I'm using WinForms with PowerShell. In my tool, I'd like a checkbox that when checked, will display a message next to it, and when unchecked, it will remove the message.
I've gotten this far (I'm sure there's a much better way to do it). This makes the message pop-up, but it doesn't go away when you uncheck the box. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
$Checkbox_Errors.Add_CheckStateChanged({ ### Checkbox_Errors is the name of the checkbox
if ($Checkbox_Errors.Checked -eq $true)
{
$ErrorWarning1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$ErrorWarning1.Text = "WARNING: May take 3-5 Minutes" ### When checked, this is what it should display
$ErrorWarning1.ForeColor = "Red"
$ErrorWarning1.AutoSize = $True
$ErrorWarning1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(170,13)
$groupbox.Controls.Add($ErrorWarning1)
}
})
$Checkbox_Errors.Add_CheckStateChanged({
if ($Checkbox_Errors.Unchecked -eq $true)
{
$ErrorWarning1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$ErrorWarning1.Text = "" ### I attempted this, where it would re-write
$ErrorWarning1.ForeColor = "Red"
$ErrorWarning1.AutoSize = $True
$ErrorWarning1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(170,13)
$groupbox.Controls.Add($ErrorWarning1)
}
})
It would be simpler to create the label with the rest of your form elements. If you're using a designer, you can just drag it on with the rest of the controls. Then set the label's Visible property to $False initially to hide it.
$ErrorWarning1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$ErrorWarning1.Text = "WARNING: May take 3-5 Minutes"
$ErrorWarning1.ForeColor = "Red"
$ErrorWarning1.AutoSize = $True
$ErrorWarning1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(170,13)
$ErrorWarning1.Visible = $False # This line hides the label initially
$groupbox.Controls.Add($ErrorWarning1)
Now in your event handler, instead of generating the label, just show or hide it based on the state of the checkbox:
$ErrorWarning1.Visible = $Checkbox_Errors.Checked
The label will always exist, but it will only be visible when the checkbox is checked.
Related
I am trying to open up a manpage (Get-Help alias) when I click on a button using Powershell and WinForms.
I have a text box that allows you to input a cmdlet or help topic and when you press a button, it should open up the manpage documentation in GridView. Currently, it opens the GridView and grabs the correct help docs but something messes up along the way and I think it has to do with interpretation before it is passed off to GridView.
Here is what I have:
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
$form = New-Object Windows.Forms.Form
$input = New-Object Windows.Forms.TextBox
$input.Size = '100,20'
$input.Location = '10,20'
$button = New-Object Windows.Forms.Button
$button.Size = '100,20'
$button.Location = '10,60'
$button.Add_Click({
Invoke-Expression ("man " + ($global:input.Text)) | Out-GridView
})
$form.Controls.AddRange(#($input, $button)
$form.Add_Shown({$form.Activate()})
$form.ShowDialog()
What happens is the GridView opens but the title shows Invoke-Expression ("man " + ($input.Text)) | Out-GridView and the contents are the generic default information for manpages.
I tried to attach the Invoke-Expression to a variable and then pipe the variable out to GridView. I tried to set (Get-Help ($input.Text)) to a variable and then pipe it to GridView. I even tried to initialize the $input.Text property by putting $input.Text = '' just after the $input.Location property.
I really think its how the Powershell engine is interpreting the expression but I don't know how to tell it to work the way I am wanting it to.
What am I doing wrong here?
EDIT: Ok, I just realized something. I think the $input.Text property is not getting populated correctly.
What I did was added [Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show($input.Text) in the Click event for $button and commented out the Invoke-Expression. What it should do is open a message box and place within it what is typed in the text box ($input.Text). The message box is blank. I'm thinking that it may have to do with scoping but the $input.Text should be $global and accessible from within the Click event on the button control item.
I messed around with it after typing that last paragraph and I realized that the $input.Text property is populated correctly and is accessible in the $global scope. What I did was add [Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show($input.Text) at the very end of the script (after $form.ShowDialog()) and it showed exactly what I typed in the text box.
