unattended software installation using PowerShell GUI - powershell

Question

I want to create a GUI using PowerShell, that will allow users to select software to install. The software will be installed using unattended (silent) options, so the user doesn't have to do anything more that select the desired software, and click OK.
Since the installation is silent and there will be plenty of software to install, I want to give some feedback to the user, as to the status of the installation. So I put a textbox showing which software have been installed and which software is currently installing.
My problem is that all the text appears at the same time in the textbox and it also looks messy.
I want it to be like this:
installing 7-zip...OK
installing notepad ++...OK
installing visual studio code...OK
This is the script
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Drawing
# software name
$software1 = "7-Zip"
$software2 = "Notepad++"
$software3 = "Visual Studio Code"
# installation status
$software1status = Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where {$_.DisplayName -like "*$software1*"}
$software2status = Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where {$_.DisplayName -like "*$software2*"}
$software3status = Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where {$_.DisplayName -like "*$software3*"}
# set form size
$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$Form.width = 500
$Form.height = 500
$Form.Text = 'Install Software'
# set font
$Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font("Verdana",10)
$Form.Font = $Font
# results textbox
$ResultsTextBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$ResultsTextBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(200,30)
$ResultsTextBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(250,350)
$ResultsTextBox.Multiline = $true
$ResultsTextBox.Text = "make your selections on the left"
$Form.Controls.Add($ResultsTextBox)
# checkbox software1
$checkbox1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.checkbox
$checkbox1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Size(30,30)
$checkbox1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(120,20)
$checkbox1.Text = "$software1"
if ($software1status -eq $null) {$checkbox1.Checked = $false} Else {$checkbox1.Checked = $true}
$Form.Controls.Add($checkbox1)
# checkbox software2
$checkbox2 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.checkbox
$checkbox2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Size(30,50)
$checkbox2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(120,20)
$checkbox2.Text = "$software2"
if ($software2status -eq $null) {$checkbox2.Checked = $false} Else {$checkbox2.Checked = $true}
$Form.Controls.Add($checkbox2)
# checkbox software3
$checkbox3 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.checkbox
$checkbox3.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Size(30,70)
$checkbox3.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(120,20)
$checkbox3.Text = "$software3"
if ($software3status -eq $null) {$checkbox3.Checked = $false} Else {$checkbox3.Checked = $true}
$Form.Controls.Add($checkbox3)
# ok button
$OKButton = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$OKButton.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Size(130,400)
$OKButton.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(100,40)
$OKButton.Text = "OK"
$Form.Controls.Add($OKButton)
# close button
$CloseButton = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$CloseButton.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Size(255,400)
$CloseButton.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(100,40)
$CloseButton.Text = "Close"
$CloseButton.Add_Click({$Form.Close()})
$Form.Controls.Add($CloseButton)
$OKButton.Add_Click{
if($checkbox1.Checked -and $software1status -eq $null) {Start-Process -FilePath $PSScriptRoot\software\7z1900-x64.msi /passive ; $ResultsTextBox.Text += "installing 7-zip"}
if($checkbox1.Checked -eq $false -and $software1status -ne $null ) {Start-Process MsiExec.exe "/x{23170F69-40C1-2702-1900-000001000000} /passive" ; $ResultsTextBox.Text += "removing 7-zip"}
if($checkbox2.Checked -and $software2status -eq $null) {Start-Process -FilePath $PSScriptRoot\software\npp.7.8.1.Installer.x64.exe /S ; $ResultsTextBox.Text += "installing notepad ++"}
if($checkbox2.Checked -eq $false -and $software2status -ne $null ) {Start-Process -FilePath "${env:ProgramFiles}\Notepad++\uninstall.exe" /S ; $ResultsTextBox.Text += "removing notepad ++"}
if($checkbox3.Checked -and $software3status -eq $null) {Start-Process -FilePath $PSScriptRoot\software\VSCodeSetup-x64-1.40.2.exe "/SILENT /NORESTART /MERGETASKS=!runcode" ; $ResultsTextBox.Text += "installing visual studio code"}
if($checkbox3.Checked -eq $false -and $software3status -ne $null ) {Start-Process -FilePath "${env:ProgramFiles}\Microsoft VS Code\unins000.exe" /SILENT ; $ResultsTextBox.Text += "removing visual studio code"}
}
# activate form
$Form.Add_Shown({$Form.Activate()})
[void] $Form.ShowDialog()

Answer 1

Use AppendText instead. you need to send carriage returns and new line characters also using that method:
$ResultsTextBox.AppendText("`r`nInstalling new file...")
However, you can only do things like this during an event like a button click. If you want to update more often you need to create events for that.