I'm creating a GUI to enter in data then store into some variables to work with later. The problem I'm having is modifying the variables once the user clicks the OK button. I have the following code:
$button4 = New-Object system.windows.Forms.Button
$button4.Text = "button"
$button4.Width = 60
$button4.Height = 30
$button4.Add_Click({
$variable = "test"
})
$variable gets assigned with the Add_Click function but I'm not able to access it anywhere else. This makes sense as I read about Powershell scopes. But how am I supposed to access the information I set in there? I'm using this Microsoft guide as to build the GUI. In their example I should be able to return $x at the end of the script. But when I do it the variable isn't available.
Related
I am creating a PowerShell GUI that uses a link label. My code for this link is
$ExLinkLabel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabel
$ExLinkLabel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(15,130)
$ExLinkLabel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,20)
$ExLinkLabel.LinkColor = "BLUE"
$ExLinkLabel.ActiveLinkColor = "RED"
$ExLinkLabel.Text = "Link Example"
$ExLinkLabel.add_Click({[system.Diagnostics.Process]::start("https://google.com")})
$Form.Controls.Add($ExLinkLabel)
Now say I want to change it another website later in the code based on certain conditions, I tried doing this:
$ExLinkLabel.add_Click({[system.Diagnostics.Process]::start("https://yahoo.com")})
The problem that this now has two links open, both google and then yahoo.
Is there a way to clear or just replace that first link with my new one?
Thank you
Adding an event handler with an .add_<EventName>() method call does just that: It adds an additional event handler, of which there can be many.
In order to replace an event handler, you must first remove its old incarnation with .remove_<EventName>(), and then add the new incarnation with .add_<EventName>().
To that end, you must store the original incarnation in a variable that you can later pass to the .remove_EventName>() call:
# Define the original event handler, store it in a variable,
# and add it to the control.
$currEventHandler = { Start-Process https://google.com }
$ExLinkLabel.add_Click($currEventHandler)
# ...
# Remove the current event handler...
$ExLinkLabel.remove_Click($currEventHandler)
# ... and add the new one:
$currEventHandler = { Start-Process https://yahoo.com }
$ExLinkLabel.add_Click($currEventHandler)
Note that I've replaced [system.Diagnostics.Process]::start($url) with a simpler, PowerShell-idiomatic call to the Start-Process cmdlet.
In your simple case, where the two event handlers only differ by the URL they open, consider the alternative recommended by Theo:
Retain the original event handler and make it retrieve the URL to open from a variable defined outside the event handler, namely in the script scope. That way, all you need to do is to update the variable.
# Set the original URL
$url = 'https://google.com'
# Due to PowerShell's dynamic scoping, the event-handler script
# block - even though it runs in a *child* scope - sees the
# script scope's definition of variable $url
# You can make this cross-scope access explicit by using $script:url
# (If you wanted to *update* the variable from inside the child
# scope $script:url *must* be used.)
$ExLinkLabel.add_Click({ Start-Process $url })
# ...
# Update the variable, after which the event handler will
# use the new URL.
$url = 'https://yahoo.com'
I am trying to create a powershell 'AccessObject' comobject for my MS Access app. Basically, I will trying to create a powershell script that gets queries in a database and the tables and/or queries a particular query depends on. To do that i will need to have an instance of the MS Access 'AccessObject' and 'DependencyInfo' classes in my powershell script. I have attached a snippet of the function i intend to use. This is not the complete function, please note. All i want is to know how to create an instance of the DependencyInfo and AccessObjects in powershell.
function getQueries([string] $database)
{
$dbEng = New-Object -ComObject DAO.DBEngine.120
$AccessApp= New-Object -ComObject Access.Application
$Dependency = $AccessApp.DependencyInfo
$AccessObject=$AccessApp.AccessObjects
...
}
All i want is to know how to create an instance of the DependencyInfo
and AccessObjects in powershell.
The following creates a new Access process, opens a local accdb file, and retrieves the dependencies for a given form:
$db = new-object -ComObject 'Access.Application'
$db.OpenCurrentDatabase('C:\temp\deezNutz.accdb')
$dependency_info = $db.Application.CurrentProject().AllForms('frm_person').GetDependencyInfo()
foreach ($dependency in $dependency_info.Dependencies) { $dependency.FullName }
$db.CloseCurrentDatabase()
$db.Application.DoCmd.Quit()
If you're trying to pro grammatically manipulate the objects in a Microsoft Access database e.g., forms, reports, queries, etc. Your best bet is to search for solutions using VBA then convert those to Powershell. For this example, I first wrote the solution in VBA then converted it to Powershell.
