Download scripts - 190 KB

Table Of Contents

Introduction
PromptForChoice ?!
Background
Using the Code
Misc. Utilities
- Screenshots
- Hiding Powershell Console
Crafting Selenium Scripts in Powershell ISE
Extreme Case
Dissecting the process
- Preliminary discussion
- Actual Conversion to Powershell
Source Code on GitHub
History

Introduction

Powershell is an advanced scripting framework, typically script is run in console host, most often remotely, but the Powershell scripts are still relatively frequently used interactively on a Windows computer. When a generic script executes, it is likely to need more than one option to be selected. Multiple options need to offered to the user in a cascading manner, with complex selection scenarios often desirable. For certain data selections, GUI in more intuitive and faster than CLI - in the console, even basic choice does not look very pretty.

For many situations, plain old Windows Forms is still a convenient means of prompting the user. This is the main focus of this article. We examine few elementary examples from http://www.java2s.com/ and convert those to Powershell. Later, we use the earlier samples as building blocks for something more complex. The fact all code of these examples in available in a one single file and no separate designer code needs to be merged, greatly simplifies the conversion. The focus is to keep the emerging Powershell code to a minimum required for processing various data selection scenarios for prompt, password, checkbox, radio, checked list, grid, treeview, tabbed dialogs and combination of those. In addition, it will be demonstrated that form element-specific event handlers will execute PowerShell code. Finally, controls like TreeView visualize the data very well on its own and potentially make few rounds of prompts unnecessary.

On the other hand, the Windows Presentation Foundation might feel somewhat heavy to embark and/or debug but entirely doable - examples are provided at the middle of this article. Interacting with WPF requires multithreading and this technique is also valuable for asynchronous status reporting of long running scripts.

A pleasant note is that all scripts continue to function in Minimal Server Interface and even in Server Core Windows Server 2012 GUI levels. The reason is: even after both "Server Graphical Shell" and "Server Graphical Management Tools & Infrastructure" Windows Features are "removed", full Microsoft .Net Framework is still present. The ultimate goal of the examples of offering a familiar user interface to complex custom data - can still be met on Windows Server Core. Note that since mouse is available even in Server Core, adding keyboard shortcuts to form elements isn't required.

In further examples, it is shown how to construct Powershell Selenium scripts from C# equivalents manually or record in Selenium IDE automatically; definite benefits of using Powershell to run Selenium recordings are illustrated.

Finally, the step-by-step conversion exercise is covered in detail.

Background

One will recognize the Powershell version of the code to be practically identical to the C# version with only semantic differences. All sources available on the author's github repo and new code are being developed daily.

We currently need to construct the helper class responsible for passing information to the Powershell script caller in plain C# and make its properties available to Windows Form in the event handlers, though all dialogs will be drawn modally. Without such tight link, some hard-to- debug race condition errors might be possible. The analysis of these assumptions is deferred to the future article.

Using the Code

The samples provided in the article are hopefully easily tailored to any purpose the reader finds them fit.

Code Details

The class that will be used to share information from the form to Powershell is quite basic. All it needs is to implement IWin32Window interface; it will also have various private data members with getters and setters and methods - to be used in the form in some examples below.

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

// "
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
public class Win32Window : IWin32Window
{
    private IntPtr _hWnd;
    private int _data;

    public int Data
    {
        get { return _data; }
        set { _data = value; }
    }

    public Win32Window(IntPtr handle)
    {
        _hWnd = handle;
    }

    public IntPtr Handle
    {
        get { return _hWnd; }
    }
}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll'

The Powershell stores its own Window Handle in the class:

if ($process_window -eq $null ){
  $process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
  ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
}

The entries selection and the overall status is read from $caller.Message and $caller.Data:

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'

  if($process_window.Data -ne $RESULT_CANCEL) {
    write-debug ('Selection is : {0}' -f  , $process_window.Message )
  } else {
    write-debug ('Result is : {0} ({1})' -f
    $Readable.Item($process_window.Data) , $process_window.Data )
  }

Alternative syntax can be

$guid = [guid]::NewGuid()

$helper_namespace = ("Util_{0}" -f ($guid -replace '-',''))
$helper_name = 'Helper'

Add-Type -UsingNamespace @(
  'System.Drawing',
  'System.IO',
  'System.Windows.Forms',
  'System.Drawing.Imaging',
  'System.Collections.Generic',
  'System.Text' `
  ) `
   -MemberDefinition @"
// inline C# code without class decoration
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies @( 'System.Windows.Forms.dll',`
     'System.Drawing.dll',`
     'System.Data.dll',`
     'System.Xml.dll') `
   -Namespace $helper_namespace -Name $helper_name -ErrorAction Stop

$helper = New-Object -TypeName ('{0}.{1}' -f $helper_namespace,$helper_type)
# the rest of Powershell code

This way one does not worry about seeing the annoying warning every time the inline C# code is modified:


Add-Type : Cannot add type. The type name 'Win32Window' already exists.
At C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\treeview_c.ps1:21 char:1
+ Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

NOTE, that few namespaces are already included by default and should not be provided explicitly in the invocation agument to avid

 Warning as Error: 
 The using directive for 'System' appeared previously in this namespace
 The using directive for 'System.Runtime.InteropServices' appeared previously in this namespace

Multiple Choice Prompt

Three button prompt

The multiple choice decision prompt is the simplest example that requires no communication between form elements - the form sets the $caller.Data independently in each button Click event handlers.

function PromptAuto(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message,
    [Object] $caller = $null
    ){

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(650,120)
$f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

$f.KeyPreview = $True
$f.Add_KeyDown({

    if     ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Y')       { $caller.Data = $RESULT_POSITIVE }
    elseif ($_.KeyCode -eq 'N')       { $caller.Data = $RESULT_NEGATIVE }
    elseif ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape')  { $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL }
    else                              { return }
    $f.Close()

})

$b1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(50,40)
$b1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$b1.Text = 'Yes!'
$b1.Add_Click({ $caller.Data = $RESULT_POSITIVE; $f.Close(); })

$b2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(125,40)
$b2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$b2.Text = 'No!'
$b2.Add_Click({ $caller.Data = $RESULT_NEGATIVE; $f.Close(); })

$b3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b3.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(200,40)
$b3.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$b3.Text = 'Maybe'
$b3.Add_Click({$caller.Data =  $RESULT_CANCEL ; $f.Close()})

$l = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$l.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)
$l.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(280,20)
$l.Text = $message

$f.Controls.Add($b1)
$f.Controls.Add($b3)
$f.Controls.Add($b2)
$f.Controls.Add($l)
$f.Topmost = $True

if ($caller -eq $null ){
  $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
  ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
}

$caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL;
$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

[void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )
$f.Dispose()
}

The options text and definitions are hard coded in the function.

$RESULT_POSITIVE = 0
$RESULT_NEGATIVE = 1
$RESULT_CANCEL = 2

$Readable = @{
    $RESULT_NEGATIVE = 'NO!';
    $RESULT_POSITIVE = 'YES!' ;
    $RESULT_CANCEL = 'MAYBE...'
    }

$process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

$title = 'Question'
$message =  "Continue to Next step?"

$result = PromptAuto -title  $title -message $message  -caller $process_window

write-debug ("Result is : {0} ({1})" -f $Readable.Item($process_window.Data) , $process_window.Data )

Timing Out Prompt

One popular feature of closing the idle input box after some timeout can be provided by e.g. adding to the script a System.Windows.Forms.Panel subclass which houses a System.Timers.Timer :

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class TimerPanel : System.Windows.Forms.Panel
{
    private System.Timers.Timer _timer;
    private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;
    public System.Timers.Timer Timer
    {
        get
        {
            return _timer;
        }
        set { _timer = value; }
    }

    public TimerPanel()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        if (disposing)
        {
            if (components != null)
            {
                components.Dispose();
            }
        }
        _timer.Stop();
        base.Dispose(disposing);
    }

    private void InitializeComponent()
    {
        this._timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
        ((System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize)(this._timer)).BeginInit();
        this.SuspendLayout();
        this._timer.Interval = 1000;
        this._timer.Start();
        this._timer.Enabled = true;
        this._timer.SynchronizingObject = this;
        this._timer.Elapsed += new System.Timers.ElapsedEventHandler(this.OnTimerElapsed);
        ((System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize)(this._timer)).EndInit();
        this.ResumeLayout(false);
    }

    private void OnTimerElapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
    {
        // Console.WriteLine(".");
    }

}

then placing all inputs on the panel.


  $p = New-Object TimerPanel
  $p.Size = $f.Size
  $end = (Get-Date -UFormat "%s")
  $end = ([int]$end + 60)
  $p.Timer.Stop()
  $p.Timer.Interval = 5000;
  $p.Timer.Start()
  $p.Timer.add_Elapsed({
      $start = (Get-Date -UFormat "%s")

      $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($start - $end)
      $l.Text = ('Remaining time {0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds,($end - $start))

      if ($end - $start -lt 0) {
        $caller.Data = $RESULT_TIMEOUT;
        $f.Close()
      }

    })

The properties and methods of Timer being public, therefore the script provides the event handler(s) - in the example above the one minute interval in seconds is harf coded

timing out prompt

The full example is shown below and is available in the source zip file.

$RESULT_OK = 0
$RESULT_CANCEL = 1
$RESULT_TIMEOUT = 2

$Readable = @{
  $RESULT_OK = 'OK';
  $RESULT_CANCEL = 'CANCEL';
  $RESULT_TIMEOUT = 'TIMEOUT';
}

function PromptTimedAutoClose  {

param(
  [string]$title,
  [string]$message,
  [object]$caller
)

  [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (240,110)

  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $True
  $f.Add_KeyDown({

      if ($_.KeyCode -eq 'O') { $caller.Data = $RESULT_OK }
      elseif ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape') { $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL }
      else { return }
      $f.Close()

    })

  $b1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (50,40)
  $b1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (75,23)
  $b1.Text = 'OK'
  $b1.add_click({ $caller.Data = $RESULT_OK; $f.Close(); })
  $p = New-Object TimerPanel
  $p.Size = $f.Size

  $p.Controls.Add($b1)
  $end = (Get-Date -UFormat "%s")
  $end = ([int]$end + 60)
  $b2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (130,40)
  $b2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (75,23)
  $b2.Text = 'Cancel'
  $b2.add_click({
      $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL;
      $f.Close();
    })
  $p.Controls.Add($b2)

  $l = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $l.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (10,20)
  $l.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (280,20)
  $l.Text = $message
  $p.Controls.Add($l)

  $p.Timer.Stop()
  $p.Timer.Interval = 5000;
  $p.Timer.Start()
  $p.Timer.add_Elapsed({
      $start = (Get-Date -UFormat "%s")

      $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($start - $end)
      $l.Text = ('Remaining time {0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds,($end - $start))

      if ($end - $start -lt 0) {
        $caller.Data = $RESULT_TIMEOUT;
        $f.Close()
      }

    })
  $f.Controls.Add($p)
  $f.Topmost = $True

  $caller.Data = $RESULT_TIMEOUT;
  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

  [void]$f.ShowDialog([win32window ]($caller))
  $f.Dispose()
}

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
$title = 'Prompt w/timeout'
$message = "Continue ?"
$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

PromptTimedAutoClose -Title $title -Message $message -caller $caller
$result = $caller.Data
Write-Debug ("Result is : {0} ({1})" -f $Readable.Item($result),$result)

Collecting Selections from Checkbox and Radiobutton Groups

button broups

This example code is more interesting because the script will collect the state from several grouped element. Managing the individual checkbox and radiobutton behavior is left intact and only implements button Click handler where the Form draws the selected elements summary and stores it into the $caller - for simplicity, both $shapes and $color are placed into one $caller.Message.

function PromptWithCheckboxesAndRadionbuttons(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message,
    [Object] $caller = $null
    ){

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title
  $groupBox1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox
  $checkBox1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox
  $checkBox2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox
  $checkBox3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox
  $radioButton1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.RadioButton
  $radioButton2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.RadioButton
  $radioButton3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.RadioButton
  $button1  = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $components =  New-Object System.ComponentModel.Container

  $groupBox1.SuspendLayout()
  $f.SuspendLayout()
  $color = ''
  $shapes = @()

  # groupBox1
  $groupBox1.Controls.AddRange(
     @(
       $radioButton1,
       $radioButton2,
       $radioButton3
      ))
  $groupBox1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 120)
  $groupBox1.Name = 'groupBox1'
  $groupBox1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(120, 144)
  $groupBox1.TabIndex = 0
  $groupBox1.TabStop = $false
  $groupBox1.Text = 'Color'

  # checkBox1
  $checkBox1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 8)
  $checkBox1.Name = 'checkBox1'
  $checkBox1.TabIndex = 1
  $checkBox1.Text = 'Circle'

  # checkBox2

  $checkBox2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 40)
  $checkBox2.Name = 'checkBox2'
  $checkBox2.TabIndex = 2
  $checkBox2.Text = 'Rectangle'

  # checkBox3

  $checkBox3.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 72)
  $checkBox3.Name = 'checkBox3'
  $checkBox3.TabIndex = 3
  $checkBox3.Text = 'Triangle'

  # radioButton1

  $radioButton1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 32)
  $radioButton1.Name = 'radioButton1'
  $radioButton1.TabIndex = 4
  $radioButton1.Text = 'Red'
  $radioButton1.Add_CheckedChanged({ })

  # radioButton2

  $radioButton2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 64)
  $radioButton2.Name = 'radioButton2'
  $radioButton2.TabIndex = 5
  $radioButton2.Text = 'Green'

  # radioButton3

  $radioButton3.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 96)
  $radioButton3.Name = 'radioButton3'
  $radioButton3.TabIndex = 6
  $radioButton3.Text = 'Blue'

  # button1

  $button1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 280)
  $button1.Name = 'button1'
  $button1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(112, 32)
  $button1.TabIndex = 4
  $button1.Text = 'Draw'

  $button1.Add_Click({

  $color = ''
  $shapes = @()
  foreach ($o in @($radioButton1, $radioButton2, $radioButton3)){
  if ($o.Checked){
      $color = $o.Text}
  }
  foreach ($o in @($checkBox1, $checkBox2, $checkBox3)){
  if ($o.Checked){
      $shapes += $o.Text}

  }
  $g = [System.Drawing.Graphics]::FromHwnd($f.Handle)
  $rc = New-Object System.Drawing.Rectangle(150, 50, 250, 250)
  $brush = New-Object System.Drawing.SolidBrush([System.Drawing.Color]::White)
  $g.FillRectangle($brush, $rc)
  $font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font('Verdana', 12)
  $col = New-Object System.Drawing.SolidBrush([System.Drawing.Color]::Black)
  $str = [String]::Join(';', $shapes )
  $pos1 = New-Object System.Drawing.PointF(160, 60)
  $pos2 = New-Object System.Drawing.PointF(160, 80)

  $g.DrawString($color, $font, $col , $pos1)
  $g.DrawString($str, $font, $col , $pos2)
  start-sleep 1

  $caller.Message =  ('color:{0} shapes:{1}' -f $color , $str)

  $f.Close()
 })

  # Form1

  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
  $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(408, 317)
  $f.Controls.AddRange( @(
     $button1,
     $checkBox3,
     $checkBox2,
     $checkBox1,
     $groupBox1))

  $f.Name = 'Form1'
  $f.Text = 'CheckBox and RadioButton Sample'
  $groupBox1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $True

  $f.Add_KeyDown({

    if ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape')  { $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL }
    else          {  }
    $f.Close()
  })

  $f.Topmost = $True
  if ($caller -eq $null ){
    $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
    ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  }

  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )
  $F.Dispose()

  return $caller.Data
}

Listbox Selection

listboxes

The next iteration is to let the form receive a string of text from Powershell and display individual words as checked listbox items, waiting for the user to select individual words by clicking the checkbox next to word.

