One powershell script calling another but makes the script being called break - forms

Currently, I am struggling to run a powershell script within another powershell GUI. I am trying to program it so that once a button is pressed, another powershell script would begin to run. The issue is that the second powershell script being ran does not run correctly when called. (It runs perfectly fine on its own.)
Code for the button:
$handler_runBTN_Click =
{
if($compliance){#runs Compliance training scripts
.\"Follow-up Email Generator.ps1"
}
}
$runBTN.Text = "Run"
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 140
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 170
$runBTN.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$runBTN.add_Click($handler_runBTN_Click)
$runBTN.FlatStyle = "Standard"
$emailForm.Controls.Add($runBTN)
Code not running properly when being called by button (It is called by other code but that runs correctly):
function csvCheck($intervalDate, $reminderDate) { #gathers all courses due on a specific date for a user through a csv file
for ($j = 0; $j -lt $row_count.Count; $j++) {#goes through every row of CSV file
if ($global:skip -eq $j ) {continue} #if the emails under $j are in the array $skip, the loop will skip it and continue
$requiredDate = $file[$j].'Required Date'
if (($requiredDate -eq $reminderDate)) { #courses that are coming due
$global:skip += $j #skips the iteration so it does not occur again
$bodyText = "<li>" + $file[$j].'Curriculum #' + "- <strong>Due: " + $file[$j].'Required Date' + " </strong></li>"
for ($k = $j + 1; $k -lt $row_count.Count; $k++) { #checks every other date for roccurances
if ($file[$j].'Employee ID' -eq $file[$k].'Employee ID' -and $file[$j].'Required Date' -eq $file[$k].'Required Date') {
#checks for any other courses for the same user due on the same id
$file[$k].'Last Sent' = $today
$bodyText += "<li>" + $file[$k].'Curriculum #' + "- <strong>Due: " + $file[$k].'Required Date' + " </strong></li>" #Adds onto the default bullet form text
$global:skip += $k
}
}
email $bodyText "due in $intervalDate day(s):" "comingDue"
}
}
}
I was wondering if it was my code that was causing this to happen or if it had something to do with the nature of the button.
Thanks,

Turns out that I was calling my second script incorrectly.
This line of code ran the second script under the same context as the first causing $global: variables to not work correctly.
.\"Follow-up Email Generator.ps1"
To solve this, I changed the code that runs the second script to:
Powershell -File ".\Follow-up Email Generator.ps1"
This ran the second script in its separate context allowing the $global: variables to work

Related

How can I escape a read-host by pressing escape?

just wondering if its possible to escape a read-host in a while loop by pressing escape.
I've tried doing an do-else loop but it will only recognize button presses outside of the read-host.
This is basically what I have
#Import Active Directory Module
Import-Module ActiveDirectory
#Get standard variables
$_Date=Get-Date -Format "MM/dd/yyyy"
$_Server=Read-Host "Enter the domain you want to search"
#Request credentials
$_Creds=Get-Credential
while($true){
#Requests user input username
$_Name=Read-Host "Enter account name you wish to disable"
#rest of code
}
I want to be able to escape it if I want to change the domain
Using Read-Host you cannot do this, but you might consider using a graphical input dialog instead of prompting in the console. After all, the Get-Credential cmdlet also displays a GUI.
If that is an option for you, it can be done using something like this:
function Show-InputBox {
[CmdletBinding()]
Param (
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 0)]
[string]$Message,
[string]$Title = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($MyInvocation.PSCommandPath),
[string]$defaultText = ''
)
Add-Type -AssemblyName 'Microsoft.VisualBasic'
return [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::InputBox($Message, $Title, $defaultText)
}
while($true) {
$_Name = Show-InputBox "Enter account name you wish to disable"
if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($_Name)) {
# the box was cancelled, so exit the loop
break
}
# proceed with the rest of the code
}
If the user presses the Esc key, clicks Cancel, or leaves the input blank, you can exit the while loop, otherwise proceed with the code.
You cannot do it with Read-Host, but you can do it via the PSReadLine module (ships with Windows PowerShell version 5 or higher on Windows 10 / Windows Server 2016) and PowerShell Core) and its PSConsoleHostReadline function:
Important:
As of PSReadLine v2.0.0-beta3, the solution below is a hack, because the PSConsoleHostReadline only supports prompting for PowerShell statements, not open-ended user input.
