I'm making a menu system for a script I have where I can change the values I need to by using the menu or by passing them as arguments to the script. One of the annoyances I have at the moment is after entering a new value when the menu refreshes, the variable in the menu text does not update to the new values.
$global:drive="C:"
$title = "Setup
"
$message = "The default variables are:
VARIABLES TO CHANGE
1. The Drive Location: $global:drive <<<--- This is the variable that does not update after I change it when I run the script.
"
$one = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&1 Drive", "The Drive Location:"
$options = [System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription[]]($one)
:OuterLoop do
{
for ($i = 1; )
{
$result = $host.ui.PromptForChoice($title, $message, $options, 1)
switch ($result)
{
0 {$global:drive = Read-Host "Drive is $global:drive .Set the Drive Location";
"The Drive is now: $global:drive";
break;}
}
}
}
while ($y -ne 100)
Initially I did not set the variable to to global but read on here that that might help. It did not but it did not hurt either. I also tried setting it to script too. The variable does change, so this is cosmetic more than anything.
Thanks
I ran your code, but mine changes in the menu. The only thing I did was comment out your first $global:drive="C:". If this is always at the top of the script, then $global:drive will always display C:.
You can use the following code to check for the existance of a variable, then assign the value if it doesn't already exist:
if $(!(Get-Variable -Name Drive -Scope global -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) { $global:drive="C:" }
If the global variable Drive exists, it will do nothing. If it doesn't exist, $global:drive will be set to C:. Hope this helps.
Edit after #Norm comment:
The reason your message isn't updating, is because the $title is set outside of the loop. Because $Title is already defined, it doesn't need to change every time the loop runs. Simply move the declaration for $Title inside the loop before the line $result = $host.ui.PromptForChoice($title, $message, $options, 1). This should fix the problem you are having.
Edit2: I'm sorry, it's $message that needs moved, not $title
Related
I want to create the "Select-Multiple" function.
The function takes some parameters, but the most important one is the list of options.
Let's say
#("First Option", "Second Option")
Then the function will display something like:
a All
b First Option
c Second Option
d Exit
Choose your option: > ...
The "Choose your option: > ..." text, will be repeated as long as:
User choose "All" or "Exit" option
User will choose all possible options (other than "All" and "Exit")
At the end the function returns the List of options chosen by the user.
Simple. But... I'd like to highlight the options already chosen by the user.
So if the user chose "b", then "b First Option" gets green colour.
Is it possible to do something like that, without using Clear-Host, as I don't want to clear previous steps?
I attach you my "Select-Multiple" function in powershell, sorry if that's ugly written, but I don't use powershell that often.
function Select-Multiple {
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
[string] $title,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
[string] $description,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
$options,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[string] $question
)
if ($title) {
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow $title
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow ("-"*$title.Length)
}
if ($description) {
Write-Host $description
Write-Host
}
$chosen = #()
$values = #()
$offset = 0
$all = "All"
$values += #($all)
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "$([char]($offset+97)) " -NoNewline
Write-Host $all
$offset++
$options.GetEnumerator() | ForEach-Object {
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "$([char]($offset+97)) " -NoNewline
$values += #($_)
Write-Host $_
$offset++
}
$exit = "Exit"
$values += #($exit)
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "$([char]($offset+97)) " -NoNewline
Write-Host $exit
$answer = -1
while($chosen.Count -ne $options.Count) {
Write-Host "$question " -NoNewline
$selection = (Read-Host).ToLowerInvariant()
if (($selection.Length -ne 1) -or (([int][char]($selection)) -lt 97 -or ([int][char]($selection)) -gt (97+$offset))) {
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Illegal answer. " -NoNewline
}
else {
$answer = ([int][char]($selection))-97
$value = $($values)[$answer]
if ($value -eq $exit) {
return $chosen
}
if ($value -eq $all) {
return $options
}
else {
if ($chosen.Contains($value)) {
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "The value $value was already chosen."
}
else {
$chosen += ($value)
}
}
}
if ($answer -eq -1) {
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Please answer one letter, from a to $([char]($offset+97))"
}
$answer = -1;
}
return $chosen
}
Because of how the console window works, you can't just recolor an existing line. Once you've written something to the console, the only way you can modify it is by overwriting it. This is no different when applying colors.