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
$result = PromptCheckedList ''  'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit'

write-debug ('Selection is : {0}' -f  , $result )

The listbox on the right provides a visual cue to the user. When the 'Done' button is pressed, the selections are saved in the $caller object and form is closed and disposed.

This time, we return the $caller.Message explicitly, though it not really required. Note the event handler code highlighted in bold.

function PromptCheckedList
{
     Param(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message)

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections.Generic')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Text')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $i = new-object System.Windows.Forms.CheckedListBox
  $d = new-object System.Windows.Forms.ListBox
  $d.SuspendLayout()
  $i.SuspendLayout()
  $f.SuspendLayout()
  $i.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 11,
  [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);
  $i.FormattingEnabled = $true;
  $i.Items.AddRange(( $message -split '[ ,]+' ));

  $i.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(17, 12)
  $i.Name = 'inputCheckedListBox'
  $i.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(202, 188)
  $i.TabIndex = 0
  $i.TabStop = $false

  $event_handler = {
       param(
            [Object] $sender,
            [System.Windows.Forms.ItemCheckEventArgs ] $eventargs
         )
         $item = $i.SelectedItem
         if ( $eventargs.NewValue -eq  [System.Windows.Forms.CheckState]::Checked ) {
            $d.Items.Add( $item );
         } else {
            $d.Items.Remove( $item );
         }
  }
  $i.Add_ItemCheck($event_handler)

  $d.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font('Verdana', 11)
  $d.FormattingEnabled = $true
  $d.ItemHeight = 20;
  $d.Location =  New-Object System.Drawing.Point(236, 12);
  $d.Name = 'displayListBox';
  $d.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(190, 184);
  $d.TabIndex = 1;

  $b  = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 280)
  $b.Name = 'button1'
  $b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(112, 32)
  $b.TabIndex = 4
  $b.Text = 'Done'

  $b.Add_Click({
    $shapes = @()
    foreach ($o in $d.Items){
      $shapes += $o
    }
    $caller.Message =  [String]::Join(';', $shapes )
    $f.Close()
 })

  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
  $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(408, 317)
  $components =  New-Object System.ComponentModel.Container

  $f.Controls.AddRange( @( $i, $d, $b))

  $f.Name = 'Form1'
  $f.Text = 'CheckListBox Sample'
  $i.ResumeLayout($false)
  $d.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $True

  $f.Topmost = $True
  $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
  ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )
  $f.Dispose()
  $result = $caller.Message
  $caller = $null
  return $result
}

Here, the event handler in written in PowerShell but it operates the standard event arguments therefore the Powershell function is called from Form elements essentially connection them to one another. It is virtually indistinguishable from the class method it have been converted from.

this.inputCheckedListBox.ItemCheck +=
new System.Windows.Forms.ItemCheckEventHandler(this.inputCheckedListBox_ItemCheck);

...

private void inputCheckedListBox_ItemCheck(object sender, ItemCheckEventArgs e )
      {
         string item = inputCheckedListBox.SelectedItem.ToString();

         if ( e.NewValue == CheckState.Checked )
            displayListBox.Items.Add( item );
         else
            displayListBox.Items.Remove( item );
      }

Accordion Menu

Accordion Menu

Next example comes from conversion Accordion Collapsible Panel from C# to Powershell. Naturally, the code is extremely redundant. Only portion is shown. Full script is in the source zip.

collapsed

$caller = New-Object -TypeName 'Win32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

@( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

$f = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Form'
$f.Text = $title
$f.SuspendLayout()

$p = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$m = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$p_3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$b_3_3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_3_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_3_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$g_3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$p_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel

$b_2_4 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_2_3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_2_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_2_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$g_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$p_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$b_1_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_1_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$g_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$lblMenu = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$m.SuspendLayout()
$p_3.SuspendLayout()
$p_2.SuspendLayout()
$p_1.SuspendLayout()
$p.SuspendLayout()

..
#  Panel Menu 1
$p_1.Controls.AddRange(@($b_1_2, $b_1_1,  $g_1) )
$p_1.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$p_1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,23)
$p_1.Name = "p_1"
# $p_1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,104)
$p_1.TabIndex = 1

#  Menu 1 button 1
$b_1_1.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
$b_1_1.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$b_1_1.FlatAppearance.BorderColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkGray
$b_1_1.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Flat
$b_1_1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,($global:button_panel_height * 2))

$b_1_1.Name = "b_1_1"
$b_1_1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,$global:button_panel_height)
$b_1_1.TabIndex = 2
$b_1_1.Text = "Group 1 Sub Menu 1"
$b_1_1.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
$b_1_1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $false
$b_1_1_click = $b_1_1.add_Click
$b_1_1_click.Invoke({

    param([object]$sender,[string]$message)
    $caller.Data = $sender.Text
    [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(('{0} clicked!' -f $sender.Text) )
  })

#  Menu 1 button 2
$b_1_2.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
$b_1_2.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$b_1_2.FlatAppearance.BorderColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkGray
$b_1_2.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Flat
$b_1_2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,($global:button_panel_height * 3))

$b_1_2.Name = "$b_1_2"
$b_1_2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,$global:button_panel_height)
$b_1_2.TabIndex = 3
$b_1_2.Text = "Group 1 Sub Menu 2"
$b_1_2.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
$b_1_2.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $false

#  Menu 1 button group 
$g_1.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Gray
$g_1.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$g_1.FlatAppearance.BorderColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Gray
$g_1.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Flat
$g_1.ImageAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleRight
$g_1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
$g_1.Name = "g_1"
$g_1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,$global:button_panel_height)
$g_1.TabIndex = 0
$g_1.Text = "Menu Group 1"
$g_1.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
$g_1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $false
$g_1_click = $g_1.add_click
$g_1_click.Invoke({
    param(
      [object]$sender,
      [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
    )

    $ref_panel = ([ref]$p_1)
    $ref_button_menu_group = ([ref]$g_1)
    $num_buttons = 3
    # use the current height of the element as indicator of its state.
    if ($ref_panel.Value.Height -eq $global:button_panel_height)
    {
      $ref_panel.Value.Height = ($global:button_panel_height * $num_buttons) + 2
      $ref_button_menu_group.Value.Image = New-Object System.Drawing.Bitmap ("C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\unfinished\up.png")
    }
    else
    {
      $ref_panel.Value.Height = $global:button_panel_height
      $ref_button_menu_group.Value.Image = New-Object System.Drawing.Bitmap ("C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\unfinished\down.png")
    }
  })


$m.ResumeLayout($false)
$p_3.ResumeLayout($false)
$p_2.ResumeLayout($false)
$p_1.ResumeLayout($false)
$p.ResumeLayout($false)


$f.Controls.Add($p)
#  Form1
$f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6.0,13.0)
$f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
$f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (210,280)
$f.Controls.Add($c1)
$f.Controls.Add($p)
$f.Controls.Add($b1)
$f.Name = "Form1"
$f.Text = "ProgressCircle"
$f.ResumeLayout($false)

$f.Topmost = $True

$f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

[void]$f.ShowDialog([win32window]($caller))

$f.Dispose()

expanded

To fight redundancy one may introduce utility functions e.g.

function add_button {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$button_data_ref,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$button_ref
  )

  $button_data = $button_data_ref.Value

  #  TODO: assert ?

  $local:b = $button_ref.Value
  $local:b.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
  $local:b.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
  $local:b.FlatAppearance.BorderColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkGray
  $local:b.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Flat
  $local:b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,($global:button_panel_height * $button_data['cnt']))
  $local:b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,$global:button_panel_height)
  $local:b.TabIndex = 3
  $local:b.Name = $button_data['name']
  $local:b.Text = $button_data['text']
  $local:b.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $local:b.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $false

  $local:click_handler = $local:b.add_Click
  if ($button_data.ContainsKey('callback')) {
    $local:click_handler.Invoke($button_data['callback'])
  }

  else {
    # provide default click handler

    $local:click_handler.Invoke({

        param(
          [object]$sender,
          [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
        )
        $caller.Data = $sender.Text
        [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(('{0} default click handler!' -f $sender.Text))
      })

  }
  $button_ref.Value = $local:b
}

and refactor the code to pack together code references, menu text, etc.:

#  Menu 3 button 3
# Provide a callback with  System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick Method argument signature
[scriptblock]$b3_3_callback_ref = {
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
  )
  $caller.Data = 'something'
  [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(('This is custom callback for {0} click!' -f $sender.Text))
}

add_button -button_ref ([ref]$b3_3) `
   -button_data_ref ([ref]@{
    'cnt' = 3;
    'text' = 'Menu 3 Sub Menu 3';
    'name' = 'b3_3';
    'callback' = $b3_3_callback_ref;
  })

The eventual layout of button data objects and callback action code is of course highly domain-specific

Checked Combobox

Next example uses the code from ComboBox with a CheckedListBox as a Dropdown article. Unlike most of examples in this article, this script does not use $caller object - the CheckedComboBox class has plenty of proprties on its own - to return the selection data as text - but rather passes the hash of objects by reference to the form:

$albums = @{

  'Ring Ring (1973)' = $false;
  'Waterloo (1974)' = $false;
  'ABBA (1975)' = $true;
  'Arrival (1976)' = $false;
  'The Album (1977)' = $true;
  'Voulez-Vous (1979)' = $false;
  'Super Trouper (1980)' = $false;
  'The Visitors (1981)' = $false;
}

PromptCheckedCombo -Title 'Checked ComboBox  Sample Project' -data_ref ([ref]$albums)
Write-Output ('Result is: {0}' -f $caller.Message)
$albums

Here the signature of the function is:

function PromptCheckedCombo {

  param(
    [string]$title,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$data_ref  
)
...
  $ccb = New-Object -TypeName 'CheckComboBoxTest.CheckedComboBox'

  $data = $data_ref.Value
  $cnt = 0
  $data.Keys | ForEach-Object { $display_item = $_;

    [CheckComboBoxTest.CCBoxItem]$item = New-Object CheckComboBoxTest.CCBoxItem ($display_item,$cnt)
    $ccb.Items.Add($item) | Out-Null
    if ($data[$display_item]) {
      $ccb.SetItemChecked($cnt,$true)
    }
    $cnt++
  }

result

In the Form delegate, one iterates of the referenced data keys and clears / sets the hash values

  $eventMethod_ccb = $ccb.add_DropDownClosed
  $eventMethod_ccb.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )

      $data = $data_ref.Value
      $data.Keys | ForEach-Object {
        $display_item = $_;
        $data_ref.Value[$display_item] = $false
      }
      foreach ($item in $ccb.CheckedItems) {
        $data_ref.Value[$item.Name] = $true
      }

      $data_ref.Value = $data

    })

result

Bar Chart

Next example shows custom-drawn Bar Chart which has no third-party charting library dependencies. The VB.NET example code from Drawing a Bar Chart article is used, with few minor refactoring and modifications:

Add-Type -Language 'VisualBasic' -TypeDefinition  @"

Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic
Imports System
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Drawing.Drawing2D
Imports System.Collections
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class BarChart

    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form

    Public Sub New()
        MyBase.New()
        InitializeComponent()
    End Sub

    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
        If disposing Then
            If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
                components.Dispose()
            End If
        End If
        MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
    End Sub

    Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer

    <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()
        Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
        Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(344, 302)
        Me.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.Sizable
        Me.Name = "BarChart"
        Me.Text = "BarChart"
        Me.components = New System.ComponentModel.Container
        Me.ttHint = New System.Windows.Forms.ToolTip(Me.components)
    End Sub

    Dim blnFormLoaded As Boolean = False
    Dim objHashTableG As New Hashtable(100)

    Dim objColorArray(150) As Brush
    Private Sub BarChart_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

    End Sub

    Public Sub LoadData(ByVal objCallerHashTable As Hashtable )
       objHashTableG =  objCallerHashTable.Clone()
    End Sub


    Public Sub RenderData 
        Me.BarChart_Paint(Nothing, New System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs( _
        CreateGraphics(), _
	New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height) _
        )) 
    End Sub

