Exit from while loop but keep shell open: powershell - powershell

For learnig Powershell I've wrote a script that choose a film randomly from a list, until the list runs out, but, at the end of list I want that the shell keeps open... I've tried many options Break/Return/exit... nothing to do... tried to add the last if condition in to the while condition but, not works, at the end of list an error message says that the array is empty/null, or shell quits after last film...
Yes, I can put a pause instead of return, for that script would be ok, but it doesn't seems an "elegant" solution...
The icing on the cake would be a better option to trim the extension from film name..! Because in my mode, a film name that finish with a "m", "k", or "v", these chars are trimmed out toghether with the ".mkv" expression! :)
Can someone drive me please?
This is the code:
$LastFile = (Get-Item "F:\DATA\Films list\*" | Where-Object {$_.Name -match "Title"} | sort LastWriteTime | select -last 1).FullName
$TitleList = Get-Content $LastFile | where { $_ -notmatch "4K" }
$TitleList.Count
$Listed = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
Foreach ( $film in $TitleList ) {
$Listed.Add("$film") | out-null
}
$RandomFilm = Get-Random -InputObject $Listed
Write-Host $RandomFilm.Trim('.mkv') -ForegroundColor Green
$Listed.Remove("$RandomFilm")
$TitleCount = 1
echo "_________________________________________________________________________________________"
echo "`n`n"
$Answer = Read-Host "RETURN for new film, q for quitting..."
while ( "q" -notcontains $Answer) {
echo "`n`n"
$RandomFilm = Get-Random -InputObject $Listed
if ( $RandomFilm -ne $null ) {
Write-Host $RandomFilm.Trim('.mkv') -ForegroundColor Green
$Listed.Remove("$RandomFilm")
$TitleCount++
$TitleCount
if ( $TitleCount -gt $TitleList.Count ) {
Write-Host "END OF LIST..." -ForegroundColor red
Return
}
else {
echo "_________________________________________________________________________________________"
echo "`n`n"
$Answer = Read-Host "RETURN for new film, q for quitting..."
}
}
}

Several ways of doing this. If you are running your script with powershell then $Host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown")at the end of the script is a good option (this will not work with powershell_ise tho). In ISE you can add a read-host at the end.
If you are running your script from a shortcut you can add -NoExit: powershell.exe -NoExit -file .\script.ps1
The icing on the cake would be a better option to trim the extension from film name..! Because in my mode, a film name that finish with a "m", "k", or "v", these chars are trimmed out toghether with the ".mkv" expression! :)
Im not quite sure I understood this part, could you please elaborate.