To understand why this is the case, let's go over how text is colored in PowerShell. Let's use the following command as an example:
Write-Host "Test" -ForegroundColor Green
Here is a (simplified) step by step overview of what this command will do:
Set the ForegroundColor property of the console to green
Write "Test" to the console
Set the ForegroundColor property of the console to whatever it was previously
This explains why we are unable to change the color of text that has already been written to the console. If you want to color a piece of text, you are required to set the console color before writing the text to the console.
However, there are a couple ways to create the same visual effect. In fact there are exactly two ways. One of them is clearing the console and re-writing everything which you mentioned you don't want to do, so let's talk about the other way first.
Overwriting Individual Lines
Let me preface this by saying that this does not work very well with the PowerShell ISE. If you decide to use this, you will have to debug it by either using the normal PowerShell console, or an IDE that supports this. This is also the more complicated option, so if you don't want to deal with the complexity of it, the second option would be the way to go.
The console window allows you to retrieve and set the cursor position by using Console.CursorLeft and Console.CursorTop. You can also use Console.SetCursorPosition() if you need to set both of them at the same time. There is also $Host.UI.RawUI.CursorPosition, but it's long and has some strange side effects when paired with Read-Host, so I would not recommend using it. When you write output to the console, it will write the output to wherever the cursor happens to be. We can use this to our advantage by setting the cursor's position to the beginning of the line we want to change the color of, then overwriting the normal text with colored text or vice versa.
In order to do this, all we need to do is keep track of which option is on which line. This is pretty simple, especially if you have an array of options that is in the same order that you printed them to the console in.
Here is a simple script I made that does exactly this:
$options = $("Option 1", "Option 2", "Option 3")
$initialCursorTop = [Console]::CursorTop
# An array to keep track of which options are selected.
# All entries are initially set to $false.
$selectedOptionArr = New-Object bool[] $options.Length
for($i = 0; $i -lt $options.Length; $i++)
{
Write-Host "$($i + 1). $($options[$i])"
}
Write-Host # Add an extra line break to make it look pretty
while($true)
{
Write-Host "Choose an option>" -NoNewline
$input = Read-Host
$number = $input -as [int]
if($number -ne $null -and
$number -le $options.Length -and
$number -gt 0)
{
# Input is a valid number that corresponds to an option.
$oldCursorTop = [Console]::CursorTop
$oldCursorLeft = [Console]::CursorLeft
# Set the cursor to the beginning of the line corresponding to the selected option.
$index = $number - 1
[Console]::SetCursorPosition(0, $index + $initialCursorTop)
$choice = $options[$index]
$isSelected = $selectedOptionArr[$index]
$choiceText = "$($number). $($choice)"
if($isSelected)
{
Write-Host $choiceText -NoNewline
}
else
{
Write-Host $choiceText -ForegroundColor Green -NoNewline
}
$selectedOptionArr[$index] = !$isSelected
[Console]::SetCursorPosition($oldCursorLeft, $oldCursorTop)
}
# Subtract 1 from Y to compensate for the new line created when providing input.
[Console]::SetCursorPosition(0, [Console]::CursorTop - 1)
# Clear the input line.
Write-Host (' ' * $Host.UI.RawUI.WindowSize.Width) -NoNewline
[Console]::CursorLeft = 0
}
The main advantage of this approach is that it doesn't need to clear the entire console in order to update text. This means you can display whatever you want above it without worrying about it being cleared every time the user inputs something. Another advantage is that this performs a minimal number of operations in order to accomplish the task.
The main disadvantage is that this is relatively volatile. This requires you to use exact line numbers, so if something happens that offsets some of the lines (such as one option being multiple lines), it will more than likely cause some major issues.
However, these disadvantages can be overcome. Since you have access to $Host.UI.RawUI.WindowSize.Width which tells you how many characters you can put on a single line, we know that any string with a length greater than this will be wrapped onto multiple lines. Another option is just to keep track of which line the cursor starts on, then you can clear all text between the starting position and where the cursor currently is.
Clearing the Console
This approach is much simpler because you don't have to worry about what is on which line or where the cursor is at all. The idea is that you simply clear the entire console, then re-write everything with the changes you want to make. This is the nuclear approach, but it's also the most reliable.