    Private Sub BarChart_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, _
                               ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs _
                               ) Handles MyBase.Paint
        Try
            Dim intMaxWidth As Integer
            Dim intMaxHeight As Integer
            Dim intXaxis As Integer
            Dim intYaxis As Integer
            Me.SuspendLayout()
            Me.LoadColorArray()
            intMaxHeight = CType((Me.Height / 2) - (Me.Height / 12), Integer)
            intMaxWidth = CType(Me.Width - (Me.Width / 4), Integer)
            intXaxis = CType(Me.Width / 12, Integer)
            intYaxis = CType(Me.Height / 2, Integer)
            drawBarChart(objHashTableG.GetEnumerator , _
                         objHashTableG.Count, _
                         "Graph 1", _
                         intXaxis, _
                         intYaxis, _
                         intMaxWidth, _
                         intMaxHeight, _
                         True, _
                         False)
            blnFormLoaded = True
            Me.ResumeLayout(False)
        Catch ex As Exception
            Throw ex
        End Try
        
    End Sub

    Public Sub drawBarChart(ByVal objEnum As IDictionaryEnumerator, _
                            ByVal intItemCount As Integer, _
                            ByVal strGraphTitle As String, _
                            ByVal Xaxis As Integer, _
                            ByVal Yaxis As Integer, _
                            ByVal MaxWidth As Int16, _
                            ByVal MaxHt As Int16, _
                            ByVal clearForm As Boolean, _
                            Optional ByVal SpaceRequired As Boolean = False)

        Dim intGraphXaxis As Integer = Xaxis
        Dim intGraphYaxis As Integer = Yaxis
        Dim intWidthMax As Integer = MaxWidth
        Dim intHeightMax As Integer = MaxHt
        Dim intSpaceHeight As Integer
        Dim intMaxValue As Integer = 0
        Dim intCounter As Integer
        Dim intBarWidthMax
        Dim intBarHeight
        Dim strText As String
        Try
            Dim grfx As Graphics = CreateGraphics()
            If clearForm = True Then
                grfx.Clear(BackColor)
            End If

            grfx.DrawString(strGraphTitle, New Font("Verdana", 12.0, FontStyle.Bold, GraphicsUnit.Point), Brushes.DeepPink, intGraphXaxis + (intWidthMax / 4), (intGraphYaxis - intHeightMax) - 40)

            'Get the Height of the Bar        
            intBarHeight = CInt(intHeightMax / intItemCount)

            'Get the space Height of the Bar 
            intSpaceHeight = CInt((intHeightMax / (intItemCount - 1)) - intBarHeight)

            'Find Maximum of the input value
            If Not objEnum Is Nothing Then
                While objEnum.MoveNext = True
                    If objEnum.Value > intMaxValue Then
                        intMaxValue = objEnum.Value
                    End If
                End While
            End If

            'Get the Maximum Width of the Bar
            intBarWidthMax = CInt(intWidthMax / intMaxValue)

            ' Obtain the Graphics object exposed by the Form.
            If Not objEnum Is Nothing Then
                intCounter = 1
                objEnum.Reset()
                'Draw X axis and Y axis lines
                'grfx.DrawLine(Pens.Black, intGraphXaxis, intGraphYaxis, intGraphXaxis + intWidthMax, intGraphYaxis)
                'grfx.DrawLine(Pens.Black, intGraphXaxis, intGraphYaxis, intGraphXaxis, (intGraphYaxis - intHeightMax) - 25)

                While objEnum.MoveNext = True
                    'Get new Y axis
                    intGraphYaxis = intGraphYaxis - intBarHeight

                    Dim objRec as Rectangle
                    objRec = New System.Drawing.Rectangle(intGraphXaxis, intGraphYaxis, intBarWidthMax * objEnum.Value, intBarHeight)
                    'Draw Rectangle
                    grfx.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, objRec)
                    'Fill Rectangle
                    grfx.FillRectangle(objColorArray(intCounter), objRec )
                    'Display Text and value
                    ' http://www.java2s.com/Tutorial/VB/0300__2D-Graphics/Measurestringanddrawstring.htm
                    strText =  objEnum.Key & "=" & objEnum.Value 
                    Dim objLabelFont as Font
                    objLabelFont = New Font("Verdana", 7.2, FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Point) 
                    Dim textLabelArea As SizeF : textLabelArea = grfx.MeasureString(strText, objLabelFont)

                    Dim linePen As Pen: linePen = New Pen(Color.Gray, 1)
                    linePen.DashStyle = Drawing2D.DashStyle.Dash

                    Dim fontRatio As Single 
                    fontRatio = objLabelFont.Height / objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetLineSpacing(FontStyle.Regular)
 
                    Dim ascentSize As Single
                    ascentSize = objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetCellAscent(FontStyle.Regular) * fontRatio
                    Dim descentSize As Single
                    descentSize = objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetCellDescent(FontStyle.Regular) * fontRatio
                    Dim emSize As Single
                    emSize = objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetEmHeight(FontStyle.Regular) * fontRatio
                    Dim cellHeight As Single
                    cellHeight = ascentSize + descentSize
                    Dim internalLeading As Single
                    internalLeading = cellHeight - emSize
                    Dim externalLeading As Single
                    externalLeading = (objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetLineSpacing(FontStyle.Regular) * fontRatio) - cellHeight


                    Dim labelLeft As Single : labelLeft = intGraphXaxis + (intBarWidthMax * objEnum.Value)
                    labelLeft = intGraphXaxis
                    Dim labelBottom As Single:  labelBottom =  intGraphYaxis
                    Dim labelRight As Single : labelRight = labelLeft + textLabelArea.Width
                    Dim labelTop As Single : labelTop = textLabelArea.Height + labelBottom

                    Dim objLabelRec as Rectangle
                    objLabelRec = New System.Drawing.Rectangle(labelLeft, labelBottom, textLabelArea.Width , textLabelArea.Height )
                 
                    grfx.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, objLabelRec)
                    'Fill Rectangle
                    grfx.FillRectangle(Brushes.White, objLabelRec )

                    grfx.DrawLine(linePen, labelLeft, labelTop, labelLeft , labelBottom)
                    grfx.DrawLine(linePen, labelRight, labelTop, labelRight , labelBottom)
                    grfx.DrawLine(linePen, labelLeft, labelTop, labelRight , labelTop)
                    grfx.DrawLine(linePen, labelLeft, labelBottom, labelRight , labelBottom)
                    grfx.DrawString(strText, objLabelFont, Brushes.Black, labelLeft, labelBottom)

                    intCounter += 1
                    If SpaceRequired = True Then
                        intGraphYaxis = intGraphYaxis - intSpaceHeight
                    End If
                    If intCounter > objColorArray.GetUpperBound(0) Then
                        intCounter = 1
                    End If
                End While
                If clearForm = True Then
                    grfx.Dispose()
                End If
            End If
        Catch ex As Exception
            Throw ex
        End Try
    End Sub

    Public Sub LoadColorArray()
        objColorArray(1) = Brushes.Blue
        objColorArray(2) = Brushes.Pink
        objColorArray(3) = Brushes.Brown
        objColorArray(4) = Brushes.BurlyWood
        objColorArray(5) = Brushes.CadetBlue
        objColorArray(6) = Brushes.Chartreuse
        objColorArray(7) = Brushes.Chocolate
        objColorArray(8) = Brushes.Coral
        objColorArray(9) = Brushes.CornflowerBlue
        objColorArray(10) = Brushes.Cornsilk
        objColorArray(11) = Brushes.Crimson
        objColorArray(12) = Brushes.Cyan
        objColorArray(13) = Brushes.DarkBlue
        objColorArray(14) = Brushes.DarkCyan
        objColorArray(15) = Brushes.DarkGoldenrod
        objColorArray(16) = Brushes.DarkGray
        objColorArray(17) = Brushes.DarkGreen
        objColorArray(18) = Brushes.DarkKhaki
        objColorArray(19) = Brushes.DarkMagenta
        objColorArray(20) = Brushes.DarkOliveGreen
        objColorArray(21) = Brushes.DarkOrange
        objColorArray(22) = Brushes.DarkOrchid
        objColorArray(23) = Brushes.DarkRed
        objColorArray(24) = Brushes.DarkSalmon
        objColorArray(25) = Brushes.DarkSeaGreen
        objColorArray(26) = Brushes.DarkSlateBlue
        objColorArray(27) = Brushes.DarkSlateGray
        objColorArray(28) = Brushes.DarkTurquoise
        objColorArray(29) = Brushes.DarkViolet
        objColorArray(30) = Brushes.DeepPink
        objColorArray(31) = Brushes.DeepSkyBlue
        objColorArray(32) = Brushes.DimGray
        objColorArray(33) = Brushes.DodgerBlue
        objColorArray(34) = Brushes.Firebrick
        objColorArray(35) = Brushes.FloralWhite
        objColorArray(36) = Brushes.ForestGreen
        objColorArray(37) = Brushes.Fuchsia
        objColorArray(38) = Brushes.Gainsboro
        objColorArray(39) = Brushes.GhostWhite
        objColorArray(40) = Brushes.Gold
        objColorArray(41) = Brushes.Goldenrod
        objColorArray(42) = Brushes.Gray
        objColorArray(43) = Brushes.Green
        objColorArray(44) = Brushes.GreenYellow
        objColorArray(45) = Brushes.Honeydew
        objColorArray(46) = Brushes.HotPink
        objColorArray(47) = Brushes.IndianRed
        objColorArray(48) = Brushes.Indigo
        objColorArray(49) = Brushes.Ivory
        objColorArray(50) = Brushes.Khaki
        objColorArray(51) = Brushes.Lavender
        objColorArray(52) = Brushes.LavenderBlush
        objColorArray(53) = Brushes.LawnGreen
        objColorArray(54) = Brushes.LemonChiffon
        objColorArray(55) = Brushes.LightBlue
        objColorArray(56) = Brushes.LightCoral
        objColorArray(57) = Brushes.LightCyan
        objColorArray(58) = Brushes.LightGoldenrodYellow
        objColorArray(59) = Brushes.LightGray
        objColorArray(60) = Brushes.LightGreen
        objColorArray(61) = Brushes.LightPink
        objColorArray(62) = Brushes.LightSalmon
        objColorArray(63) = Brushes.LightSeaGreen
        objColorArray(64) = Brushes.LightSkyBlue
        objColorArray(65) = Brushes.LightSlateGray
        objColorArray(66) = Brushes.LightSteelBlue
        objColorArray(67) = Brushes.LightYellow
        objColorArray(68) = Brushes.Lime
        objColorArray(69) = Brushes.LimeGreen
        objColorArray(70) = Brushes.Linen
        objColorArray(71) = Brushes.Magenta
        objColorArray(72) = Brushes.Maroon
        objColorArray(73) = Brushes.MediumAquamarine
        objColorArray(74) = Brushes.MediumBlue
        objColorArray(75) = Brushes.MediumOrchid
        objColorArray(76) = Brushes.MediumPurple
        objColorArray(77) = Brushes.MediumSeaGreen
        objColorArray(78) = Brushes.MediumSlateBlue
        objColorArray(79) = Brushes.MediumSpringGreen
        objColorArray(80) = Brushes.MediumTurquoise
        objColorArray(81) = Brushes.MediumVioletRed
        objColorArray(82) = Brushes.MidnightBlue
        objColorArray(83) = Brushes.MintCream
        objColorArray(84) = Brushes.MistyRose
        objColorArray(85) = Brushes.Moccasin
        objColorArray(86) = Brushes.NavajoWhite
        objColorArray(87) = Brushes.Navy
        objColorArray(88) = Brushes.OldLace
        objColorArray(89) = Brushes.Olive
        objColorArray(90) = Brushes.OliveDrab
        objColorArray(91) = Brushes.Orange
        objColorArray(92) = Brushes.OrangeRed
        objColorArray(93) = Brushes.Orchid
        objColorArray(94) = Brushes.PaleGoldenrod
        objColorArray(95) = Brushes.PaleGreen
        objColorArray(96) = Brushes.PaleTurquoise
        objColorArray(97) = Brushes.PaleVioletRed
        objColorArray(98) = Brushes.PapayaWhip
        objColorArray(99) = Brushes.PeachPuff
        objColorArray(100) = Brushes.Peru
        objColorArray(101) = Brushes.Pink
        objColorArray(102) = Brushes.Plum
        objColorArray(103) = Brushes.PowderBlue
        objColorArray(104) = Brushes.Purple
        objColorArray(105) = Brushes.Red
        objColorArray(106) = Brushes.RosyBrown
        objColorArray(107) = Brushes.RoyalBlue
        objColorArray(108) = Brushes.SaddleBrown
        objColorArray(109) = Brushes.Salmon
        objColorArray(110) = Brushes.SandyBrown
        objColorArray(111) = Brushes.SeaGreen
        objColorArray(112) = Brushes.SeaShell
        objColorArray(113) = Brushes.Sienna
        objColorArray(114) = Brushes.Silver
        objColorArray(115) = Brushes.SkyBlue
        objColorArray(116) = Brushes.SlateBlue
        objColorArray(117) = Brushes.SlateGray
        objColorArray(118) = Brushes.Snow
        objColorArray(119) = Brushes.SpringGreen
        objColorArray(120) = Brushes.SteelBlue
        objColorArray(121) = Brushes.Tan
        objColorArray(122) = Brushes.Teal
        objColorArray(123) = Brushes.Thistle
        objColorArray(124) = Brushes.Tomato
        objColorArray(125) = Brushes.Transparent
        objColorArray(126) = Brushes.Turquoise
        objColorArray(127) = Brushes.Violet
        objColorArray(128) = Brushes.Wheat
        objColorArray(129) = Brushes.White
        objColorArray(130) = Brushes.WhiteSmoke
        objColorArray(131) = Brushes.Yellow
        objColorArray(132) = Brushes.YellowGreen
    End Sub
    Private Sub BarChart_Resize(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Resize
        If blnFormLoaded = True Then
            BarChart_Paint(Me, New System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs(CreateGraphics(), New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height)))
        End If
    End Sub
    Friend WithEvents ttHint As System.Windows.Forms.ToolTip
    ' Friend WithEvents RecLabel As System.Windows.Forms.Label
    '' need to draw System.Windows.Forms.Control
End Class

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll', 'System.Drawing.dll', 'System.Drawing.dll'

In this demo, Powershell opens the Form and sends two data samples to it, waiting for few seconds after each sample is rendered, then closes the Form.