This GitHub feature suggestion asks for the function to be optionally usable for general-purpose user input as well, which would allow for a greatly customizable end-user prompting experience. Make your voice heard there, if you'd like see this suggestion implemented.
The hack should work in your case, since the usernames you're prompting for should be syntactically valid PowerShell statements.
However, supporting arbitrary input is problematic for two reasons:
Inapplicable syntax coloring will be applied - you could, however, temporarily set all configurable colors to the same color, but that would be cumbersome.
More importantly, if an input happens to be something that amounts to a syntactically incomplete PowerShell statement, PSConsoleHostReadline won't accept the input and instead continue to prompt (on a new line); for instance, input a| would cause this problem.
Also:
Whatever input is submitted is invariably added to the command history.
While you can currently remove a temporarily installed keyboard handler on exiting a script, there is no robust way to restore a previously active one - see this GitHub issue.
# Set up a key handler that cancels the prompt on pressing ESC (as Ctrl-C would).
Set-PSReadLineKeyHandler -Key Escape -Function CancelLine
try {
# Prompt the user:
Write-Host -NoNewline 'Enter account name you wish to disable: '
$_Name = PSConsoleHostReadLine
# If ESC was pressed, $_Name will contain the empty string.
# Note that you won't be able to distinguish that from the user
# just pressing ENTER.
$canceled = $_Name -eq ''
# ... act on potential cancellation
} finally {
# Remove the custom Escape key handler.
Remove-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Escape
}
I wrote this function that works for me.
# Returns the string "x" when Escape key is pressed, or whatever is indicated with -CancelString
# Pass -MaxLen n to define max string length
function Read-HostPlus()
{
param
(
$CancelString = "x",
$MaxLen = 60
)
$result = ""
$cursor = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.Coordinates
while ($true)
{
While (!$host.UI.RawUI.KeyAvailable ){}
$key = $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho, IncludeKeyDown")
switch ($key.virtualkeycode)
{
27 { While (!$host.UI.RawUI.KeyAvailable ){}; return $CancelString }
13 { While (!$host.UI.RawUI.KeyAvailable ){}; return $result }
8
{
if ($result.length -gt 0)
{
$cursor = $host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition
$width = $host.UI.RawUI.MaxWindowSize.Width
if ( $cursor.x -gt 0) { $cursor.x-- }
else { $cursor.x = $width -1; $cursor.y-- }
$Host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition = $cursor ; write-host " " ; $Host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition = $cursor
$result = $result.substring(0,$result.length - 1 )
}
}
Default
{
$key_char = $key.character
if( [byte][char]$key_char -ne 0 -and [byte][char]$key_char -gt 31 -and ($result + $key_char).Length -le $MaxLen )
{
$result += $key_char
$cursor.x = $host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition.X
Write-Host $key_char -NoNewline
if ($cursor.X -eq $host.UI.RawUI.MaxWindowSize.Width-1 ) {write-host " `b" -NoNewline }
}
}
}
}
}

Powershell script exits ForEach-Object loop prematurely [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Why does 'continue' behave like 'break' in a Foreach-Object?
(4 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
So I've been writing a script that will take all of the data that is stored in 238 spreadsheets and copy it into a master sheet, as well as 9 high level report sheets. I'm really not sure why, but after a specific document, the script ends prematurely without any errors being posted. It's very strange. I'll post some anonymized code below so maybe someone can help me find the error of my ways here.
As far as I can tell, the document that it exits after is fine. I don't see any data errors in it, and the info is copied successfully to the master document before powershell just calls it quits on the script completely.
I've tried changing the size of the data set by limiting only to the folder that contains the problem file. It still ends after the same file with no error output. I cannot upload the file due to company policy, but I really don't see anything different about the data on that one file when compared to any other file of the same nature.
Also, apologies in advance for the crappy code. I'm not a developer and have been relearning powershell since it's the only tool available to me right now.