Here is the same example as above using this approach instead:
$options = $("Option 1", "Option 2", "Option 3")
# An array to keep track of which options are selected.
# All entries are initially set to $false.
$selectedOptionArr = New-Object bool[] $options.Length
while($true)
{
Clear-Host
for($i = 0; $i -lt $options.Length; $i++)
{
if($selectedOptionArr[$i])
{
Write-Host "$($i + 1). $($options[$i])" -ForegroundColor Green
}
else
{
Write-Host "$($i + 1). $($options[$i])"
}
}
Write-Host # Add an extra line break to make it look pretty
Write-Host "Choose an option>" -NoNewline
$input = Read-Host
$number = $input -as [int]
if($number -ne $null -and
$number -le $options.Length -and
$number -gt 0)
{
# Input is a valid number that corresponds to an option.
$index = $number - 1
$choice = $options[$index]
$selectedOptionArr[$index] = !$selectedOptionArr[$index]
}
}
The main advantage of this approach is that it's super simple and easy to understand.
The main disadvantage is that this clears the entire console every time the user inputs something. In most cases this isn't a huge problem, but it can be with large data sets.
I agree with Trevor Winge, I it is most likely not possible to change earlier console outputs appearance, but it is for certain not worth your while. There are certain limitations of the console, and that is ok since that is what GUIs are for. I hope you feel encouraged by this situation to look into Windows.Froms or WPF. Make use of the controls! checkboxes would be interesting for your scenario. I know that is not exactly what you asked for, but it is garanteed a journey that is worth your time. When i started my first GUI with powershell, i was astonished how much i could accomplish with little afford. Stackoverflow is full of examples.
I have a PowerShell script that has a y/n question asked in the script. I cannot change the script as it is downloaded from a url, but I would like to run it such that my choice is passed to the script and processing continues unattended.
I found this question, which is on a similar topic, but more related to cmdlets (and I tried everything here, but no luck).
Here is the relevant code (say this is in a script test.ps1)
function Confirm-Choice {
param ( [string]$Message )
$yes = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Yes", "Yes";
$no = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&No", "No";
$choices = [System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription[]]($yes, $no);
$caption = "" # Did not need this before, but now getting odd errors without it.
$answer = $host.ui.PromptForChoice($caption, $message, $choices, 1) # Set to 0 to default to "yes" and 1 to default to "no"
switch ($answer) {
0 {return 'yes'; break} # 0 is position 0, i.e. "yes"
1 {return 'no'; break} # 1 is position 1, i.e. "no"
}
}
$unattended = $false # default condition is to ask user for input
if ($(Confirm-Choice "Prompt all main action steps during setup?`nSelect 'n' to make all actions unattended.") -eq "no") { $unattended = $true }
i.e. Without altering the script, I would like to pass 'n' to this so that it will continue processing. Something like test.ps1 | echo 'n' (though, as before, this specific syntax does not work unfortunately, and I'm looking for a way to do this).
PromptForChoice appears to read input directly from the console host, so it can't be supplied with input from stdin.
You may override the function Confirm-Choice instead, by defining an alias that points to your own function which always outputs 'n'. This works because aliases take precedence over functions.
function MyConfirm-Choice {'no'}
New-Alias -Name 'Confirm-Choice' -Value 'MyConfirm-Choice' -Scope Global
.\test.ps1 # Now uses MyConfirm-Choice instead of its own Confirm-Choice
# Remove the alias again
Remove-Item 'alias:\Confirm-Choice'
I'm trying to create a powershell menu from some data inputs and I want an option to modify a parameter. I know that I'm doing wrong, but I don't find the correct way to do it. This is an example:
function callData($data){
write-host "folder selected: " $data
write-host "write NEWFOLDER to change folder"
$accion = Read-host "option"
switch ($accion)
{
'NEWFOLDER' {
$data = changeData
calldata $data
}
Default {}
}
}
function changeData(){
$newdata = read-host "New Folder"
return $newdata
}
$data = read-host "Folder"
while($true){
callData $data
}
Yes, I know, it's not beautiful and it doen't work correctly. With this code, it shows the new value the first time but in next loop it shows again the orignal value. My objective is to modify the original $data with the new value. I hope you understand me...
Is there any way to add text to specific part of script to the currently running script?
If i have a menu with options:
Install All
Add item
Quit
Could the Add item be possible?
Learning to use powershell (heavy user of batches).
When entering Add item, then a read-host would pop up, adding a row between the long row of ### addwifi -wnm $USERINPUT afterwards 'restarting' the script.