grid

$object = New-Object -TypeName 'BarChart'

$data1 = New-Object System.Collections.Hashtable(10)
$data1.Add("Product1", 25)
$data1.Add("Product2", 15)
$data1.Add("Product3", 35)
$object.LoadData([System.Collections.Hashtable] $data1)

[void]$object.Show()
start-sleep -seconds 5

$data2 =  New-Object System.Collections.Hashtable(100)
$data2.Add("Item1", 50)
$data2.Add("Item2", 150)
$data2.Add("Item3", 250)
$data2.Add("Item4", 20)
$data2.Add("Item5", 100)
$data2.Add("Item6", 125)
$data2.Add("Item7", 148)
$data2.Add("Item8", 199)
$data2.Add("Item9", 267)

$object.LoadData([System.Collections.Hashtable] $data2)

$object.RenderData()
start-sleep -seconds 5

$object.Close()
$object.Dispose()

Two public methods LoadData and RenderData have been added to allow controlling the form from the script. To prevent modifying the original example, the first method clones the data from the caller, while the latter creates a dummy event Args and calls the handler:

    Public Sub LoadData(ByVal objCallerHashTable As Hashtable )
       objHashTableG =  objCallerHashTable.Clone()
    End Sub


    Public Sub RenderData 
        Me.BarChart_Paint(Nothing, New System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs( _
        CreateGraphics(), _
	New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height) _
        )) 
    End Sub

No communication back from Form to the script is present, thus no separate object implementing IWin32Window is needed. For the sake of the example, a VB.Net version is still provided below:

Add-Type -Language 'VisualBasic' -TypeDefinition @"

Public Class MyWin32Window 
Implements System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window

    Dim _hWnd As System.IntPtr

    Public Sub New(ByVal handle As System.IntPtr)

       _hWnd = handle

    End Sub

    Public ReadOnly Property Handle() As System.IntPtr Implements System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window.Handle
        Get
            Handle = _hWnd
        End Get
    End Property
 
End Class

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll'

$caller = New-Object -TypeName 'MyWin32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

Real World Data for Charts

To provide real world data samples for the Bar (or Gantt) Chart to render one would like to capture the Web Site Page element load times for some performance meaurement scenario. This is easily done with the help of FiddlerCore assembly, as shown below. The c# part of the script contains a modified fiddlercore-demo example, with the focus on subset of metrics provided by Fiddler:

Add-Type @"

using System;
using Fiddler;

namespace WebTester
{
    public class Monitor
    {
        public Monitor()
        {
            #region AttachEventListeners

            // Simply echo notifications to the console.  Because CONFIG.QuietMode=true 
            // by default, we must handle notifying the user ourselves.
            FiddlerApplication.OnNotification += delegate(object sender, NotificationEventArgs oNEA) { Console.WriteLine("** NotifyUser: " + oNEA.NotifyString); };
            FiddlerApplication.Log.OnLogString += delegate(object sender, LogEventArgs oLEA) { Console.WriteLine("** LogString: " + oLEA.LogString); };

            FiddlerApplication.BeforeRequest += (s) =>
            {
                // In order to enable response tampering, buffering mode must
                // be enabled; this allows FiddlerCore to permit modification of
                // the response in the BeforeResponse handler rather than streaming
                // the response to the client as the response comes in.
                s.bBufferResponse = true;
            };

            FiddlerApplication.BeforeResponse += (s) =>
            {
                // Uncomment the following to decompress/unchunk the HTTP response 
                // s.utilDecodeResponse(); 
            };


            FiddlerApplication.AfterSessionComplete += (fiddler_session) =>
            {
                // Ignore HTTPS connect requests
                if (fiddler_session.RequestMethod == "CONNECT")
                    return;

                if (fiddler_session == null || fiddler_session.oRequest == null || fiddler_session.oRequest.headers == null)
                    return;

                var full_url = fiddler_session.fullUrl;
                Console.WriteLine("URL: " + full_url);

                HTTPResponseHeaders response_headers = fiddler_session.ResponseHeaders;
                Console.WriteLine("HTTP Response: " + response_headers.HTTPResponseCode.ToString());
                /*
                foreach (HTTPHeaderItem header_item in response_headers){
                   Console.WriteLine(header_item.Name + " " + header_item.Value);
                }
                    */
                // http://fiddler.wikidot.com/timers
                var timers = fiddler_session.Timers;
                var duration = timers.ClientDoneResponse - timers.ClientBeginRequest;
                Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Duration: {0:F10}", duration.Milliseconds));

            };
            #endregion AttachEventListeners
        }


        public void Start()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Starting FiddlerCore...");
            // For the purposes of this demo, we'll forbid connections to HTTPS 
            // sites that use invalid certificates
            CONFIG.IgnoreServerCertErrors = false;
            // Because we've chosen to decrypt HTTPS traffic, makecert.exe must
            // be present in the Application folder.
            FiddlerApplication.Startup(8877, true, true);
            Console.WriteLine("Hit CTRL+C to end session.");
            // Wait Forever for the user to hit CTRL+C.  
            // BUG BUG: Doesn't properly handle shutdown of Windows, etc.
        }

        public void Stop()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Shutdown.");
            FiddlerApplication.Shutdown();
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1);
        }
        public static Monitor m;

        static void Console_CancelKeyPress(object sender, ConsoleCancelEventArgs e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Stop.");
            m.Stop();
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1);
        }
    }
}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.dll','System.Data.dll',"${shared_assemblies_path}\FiddlerCore4.dll"

Modifications mostly made to AfterSessionComplete delegate. This class is embedded in Powershell, and sets to listen to the traffic roughly for the duration of the $selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url) call:

$o = New-Object -TypeName 'WebTester.Monitor'
$o.Start()
# ...  initialize $selenium ...
$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)
$o.Stop()
[bool]$fullstop = [bool]$PSBoundParameters['pause'].IsPresent

The alternative way to collect durations is to simply invoke Javascript in the Chrome browser through Selenium:

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.IO;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Remote;

namespace WebTester
{

        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6229769/execute-javascript-using-selenium-webdriver-in-c-sharp
        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14146513/selenium-web-driver-c-sharp-invalidcastexception-for-list-of-webelements-after-j
        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8133661/checking-page-load-time-of-several-url-simultaneously
        // http://blogs.msdn.com/b/fiddler/archive/2011/02/10/fiddler-is-better-with-internet-explorer-9.aspx

    public static class Extensions
    {
        static int cnt = 0;

        public static T Execute(this IWebDriver driver, string script)
        {
            return (T)((IJavaScriptExecutor)driver).ExecuteScript(script);
        }

		        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6229769/execute-javascript-using-selenium-webdriver-in-c-sharp
        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14146513/selenium-web-driver-c-sharp-invalidcastexception-for-list-of-webelements-after-j
        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8133661/checking-page-load-time-of-several-url-simultaneously
        // http://blogs.msdn.com/b/fiddler/archive/2011/02/10/fiddler-is-better-with-internet-explorer-9.aspx

        public static List> Performance(this IWebDriver driver)
        {
            // NOTE: performance.getEntries is only with Chrome
            // performance.timing is available for FF and PhantomJS

            string performance_script = @"
var ua = window.navigator.userAgent;

if (ua.match(/PhantomJS/)) {
    return 'Cannot measure on ' + ua;
} else {
    var performance =
        window.performance ||
        window.mozPerformance ||
        window.msPerformance ||
        window.webkitPerformance || {};

    // var timings = performance.timing || {};
    // return timings;
    var network = performance.getEntries() || {};
    return network;
}
";
            List> result = new List>();
            IEnumerable<Object> raw_data = driver.Execute>(performance_script);

            foreach (var element in (IEnumerable<Object>)raw_data)
            {
                Dictionary row = new Dictionary();
                Dictionary dic = (Dictionary)element;
                foreach (object key in dic.Keys)
                {
                    Object val = null;
                    if (!dic.TryGetValue(key.ToString(), out val)) { val = ""; }
                    row.Add(key.ToString(), val.ToString());
                }
                result.Add(row);
            }
            return result;
        }

public static void WaitDocumentReadyState(
/* this // no longer is an extension method  */ 
IWebDriver driver, string expected_state, int max_cnt = 10)
        {
            cnt = 0;
            var wait = new OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30.00));
            wait.PollingInterval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.50);
            wait.Until(dummy =>
            {
                string result = driver.Execute("return document.readyState").ToString();
                Console.Error.WriteLine(String.Format("result = {0}", result));
                Console.WriteLine(String.Format("cnt = {0}", cnt));
                cnt++;
                // TODO: match
                return ((result.Equals(expected_state) || cnt > max_cnt));
            });
        }
    }

}

$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)
$expected_states = @( "interactive", "complete" );
[WebTester.Extensions]::WaitDocumentReadyState($selenium, $expected_states[1])
$script = @"
var ua = window.navigator.userAgent;

if (ua.match(/PhantomJS/)) { 
return 'Cannot measure on '+ ua;
}
else{
var performance = 
      window.performance || 
      window.mozPerformance || 
      window.msPerformance || 
      window.webkitPerformance || {}; 
// var timings = performance.timing || {};
// return timings;
// NOTE:  performance.timing will not return anything with Chrome
// timing is returned by FF
// timing is returned by Phantom
var network = performance.getEntries() || {}; 
 return network;
}


"@

# executeScript works fine with Chrome or Firefox 31, ie 10, but not IE 11.
# Exception calling "ExecuteScript" with "1" argument(s): "Unable to get browser
# https://code.google.com/p/selenium/issues/detail?id=6511  
# 
# https://code.google.com/p/selenium/source/browse/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/HttpCommandExecutor.java?r=3f4622ced689d2670851b74dac0c556bcae2d0fe

$savedata = $true

if ($headless) {
  # for PhantomJS more work is needed
  # https://github.com/detro/ghostdriver/blob/master/binding/java/src/main/java/org/openqa/selenium/phantomjs/PhantomJSDriver.java
  $result = ([OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSDriver]$selenium).ExecutePhantomJS($script,[System.Object[]]@())
  $result | Format-List
  return
} else {

  $result = ([OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium).executeScript($script)
  # $result | get-member 

  $result | ForEach-Object {
    $element_result = $_
    # $element_result | format-list
    Write-Output $element_result.Name
    Write-Output $element_result.duration
    $o = New-Object PSObject
    $caption = 'test'
    $o | Add-Member Noteproperty 'url' $element_result.Name
    $o | Add-Member Noteproperty 'caption' $caption
    $o | Add-Member Noteproperty 'load_time' $element_result.duration
    $o | Format-List

    if ($savedata) {
      insert_database3 -data $o -database "$script_directory\timings.db"
    }
    $o = $null

The full script is available in the attached zip file.

Line, Bar and Pie Charts

Next example shows another custom-drawn Line, Bar and Pie Chart library which also is implemented in a single C# class:

result

Add-Type @"

// "
 #region PROGRAM HEADER
/*
*********************************************************************************************
* FILE NAME      : DrawGraph.cs                                                             *
* DESCRIPTION    : Generates Bar, Line & Pie graph for a set of values [maximum limit= 10]  *
* AUTHOR         : Anoop Unnikrishnan   (AUK) 
// ... currently we use unmodified code ...


"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll','System.Drawing.dll','System.Data.dll','System.Xml.dll'

The form is limited to selection of the graph shape. Note there are few more shapes available in library (not shown here)

function DrawGraph {

  param(
    [string]$title,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$data_ref,
    [object]$caller
  )

  @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title


  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (470,385)
  $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
  $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedToolWindow
  $f.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $f.SuspendLayout()

  $o = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Anoop.Graph.DrawGraph' -ArgumentList @( [string[]]$data_ref.Value.Keys,
    [float[]]$data_ref.Value.Values,
    $null,
    $null,
    'Arial',
    200
  )
  [System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox]$b = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox'
  $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (40,20)
  $b.Name = 'p5'
  $b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.Size.Width - 20),($f.Size.Height - 100))
  $b.SizeMode = [System.Windows.Forms.PictureBoxSizeMode]::AutoSize
  $b.TabIndex = 1
  $b.TabStop = $false

  $m = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.MenuStrip'
  $file_m1 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $shape_m1 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $shape_m2 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $shape_m3 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $exit_m1 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $m.SuspendLayout()

  #  m0
  $m.Items.AddRange(@( $file_m1,$exit_m1))
  $m.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
  $m.Name = "m0"
  $m.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.Size.Width),24)
  $m.TabIndex = 0
  $m.Text = "m0"


  #  ShapeToolStripMenuItem
  $shape_m1.Name = "LineGraphToolStripMenuItem"
  $shape_m1.Text = "Line Graph"

  $eventMethod_shape_m1 = $shape_m1.add_click
  $eventMethod_shape_m1.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}." -f $who))
      $b.Image = $o.DrawLineGraph()
      $caller.Data = $sender.Text
    })

  $shape_m2.Name = "BarGraphToolStripMenuItem"
  $shape_m2.Text = "Bar Graph"

  $eventMethod_shape_m2 = $shape_m2.add_click
  $eventMethod_shape_m2.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}." -f $who))
      $b.Image = $o.DrawBarGraph()
      $caller.Data = $sender.Text
    })

  $shape_m3.Name = "3dPieChartToolStripMenuItem"
  $shape_m3.Text = "3d Pie Chart"

  $eventMethod_shape_m3 = $shape_m3.add_click
  $eventMethod_shape_m3.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}." -f $who))
      $b.Image = $o.Draw3DPieGraph()
      $caller.Data = $sender.Text
    })

  # Separator 
  $dash = New-Object -TypeName System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripSeparator

  #  exitToolStripMenuItem
  $exit_m1.Name = "exitToolStripMenuItem"
  $exit_m1.Text = "Exit"

  $eventMethod_exit_m1 = $exit_m1.add_click
  $eventMethod_exit_m1.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}." -f $who))
      $caller.Data = $sender.Text
      $f.Close()
    })

  #  fileToolStripMenuItem1
  $file_m1.DropDownItems.AddRange(@( $shape_m1, $shape_m2, $dash, $shape_m3))
  $file_m1.Name = "DrawToolStripMenuItem1"
  $file_m1.Text = "Draw"