Related

Script won't run in Switch menu

function Show-Menu { #Create the Show-Menu function
param ([string]$Title = 'Functions') #Sets title
Clear-Host
Write-Host "`t6: Reboot History." -foregroundcolor white
Write-Host "`tQ: Enter 'Q' to quit."
} #close of create show menu function
#Begin Main Menu
do
{
Show-Menu #Displays created menu above
$Selection = $(Write-Host "`tMake your selection: " -foregroundcolor Red -nonewline; Read-Host)
switch ($selection) #Begin switch selection
{
#===Reboot History===
'6' {
$Workstation = $(Write-Host "Workstation\IP Address" -nonewline -foregroundcolor DarkGreen) + $(Write-Host "(Use IP for remote users)?: " -NoNewline; Read-Host)
$DaysFromToday = Read-Host "How many days would you like to go back?"
$MaxEvents = Read-Host "How many events would you like to view?"
$EventList = Get-WinEvent -ComputerName $Workstation -FilterHashtable #{
Logname = 'system'
Id = '41', '1074', '1076', '6005', '6006', '6008', '6009', '6013'
StartTime = (Get-Date).AddDays(-$DaysFromToday)
} -MaxEvents $MaxEvents -ErrorAction Stop
foreach ($Event in $EventList) {
if ($Event.Id -eq 1074) {
[PSCustomObject]#{
TimeStamp = $Event.TimeCreated
Event = $Event.Id
ShutdownType = 'Restart'
UserName = $Event.Properties.value[6]
}
}
if ($Event.Id -eq 41) {
[PSCustomObject]#{
TimeStamp = $Event.TimeCreated
Event = $Event.Id
ShutdownType = 'Unexpected'
UserName = ' '
}
}
}
pause
}
}
}
until ($selection -eq 'q') #End of main menu
Works perfectly fine if I remove the script from the switch and run it separately, but as soon as I call it from the switch it still asks for the workstation/IP, how many days, and max events, but just outputs nothing.
Here is what it looks like when it works:
How many days would you like to go back?: 90
How many events would you like to view?: 999
TimeStamp Event ShutdownType UserName
--------- ----- ------------ --------
12/23/2022 12:20:55 AM 1074 Restart Username
12/20/2022 1:00:01 AM 1074 Restart Username
12/17/2022 12:21:54 AM 1074 Restart Username
12/13/2022 8:57:40 AM 1074 Restart Username
This is what I get when I run it within the switch menu
Workstation\IP Address(Use IP for remote users)?: IP Address
How many days would you like to go back?: 90
How many events would you like to view?: 999
Press Enter to continue...:
I have tried just doing 1 day and 1 event, but same results. No errors or anything indicating a failure, so not sure how to troubleshoot this. I have had similar issues with switches in the past that were resolved with some researching into scopes, but I don't think this is the same case as it is all self contained within the switch itself.
I am at a loss, any ideas? As always, any insight into my script is greatly appreciated, even if it doesn't resolve the problem at hand.
JosefZ has provided the crucial pointer:
force synchronous to-display output with, such as with Out-Host
if you neglect to do so, the pause statement will - surprisingly - execute before the [pscustomobject] instances emitted by the foreach statement, due to the asynchronous behavior of the implicitly applied Format-Table formatting - see this answer for details.
Here's a simplified example:
switch ('foo') {
default {
# Wrap the `foreach` statement in . { ... },
# so its output can be piped to Out-Host.
. {
foreach ($i in 1..3) {
[pscustomobject] #{ prop = $i }
}
} |
Out-Host # Without this, "pause" will run FIRST.
pause
}
}
Note:
For Out-Host to format all output together it must receive all output from the foreach loop as part of a single pipeline.
Since foreach is a language statement (rather than a command, such as the related ForEach-Object cmdlet) that therefore cannot directly be used at the start of a pipeline, the above wraps it in a script block ({ ... }) that is invoked via ., the dot-sourcing operator, which executes the script block directly in the caller's context and streams the output to the pipeline.
This limitation may be surprising, but is rooted in the fundamentals of PowerShell's grammar - see GitHub issue #10967.
An all-pipeline alternative that doesn't require the . { ... } workaround would be:
1..3 |
ForEach-Object {
[pscustomobject] #{ prop = $_ } # Note the automatic $_ var.
} |
Out-Host

TFS-Powershell Scripting

I have this script which runs fine with no issue on the server locally but when I made a task in Team Foundation Server(update2017) and run it from there it throws an error, the error is after the script for reference.
param(
[string]$ServiceNames
)
if([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($ServiceNames))
{
throw "Missing argument [-ServiceNames $ServiceNames]"
}
$Services=$ServiceNames.Split(",")
foreach($Service in $Services)
{
if(Get-Service $Service | Where {$_.status –eq 'Stopped'})
{
Get-Service $Service | Where {$_.status –eq 'Stopped'} | Start-Service
Write-Host "$Service has been started."
}
else
{
Write-Host "$Service is already running."
}
}
and this error came.
if(Get-Service $Service | Where {$_.status â?"eq 'Stopped'})
Unexpected token 'â?"eq 'Stopped'})
Thanks in advance.
Yes, copy/Paste from Word or Outlook always inserts characters you don't want in the editor. For that i have put below function in my Powershell profile file.
This is not meant as a direct answer to this question because TheIncorrigible1 already gave that.
It may however help others.
function Editor-ReplaceSmartQuotes {
## this function replaces "smart-qoutes" and long dashes you get
## when pasting from Word into normal straight characters (" ' -)
$text = Editor-GetSelectedText
$psISE.CurrentFile.Editor.InsertText(($text -creplace '[\u201C\u201D\u201E\u201F\u2033\u2036]', '"' `
-creplace "[\u2018\u2019\u201A\u201B\u2032\u2035]", "'" `
-creplace "[\u2013\u2014\u2015]", "-"))
}
and added it to my ISE menu with:
Editor-AddMenu "Replace Smart_Quotes in Selection" {Editor-ReplaceSmartQuotes} "Alt+Q"

