TryParse($UserInput,[ref]$null) -and 1..$Packages.Count -contains [int]$UserInput)
{
# here you install the chosen package using the array index number (= user input number minus 1)
$packageIndex = [int]$UserInput - 1
Write-Host "Installing $($Packages[$packageIndex])"
# Choco install $Packages[$packageIndex] -y
Choco install $Packages[$packageIndex] -y --ignore-checksums
}
else
{
$availableOptions = 1..$Packages.Count -join ','
Write-Host "Error in selection, choose $availableOptions or q" -Foreground Color Red
}
$null = Read-Host "Press Enter to continue"
}
I have written the script which is working when the user select the number then that corresponding software will be downloaded and installed. Now instead of selecting one option the user selects multiple options from the menu list then that software's will be downloaded and installed parallely so, I have modified my script for selecting multiple options but the script is not working so, please tell me how to achieve this functionality. Thanks in Advance

Answer 1

I've removed the parts which (for me) made no sense or produced errors in my environment - removed the option 'Exit' from $Packages and added the foreach part. So now the user can enter several numbers space separated so that $UserInput contains e.g. 1 2. this is then split an iterated in the foreach part.
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force;
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072;
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
# Step 2) define the array of packages you are offering
$Packages = 'googlechrome',
'firefox',
'codeblocks',
'windbg',
'nasm',
'explorersuite',
'pestudio',
'vscode',
'sysinternals',
'python',
'ccleaner',
'anaconda3',
'wireshark',
'sublimetext3',
'notepadplusplus'
# Step 3) define the Show-Menu function
function Show-Menu
{
Clear-Host
Write-Host "**********************************************"
Write-Host "LIST OF SOFTWARES"
# write the options using the array of packages
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $Packages.Count; $i++)
{
# {0,10} means right align with spaces to max 2 characters
Write-Host ('{0,10}. {1}' -f ($i + 1), $Packages[$i])
}
Write-Host " q. Exit the script"
Write-Host "*************************************************"
Write-Host
}
# Step 4) enter an endless loop you only exit if the user enters 'q'
while ($true)
{
Show-Menu
$UserInput = Read-Host "Select the softwares number(s) to be installed (space separated)"
# test if the user wants to quit and if so, break the loop
if ($UserInput -eq 'q') { break }
foreach($input in $UserInput.Split(' ')) {
# test if the user entered a number between 1 and the total number of packages (inclusive)
if ([int]::TryParse($input,[ref]$null) -and 1..$Packages.Count -contains [int]$input)
{
# here you install the chosen package using the array index number (= user input number minus 1)
$packageIndex = [int]$input - 1
Write-Host "Installing $($Packages[$packageIndex])"
Choco install $Packages[$packageIndex] -y --ignore-checksums
} else {
$availableOptions = 1..$Packages.Count -join ','
Write-Host "Error in selection, choose $availableOptions or q" -Foreground Color Red
}
}
$null = Read-Host "Press Enter to continue"
}