  $m.ResumeLayout($false)

  #  MenuTest
  $f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (1,1)
  $f.Controls.AddRange(@( $m,$b))
  $f.Topmost = $True

  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

  [void]$f.ShowDialog([win32window]($caller))

  $f.Dispose()
}

result

The caller passes the data by reference


$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$data = @{
  "USA" = 10;
  "UK" = 30;
  "Japan" = 60;
  "China" = 40;
  "Bhutan" = 5;
  "India" = 60; 
}
[void](DrawGraph -Title $title -caller $caller -data_ref ([ref]$data))

Data Grid Proof-of-Concept

grid

The grid is notably the most complex object to offer to the user to manipulate.

function PromptGrid(
    [System.Collections.IList] $data,
    [Object] $caller = $null
    ){

  if ($caller -eq $null ){
    $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
    ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  }

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartiaName('System.Windows.Forms') | out-null
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel') | out-null
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data') | out-null
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')  | out-null

$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = 'how do we open these stones? '
$f.AutoSize  = $true
$grid = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DataGrid
$grid.PreferredColumnWidth = 100

$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$grid.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
$grid.HeaderForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::FromArgb(255,0,0,0)

$grid.Name = "dataGrid1"
$grid.DataMember = ''
$grid.TabIndex = 0
$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 13;
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 48 ;
$grid.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$grid.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill

$button = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$button.Text = 'Open'
$button.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Bottom

$f.Controls.Add( $button )
$f.Controls.Add( $grid )

$button.add_Click({
# http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.datagridviewrow.cells%28v=vs.110%29.aspx

if ($grid.IsSelected(0)){
 $caller.Data = 42;
}
$f.Close()

})

$grid.DataSource =  $data
$f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller)) | out-null
$f.Topmost = $True
$f.refresh()
$f.Dispose()
}

function display_result{
param ([Object] $result)

$array = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList

foreach ($key in $result.keys){
  $value = $result[$key]
  $o = New-Object PSObject
  $o | add-member Noteproperty 'Substance'  $value[0]
  $o | add-member Noteproperty 'Action' $value[1]
  $array.Add($o)
}

$process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$ret = (PromptGrid $array $process_window)
}

$data = @{ 1 = @('wind', 'blows...');
           2 = @('fire',  'burns...');
           3 = @('water',  'falls...')
        }

display_result $data

Here, the event handler is temporarily left as an exercise to the reader - it can be quite domain specific. Please visit the author's github repository for the updates to this script.

For example, one can use GridListView to prompt the user for missing parameters. If the script parameters are

[CmdletBinding()]param ( [string] $string_param1 = '' ,
        [string] $string_param2 = '' ,
        [string] $string_param3 = '' ,
        [boolean] $boolean_param = $false,
        [int] $int_param
    )

and the invocation only passes some but not all, one can discover the parameters state with the help of the following code snippet:

[CmdletBinding()]# Get the command name
$CommandName = $PSCmdlet.MyInvocation.InvocationName

# Get the list of parameters for the command
$ParameterList = (Get-Command -Name $CommandName).Parameters
$parameters = @{}
foreach ($Parameter in $ParameterList) {
  # Grab each parameter value, using Get-Variable
  $value = Get-Variable -Name $Parameter.Values.Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}

Then fill the $parameters Hashtable and pass it to the Form:

$parameters = @{ }
$value | foreach-object {$parameters[$_.Name] = $_.Value }
$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
Edit_Parameters -parameters ($parameters) -caller $caller -title 'Provide parameters: '

that is defined like that:

function Edit_Parameters {
     Param(
    [Hashtable] $parameters,
        [String] $title,
    [Object] $caller= $null
    )

  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms') | out-null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel') | out-null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data') | out-null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')  | out-null

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.SuspendLayout();

  $f.Text = $title
  $f.AutoSize  = $true
  $grid = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView
  $grid.Autosize = $true
  $grid.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

  $grid.Name = 'dataGrid1'
  $grid.DataMember = ''
  $grid.TabIndex = 0
  $grid.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(13,50)
  $grid.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill

  $grid.ColumnCount = 2
  $grid.Columns[0].Name = 'Parameter Name'
  $grid.Columns[1].Name = 'Value'

  $parameters.Keys | foreach-object {
            $row1 = @( $_,  $parameters[$_].ToString())
            $grid.Rows.Add($row1)
  }

  $grid.Columns[0].ReadOnly = $true;

  foreach ($row in $grid.Rows){
             $row.cells[0].Style.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::LightGray
             $row.cells[0].Style.ForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::White
             $row.cells[1].Style.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font('Lucida Console', 9)
      }

  $button = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button.Text = 'Run'
  $button.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Bottom

  $f.Controls.Add( $button)
  $f.Controls.Add( $grid )
  $grid.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $button.add_Click({

    foreach ($row in $grid.Rows){
      # do not close the form if some parameters are not entered
      if (($row.cells[0].Value -ne $null -and $row.cells[0].Value -ne '' ) -and ($row.cells[1].Value -eq $null -or $row.cells[1].Value -eq '')) {
        $row.cells[0].Style.ForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Red
        $grid.CurrentCell  = $row.cells[1]
        return;
      }
    }
      # TODO: return $caller.HashData
      # write-host ( '{0} = {1}' -f $row.cells[0].Value, $row.cells[1].Value.ToString())

    $f.Close()

  })

  $f.ShowDialog($caller) | out-null
  $f.Topmost = $True
  $f.refresh()
  $f.Dispose()
}

In the button handler, we prevent closing the form until there are blank parameters. The input focus it brought to the cell where the input is expected. For simplicity, we accept text input for all parameters regardless of the type here.

password

List Views

Now suppose one runs a series of loose (e.g. Selenium) tests utilizing Excel file for test parameters and results:

configuration

To read the settings

$data_name = 'Servers.xls'
[string]$filename = ('{0}\{1}' -f (Get-ScriptDirectory),$data_name)

$sheet_name = 'ServerList$'
[string]$oledb_provider = 'Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0'
$data_source = "Data Source = $filename"
$ext_arg = "Extended Properties=Excel 8.0"
# TODO: hard coded id
[string]$query = "Select * from [${sheet_name}] where [id] <> 0"
[System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection]$connection = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection ("$oledb_provider;$data_source;$ext_arg")
[System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand]$command = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand ($query)


[System.Data.DataTable]$data_table = New-Object System.Data.DataTable
[System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter]$ole_db_adapter = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter
$ole_db_adapter.SelectCommand = $command

$command.Connection = $connection
($rows = $ole_db_adapter.Fill($data_table)) | Out-Null
$connection.open()
$data_reader = $command.ExecuteReader()
$plain_data = @()
$row_num = 1
[System.Data.DataRow]$data_record = $null
if ($data_table -eq $null) {}
else {

  foreach ($data_record in $data_table) {
    $data_record | Out-Null
    # Reading the columns of the current row

    $row_data = @{
      'id' = $null;
      'baseUrl' = $null;
      'status' = $null;
      'date' = $null;
      'result' = $null;
      'guid' = $null;
      'environment' = $null ;
      'testName' = $null;

    }

    [string[]]($row_data.Keys) | ForEach-Object {
      # An error occurred while enumerating through a collection: Collection was
      # modified; enumeration operation may not execute..
      $cell_name = $_
      $cell_value = $data_record."${cell_name}"
      $row_data[$cell_name] = $cell_value
    }
    Write-Output ("row[{0}]" -f $row_num)
    $row_data
    Write-Output "`n"
    # format needs to be different 
    $plain_data += $row_data
    $row_num++
  }
}

$data_reader.Close()
$command.Dispose()
$connection.Close()

and write the results

function update_single_field {
  param(
    [string]$sql,
    # [ref]$connection does not seem to work here
    # [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$connection_ref,
    [System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection]$connection,
    [string]$where_column_name,
    [object]$where_column_value,
    [string]$update_column_name,
    [object]$update_column_value,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$update_column_type_ref = ([ref][System.Data.OleDb.OleDbType]::VarChar),
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$where_column_type_ref = ([ref][System.Data.OleDb.OleDbType]::Numeric)
  )

  [System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand]$local:command = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand
  $local:command.Connection = $connection

  $local:command.Parameters.Add($update_column_name,$update_column_type_ref.Value).Value = $update_column_value
  $local:command.Parameters.Add($where_column_name,$where_column_type_ref.Value).Value = $where_column_value
  $local:command.CommandText = $sql

  # TODO: Exception calling "Prepare" with "0" argument(s): "OleDbCommand.Prepare method requires all variable length parameters to have an explicitly set non-zero Size."
  # $command.Prepare()

  $local:result = $local:command.ExecuteNonQuery()
  Write-Output ('Update query: {0}' -f (($sql -replace $update_column_name,$update_column_value) -replace $where_column_name,$where_column_value))
  Write-Output ('Update result: {0}' -f $local:result)

  $local:command.Dispose()

  return $local:result

}

update_single_field `
   -connection $connection `
   -sql "UPDATE [${sheet_name}] SET [status] = @status WHERE [id] = @id" `
   -update_column_name "@status" `
   -update_column_value $false `
   -update_column_type_ref ([ref][System.Data.OleDb.OleDbType]::Boolean) `
   -where_column_name '@id' `
   -where_column_value 2

some home-brewed functions are written. There may be no Excel installed on the test box (e.g. Spoon.Net) and when the number of tests grows, it will not be handy to select certain tests to rerun. A gridview comes to rescue (arguably this is just an initial solution, better ones may exist):

$RESULT_OK = 0
$RESULT_CANCEL = 2
$Readable = @{
  $RESULT_OK = 'OK'
  $RESULT_CANCEL = 'CANCEL'
}


# http://www.cosmonautdreams.com/2013/09/06/Parse-Excel-Quickly-With-Powershell.html
# for singlee column spreadsheets see also
# http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2008/09/11/how-can-i-read-from-excel-without-using-excel.aspx

function PromptGrid (
  [System.Collections.IList]$data,
  [object]$caller = $null
) {

  if ($caller -eq $null) {
    $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  }

  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms') | Out-Null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel') | Out-Null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data') | Out-Null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing') | Out-Null


  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = 'Test suite'
  $f.AutoSize = $true
  $grid = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DataGrid
  $grid.PreferredColumnWidth = 100

  $System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
  $grid.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
  $grid.HeaderForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::FromArgb(255,0,0,0)

  $grid.Name = 'dataGrid1'
  $grid.DataMember = ''
  $grid.TabIndex = 0
  $System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
  $System_Drawing_Point.X = 13;
  $System_Drawing_Point.Y = 48;
  $grid.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
  $grid.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill

  $button = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button.Text = 'Open'
  $button.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Bottom

  $f.Controls.Add($button)
  $f.Controls.Add($grid)
  $button.add_click({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
      # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.datagridviewrow.cells%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
      # TODO:
      # [System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewSelectedRowCollection]$rows = $grid.SelectedRows
      # [System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewRow]$row = $null 
      # [System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewSelectedCellCollection] $selected_cells = $grid.SelectedCells; 
      $script:Data = 0
      $script:Status = $RESULT_CANCEL
      # $last_row = ($grid.Rows.Count)
      $last_row =  $data.Count
      for ($counter = 0; $counter -lt $last_row;$counter++) { 
        if ($grid.IsSelected($counter)) {
          $row =  $data[$counter]
          $script:Data = $row.Guid
          $script:Status = $RESULT_OK
         }
      }
      $f.Close()

    })

  $grid.DataSource = $data
  $f.ShowDialog() | Out-Null
  $f.Topmost = $True
  $f.Refresh()

}


function display_result {
  param([object[]]$result)
  $script:Data = 0 
  $array = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
  foreach ($row_data in $result) {
    $o = New-Object PSObject
    foreach ($row_data_key in $row_data.Keys) {
      $row_data_value = $row_data[$row_data_key]

      $o | Add-Member Noteproperty $row_data_key $row_data_value
    }
    [void]$array.Add($o)
  }

  $process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  $ret = (PromptGrid $array $process_window)
  if ($script:Status -eq $RESULT_OK ) { 
    Write-Output @( 'Rerun ->', $script:Data )
  }
}

gridview

The full script source is available in the source zip file.