So, why is it that I can't see the $input text box properties? I haven't had this issue with some of the other WinForms apps I have built in Powershell.
Thanks for the insight.
$input is an automatic variable used in the context of the Powershell pipeline, which is why it was empty. Powershell populates it by itself, therefore overwriting anything you put in it. Rename $input to any other available name and it should work.
E.g.:
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
$form = New-Object Windows.Forms.Form
$box = New-Object Windows.Forms.TextBox
$box.Size = '100,20'
$box.Location = '10,20'
$button = New-Object Windows.Forms.Button
$button.Size = '100,20'
$button.Location = '10,60'
$button.Add_Click({
[Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show($box.Text)
Invoke-Expression ("man " + ($box.Text)) | Out-GridView
})
$form.Controls.AddRange(#($box, $button))
$form.Add_Shown({$form.Activate()})
$form.ShowDialog()
I am trying to create in PowerShell a GUI window with dynamic content. I need to:
create a window with a random count of buttons (or other clickable items)
after a click button and related text label will be removed from the window
IMPORTANT: I cannot use a list or datagrid.
I have the following code but it still returns only last item value.
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
$form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(400,400)
$Array = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
$Array.add('AAA')
$Array.add('BBB')
$Array.add('CCC')
$Array.add('DDD')
foreach ($item in $Array) {
New-Variable -Force -Name "button$membershipCount" -Value (New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button)
$thisButton = Get-Variable -ValueOnly -Include "button$membershipCount"
$thisButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(175,(35+26*$membershipCount))
$thisButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(250,23)
$thisButton.Text = $item
$thisButton.Add_Click({(Write-Host $thisButton.Text | Out-Null)})
$form.Controls.Add($CHANGEButton)
}
I also tried Invoke-Expression, but it doesn't return expected results:
Invoke-Expression -Command "`$thisButton.Add_Click({`$x=`"$($item)`";`write-host $x})"
Or any better idea how can I get details which button was clicked since the number of buttons is random?
The problem is that the scriptblock inside add_Click() now contains a reference to $thisbutton, which at runtime will have been replaced with the last value in the foreach loop - this is expected behavior.
You can do 1 of 2 things here.
1. Capture the $thisButton.Text (or $item) value in a closure:
# Piping to Out-Null has zero effect here, just remove it
$thisButton.Add_Click({Write-Host $thisButton.Text}.GetNewClosure())
2. Use the event arguments to determine which button was clicked at runtime:
$thisButton.Add_Click({param($Sender,$EventArgs) Write-Host $Sender.Text})
I have an interesting issue here. I'm creating a calendar picker for use when we create accounts. It works fine and is still in progress but I have noticed that when I run the script in powershell ISE, after a few minutes it locks up (I am able to edit and save the code for a few minutes prior to that). There is nothing in the event log. I get a dialog box saying that powershell is non responsive. Memory usage seems normal as well. I do not know what is happening.
This occurs no matter how I run Powershell ISE (Run as Administrator, Run as another account, and normal ISE) I am running windows 8.1.
A coworker suggested it may be the apartment model, so I've tried STA and MTA, but the problem occurs either way. It does not happen when the same code is run from the console host.