$StartTime = Get-Date -Format g
Write-Host $StartTime
pushd "Z:\Shared Documents\IO"
$TrackTemplate = "C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop\IODATA\MasterTemplate.xlsx"
# Initialize the Master Spreadsheet
$xlMaster = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$xlMaster.Visible = $False
$xlMaster.DisplayAlerts = $False
$MasterFilePath = "C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop\IODATA\Master.xlsx"
Copy-Item $TrackTemplate $MasterFilePath
$wbMaster = $xlMaster.Workbooks.Open($MasterFilePath)
$wsMaster = $wbMaster.Worksheets.Item(2)
$wsMaster.Unprotect("PASSWORD")
$wsMasterRow = 3
# Initialize L4 Document Object
$xlL4 = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$xlL4.Visible = $False
$xlL4.DisplayAlerts = $False
# Initialize object for input documents
$xlInput = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$xlInput.Visible = $False
$xlInput.DisplayAlerts = $False
# Arrays used to create folder path names
$ArrayRoot = #("FOLDER1","FOLDER2","FOLDER3","FOLDER4","FOLDER5","FOLDER6","FOLDER7","FOLDER8","FOLDER9")
$ArrayShort = #("SUB1","SUB2","SUB3","SUB4","SUB5","SUB6","SUB7","SUB8","SUB9")
# $counter is used to iterate inside the loop over the short name array.
$counter = 0
$FileNumber = 0
$TotalFiles = 238
$ArrayRoot | ForEach-Object {
$FilePathL4 = "C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop\IODATA\ROLLUP\" + $ArrayShort[$counter] + "_DOC_ROLLUP.xlsx"
Copy-Item $TrackTemplate $FilePathL4
$wbL4 = $xlL4.Workbooks.Open($FilePathL4)
$wsL4 = $wbL4.Worksheets.Item(2)
$wsL4.Unprotect("PASSWORD")
$wsL4Row = 3
If ($ArrayShort[$counter] -eq "SUB7") {$FilePath = "Z:\Shared Documents\IO\" + $_ + "\" + $ArrayShort[$counter] + " - DOC v2\"}
Else {$FilePath = "Z:\Shared Documents\IO\" + $_ + "\!" + $ArrayShort[$counter] + " - DOC v2\"}
Get-ChildItem -Path $FilePath | ForEach-Object {
If ($_.Name -eq "SPECIFIC_DOC.xlsx") {Continue}
$FileNumber += 1
Write-Host "$FileNumber / $TotalFiles $_"
$wbInput = $xlInput.Workbooks.Open($_.FullName)
$wsInput = $wbInput.Worksheets.Item(2)
$wsInputLastRow = 0
#Find the last row in the Input document
For ($i = 3; $i -le 10000; $i++) {
If ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($wsInput.Cells.Item($i,1).Value2)) {
$wsInputLastRow = $i - 1
Break
}
Else { Continue }
}
[void]$wsInput.Range("A3:AC$wsInputLastRow").Copy()
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
[void]$wsMaster.Range("A$wsMasterRow").PasteSpecial(-4163)
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
$wsMasterRow += $wsInputLastRow - 2
[void]$wsL4.Range("A$wsL4Row").PasteSpecial(-4163)
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
$wsL4Row += $wsInputLastRow - 2
$wbInput.Close()
$wbMaster.Save()
}
$counter += 1
$wsL4.Protect("PASSWORD")
$wbL4.Save()
$wbL4.Close()
}
$wsMaster.Protect("PASSWORD")
$wbMaster.Save()
$wbMaster.Close()
$xlMaster.Quit()
$EndTime = Get-Date -Format g
$TimeTotal = New-Timespan -Start $StartTime -End $EndTime
Write-Host $TimeTotal
To continue pipeline processing with the next input object, use return - not continue - in the script block passed to the ForEach-Object cmdlet.
The following simple example skips the 1st object output by Get-ChildItem and passes the remaining ones through:
$i = 0; Get-ChildItem | ForEach-Object{ if ($i++ -eq 0) { return }; $_ }
There is currently (PSv5.1) no direct way to stop the processing of further input objects - for workarounds, see this answer of mine.
By contrast, as you've discovered, break and continue only work as expected in the script block of a for / foreach statement, not directly in the script block passed to the ForeEach-Object cmdlet:
For instance, the following produces no output (using break would have the same effect):
$i = 0; Get-ChildItem | ForEach-Object{ if ($i++ -eq 0) { continue }; $_ }
The reason is that continue and break look for an enclosing for / foreach statement to continue / break out of, and since there is none, the entire command is exited; in a script, the entire script is exited if there's no enclosing for / foreach / switch statement on the call stack.