Current script:
#cmd: title Add****
$host.ui.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Add Wi-Fi networks"
#When Show-Menu –Title 'SetupWi-Fi' is called
function Show-Menu
{
# NOTE if changing warible from somewhere else (Show-Menu -WARIBLE VALUE) then param part must be included
param (
[string]$Title = 'SetupWi-Fi'
)
Clear-Host
#cls and echo on #echo off
Write-Host "================ $Title ================"
Write-Host "a: Add Wi-Fi networks."
Write-Host "q: Quit."
}
#Do this until x
#For future shortening purposes
function addwifi
{
param (
[string]$wnm
#wnm= wifi name
)
netsh wlan add profile filename="$wnm.xml"
#for some reason (nice for this script) . stops the warible name
}
do
{
# call Show-Menu and optionally change varible: –Title 'Warible' changes the $title varible
Show-Menu
# makin varible chaase equal user input, placing Selection before it
$chaase = Read-Host "Selection:"
#switch according to the varible chaase
switch ($chaase)
{
'a' {
#'single quote' acts as echo, now executing commands of 'a' varible
'Adding Wi-Fi networks.'
$host.ui.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Adding Wi-Fi networks"
#note the upper function is called with warible
#add below here! #####################################################################
addwifi -wnm laptopidee
#add above here! #####################################################################
}
#close a execution
#close switch
}
#close do
}
#until x: selection == input q
until ($chaase -eq 'q')
One possibility is to use placeholders that you replace at runtime, though I'm not sure how well it will hold up for more complex scripts.
For example, if you have the following script:
$scriptPath = "$PsScriptRoot\$($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name)"
$scriptContent = Get-Content "$PsScriptRoot\$($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name)" -Raw
$newItem = Read-Host "Please enter new command"
##Placeholder
$scriptContent -replace "$([char]0x0023)$([char]0x0023)Placeholder", "$([char]0x0023)$([char]0x0023)Placeholder$([char]0x000D)$([char]0x000A)$newItem" |
Set-Content -Path $scriptPath
Each time you run it, you will be prompted for a new command, which will be added below the ##Placeholder. So, if you enter Get-Process when prompted, the script would end up on-disk like this:
$scriptPath = "$PsScriptRoot\$($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name)"
$scriptContent = Get-Content "$PsScriptRoot\$($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name)" -Raw
$newItem = Read-Host "Please enter new command"
##Placeholder
Get-Process
$scriptContent -replace "$([char]0x0023)$([char]0x0023)Placeholder", "$([char]0x0023)$([char]0x0023)Placeholder$([char]0x000D)$([char]0x000A)$newItem" |
Set-Content -Path $scriptPath
Next time you run the script you will be prompted for a new command, which is added to the list, and all commands already on the list will be executed.
Yes. Use external files as sources to be pulled in. The Add Item menu option creates another file to be read in at next execution.
Many people did this with batch files using .ini files to hold parameters. Similar construct.
I have two questions here, why does the following function in a script not recognized when I run the script:
Script:
$pathN = Select-Folder
Write-Host "Path " $pathN
function Select-Folder($message='Select a folder', $path = 0) {
$object = New-Object -comObject Shell.Application
$folder = $object.BrowseForFolder(0, $message, 0, $path)
if ($folder -ne $null) {
$folder.self.Path
}
}
I get error:
The term 'Select-Folder' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try aga
in.
But if I load and run it in the Windows Powershell ISE, it will give me the error the first time, and then act like it has "registered" the function and work after that.
And in case it is a procedural issue, I have tried listing the function at the top with no better luck.
Note I have tried simple functions like:
Write-host "Say "
Hello
function Hello {
Write-host "hello"
}
With the same exact results/error, it complains that Hello is not function....
Also, it still won't every work just running the script in powershell (only in ISE after the first initial attempt).
You need to declare your Select-Folder function before you try to use it. The script is read from top to bottom, so on the first pass when you try to use Select-Folder it has no idea what that means.
When you load it into the Powershell ISE it'll find out what Select-Folder means on the first run, and it'll still know that the 2nd time you try to run it (so you won't get the error then).
So if you change your code to:
function Select-Folder($message='Select a folder', $path = 0) {
$object = New-Object -comObject Shell.Application
$folder = $object.BrowseForFolder(0, $message, 0, $path)
if ($folder -ne $null) {
$folder.self.Path
}
}
$pathN = Select-Folder
Write-Host "Path " $pathN
that should work each time you run it.