Output ALL results at the end of foreach instead of during each run

I inherited a script which loops through a set of servers in a server list and then outputs some stuff for each one. It uses StringBuilder to append stuff to a variable and then spits out the results...how do I get the script to store the contents so I can display it at the VERY end with the results of the entire foreach instead of having it print (and then overwrite) on each iteration?
Currently my results look like this:
ServerName1
Text1
Next run:
ServerName2
Text 2
How do I get it to store the data and then output the following at the end so I can email it?
ServerName1
Text1
ServerName2
Text2
My code:
foreach($Machine in $Machines)
{
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Machine -ScriptBlock{param($XML1,$XML2,$XML3,$URL)
[System.Text.StringBuilder]$SB = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder
$X = $SB.AppendLine($env:COMPUTERNAME)
if (Test-Path <path>)
{
$PolResponse = <somestuff>
$PolResponse2 = <somestuff>
Write-Host "[1st] $PolResponse" -ForegroundColor Magenta
Write-Host "[2nd] $PolResponse2" -ForegroundColor Magenta
$X = $SB.AppendLine($PolResponse)
$X = $SB.AppendLine($PolResponse2)
}
else
{
$PolResponse = "[1st] No Response"
$PolResponse2 = "[2nd] No Response"
Write-Host $PolResponse -ForegroundColor Red
Write-Host $PolResponse2 -ForegroundColor Red
$X = $SB.AppendLine($PolResponse)
$X = $SB.AppendLine($PolResponse2)
}
} -ArgumentList $XML1, $XML2, $XML3, $URL
}
# Sending result email
<<I want to send the TOTALITY of $SB here>>
You can start by moving the StringBuilder variable declaration outside of the for loop (prior to it)
[System.Text.StringBuilder]$SB = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder
then FOR LOOP
I don't know if this will be a good solution for what you're asking for or not, but what you could do is create a txt file and every loop in the foreach loop add the information to a txt file. This is one way to store all of the information and then have all of it together at the end.
New-Item -Path "\\Path\to\file.txt" -Itemtype File
Foreach(){
$Stuff = # Do your stuff here
Add-Content -Value $stuff -Path "\\Path\to\file.txt"
}
# Email .txt file ?
# You could use Send-MailMessage to do this possibly
Hopefully this can be helpful for your goal.