The pure ListView container is rendered like:

function PromptListView
{
  param(
    [System.Collections.IList]$data_rows,
    [string[]]$column_names = $null,
    [string[]]$column_tags,
    [bool]$debug
  )
  @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

  $numCols = $column_names.Count

  # figure out form width
  $width = $numCols * 120

  $title = 'Select process'
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title
  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($width,400)
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $true

  $select_button = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $select_button.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (10,10)
  $select_button.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (70,23)
  $select_button.Text = 'Select'
  $select_button.add_click({
      # TODO: implementation 
      # select_sailing ($script:Item)
    })

  $button_panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $button_panel.Height = 40
  $button_panel.Dock = 'Bottom'
  $button_panel.Controls.AddRange(@( $select_button))


  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $panel.Dock = 'Fill'
  $f.Controls.Add($panel)
  $list_view = New-Object windows.forms.ListView
  $panel.Controls.AddRange(@( $list_view,$button_panel))


  # create the columns
  $list_view.View = [System.Windows.Forms.View]'Details'
  $list_view.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($width,350)
  $list_view.FullRowSelect = $true
  $list_view.GridLines = $true
  $list_view.Dock = 'Fill'
  foreach ($col in $column_names) {
    [void]$list_view.Columns.Add($col,100)
  }

  # populate the view
  foreach ($data_row in $data_rows) {
    # NOTE: special processing of first column
    $cell = (Invoke-Expression (('$data_row.{0}' -f $column_names[0]))).ToString()
    $item = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem ($cell)
    for ($i = 1; $i -lt $column_names.Count; $i++) {
      $cell = (Invoke-Expression ('$data_row.{0}' -f $column_names[$i]))

      if ($cell -eq $null) {
        $cell = ''
      }
      [void]$item.SubItems.Add($cell.ToString())
    }
    $item.Tag = $data_row
    [void]$list_view.Items.Add($item)
  }
  <#
  $list_view.add_ItemActivate({
      param(
        [object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)

      [System.Windows.Forms.ListView]$lw = [System.Windows.Forms.ListView]$sender
      [string]$filename = $lw.SelectedItems[0].Tag.ToString()
    })
  #>

  # store the selected item id
  $list_view.add_ItemSelectionChanged({
      param(
        [object]$sender,[System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItemSelectionChangedEventArgs]$e)

      [System.Windows.Forms.ListView]$lw = [System.Windows.Forms.ListView]$sender
      [int]$process_id = 0
      [int32]::TryParse(($e.Item.SubItems[0]).Text,([ref]$process_id))
      $script:Item = $process_id
      # write-host ( '-> {0}' -f $script:Item )
    })

  # tags for sorting
  for ($i = 0; $i -lt $column_tags.Count; $i++) {
    $list_view.Columns[$i].Tag = $column_tags[$i]
  }
  # see below..
  $list_view.Add_ColumnClick({
      $list_view.ListViewItemSorter = New-Object ListViewItemComparer ($_.Column,$script:IsAscending)
      $script:IsAscending = !$script:IsAscending
    })
  $script:Item = 0
  $script:IsAscending = $false
  $f.Topmost = $True
  $script:IsAscending = $false
  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })
  $x = $f.ShowDialog()
}

with sort

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;

public class ListViewItemComparer : System.Collections.IComparer
{
    public int col = 0;
    public System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder Order;
    public ListViewItemComparer()
    {
        col = 0;
    }

    public ListViewItemComparer(int column, bool asc)
    {
        col = column;
        if (asc)
        { Order = SortOrder.Ascending; }
        else
        { Order = SortOrder.Descending; }
    }

    public int Compare(object x, object y)
    {
        if (!(x is ListViewItem)) return (0);
        if (!(y is ListViewItem)) return (0);

        ListViewItem l1 = (ListViewItem)x;
        ListViewItem l2 = (ListViewItem)y;

        if (l1.ListView.Columns[col].Tag == null)
        {
            l1.ListView.Columns[col].Tag = "Text";
        }

        if (l1.ListView.Columns[col].Tag.ToString() == "Numeric")
        {
            float fl1 = float.Parse(l1.SubItems[col].Text);
            float fl2 = float.Parse(l2.SubItems[col].Text);
            return (Order == SortOrder.Ascending) ?  fl1.CompareTo(fl2) :  fl2.CompareTo(fl1);
        }
        else
        {
            string str1 = l1.SubItems[col].Text;
            string str2 = l2.SubItems[col].Text;
            return (Order == SortOrder.Ascending) ? str1.CompareTo(str2) : str2.CompareTo(str1);
        }

    }
}

listview

function display_result {
  param([object[]]$result)
  $column_names = @(
    'id',
    'dest',
    'port',
    'state',
    'title',
    'link'
  )
  $column_tags = @(
    'Numeric',
    'Text',
    'Text',
    'Text',
    'Text',
    'Text'

  )
  $data_rows = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
  foreach ($row_data in $result) {
    $o = New-Object PSObject
    foreach ($row_data_key in $column_names) {
      $row_data_value = $row_data[$row_data_key]
      $o | Add-Member Noteproperty $row_data_key $row_data_value
    }
    [void]$data_rows.Add($o)
  }

  [void](PromptListView -data_rows $data_rows -column_names $column_names -column_tags $column_tags)
}

Filling GridView DataTable

Loading data into the grid or listview one entry at a time may not be the desired interface. Generic list of dictionaries seems to not work, as a workaround one may store it inside a suitable class:

    public class DictionaryContainer
    {
        private List<Dictionary<string, object>> _data = new List<Dictionary<string, object>> { };

        public List<Dictionary<string, object>> Data
        {
            get { return _data; }
        }

        public void add_row(Dictionary<string, object> row)
        {
            _data.Add(row);
        }

        public DictionaryContainer()
        {
        }
    }

in this example, the DataGridView with a Togggle All States class was used for rendering the data :

function SelectAllGrid {

  param(
    [string]$title,
    [string]$message
  )


  @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (470,235)
  $f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6.0,13.0)
  $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
  $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedToolWindow
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $urls = @( 'http://www.travelocity.com/','http://www.bcdtravel.com/','http://www.airbnb.com','http://www.priceline.com','http://www.tripadvisor.com')


  # https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/microsoft.public.windows.powershell/Ta9NyFPovgI 
  $array_of_dictionaries_container = New-Object -Type 'Custom.DictionaryContainer'

  for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne 5; $cnt++) {
    $item = New-Object 'System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[String,Object]'
    $item.Add('RandomNo',(Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 10001))
    $item.Add('date',(Date))
    $item.Add('url',$urls[$cnt])
    $array_of_dictionaries_container.add_row($item)
  }

  $r = New-Object -TypeName 'Custom.SelectAllGrid' -ArgumentList $array_of_dictionaries_container
  $r.Size = $f.Size

  $f.Controls.Add($r)
  $f.Topmost = $True

  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  $f.Dispose()

}
$script:Data = $null
SelectAllGrid -Title 'Selection Grid Sample Project'

It had been modified to become a Panel rather than Form and to accept:

        private System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView dgvSelectAll;
        public SelectAllGrid(DictionaryContainer userDataContainer = null)
        {
           this.dgvSelectAll = new System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView();
           // ... misc initialization code 
           dgvSelectAll.DataSource = GetDataSource(userDataContainer);
        }
        public DataTable GetDataSource(DictionaryContainer userDataContainer = null)
        {
            DataTable dTable = new DataTable();

            DataRow dRow = null;
            List> sampleData;
            if (userDataContainer == null)
            {
                Random rnd = new Random();
                sampleData = new List> {

                              new Dictionary { { "RandomNo", rnd.NextDouble()}, { "Date", DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") }, { "url", "www.facebook.com"}} ,
                              new Dictionary { { "RandomNo", rnd.NextDouble()}, { "Date", DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") }, { "url", "www.linkedin.com"}} ,
                              new Dictionary { { "RandomNo", rnd.NextDouble()}, { "Date", DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") }, { "url", "www.odesk.com"}}  
                              };
            }
            else
            {
                sampleData = userDataContainer.Data;
            }
            Dictionary openWith = sampleData[0];

            Dictionary.KeyCollection keyColl = openWith.Keys;

            dTable.Columns.Add("IsChecked", System.Type.GetType("System.Boolean"));
            foreach (string s in keyColl)
            {
                dTable.Columns.Add(s);
            }

            foreach (Dictionary objitem in sampleData)
            {
                dRow = dTable.NewRow();
                foreach (KeyValuePair kvp in objitem)
                {
                    dRow[kvp.Key] = kvp.Value.ToString();
                }
                dTable.Rows.Add(dRow);
                dTable.AcceptChanges();

            }
            return dTable;
        }

password

Note that modifying the SelectAllGridto take List<Dictionary<string, object>> directly and passing the data via

$array_of_dictionaries = New-Object 'System.Collections.Generic.List[System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[String,Object]]'
for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne 5; $cnt++) {
    $item = New-Object 'System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[String,Object]'
    $item.Add('RandomNo',(Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 10001))
    $item.Add('date',(Date))
    $item.Add('url',$urls[$cnt])
    $array_of_dictionaries.Add($item)
  }
  $array_of_dictionaries | ForEach-Object { $row = $_
    $row | Format-List
  }
 $r = New-Object -TypeName 'Custom.SelectAllGrid' -ArgumentList $array_of_dictionaries

fails with the error:

New-Object : Cannot find an overload for "SelectAllGrid" and the argument count: "5".

and that one had to add System.Data.dll to the list of referenced assemblies of Custom.SelectAllGrid to prevent the error:

Add-Type : c:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\ypffadcb.0.cs(90) : 
The type 'System.Xml.Serialization.IXmlSerializable' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. 
You must add a reference to assembly 
'System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'.

List With Collapsible Groups

Next example uses Collapsible Groups Control to offer to the user the aggregated configration information:

function GroupedListBox
{
  param(
    [string]$title,
 [bool]$show_buttons)


  @('System.Drawing','System.Collections', 'System.Collections.Generic' , 'System.Drawing', 'System.ComponentModel', 'System.Windows.Forms', 'System.Data') |  foreach-object {   [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) } 

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form

  $f.Text = $title
  $width = 500
  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($width,400)
  $glc = New-Object -TypeName 'GroupedListControl.GroupListControl'
  $glc.SuspendLayout()

  $glc.AutoScroll = $true
  $glc.BackColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::Control
  $glc.FlowDirection = [System.Windows.Forms.FlowDirection]::TopDown
  $glc.SingleItemOnlyExpansion = $false
  $glc.WrapContents = $false
  $glc.Anchor = ([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles](0 `
         -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top `
         -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom `
         -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left `
         -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right `
      ))

  $f.SuspendLayout()

  if ($show_buttons) {
        [System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox]$cb1 = new-object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox'
        $cb1.AutoSize = $true
        $cb1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(12, 52)
        $cb1.Name = "chkSingleItemOnlyMode"
        $cb1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(224, 17)
        $cb1.Text = 'Single-Group toggle'
        $cb1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $true
        function chkSingleItemOnlyMode_CheckedChanged
        {
         param([Object] $sender, [EventArgs] $e)
            $glc.SingleItemOnlyExpansion = $cb1.Checked
            if ($glc.SingleItemOnlyExpansion) {
                $glc.CollapseAll()
            } else {
                $glc.ExpandAll()
            }
        }
        $cb1.Add_CheckedChanged({ chkSingleItemOnlyMode_CheckedChanged } )
        [System.Windows.Forms.Label]$label1 = new-object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Label' 
        $label1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(12, 13)
        $label1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(230, 18) 
	$label1.Text = 'Grouped List Control Demo'
        # $label1.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("Lucida Sans", 12F, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, ((byte)(0)))
        [System.Windows.Forms.Button]$button1 = new-object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Button' 

            $button1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(303, 46)
            $button1.Name = "button1"
            $button1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(166, 23)
            $button1.TabIndex = 3
            $button1.Text = 'Add Data Items (disconnected)'
            $button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true
            $button1.Add_Click( { write-host $glc.GetType() 
$x =  $glc | get-member
write-host ($x -join "`n")
})
         
    $f.Controls.Add($cb1)
    $f.Controls.Add($button1)
    $f.Controls.Add($label1)

    $glc.Location =  new-object System.Drawing.Point(0, 75)
    $glc.Size =  new-object  System.Drawing.Size($f.size.Width, ($f.size.Height - 75))

  } else { 
  $glc.Size = $f.Size

}

  for ($group = 1; $group -le 5; $group++)
  {
    [GroupedListControl.ListGroup]$lg = New-Object -TypeName 'GroupedListControl.ListGroup'
    $lg.Columns.Add("List Group " + $group.ToString(), 120 )
    $lg.Columns.Add("Group " + $group + " SubItem 1", 150 )
    $lg.Columns.Add("Group " + $group + " Subitem 2", 150 )
    $lg.Name = ("Group " + $group)
    # add some sample items:
    for ($j = 1; $j -le 5; $j++){
      [System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem]$item = $lg.Items.Add(("Item " + $j.ToString()))
      $item.SubItems.Add($item.Text + " SubItem 1")
      $item.SubItems.Add($item.Text + " SubItem 2")
    }

    $glc.Controls.Add($lg)
  }

  $f.Controls.Add($glc)
  $glc.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $True

  $f.Topmost = $True

  $caller = New-Object -TypeName 'Win32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

  [void]$f.ShowDialog([win32window]($caller))
  $f.Dispose()
  $result = $caller.Message
  $caller = $null
  return $result
}
$show_buttons_arg  = $false

  if ($PSBoundParameters["show_buttons"]) {
$show_buttons_arg = $true
  }

To pass the real data to display, use the following structure:

$configuration_discovery_results = @{
  'Web.config' = @{
    'COMMENT' = 'Web Server';
    'DOMAIN' = '';
    'CONFIGURATIONS' = @{
      'Exit SSL cms targetted offers' = $Extract_appSetting;
      'Force Non Https for Home Page' = $Extract_appSetting;
      'To new deck plans page' = $Extract_RuleActionurl ;
      'imagesCdnHostToPrepend' = $Extract_RuleActionurl ;
    };
  };

[scriptblock]$Extract_appSetting = {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$object_ref,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$result_ref,
    [string]$key = $null
  )

  if ($key -eq $null -or $key -eq '') {
    throw 'Key cannot be null'

  }

[scriptblock]$Extract_RuleActionurl = {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$object_ref,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$result_ref,
    [string]$key = $null
  )

  if ($key -eq $null -or $key -eq '') {
    throw 'Key cannot be null'
  }

  $data = @{}
  $nodes = $object_ref.Value.Configuration.Location.'system.webServer'.rewrite.rules.rule
  if ($global:debug) {
    Write-Host $nodes.count
  }
  for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne $nodes.count; $cnt++) {

    $k = $nodes[$cnt].Getattribute('name')
    $v = $nodes[$cnt].action.Getattribute('url')
    if ($k -match $key) {
      $data[$k] += $v
      if ($global:debug) {
        Write-Output $k; Write-Output $v
      }
    }

  }

  $result_ref.Value = $data[$key]
}

  $data = @{}
  $nodes = $object_ref.Value.Configuration.Location.appSettings.Add
  for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne $nodes.count; $cnt++) {
    $k = $nodes[$cnt].Getattribute('key')
    $v = $nodes[$cnt].Getattribute('value')

    if ($k -match $key) {
      if ($global:debug) {
        Write-Host $k
        Write-Host $key
        Write-Host $v
      }
      $data[$k] += $v
    }
  }
  $result_ref.Value = $data[$key]
}

To collect the data from various *.config files use e.g. code

function collect_config_data {

  param(
    [ValidateNotNull()]
    [string]$target_domain,
    [string]$target_unc_path,
    [scriptblock]$script_block,
    [bool]$verbose,
    [bool]$debug
  )

  $local:result = @()
  if (($target_domain -eq $null) -or ($target_domain -eq '')) {
    if ($powerless) {
      return $local:result
    } else {
      throw 'unspecified DOMAIN'
    }
  }