Very Simple Chat Program - Updating Chat Log?

I have made a very simple chat program. All it does is saves the message as a new line in a txt file and displays that txt file in a richtextbox. The issue I am having is the user has to click "Update" to update the chat log. I wrote a loop that would check every second to see if there was a new message, however this locks up the form and if the user wants to send a message during that time, they would need to kill the form.
Is this in anyway possible? Either auto updating the chat log when a new line is added to the txt document or even a regular interval?
Currently what I am using is this:
$i = 1
While ($i -eq 1)
{
sleep -Seconds 1
$BEFORE = $richtextbox1.Text
$CHATLOG = "\\NetworkShareEveryoneHasAccess\Chat.txt"
$TOOUTPUT = Get-Content $CHATLOG | Out-String
$richtextbox1.Text = $TOOUTPUT
$AFTER = $richtextbox1.Text
if ($BEFORE -ne $AFTER)
{
$i = 0
$richtextbox2.Enabled = $true
$richtextbox2.SelectionStart = $richtextbox2.TextLength;
$richtextbox2.ScrollToCaret()
$richtextbox2.Focus()
}
}
Again, the problem with this is that is freezes the form while it is checking to see if a new message (new line in the txt file).
With my limited knowledge of PowerShell, I want to say this is not possible, but as I said my PowerShell knowledge is limited.
Instead of using sleep and checking the whole file for any new writes, you could separate the processes for writing and reading from the file. Then in the reading process use a form of Get-Content -Path Chatfile.log -Tail 1 -Wait which will return a new line everytime the Chatfile is altered. This shows the concept:
$EXITFLAG = 0
$chatLog = "chat.txt"
$logRead = Start-Process powershell.exe -PassThru -ArgumentList "-file logread.ps1"
while ($EXITFLAG -eq 0)
{
$userTxt = Read-Host "Enter some text to chat (Q to exit)"
if ($userTxt -eq "q")
{
$EXITFLAG = 1
}
else
{
$userTxt >> $chatLog
}
}
Stop-Process $logRead.Id

Powershell : Cannot compare array.Length with int32

I am creating a ps script that will handle different user commands.
Since every function the user can call has a different number of parameters I just wanted to pass the rest of the usrInput[] array starting from index 1 as a parameter of the function for usrInput[0].
This is what I did:
$function
while($function -ne "backup" -or $function -ne "restore") { #Wait for user to make a valid input
$usrInput = Read-Host "Enter -backup args[] or -restore args[] to backup or restore vms" -split " "
$args
for ($i = 1, $i -le $usrInput.Length, $i++) {
$args[$i -1] = $usrInput[$i]
}
if ($usrInput[0] -eq "-backup") {
backup($args)
}
elseif ($usrInput[0] -eq "-restore") {
restore($args)
}
}
Now what I get is the following (English equivalent to the german shell output):
Enter -backup args[] or -restore args[] to back
"last comment in my code"
"1" couln't be compared to "96 62".
couldn't be converted to "System.Int32"
in line :5 letter:6
+ for ($i = 1, $i -le $inputLength, $i++) {
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation:
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ComparisonFailure
Enter -backup args[] or -restore args[] to back
Why is that?
I thought array.Lengths type was int!?
(Note: I also tried putting and [int] before it, but it didn't work)
Thank you very much in advance for your help.
The problem is the for statement you should write it like this:
for ($i = 1; $i -le $input.Length; $i++)
with ";" and not ",".
I didn't check the rest of the code as your question was about $input.length and int32.

PowerShell - Overwriting line written with Write-Host

I'm trying to overwrite a line in PowerShell written with Write-Host (I have a process that's running in a loop and I want to show percentage updated on the screen). What I've tried to do is this:
Write-Host -NoNewline "`rWriting $outputFileName ($i/$fileCount)... $perc%"
but instead of overwriting the line it stays on the same line and appends to it.
what am I missing here?