How to configure a timeout for Read-Host in PowerShell

Like I said, this code works in PowerShell version 2, but not in PowerShell version 5.
function wait
{
$compte = 0
Write-Host "To continue installation and ignore configuration warnings type [y], type any key to abort"
While(-not $Host.UI.RawUI.KeyAvailable -and ($compte -le 20))
{
$compte++
Start-Sleep -s 1
}
if ($compte -ge 20)
{
Write-Host "Installation aborted..."
break
}
else
{
$key = $host.ui.rawui.readkey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyup")
}
if ($key.character -eq "y")
{Write-Host "Ignoring configuration warnings..."}
else
{Write-Host "Installation aborted..."
}}
The official documentation or Read-Host -? will tell that it's not possible to use Read-Host in that manner. There is no possible parameter to tell it to run with some kind of timeout.
But there are various other questions detailing how to do this in PowerShell (usually utilizing C#).
The idea seems to be to check whenever the user pressed a key using $Host.UI.RawUI.KeyAvailable and check that for the duration of your timeout.
A simple working example could be the following:
$secondsRunning = 0;
Write-Output "Press any key to abort the following wait time."
while( (-not $Host.UI.RawUI.KeyAvailable) -and ($secondsRunning -lt 5) ){
Write-Host ("Waiting for: " + (5-$secondsRunning))
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
$secondsRunning++
}
You could use $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey to get the key that was pressed. This solution probably would not be acceptable if you need more complex input than a simple button press. See also:
Windows PowerShell Tip of the Week - Pausing a Script Until the User Presses a Key
PowerTip: Use PowerShell to Wait for a Key Press (Hey, Scripting Guy!)
Seth, thank you for your solution. I expanded on the example you provided and wanted to give that back to the community.
The use case is a bit different here - I have a loop checking if an array of VMs can be migrated and if there are any failures to that check the operator can either remediate those until the checks clear or they can opt to "GO" and have those failing VMs excluded from the operation. If something other than GO is typed state remains within the loop.
One downside to this is if the operator inadvertently presses a key the script will be blocked by Read-Host and may not be immediately noticed. If that's a problem for anyone I'm sure they can hack around that ;-)
Write-Host "Verifying all VMs have RelocateVM_Task enabled..."
Do {
$vms_pivoting = $ph_vms | Where-Object{'RelocateVM_Task' -in $_.ExtensionData.DisabledMethod}
if ($vms_pivoting){
Write-Host -ForegroundColor:Red ("Some VMs in phase have method RelocateVM_Task disabled.")
$vms_pivoting | Select-Object Name, PowerState | Format-Table -AutoSize
Write-Host -ForegroundColor:Yellow "Waiting until this is resolved -or- type GO to continue without these VMs:" -NoNewline
$secs = 0
While ((-not $Host.UI.RawUI.KeyAvailable) -and ($secs -lt 15)){
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
$secs++
}
if ($Host.UI.RawUI.KeyAvailable){
$input = Read-Host
Write-Host ""
if ($input -eq 'GO'){
Write-Host -ForegroundColor:Yellow "NOTICE: User prompted to continue migration without the blocked VM(s)"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor:Yellow "Removing the following VMs from the migration list"
$ph_vms = $ph_vms | ?{$_ -notin $vms_pivoting} | Sort-Object -Property Name
}
}
} else {
Write-Host -ForegroundColor:Green "Verified all VMs have RelocateVM_Task method enabled."
}
} Until(($vms_pivoting).Count -eq 0)
Also note that all this $Host.UI stuff doesn't work from the Powershell ISE.
To find out from within a script you could test for $Host.Name -eq "ConsoleHost". When true you can use the code from this topic. Otherwise you could use $Host.UI.PromptForChoice or any other way of showing a dialog box. With System.Windows.Forms.Timer you can then set a timer, and code to close the dialog box or form can be run when it expires.

Stop and then start a process in powershell

I would like to stop/kill a certain process and then start it again after I am done doing what I have to do.
This is what I already have.
Clear-host
$processes = Get-Process devenv
$processes.Count
if($processes.Count -gt 1)
{
$i = 0
Write-host "There are multiple processes for devenv."
foreach($process in $processes)
{
$i++
$i.ToString() + '. ' + $process.MainWindowTitle
}
$in = Read-host "Give a number of the process to kill: "
write-host
write-host "killing and restarting: " + $processes[$in-1].MainWindowTitle
$processes[$in-1].Kill()
$processes[$in-1].WaitForExit()
$processes[$in-1].Start()
}
else
{
write-host "something else"
}
But the Start needs some parameter which I thought I could get from the process. But I'm not really sure I know what to give it.
The $processes[$in-1].Start() will not work. You need to capture the processinfo you are killing and start the same app again. You can get the process binary and commandline information using Win32_Process WMI class.
For example,
Clear-host
$processes = Get-Process notepad
$processes.Count
if($processes.Count -gt 1)
{
$i = 0
Write-host "There are multiple processes for notepad."
foreach($process in $processes)
{
$i++
$i.ToString() + '. ' + $process.MainWindowTitle
}
$in = Read-host "Give a number of the process to kill: "
write-host
write-host "killing and restarting: " + $processes[$in-1].MainWindowTitle
#Get the process details
$procID = $processes[$in-1].Id
$cmdline = (Get-WMIObject Win32_Process -Filter "Handle=$procID").CommandLine
$processes[$in-1].Kill()
$processes[$in-1].WaitForExit()
}
In the above example, I am using WMI to get the commandline information for a process selected. If that were a notepad process with some open text file, the commandline for that process would look like "C:\WINDOWS\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE" C:\Users\ravikanth_chaganti\Desktop\debug.log
Now, all you need to do is: Invoke that commandline somehow (this part is not there in example I wrote). A very blunt way to do that is:
Start-Process -FilePath $cmdline.Split(' ')[0] -ArgumentList $cmdline.Split(' ')[1]
But, in your case, there may not be any argument list.
Hope this gives you an idea. Other PowerShell experts may have a different & efficient approach. This is just a quick hack.