  [xml]$xml_config = Get-Content -Path $target_unc_path
  $object_ref = ([ref]$xml_config)
  $result_ref = ([ref]$local:result)

  Invoke-Command $script_block -ArgumentList $object_ref,$result_ref,$verbose,$debug

  if ($verbose) {
    Write-Host ("Result:`r`n---`r`n{0}`r`n---`r`n" -f ($local:result -join "`r`n"))
  }

}

To fill the List, use

  foreach ($key in $configuration_discovery_results.Keys) {
    $values = $configuration_discovery_results[$key]
    $configurations = $values['CONFIGURATIONS']
    [GroupedListControl.ListGroup]$lg = New-Object -TypeName 'GroupedListControl.ListGroup'
    $lg.Columns.Add($values['COMMENT'],120)
    $lg.Columns.Add("Key",150)
    $lg.Columns.Add("Value",300)
    # TODO - document the error.
    #    $configurations.Keys | foreach-object {  
    foreach ($k in $configurations.Keys) {
      $v = $configurations[$k]
      [System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem]$item = $lg.Items.Add($key)
      $item.SubItems.Add($k)
      $item.SubItems.Add($v)
    }

    $glc.Controls.Add($lg)

  }

password

Drag and Drop

Next example covers drag and drop listboxes. There is a big number of events to craft and it is unpractical and error prone to convert the MSDN examplehttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.control.dodragdrop%28v=vs.100%29.aspx from C# to Powershell syntax entirely. One only needs the final ListDragTarget.Items, so one adds a string getter method to Add-Type leaving the rest of the snippet intact sans the main entry point:

  public class DragNDrop : System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  {

  private string _message;
  public string Message
   {
      get {
                _message = "";
                List<string>  _items = new List<string>();
                foreach (object _item in ListDragTarget.Items) {
                   _items.Add(_item.ToString());
                }
                _message = String.Join(",", _items.ToArray() );
                return _message;
         }
      set { _message = value; }

        private System.Windows.Forms.ListBox ListDragSource;
        private System.Windows.Forms.ListBox ListDragTarget;
        private System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox UseCustomCursorsCheck;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Label DropLocationLabel;

        private int indexOfItemUnderMouseToDrag;
        private int indexOfItemUnderMouseToDrop;

        private Rectangle dragBoxFromMouseDown;
        private Point screenOffset;

        private Cursor MyNoDropCursor;
        private Cursor MyNormalCursor;

        /// The main entry point for the application removed.

        public DragNDrop(String message)
        {

// rest of the code see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.control.dodragdrop%28v=vs.100%29.aspx

and changes the constructor to accept a String message. Also, after making DragNDrop class inherit from System.Windows.Forms.Panel rather than ystem.Windows.Forms.Form it will be placed on the form:

function PromptWithDragDropNish {
param
(

[String] $title,
        [Object] $caller
)

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')


$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$panel = New-Object DragNDrop($caller.Message)

$f.ClientSize = new-object  System.Drawing.Size(288, 248)
$f.Controls.AddRange(@( $panel ))
$f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedDialog

one uses the $caller object to handle the Message here, keeping in mind potential additional functionality though it is not strictly necessary. Finally, the script is receiving the result:

  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )
  $result = $panel.Message
  $panel.Dispose()
  $f.Dispose()

  $caller = $null

  return $result

}

$data = @(
   'one','two','three','four','five',
   'six','seven','nine','ten','eleven'
)
$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

$caller.Message = $data -join ','
$result = PromptWithDragDropNish 'Items'  $caller

# write-debug ('Selection is : {0}' -f  , $result )

$result -split ',' | format-table -autosize

grid

The form adjusts the cursor appropriately - this is not captured in the screenshot. After the form is closed the script prints the selected items. Such widget may be handy for e.g. arranging of Selenium tests into subsets (conversion to and from the *.orderedtests resource not shown). The full script source is available in the source zip file.

grid

DF5B1F66EB484A2E8DDC06BD183B0E3F

Up Down

For time interval selection one can use either DateTimePicker with a suitable System.Windows.Forms.DateTimePickerFormat

or even a DomainUpDown-derived custom time picker class:

// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16789399/looking-for-time-picker-control-with-half-hourly-up-down
public class CustomTimePicker : System.Windows.Forms.DomainUpDown
    public CustomTimePicker()
    {         
        // build the list of times...
        for (double time = 23.5; time >= 0; time -= 0.5)
        {
            int hour = (int)time; 
            int minutes = (int)((time - hour) * 60); 
            this.Items.Add(hour.ToString("00") + ":" + minutes.ToString("00")); 
        }
        this.SelectedIndex = Items.IndexOf("09:00"); // select a default time
        this.Wrap = true; 
    }

updown

$form_onload = {
   $script:numeric_value = 0
   $script:time_value = ''
   $script:custom_value= ''
function UpDownsPrompt
  param(
    [object]$caller
  )
  @( 'System.Drawing',
    'System.Collections.Generic',
    'System.Collections',
    'System.ComponentModel',
    'System.Windows.Forms',
    'System.Text',
    'System.Data'
  ) | ForEach-Object { $assembly = $_; [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($assembly) }
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (180,120)
  $n = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown
  $n.SuspendLayout()
  $n.Parent = $this
  $n.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (30,80)
  $n.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (50,20)
  $n.Value = 1
  $n.Minimum = 0
  $n.Maximum = 1000
  $n.Increment = 1
  $n.DecimalPlaces = 0
  $n.ReadOnly = $false
  $n.TextAlign = [System.Windows.Forms.HorizontalAlignment]::Right
  ($n.add_ValueChanged).Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $script:numeric_value = $n.Value
    }
  )
  $c = New-Object CustomTimePicker
  $c.Parent = $f
  $c.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (30,50)
  $c.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (70,20)
  $c.TextAlign = [System.Windows.Forms.HorizontalAlignment]::Left
  $c.ReadOnly = $true
  ($c.add_TextChanged).Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
        $script:custom_value = $c.SelectedItem.ToString()
    }
  )
  $c.SuspendLayout()
  $c.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $c.ReadOnly = $true
  $c.TabIndex = 0
  $c.TabStop = $false
  $s = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DateTimePicker
  $s.Parent = $f
  $s.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (30,20)
  $s.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $s.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (70,20)
  $s.Format = [System.Windows.Forms.DateTimePickerFormat]::Custom
  $s.CustomFormat = 'hh:mm'
  $s.ShowUpDown = $true
  $s.Checked = $false
  $s.Add_VisibleChanged({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs)
      $script:datetime_value = $s.Value
    })
  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
  $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (180,120)
  $components = New-Object System.ComponentModel.Container
  $f.Controls.AddRange(@( $c,$n,$s))
  $f.Name = 'Form1'
  $f.Text = 'UpDown Sample'
  $c.ResumeLayout($false)
  $n.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'
  $f.KeyPreview = $True
  $f.Topmost = $True
  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  $f.add_Load($form_onload)
  $f.Dispose()
$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
Write-Debug ('Time Selection is : {0}' -f $script:datetime_value )
Write-Debug ('Numeric Value is : {0}' -f $script:numeric_value)
Write-Debug ('Custom contol Value is : {0}' -f $script:custom_value)

results

Ribbon Buttons

One may adapt the Floating/Sliding/Moving Menu in C#.NET for C# code to only contain ribbon slider control with Timers while definition of UserControl1 moved to Powershell by subclassing the Panel (orig. Form1) from Panel rather than Form and get rid of the default constructor:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace Ribbon
{

    public class Panel : System.Windows.Forms.Panel
    {

        private System.Windows.Forms.Panel panel1;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Panel panel2;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Button button2;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Button button1;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Panel panel3;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer1;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer2;
        private System.Windows.Forms.UserControl _usrCtrl;
        private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;
  // ...
        public Panel(System.Windows.Forms.UserControl u)
        {
         if (u == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("Usercontrol required");
          this._usrCtrl = u; 
          InitializeComponent();
        }

Then designing all buttons and subpanels in Powershell semantics:

function PromptRibbon {

  param(
    [string]$title,
    [string]$message,
    [object]$caller
  )


  @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (470,135)
  $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
  $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedToolWindow
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $u = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.UserControl
  $p1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label

  $p2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $l2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label

  $b1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b4 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b5 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b6 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b7 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b8 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b9 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b10 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b11 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b12 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b13 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b14 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b15 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b16 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b17 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b18 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b19 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b20 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $p1.SuspendLayout()
  $p2.SuspendLayout()
  $u.SuspendLayout()

  function button_click {
    param(
      [object]$sender,
      [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
    )
    $who = $sender.Text
    [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}.`rThere is no callback defined yet." -f $who))
  }

  $callbacks = @{
    'b1' = [scriptblock]{
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing`rcallback function for {0}." -f $who))
    };
    'b3' = [scriptblock]{
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing`rcallback function defined for {0}." -f $who))
    };

  }

  #  panels
  $cnt = 0
  @(
    ([ref]$p1),
    ([ref]$p2)
  ) | ForEach-Object {
    $p = $_.Value
    $p.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
    $p.BorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle]::FixedSingle
    $p.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Left
    $p.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point ((440 * $cnt),0)
    $p.Name = ('panel {0}' -f $cnt)
    $p.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (440,100)
    $p.TabIndex = $cnt
    $cnt++
  }

  # labels
  $cnt = 0
  @(
    ([ref]$l1),
    ([ref]$l2)
  ) | ForEach-Object {
    $l = $_.Value
    $l.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkGray
    $l.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
    $l.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
    $l.Name = ('label {0}' -f $cnt)
    $l.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (176,23)
    $l.TabIndex = 0
    $l.Text = ('Menu Group  {0}' -f $cnt)
    $l.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
    $cnt++
  }
  # buttons
  $positions = @{
    'b1' = @{ 'x' = 6; 'y' = 27; };
    'b2' = @{ 'x' = 6; 'y' = 64; };
    'b3' = @{ 'x' = 92; 'y' = 27; };
    'b4' = @{ 'x' = 92; 'y' = 64; };
    'b5' = @{ 'x' = 178; 'y' = 27; };
    'b6' = @{ 'x' = 178; 'y' = 64; };
    'b7' = @{ 'x' = 264; 'y' = 27; };
    'b8' = @{ 'x' = 264; 'y' = 64; };
    'b9' = @{ 'x' = 350; 'y' = 27; };
    'b10' = @{ 'x' = 350; 'y' = 64; };
    'b11' = @{ 'x' = 6; 'y' = 27; };
    'b12' = @{ 'x' = 6; 'y' = 64; };
    'b13' = @{ 'x' = 92; 'y' = 27; };
    'b14' = @{ 'x' = 92; 'y' = 64; };
    'b15' = @{ 'x' = 178; 'y' = 27; };
    'b16' = @{ 'x' = 178; 'y' = 64; };
    'b17' = @{ 'x' = 264; 'y' = 27; };
    'b18' = @{ 'x' = 264; 'y' = 64; };
    'b19' = @{ 'x' = 350; 'y' = 27; };
    'b20' = @{ 'x' = 350; 'y' = 64; };

  }
  $cnt = 1

  @(
    ([ref]$b1),
    ([ref]$b2),
    ([ref]$b3),
    ([ref]$b4),
    ([ref]$b5),
    ([ref]$b6),
    ([ref]$b7),
    ([ref]$b8),
    ([ref]$b9),
    ([ref]$b10),
    ([ref]$b11),
    ([ref]$b12),
    ([ref]$b13),
    ([ref]$b14),
    ([ref]$b15),
    ([ref]$b16),
    ([ref]$b17),
    ([ref]$b18),
    ([ref]$b19),
    ([ref]$b20)
  ) | ForEach-Object {
    $b = $_.Value
    $b.Name = ('b{0}' -f $cnt)
    $x = $positions[$b.Name].x
    $y = $positions[$b.Name].y
    Write-Debug ('button{0} x = {1}  y = {2}' -f $cnt,$x,$y)
    $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point ($x,$y)
    $b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (80,30)
    $b.TabIndex = 1
    $b.Text = ('Button {0}' -f $cnt)
    $b.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $true
    if ($callbacks[$b.Name]) {
      $b.add_click({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          [scriptblock]$s = $callbacks[$sender.Name]
          $local:result = $null
          Invoke-Command $s -ArgumentList $sender,$eventargs


        })

    } else {
      $b.add_click({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          $caller.Data = $sender.Text
          button_click -Sender $sender -eventargs $eventargs

        })

    }
    $cnt++

  }

  # Panel1 label and buttons

  $p1.Controls.Add($l1)
  $p1.Controls.AddRange(@( $b10,$b9,$b8,$b7,$b6,$b5,$b4,$b3,$b2,$b1))

  # Panel2 label and buttons
  $p2.Controls.AddRange(@( $b20,$b19,$b18,$b17,$b16,$b15,$b14,$b13,$b12,$b11))
  $p2.Controls.Add($l2)

  #  UserControl1
  $u.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6,13)
  $u.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
  $u.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Gainsboro

  $u.Controls.AddRange(@( $p2,$p1))
  $u.Name = 'UserControl1'
  $u.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (948,100)
  $p1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $p2.ResumeLayout($false)
  $u.ResumeLayout($false)

and displaying the form with the ribbon buttons:

ribbon

$caller = New-Object -TypeName 'Win32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

PromptRibbon -Title 'Floating Menu Sample Project' -caller $caller
write-output $caller.Data

When the callback exists for a button, it is run, otherwise generic button_clisk is called.The full script source is available in the source zip file.