Thanks
You cannot overwrite a line in a Powershell window. What you can do is blank the window with cls(Clear-Host):
# loop code
cls
Write-Host "`rWriting $outputFileName ($i/$fileCount)... $perc%"
# end loop
But what you should really be using is Write-Progress, a cmdlet built specifically for this purpose:
# loop code
Write-Progress -Activity "Writing $outputFileName" -PercentComplete $perc
# end loop
More on Write-Progress here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849902.aspx
As a tweak to Raf's answer above, You don't have to wipe the screen every time to update your last line.
Calling Write-Host with -NoNewLine and carriage return `r is enough.
for ($a=0; $a -le 100; $a++) {
Write-Host -NoNewLine "`r$a% complete"
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 10
}
Write-Host #ends the line after loop
It not perfect but here is a script which has a spinning character in place. The part that lets you do this is:
$origpos = $host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition
$origpos.Y += 1
Get the current position and save it so that we can keep referring to it. As you progress you change the $host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition. Since it was previously saved you can reset it back $host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition = $origpos. You should be able to experiment with that.
$scroll = "/-\|/-\|"
$idx = 0
$job = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $env:ComputerName -ScriptBlock { Start-Sleep -Seconds 10 } -AsJob
$origpos = $host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition
$origpos.Y += 1
while (($job.State -eq "Running") -and ($job.State -ne "NotStarted"))
{
$host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition = $origpos
Write-Host $scroll[$idx] -NoNewline
$idx++
if ($idx -ge $scroll.Length)
{
$idx = 0
}
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100
}
# It's over - clear the activity indicator.
$host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition = $origpos
Write-Host 'Complete'
Remove-Variable('job')
$job = Start-Job -ScriptBlock { Start-Sleep -Seconds 10 }
while (($job.State -eq "Running") -and ($job.State -ne "NotStarted"))
{
Write-Host '.' -NoNewline
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
}
Write-Host ""
So as log as you remember where you want to go back to then you can use this logic. This will not work properly in ISE. You can also use `b as a back space character as well.
I know, thats quite old, but i was in the same Situation und modified the Solution from Boluwade Kujero, just because writing blank lines before writing the new output may result in a "flickering" output.
So in the following function, I just do overwrite the existing line, write blanks until reaching the old cursorposition, and go back to the last character of the new line.
In addition i added an optical progressbar. Progress is calculated by the function through given Parameters:
function Write-Status
{
param([int]$Current,
[int]$Total,
[string]$Statustext,
[string]$CurStatusText,
[int]$ProgressbarLength = 35)
# Save current Cursorposition for later
[int]$XOrg = $host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition.X
# Create Progressbar
[string]$progressbar = ""
for ($i = 0 ; $i -lt $([System.Math]::Round($(([System.Math]::Round(($($Current) / $Total) * 100, 2) * $ProgressbarLength) / 100), 0)); $i++) {
$progressbar = $progressbar + $([char]9608)
}
for ($i = 0 ; $i -lt ($ProgressbarLength - $([System.Math]::Round($(([System.Math]::Round(($($Current) / $Total) * 100, 2) * $ProgressbarLength) / 100), 0))); $i++) {
$progressbar = $progressbar + $([char]9617)
}
# Overwrite Current Line with the current Status
Write-Host -NoNewline "`r$Statustext $progressbar [$($Current.ToString("#,###").PadLeft($Total.ToString("#,###").Length)) / $($Total.ToString("#,###"))] ($($( ($Current / $Total) * 100).ToString("##0.00").PadLeft(6)) %) $CurStatusText"
# There might be old Text behing the current Currsor, so let's write some blanks to the Position of $XOrg
[int]$XNow = $host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition.X
for ([int]$i = $XNow; $i -lt $XOrg; $i++) {
Write-Host -NoNewline " "
}
# Just for optical reasons: Go back to the last Position of current Line
for ([int]$i = $XNow; $i -lt $XOrg; $i++) {
Write-Host -NoNewline "`b"
}
}
Use the function like this:
For ([int]$i=0; $i -le 8192; $i++) {
Write-Status -Current $i -Total 8192 -Statustext "Running a long Task" -CurStatusText "Working on Position $i"
}
The result will be a running progressbar that will look like this (in a single line):
Running a long Task ██████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ [4.242 /
8.192] ( 51,78 %) Working on Position 4242
Hope this will help someone else
You can use the .NET console class to do exactly what you want where you want it.