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
$objForm = New-Object Windows.Forms.Form
$objForm.Text = "Select a Date"
$objForm.Size = New-Object Drawing.Size #(490,250)
$objForm.StartPosition = "CenterScreen"
$objForm.KeyPreview = $True
$objForm.Add_KeyDown({
if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Enter")
{
$script:dtmDate=$objCalendar.SelectionStart
$objForm.Close()
}
})
$objForm.Add_KeyDown({
if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Escape")
{
$objForm.Close()
}
})
$objCalendar = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.MonthCalendar
$objCalendar.Text = "Start"
$objCalendar.ShowTodayCircle = $False
$objCalendar.MaxSelectionCount = 1
$objForm.Controls.Add($objCalendar)
$objForm.Topmost = $True
$objForm.Add_Shown({$objForm.Activate()})
[void] $objForm.ShowDialog()
if ($dtmDate)
{
Write-Host "Date selected: $dtmDate"
}
$objForm.Dispose()
In Response to #The Unique Paul Smith
function Find-CalenderDateTest {
[CmdletBinding()]
param(
[Parameter(
Mandatory=$false
)]
[ValidateSet('long','short','powerpoint')]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[string]
$DateFormat
)
Begin{
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
$objForm = New-Object Windows.Forms.Form
$objForm.Text = "Select a Date"
$objForm.Size = New-Object Drawing.Size #(243,250)
$objForm.StartPosition = "CenterScreen"
$objForm.KeyPreview = $True
$dtmDate = $null
$objForm.Add_KeyDown( {
if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Enter")
{
$dtmDate=$objCalendar.SelectionStart
$objForm.Close()
}
})
$objForm.Add_KeyDown({
if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Escape")
{
$objForm.Close()
}
})
#region OK Button
$OKButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$OKButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(20,175)
$OKButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$OKButton.Text = "OK"
# Got rid of the Click event for OK Button, and instead just assigned its DialogResult property to OK.
$OKButton.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
$objForm.Controls.Add($OKButton)
# Setting the form's AcceptButton property causes it to automatically intercept the Enter keystroke and
# treat it as clicking the OK button (without having to write your own KeyDown events).
$objForm.AcceptButton = $OKButton
#endregion
#region Cancel Button
$CancelButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$CancelButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(80,175)
$CancelButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$CancelButton.Text = "Cancel"
# Got rid of the Click event for Cancel Button, and instead just assigned its DialogResult property to Cancel.
$CancelButton.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
$objForm.Controls.Add($CancelButton)
# Setting the form's CancelButton property causes it to automatically intercept the Escape keystroke and
# treat it as clicking the OK button (without having to write your own KeyDown events).
$objForm.CancelButton = $CancelButton
#endregion
$objCalendar = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.MonthCalendar
$objCalendar.ShowTodayCircle = $False
$objCalendar.MaxSelectionCount = 1
$objForm.Controls.Add($objCalendar)
$objForm.Topmost = $True
$objForm.Add_Shown({$objForm.Activate()})
$Results = $objForm.ShowDialog()
}
Process{}
End{
if ($Results -eq "OK")
{
$objCalendar.SelectionStart
}
$objForm.Dispose()
}
}
The error is MTA/STA
Don't use
$form.showDialog()
Use
[system.windows.forms.application]::run($form)
instead
and it works fine every time
Another way is to put it in another thread:
$code
{
//form code here
$form.showDialog()
}
$newThread = [Powershell]::Create()
$newThread.AddScript($code)
$handle = $newThread.BeginInvoke()
Provide variables from the calling script:
$newThread.Runspace.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable("variablenname",value)
before the BeginInvoke use variablenname without $...
It's a long shot but the problem might be that powershell is not closing the $objForm object correctly, leaving it running in memory while the ISE waits for input after the script has terminated. If you check your taskmanager, is the form still running in the background? You could also try adding 'Remove-Variable objForm' (no $) after the dispose() and see if that helps.
More information: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff730962.aspx
As I say, it's a long shot.
I was using combobox.items.add:
$configCombo.Items.Add($wks)
and I looked up how to keep the keys from printing to the console - and changed the add to:
[void]$configCombo.Items.Add($wks)
Since then I have added the void - I have been running it in ISE and it has not hung since.
Ran into this issue too. Generally occurs when I lock my workstation and return. After a bit of poking about and googleing, I found this
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/943139/windows-forms-application-freezes-when-system-settings-are-changed-or, which seems like the issue at hand.
Issue
The application will not respond and the UI thread will hang in an
Invoke call while handling the OnUserPreferenceChanged notification
Cause
This occurs if a control is created on a thread which doesn't pump
messages and the UI thread receives a WM_SETTINGCHANGE message.