Thanks #Lord Adam. This was really helpful. In my case i had to modify the logic a little bit:
$AccessApp= New-Object -ComObject 'Access.Application'
$AccessApp.OpenCurrentDatabase($database)
$AccessApp.Application.SetOption("Track Name AutoCorrect Info", $true)
$QryDependency = $AccessApp.Application.CurrentData.AllQueries.Item($query.Name).GetDependencyInfo()
ForEach($di in $QryDependency.Dependencies)
{
$QryObjects= $QryObjects + $di.Name +","
}
I want to write a programm which has a Kind of traffic light funtion. The color of the Frame should be changed depending on an check. I already solved the check of the criterias, so in this example the while-Loop is vicarious for a bigger check. But to focus on the problem i shortend it like this. My problem is that i can´t update the Color of the UI.
So the program should be running all the time, but it seems to be stuck at:
[void] $Form.ShowDialog()
and only will continue after I close the form. So how can i bypass this section to get into the infinit Loop, so that my Form is shown all the time with changing Color?
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$Form.Text = "Test"
$Form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(300,300)
$Form.StartPosition = "CenterScreen"
$Form.BackColor = "Green"
$Form.Topmost = $True
$Form.Add_Shown({$Form.Activate()})
[void] $Form.ShowDialog()
while ($True)
$test = Get-Content -Path C:\Users\admin\Documents\pro.txt
if ($test -eq 2)
{
$Form.BackColor = "Green"
} else {
$Form.BackColor = "Red"
}
Start-Sleep -s 2
}
Thanks for you help!
$Form.ShowDialog()
This line requires interaction on the form. The code following that line will not run until the form is closed. Another way to launch the form would be like the following
$Form.Show()
If you launch the form like that, the code should continue to run. Although you still may need a better solution, as your following code uses start-sleep -s 2. I believe this might also make your form sleep, which would render it potentially unusable.
I would recommend learning about PowerShell Event Handlers here. There might be a better solution using an event handler for your solution. An example of an event handler follows
$Form_Load {
# Your commands and stuff here #
}
The $Form is the object that the event is looking at, then you have a separator _, then Load is the name of the actual event that when executed the code runs. So any of the code inside those brackets will run right away when form $Form is launched. This can be anything from loading a form, clicking a button, or even a selected index changing inside of a listbox.
Event handlers took my PowerShell GUI building abilities to then next level when it comes to what I had the ability to do with the form. So I would highly recommend learning about event handlers if PowerShell GUIs are the normal for you, the most helpful tool you could buy is SAPIEN PowerShell Studio which is an extremely helpful development environment. It is basically a Visual Studio built just for PowerShell. I think it's in the $400-$500 range.
I am trying to find a way to create a form in PowerShell without using any variables unless they are temporarily or virtually assigned. I want to be able to run a command similar to this:
(New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form).ShowDialog()
where I can enter in a code into an event that is triggered once the form is created. That event will then be responsible for creating all the objects and other events inside the form. Once the form is launched, I will not need any variables accept for the ones that are virtually assigned within the events.
This to avoid using too much system resources from assigning and endless amount of variables for each object in the form. The script that I am currently working on in PowerShell is very possibly going to be really big, and even if it is not a very large script, efficiency and clean code is always the key to writing a good program or script.
add-type -ass System.Windows.Forms
$x = (New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form)
$x.Text = 'Message Box'
$x.Size = '300,150'
$x.Font = $x.Font.Name + ',12'
$x.Controls.Add((New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label))
$x.Controls[-1].Size = $x.Size
$x.Controls[-1].Text = 'Here is a message for you'
$x.ShowDialog()
Remove-Variable x
It is very possible to access these objects still with the exact same kind of access when you define each object with a variable. It cost me many hours of research and just simply attempting random commands to find out how to do this. Here is all the commands you may need to relearn if you are interested in my solution:
# create item in form:
$x.Controls.Add((New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button))
# access the last created item in the form:
$x.Controls[-1]
# change it's name to identify it easier
$x.Controls[-1].Name = 'button1'
# access the item by it's new name:
$x.Controls['button']
# delete the item by it's name:
$x.Controls.Remove($x.Controls['button1'])
If your familiar with form creation in PowerShell then this should all make sense to you and you should be familiar with how the rest of it works. Also, another note to make for those who are interested in what I am trying to do is that any of these commands can be done within an event by replacing $x with $this. If it is inside an event of an object inside the "controls" section of the form, then you would use $this.parent.