Works in console windows only and not the ISE.
cls
[Console]::SetCursorPosition(40,5)
[Console]::Write('Value of $i = ')
[Console]::SetCursorPosition(40,7)
[Console]::Write('Value of $j = ')
For ($i = 1; $i -lt 11; $i++)
{
[Console]::SetCursorPosition(57,5)
[Console]::Write($i)
for ($j = 1; $j -lt 11; $j++)
{
[Console]::SetCursorPosition(57,7)
[Console]::Write("$j ")
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 200
}
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 200
}
[Console]::SetCursorPosition(40,5)
[Console]::Write(" `n")
[Console]::SetCursorPosition(40,7)
[Console]::Write(" `n")
[Console]::SetCursorPosition(0,0)
If the goal is strictly to overwrite powershell console prompt line (the current line with the cursor) then all the answers here work only to an extent, and in some ways doing more than is desired.
Raf's and Craig's answers that use the Clear-Host cmdlet (cls) in their first line, like Dullson noted, are doing too much. Blanking the entire screen assumes the things cleared are no longer important for viewing which may not be true. Sometimes these are necessary to make sense of the current line.
Raf's Write-Progress solution is a powerful cmdlet but seems like an overkill for just overwriting the current line.
Raf's Write-Host proposal, Matt's submission and Dullson's tweak are all good where only one character position at a definite screen position needs updating or where the succeeding line text is longer in length than the current. If not, the succeeding line text would only overwrite the current line to the extent of its length leaving those parts of the succeeded line whose length position is longer than the new to remain in view together with the new line.
For example, if the previous value was 10 and the new value is 9 what would be shown is 90. The 9 just overwrites the portion of the preceding value that is equal to its length - 1. So the solutions work well for increments but not so well for decrements where length of value reduces compared to previous.
The following block shows how to guarantee total (visual) overwrite of the current line text with a new one.
$LongString = "This string is long"
$ShortString = "This is short"
#Simulate typing a string on the console line
$L = 1
While ($L -le $LongString.Length)
{
$Sub = $LongString.Substring(0,$L)
Write-Host "`r$Sub" -NoNewline
$L++
# This sleep is just to simulate manual typing delay
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 20
}
# Now blank out the entire line with the space character " "
# The quantity of spaces should be equal to the length of the current text
# Which in this case is contained in $Sub.Length
$Blank = " "
For($L = 1; $L -le $Sub.Length; $L++)
{
$Blank = $Blank + " "
}
Write-Host "`r$Blank" -NoNewline
# Overwrite the blank console line with the new string
$L = 1
While ($L -le $ShortString.Length)
{
$Sub = $ShortString.Substring(0,$L)
Write-Host "`r$Sub" -NoNewline
$L++
# This sleep is just to simulate delay in manual typing
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 20
}
# The following is not required if you want the Powershell prompt
# to resume to the next line and not overwrite current console line.
# It is only required if you want the Powershell prompt to return
# to the current console line.
# You therefore blank out the entire line with spaces again.
# Otherwise prompt text might be written into just the left part of the last
# console line text instead of over its entirety.
For($L = 1; $L -le $Sub.Length; $L++)
{
$Blank = $Blank + " "
}
Write-Host "`r$Blank" -NoNewline
Write-Host "`r" -NoNewline
This one I got from a blog post by Thomas Rayner. He uses ANSI Escape Sequences to save the cursor position [s and update the cursor position [u
$E=[char]27
Then save the current cursor position using the save escape sequence:
"${E}[s"
Usage: Use the update sequence ${E}[u to tell PS where to start the string:
1..10 | %{"${E}[uThere are $_ s remaining"; Start-Sleep -Seconds 1}
Does not work in the ISE however.
I know links get stale but it is here today.
