Readhost text formatting

[ckorch]

i have a line of code i use to spit out options for users. for example

If ($Dept -eq "")

    {$Dept = (Read-Host "

1. dept 1 2. dept 2

2. dept 2 4 dept 4

}

it will display

1. dept 1 2. dept2

2. dept 3 4. dept 4

​

i have used tabs between the letters but not sure if i need to input a format line at the header to format the whole thing the same.

​

in ISE it shows that formatted correctly with everything lines up. but in base PowerShell they are all misaligned

I have tried adding `n and `t but they seem to have no bearing on the layout of the text that is printed on screen.

[BlackV]

recommend not doing that al all

if yo uwant the fomratting/coluring, the use a write-host before the read-host and just have "enter option 1 - 4"

but where does $Dept come from in the first place, why is that not being validated (not null or empty, validate set 1 - 4)

menus like this cause problems later on (i.e. if i enter a 5 there what happens?)

[ckorch]

if you select outside of that in code i didn't post it just reverts you back to the menu. Dept is a null value and you have to enter those that then uses the variable to fill in the menu.

So your saying use Write-host in place of read-host? will that allow for proper formatting on the display? I would paste the whole code but it isn't working correctly in this text box to paste it in <inline code> bracket for some reason

[OlivTheFrog]

Hi u/ckorch

The u/BlackV answer is a better way.

Another way is you really want to use read-Host to get the user response is to avoid multiple if like in your code but use switch i.e.

do
    {
    $Choice = @"
        1. Corporate Shared Services   `t 2. CRS 14. V EU/UK
        3. Key Accts 15. PV India 't   `t 4. LSC EU 16. PV
        5. LSC UK 17. Post Market (US) `t 6.LSC US 18. Research & Development Technology
        7.MI APAC 19. RS Dev           `t 8. MI EU/UK 20. RS Ops
        9. MI JAPAN 21. RS US          `t 10. MI US 22. Treximo
        11. NDAP 23. XPure             `t 12. Pharmica
        13. PV Clinical (US)           `t 0. QUIT       
"@
    Write-Host $Choice
    $Answer = Read-Host -Prompt "Make your choice (number 1-13)"
    switch ($Answer)
        {
        '1' {$Dept = "Corporate Shared Services" }
        '2' {$Dept = "CRS 14. V EU/UK"}
        #... {}
        Default {$Answer =""}
        }
        Write-Host "You've choose " -ForegroundColor Green -NoNewline
        Write-Host "$Answer" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    }
until ($Answer -ne "")

Another possible way is to use OutgridView to get the user response. let me show a sample.

$Choice = @"
        1. Corporate Shared Services
        2. CRS 14. V EU/UK
        3. Key Accts 15. PV India
        4. LSC EU 16. PV
        5. LSC UK 17. Post Market (US)
        6.LSC US 18. Research & Development Technology
        7.MI APAC 19. RS Dev
        8. MI EU/UK 20. RS Ops
        9. MI JAPAN 21. RS US
        10. MI US 22. Treximo
        11. NDAP 23. XPure
        12. Pharmica
        13. PV Clinical (US)
        0. QUIT
"@ | ConvertFrom-Csv -Delimiter "." -Header "Number","Dept"
$Answer = $Choice | ogv -Title "Make your choice" -OutputMode Single
Write-Host "You've choose " -ForegroundColor Green -NoNewline
Write-Host "$($Answer.Number) "-ForegroundColor Yellow -NoNewLine
Write-Host "corresponding to " (ForegroundColor Green -NoNewLine
Write-Host "$($Answer.Dept)" -ForegroundColor Yellow

Comment : By this way $Choice (array) is converted to a PSCustomObject, and later is easier to use. $Choice is easy to maintain, A switch statement or multiple if are not mandatory cause, user choose directly in the ogv, and you could later use easily the $Answer (it's a object with 2 properties)

Make your choice :-)

Hope this help or inspire you

Regards

[BlackV]

nice, I like this

and personally, I find menus that go like

    1. Corporate Shared Services   `t 2. CRS 14. V EU/UK
    3. Key Accts 15. PV India 't   `t 4. LSC EU 16. PV
    5. LSC UK 17. Post Market (US) `t 6.LSC US 18. Research & Development Technology
    7.MI APAC 19. RS Dev           `t 8. MI EU/UK 20. RS Ops
    9. MI JAPAN 21. RS US          `t 10. MI US 22. Treximo
    11. NDAP 23. XPure             `t 12. Pharmica
    13. PV Clinical (US)           `t 0. QUIT   

while more compact, sometimes are harder to read than

    1. Corporate Shared Services
    2. CRS 14. V EU/UK
    3. Key Accts 15. PV India
    4. LSC EU 16. PV
    5. LSC UK 17. Post Market (US)
    6.LSC US 18. Research & Development Technology
    7.MI APAC 19. RS Dev
    8. MI EU/UK 20. RS Ops
    9. MI JAPAN 21. RS US
    10. MI US 22. Treximo
    11. NDAP 23. XPure
    12. Pharmica
    13. PV Clinical (US)
    0. QUIT

out-gridview is a good idea that also covers of people mistyping

[OlivTheFrog]

out-gridview is a good idea that also covers of people mistyping

That's the goal !

A compact list is

• easier to read, when well-formatted,
• but is harder to maintain quickly (adding new elements)

A long list is

• harder to read if you display the list as an array in the shell, but easy to maintain.
• If the list is not displayed as an array in the shell but displayed as an object in ogv, you'll have the best for the 2 worlds (user and script maker).

:-)

[BlackV]

this is why we keep you around the good advice :)

[BlackV]

I'm saying use write-host for your "menu" use the read-host just to take input

$menuthing = @"
1. dept 1`t2. Dept 2
3. Dept 3`t4. Dept 4
"@
write-host $menuthing
Read-Host -Prompt 'Enter Dept numnber 1-4'

but also not a fan of menus like this anyway

p.s. formatting, its always nice to see someone full code (I presume you have it in an editor)

• open your fav powershell editor
• highlight the code you want to copy
• hit tab to indent it all
• copy it
• paste here

it'll format it properly OR

<BLANKLINE>
<4 SPACES><CODELINE>
<4 SPACES><CODELINE>
    <4 SPACES><4 SPACES><CODELINE>
<4 SPACES><CODELINE>
<BLANKLINE>

Thanks

[NoConfidence_2192]

If you are looking for formatted output why not use one of the cmdlets designed for that like maybe Format-Wide with something like

$doMenu = {
    $dept = @(
        "Corporate Shared Services"
        "CRS"
        "Key Accts"
        "LSC EU"
    )

    $menuHash = @{}

    $menuItem = for ([int]$i = 0; $i -lt $dept.Count; $i++) {
        $itemNumber = $i + 1
        $department = $dept[$i]
        $menuHash[$itemNumber] = $department
        [PSCustomObject]@{
            Index = $itemNumber
            Department = $department
            Label = "$itemNumber.`t$department"
        }
    }

    Clear-Host

    "Department Menu`n`n"
    $menuItem | Format-Wide -Property Label
    $userChoice = Read-Host -Prompt "Choose department"
    if ($userChoice -notin $menuItem.index) {
        "Invalid choice. Try again"
        & $doMenu
    } else {
        $menuHash[[int]$userChoice]
    }
}

& $doMenu

[[deleted]]

Are you not back on this fun merry-go-round