This is exactly what I mean by having the ability to create a form with virtually no variables. The only problem I am having with this is that I am unsure how to assign an event and call the method ShowDialog() at the same time.
I found an a very interesting solution to this, however I am not sure to what the limits are to this solution and it dose not quite work in the way that I would personally like it to.
file.ps1:
add-type -ass System.Windows.Forms
$x = (New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form)
$x.Text = 'Message Box'
$x.Size = '300,150'
$x.Font = $x.Font.Name + ',12'
$x.Controls.Add((New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label))
$x.Controls[-1].Size = $x.Size
$x.Controls[-1].Text = 'Here is a message for you'
$x
remove-variable x
command to execute the code:
(iex(Get-Content 'file.ps1'|out-string)).ShowDialog()
I have a series of Word documents which link to templates which no longer exist. This is causing problems for users trying to open them. I can get a list of the documents, loop through each one, and set the tempalte to null. While this will solve the problem, I can't determine what the template was before I changed it.
In cases where the template is not available on open, Word will replace the attached template with Normal.dot(x). However, the template I'm trying find is located in the document's Tempaltes dialog. Both AttachedTempalte() and get_AttachedTemplate().Name return Normal.dot when I know the document in question has a different template listed in the Templates dialog in word.
I can access this in VBA, and it's fustrating to not be able to do this in PS. Can anyone see where I'm messing up?
$word = new-object -comobject "Word.Application"
$doc = $word.Documents.Open({document path})
$word.Dialogs(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdWordDialog.wdDialogToolsTemplates).Template()
Returns:
Missing ')' in method call.
At :line:1 char:15
+ $word.Dialogs(M <<<< icrosoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdWordDialog.wdDialogToolsTemplates).Template()
Working VBA:
Dim doc as Word.Document
Dim strTemplate as String
Set doc = Documents.Open(Filename:=filename, Visible:=False)
doc.Activate
strTemplate = Word.Dialogs(wdDialogsToolsTemplates).Template
After which I can see the template name and path I should see in strTemplate.
I checked the ps script and adding $doc.Activate doesn't seem to help. I also noticed that the interop and VBA do not use the same wdDialog. PS uses wdDialogToolsTemplates and VBA using wdDialogsToolsTemplates. I checked the assembly in PS with the following
[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word") | out-null
[Enum]::GetNames("Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdDialogs")
and confirmed the correct option is wdDialogToolsTemplates.
In powershell you must use the [] brackets to specify types and then the :: to specify the type member, so your 3rd line of powershell code should look like this:
$word.Dialogs([Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdWordDialog]::wdDialogToolsTemplates).Template()
See these blog posts about powershell enums: Jeffrey Snover or Richard Siddaway.
I am trying to do something similar and the main aim is not to store any code inside a Word document.
PowerShell
I made a tiny bit of progress with the PowerShell route but I can't find a way to extract the path from the dialog boxes.
$objWord = New-Object -ComObject "Word.Application"
$objWord.Visible = $True
$objDoc = $objWord.Documents.Open("C:\path\to\document.doc")
$objToolsTemplates = $objWord.Dialogs.Item([Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdWordDialog]::wdDialogToolsTemplates)
$objDocStats = $objWord.Dialogs.Item([Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdWordDialog]::wdDialogDocumentStatistics)
Now $objToolsTemplates.Show() and $objToolsTemplates.Show() both cause the GUI to display dialogs containing the path to the original (unavailable) template but I can't find any way to extract that information programatically. According to MSDN WdWordDialog Enumeration documentation both of the dialogs should have a Template property.
VBScript
In the end I had to go with VBS instead. The following code will give you the path of the original (unavailable) template. It's still a script at least.
Option Explicit
Const wdDialogToolsTemplates = 87
Const wdDoNotSaveChanges = 0
Dim objWordApp
Dim objDoc
Dim dlgTemplate
Set objWordApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
objWordApp.Visible = False
Set objDoc = objWordApp.Documents.Open("C:\path\to\document.doc")
Set dlgTemplate = objWordApp.Dialogs(wdDialogToolsTemplates)
Wscript.Echo dlgTemplate.Template
objDoc.Close(wdDoNotSaveChanges)
objWordApp.Quit