Try
for ($i=1;$i -le 100;$i++){Write-Host -NoNewline "`r" $i;sleep 1}
https://241931348f64b1d1.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/how-to-write-on-the-same-line-with-write-output/
This method worked for me to write output value in a loop until its status changed to "Succeeded". Ensure you set the cursor up by required number of lines and it overwrites the same line
while($val -ne 1)
{
if($taskstates.Tasks.state[0] -eq "Succeeded" -and $taskstates.Tasks.state[1] -eq "Succeeded" -and $taskstates.Tasks.state[2] -eq "Succeeded" -and $taskstates.Tasks.state[3] -eq "Succeeded")
{
$val = 1
}
#Clear-Host
$taskstates.Tasks.StartTime[0].ToString() +" "+ $taskstates.Tasks.name[0] +" is "+ $taskstates.Tasks.state[0]
$taskstates.Tasks.StartTime[1].ToString() +" "+ $taskstates.Tasks.name[1] +" is "+ $taskstates.Tasks.state[1]
$taskstates.Tasks.StartTime[2].ToString() +" "+ $taskstates.Tasks.name[2] +" is "+ $taskstates.Tasks.state[2]
$taskstates.Tasks.StartTime[3].ToString() +" "+ $taskstates.Tasks.name[3] +" is "+ $taskstates.Tasks.state[3]
$taskstates = Get-ASRJob -Name $failoverjob.Name
"ASR VMs build is in Progress"
Start-Sleep 5
[console]::setcursorposition($([console]::Cursorleft ),$([console]::CursorTop - 4))
}
I'm late to the party. Here's a proof of concept I recently discovered and adapted for my purposes. This example overwrites the line.
$count = 1
# Used for calculating the max number length for padding trailing spaces
$totalCount = 100
#Get current cursor position
$curCursorPos = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.Coordinates
$curCursorPos.X = $host.ui.rawui.CursorPosition.X
$curCursorPos.Y = $host.ui.rawui.CursorPosition.Y
# Counter code
While ($count -le 100) {
# Keep cursor in the same position on the same line
$host.ui.rawui.CursorPosition = $curCursorPos
# Display with padded trailing spaces to overwrite any extra digits
$pad = ($totalCount -as [string]).Length
# Display the counter
Write-Host "$(([string]$count).Padright($pad))" -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Green
# Run through the example quickly
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100
#increment $count
$count++
}
You can experiment with Write-Host -NoNewline property, by keeping it or removing it, to see which looks better for you.
I like below code...
$dots = ""
while (!$isTrue) {
if ($dots -eq "...") {
$dots = ""
}
else {
$dots += "."
}
Write-Host -NoNewLine "`rLoading$dots"
Start-Sleep 1
}
You can use $Host.UI.RawUI.WindowSize.Width to find the display width and then use .PadRight to fill up the line with spaces. This avoids having to clear the screen with each loop, the issue of characters persisted from the last loop, having to manipulate cursor position, or having to write a custom function or lots of cumbersome code, e.g.:
# only works in a console window
If ($Host.Name -eq "ConsoleHost")
{
Write-Host 'Starting...'
# find the max line length of the console host
$maxLineLength = $Host.UI.RawUI.WindowSize.Width
# loop a few times
For ($i = 1; $i -le 10; $i++)
{
# for the sake of demonstration, generate a random-length string of letters
$randStringLength = Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum $maxLineLength
$randCharIndex = Get-Random -Minimum 65 -Maximum (65+26) # A = ASCII 65
$randChar = ([char]$randCharIndex)
$myString = [string]$randChar*$randStringLength
# overwrite at the current console line
Write-Host ("`r"+$myString.PadRight($maxLineLength," ")) -NoNewline
# pause briefly before going again
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 200
}
Write-Host 'Done.'
}
Another option in PowerShell 7.2+ is to use the minimal Write-Progress view $PSStyle.Progress.View = Minimal:
# only works in a console window
If ($Host.Name -eq "ConsoleHost")
{
# loop a few times
For ($i = 1; $i -le 10; $i++)
{
# for the sake of demonstration, generate a random-length string of letters
$randStringLength = Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 500
$randCharIndex = Get-Random -Minimum 65 -Maximum (65+26) # A = ASCII 65
$randChar = ([char]$randCharIndex)
$myString = [string]$randChar*$randStringLength
# overwrite at the current console line
Write-Progress -Activity $i -Status $myString
# pause briefly before going again
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 200
}
}
Alot of good suggestions here...
I use the WindowTitle bar for monitoring the status of my scripts, indicate where I am within my code, & the current progress.
For($t = 0; $t -le 100; $t++) {
$Host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Progress - $t% complete"
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 10
}
I'll even insert updated "position" info within my code, to indicate where I'm at within my code:
$Host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Querying index..."
$Host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Updating search field..."
$Host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Conducting Robocopy..."
and of course when it's completed:
$Host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Script completed."