Resolution
Applications should never leave Control objects on threads without an
active message pump. If Controls cannot be created on the main UI
thread, they should be created on a dedicated secondary UI thread and
Disposed as soon as they are no longer needed.
I had the same issue, but the solution is: Always clean up right after the form is done.
In this case:
$objForm.Dispose()
Up to now (a few hours) I didn't have that issue again. Previously it locked up after > 10 Minutes.
Hi i am trying to create a dynamic form in pwoershell , this is a form which has 5 buttons(color names) and each button opens a different text file(such as if red button is clicked,it should open red.txt; here is the full code;
Script Start
$var = "Red","Blue","Yellow","Black","White"
$testForm = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$testForm.Text = "Color List"
$testForm.AutoSize = $True
$testForm.AutoSizeMode = "GrowAndShrink"
$Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font("Times New Roman",24, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold)
$testForm.Font = $Font
$Label = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$Label.Text = "Select the Color"
$Label.AutoSize = $True
$testForm.Controls.Add($Label)
$x=100
$y=50
foreach($color in $var)
{
$run = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$run.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size($x,$y)
$run.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(100,50)
$run.Text = "$Color"
$run.Add_Click({ Invoke-Expression "notepad C:\Users\User\$color.txt" })
$testForm.Controls.Add($run)
$Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font("Times New Roman",14,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular)
$run.font = $Font
$run.AutoSize = $True
$y+=50
}
$testForm.ShowDialog()
END Script
Everything went fine until, when the form opens with buttons, and all the buttons when clicked, open the file "White.txt" since its the last element in the array; is there any way to change the script to make each button open only their respective files and not the last color file?
please do let me know if any further questions or clarifications needed.
Looks like the problem is the Add_Click line. The script block contains a link to the variable $color, rather than evaluating it immediately to create a new "notepad..." string for Invoke-Expression and linking to that. The string for Invoke-Expression will be created when the button is clicked. By this time $color is White 'cos the loop has finished, so all the buttons end up creating a string using White.
You can fix it with a call to GetNewClosure() which will build cause the string for the Invoke-Expression to be created during the loop, not later on when the button is clicked. So change the line to:
$run.Add_Click({ Invoke-Expression "notepad C:\Users\User\$color.txt" }.GetNewClosure())
And it should work as expected.
When I run the following, PowerShell hangs waiting for the dialog to close, even though the dialog is never displayed:
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName( 'System.Windows.Forms' )
$d = New-Object Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
$d.ShowDialog( )
Calling ShowDialog on a Windows.Forms.Form works fine. I also tried creating a Form and passing it as the parent to $d.ShowDialog, but the result was no different.
I was able to duplicate your problem and found a workaround. I don't know why this happens, but it has happened to others.
If you set the ShowHelp property to $true, you will get the dialog to come up properly.
Example:
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName( 'System.Windows.Forms' )
$d = New-Object Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
$d.ShowHelp = $true
$d.ShowDialog( )
Good Luck!
It appears to me that the dialog is actually opening just fine, but it's behind the powershell console window. Unfortunately it doesn't show in the taskbar, so there's no indication that it's there unless you move the powershell window or Alt+Tab. It also appears that the ShowHelp workaround didn't have any effect for me.
EDIT Here's a way to do do it using your secondary-form idea. The basic idea is to create a new form which opens the OpenFileDialog from inside its Shown event. The key is calling Activate on the form before opening the dialog, so that the form comes to the front and the dialog appears. I moved the form offscreen by setting the Location to an offscreen value, but you could alternatively set Form.Visible = $false from inside the Shown event.
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName( 'System.Windows.Forms' )
$ofn = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
$outer = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$outer.StartPosition = [Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition] "Manual"
$outer.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point -100, -100
$outer.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size 10, 10
$outer.add_Shown( {
$outer.Activate();
$ofn.ShowDialog( $outer );
$outer.Close();
} )
$outer.ShowDialog()
Apparently this has something to do with Multi-Threaded Apartment (MTA) mode.
It appears to work fine in Single-Threaded Apartment (-STA) mode.
See also: Could you explain STA and MTA?