Custom Debugging Message Boxes

Next example displays the Custom Message Box variants with C# code converted to Powershell semantics

function return_response
{
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
  )

  [string ]$button_text = ([System.Windows.Forms.Button]$sender[0]).Text

  if ($button_text -match '(Yes|No|OK|Cancel|Abort|Retry|Ignore)') {
    $script:Result = $button_text
  }
  $f.Dispose()
}

function add_buttons {
  param([psobject]$param)

  switch ($param) {
    ('None') {
      $button_ok.Width = 80
      $button_ok.Height = 24
      $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_ok.Text = 'OK'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_ok)
      $button_ok.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })

    }
    ('OK') {
      $button_ok.Width = 80
      $button_ok.Height = 24
      $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_ok.Text = 'OK'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_ok)
      $button_ok.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
    }
    ('YesNo') {
      # add No button
      $button_no.Width = 80
      $button_no.Height = 24
      $button_no.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_no.Text = 'No'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_no)
      $button_no.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      # add Yes button
      $button_yes.Width = 80
      $button_yes.Height = 24
      $button_yes.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_no.Location.X - $button_no.Width - 2),114)
      $button_yes.Text = 'Yes'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_yes)
      $button_yes.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
    }
    ('YesNoCancel') {
      # add Cancel button
      $button_cancel.Width = 80
      $button_cancel.Height = 24
      $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_cancel.Text = 'Cancel'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_cancel)
      $button_cancel.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      # add No button
      $button_no.Width = 80
      $button_no.Height = 24
      $button_no.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_cancel.Location.X - $button_cancel.Width - 2),114)
      $button_no.Text = 'No'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_no)
      $button_no.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })

      # add Yes button
      $button_yes.Width = 80
      $button_yes.Height = 24
      $button_yes.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_no.Location.X - $button_no.Width - 2),114)
      $button_yes.Text = 'Yes'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_yes)
      $button_yes_Response.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
    }
    ('RetryCancel') {
      # add Cancel button
      $button_cancel.Width = 80
      $button_cancel.Height = 24
      $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_cancel.Text = 'Cancel'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_cancel)
      $button_cancel.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      # add Retry button
      $button_retry.Width = 80
      $button_retry.Height = 24
      $button_retry.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_cancel.Location.X - $button_cancel.Width - 2),114)
      $button_retry.Text = 'Retry'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_retry)
      $button_retry.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })

    }
    ('AbortRetryIgnore') {
      # add Ignore button
      $button_ignore.Width = 80
      $button_ignore.Height = 24
      $button_ignore.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_ignore.Text = 'Ignore'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_ignore)
      $button_ignore.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      # add Retry button
      $button_retry.Width = 80
      $button_retry.Height = 24
      $button_retry.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_ignore.Location.X - $button_ignore.Width - 2),114)
      $button_retry.Text = 'Retry'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_retry)
      $button_retry.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      #add Abort button
      $button_abort.Width = 80
      $button_abort.Height = 24
      $button_abort.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_retry.Location.X - $button_retry.Width - 2),114)
      $button_abort.Text = 'Abort'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_abort)
      $button_abort.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
    }
    default {}
  }
}

function add_icon_bitmap {
  param([psobject]$param)

  switch ($param)
  {
    ('Error') {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Error).ToBitmap()
    }
    ('Information') {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Information).ToBitmap()
    }
    ('Question') {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Question).ToBitmap()
    }
    ('Warning') {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Warning).ToBitmap()
    }
    default {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Information).ToBitmap()
    }
  }
}

function click_handler
{

  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventArgs
  )
  if ($button_details.Tag.ToString() -match 'collapse')
  {
    $f.Height = $f.Height + $txtDescription.Height + 6
    $button_details.Tag = 'expand'
    $button_details.Text = 'Hide Details'
    $txtDescription.WordWrap = true
    # txtDescription.Focus();
    # txtDescription.SelectionLength = 0;
  }
  elseif ($button_details.Tag.ToString() -match 'expand')
  {
    $f.Height = $f.Height - $txtDescription.Height - 6
    $button_details.Tag = 'collapse'
    $button_details.Text = 'Show Details'
  }
}

function set_message_text
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText,
    [string]$Title,
    [string]$Description
  )
  $label_message.Text = $messageText
  if (($Description -ne $null) -and ($Description -ne ''))
  {
    $txtDescription.Text = $Description
  }
  else
  {
    $button_details.Visible = $false
  }
  if (($Title -ne $null) -and ($Title -ne ''))
  {
    $f.Text = $Title
  }
  else
  {
    $f.Text = 'Your Message Box'
  }
}

function Show1
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText
  )

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  set_message_text $messageText '' $null
  add_icon_bitmap -param 'Information'
  add_buttons -param 'OK'
  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  $script:Result
}

function Show2
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText,
    [string]$messageTitle,
    [string]$description
  )
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  set_message_text $messageText $messageTitle $description
  add_icon_bitmap -param 'Information'
  add_buttons -param 'OK'
  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  return $script:Result
}

function Show3
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText,
    [string]$messageTitle,
    [string]$description,
    [object]$IcOn,
    [object]$btn
  )

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label

  set_message_text $messageText $messageTitle $description
  add_icon_bitmap -param $IcOn
  add_buttons -param $btn
  $script:Result = 'Cancel'

  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  $f.Dispose()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  return $script:Result
}

function show_exception
{
  param([System.Exception]$ex)

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  set_message_text -Title 'Exception' -messageText $ex.Message -Description $ex.StackTrace
  add_icon_bitmap -param 'Error'
  add_buttons -param 'YesNo'
  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  return $script:Result
}

function DrawBox
{
  $f.Controls.Add($panel)
  $panel.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
  # draw picturebox
  $icon_bitmap.Height = 36
  $icon_bitmap.Width = 40
  $icon_bitmap.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,11)
  $panel.Controls.Add($icon_bitmap)
  # add textbox
  $txtDescription.Multiline = $true
  $txtDescription.Height = 183
  $txtDescription.Width = 464
  $txtDescription.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (6,143)
  $txtDescription.BorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle]::Fixed3D
  $txtDescription.ScrollBars = [System.Windows.Forms.ScrollBars]::Both
  $txtDescription.ReadOnly = $true
  $panel.Controls.Add($txtDescription)

  # add detail button
  $button_details.Height = 24
  $button_details.Width = 80
  $button_details.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (6,114)
  $button_details.Tag = 'expand'
  $button_details.Text = 'Show Details'
  $panel.Controls.Add($button_details)
  $button_details.add_click.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      click_handler ($sender,$eventargs)
    })

  $label_message.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (64,22)
  $label_message.AutoSize = $true
  $panel.Controls.Add($label_message)
  $f.Height = 360
  $f.Width = 483

  # set form layout
  $f.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedSingle
  $f.MaximizeBox = $false
  $f.MinimizeBox = $false
  ## frm.FormClosing += new FormClosingEventHandler(frm_FormClosing)
  $f.BackColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::ButtonFace

  ## origin http://www.iconarchive.com/search?q=ico+files&page=7
  $f.Icon = New-Object System.Drawing.Icon ([System.IO.Path]::Combine((Get-ScriptDirectory),"Martz90-Circle-Files.ico"))
  if ($button_details.Tag.ToString() -match 'expand')
  {
    $f.Height = $f.Height - $txtDescription.Height - 6
    $button_details.Tag = 'collapse'
    $button_details.Text = 'Show Details'
  }
}

combined with Pure Powershell Assert functon from http://poshcode.org:

function assert {
  [CmdletBinding()]
  param(
    [Parameter(Position = 0,ParameterSetName = 'Script',Mandatory = $true)]
    [scriptblock]$Script,
    [Parameter(Position = 0,ParameterSetName = 'Condition',Mandatory = $true)]
    [bool]$Condition,
    [Parameter(Position = 1,Mandatory = $true)]
    [string]$message)

  $message = "ASSERT FAILED: $message"
  if ($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName -eq 'Script') {
    try {
      $ErrorActionPreference = 'STOP'
      $success = & $Script
    } catch {
      $success = $false
      $message = "$message`nEXCEPTION THROWN: $($_.Exception.GetType().FullName)"
    }
  }
  if ($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName -eq 'Condition') {
    try {
      $ErrorActionPreference = 'STOP'
      $success = $Condition
    } catch {
      $success = $false
      $message = "$message`nEXCEPTION THROWN: $($_.Exception.GetType().FullName)"
    }
  }

  if (!$success) {
    $action = Show3 -messageText $message `
       -messageTitle 'Assert failed' `
       -icon $MSGICON.Error `
       -Btn $MSGBUTTON.RetryCancle `
       -Description ("Try:{0}`r`nScript:{1}`r`nLine:{2}`r`nFunction:{3}" -f $Script,(Get-PSCallStack)[1].ScriptName,(Get-PSCallStack)[1].ScriptLineNumber,(Get-PSCallStack)[1].FunctionName)


    if ($action -ne $MSGRESPONSE.Ignore) {
      throw $message
    }
  }
}

slightly modified to display the exception dialog box

Custom Assert Dialog

and call stack information in the dialog and optionally continue execution:

function Show3
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText,
    [string]$messageTitle,
    [string]$description,
    [object]$IcOn,
    [object]$btn
  )

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label

  set_message_text $messageText $messageTitle $description
  add_icon_bitmap -param $IcOn
  add_buttons -param $btn
  $script:Result = 'Cancel'

  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  $f.Dispose()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  return $script:Result
}

One can use the snippet to handle regular exceptions as well:

Standard Exception Dialog

or a variety of button combinations. The full example is available in the source zip file (two versions: one preserving original C# code and a simplified one).

Misc. Password

Plain

Now, suppose the task needs to authenticate to the source control, CI or some other remote service that uses its own authentication mechanism and does not accept NTLM. The following code helps prompting the username/password. It uses standard Windows Form practice of masking the password text box:

password

function PromptPassword(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $user,
        [Object] $caller
    ){

        [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
        [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

        $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
        $f.MaximizeBox = $false;
        $f.MinimizeBox = $false;
        $f.Text = $title

        $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
        $l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)
        $l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(100,20)
        $l1.Text = 'Username'
        $f.Controls.Add($l1)

        $f.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 10, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);

        $t1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
        $t1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(120, 20)
        $t1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(140, 20)
        $t1.Text = $user;
        $t1.Name = 'txtUser';
        $f.Controls.Add($t1);

        $l2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
        $l2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,50)
        $l2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(100,20)
        $l2.Text = 'Password'
        $f.Controls.Add($l2)

        $t2 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
        $t2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(120, 50)
        $t2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(140, 20)
        $t2.Text = ''
        $t2.Name = 'txtPassword'
        $t2.PasswordChar = '*'
        $f.Controls.Add($t2)

        $btnOK = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Button
        $x2 = 20
        $y1 = ($t1.Location.Y + $t1.Size.Height + + $btnOK.Size.Height + 20)
        $btnOK.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point($x2 , $y1 )
        $btnOK.Text = "OK";
        $btnOK.Name = "btnOK";
        $f.Controls.Add($btnOK);

        $btnCancel = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Button
        $x1 = (($f.Size.Width -  $btnCancel.Size.Width) - 20 )

        $btnCancel.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point($x1, $y1 );
        $btnCancel.Text = 'Cancel';
        $btnCancel.Name = 'btnCancel';
        $f.Controls.Add($btnCancel);
        $s1 = ($f.Size.Width -  $btnCancel.Size.Width) - 20
        $y2 = ($t1.Location.Y + $t1.Size.Height + $btnOK.Size.Height)

        $f.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size($f.Size.Width,  (($btnCancel.Location.Y +
                             $btnCancel.Size.Height + 40)))

        $btnCancel.Add_Click({$caller.txtPassword = $null ; $caller.txtUser =  $null ;$f.Close()})
        $btnOK.Add_Click({$caller.Data = $RESULT_OK;$caller.txtPassword  = $t2.Text ; $caller.txtUser = $t1.Text;  $f.Close()})

$f.Controls.Add($l)
$f.Topmost = $true


$caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL;
$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
$f.KeyPreview = $True
$f.Add_KeyDown({

    if ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape')  { $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL }
    else                              { return }
    $f.Close()
})

[Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

$f.Dispose()
}

In this script, we store User and password in separate fields:

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'

$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

PromptPassword -title 'Enter credentials'  -user 'admin' -caller $caller
if ($caller.Data -ne $RESULT_CANCEL) {
write-debug ("Result is : {0} / {1}  " -f  $caller.TxtUser , $caller.TxtPassword )
}

Active Directory

Note the above example is not intended to collect NTLM credentials of the user, like e.g., changing the newly installed Windows service to execute with desired user credentials. For this case, use Microsoft Get-Credential cmdlet:

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'

$target_service_name = 'MsDepSvc'
$domain = $env:USERDOMAIN
if ($domain -like 'UAT') {
  $user = '_uatmsdeploy'
}
elseif ($domain -like 'PROD') {
  $user = '_msdeploy'
}
else {
  $user = $env:USERNAME
}

$target_account = "${domain}\${user}"
$credential = Get-Credential -username $target_account -message 'Please authenticate'

if ($credential -ne $null) {
  $target_account  = $credential.Username
  $target_password  = $credential.GetNetworkCredential().Password
  write-Debug $target_password
} else {

}
return

Code for credentials verify, admin rights, modify the newly installed service emitted from the display.

password

Session Cookies

Another possible login scenario is when user can authenticate with his/her domain credentials, but the system internally uses session cookie in the browser.

One can create a dialog with WebBrowser and monitor when the user successfully logs in, then collect the session global cookie.

For that purpose, the wininet.dll p/invoke code is added to $caller object and called when appropriate. Dealing with browser cookies is explained in various sources e.g. here.

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
// ... c sharp code
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll', 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.dll', 'System.Net.dll'

with the code:

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

public class Win32Window : IWin32Window
{
    private IntPtr _hWnd;
    private string _cookies;
    private string _url;

    public string Cookies
    {
        get { return _cookies; }
        set { _cookies = value; }
    }

    public string Url
    {
        get { return _url; }
        set { _url = value; }
    }

    public Win32Window(IntPtr handle)
    {
        _hWnd = handle;
    }

    public IntPtr Handle
    {
        get { return _hWnd; }
    }

    [DllImport("wininet.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    public static extern bool InternetGetCookieEx(
        string url,
        string cookieName,
        StringBuilder cookieData,
        ref int size,
        Int32 dwFlags,
        IntPtr lpReserved);

    private const int INTERNET_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = 0x00002000;
    private const int INTERNET_OPTION_END_BROWSER_SESSION = 42;

public string GetGlobalCookies(string uri)
    {
        int datasize = 1024;
        StringBuilder cookieData = new StringBuilder((int)datasize);
        if (InternetGetCookieEx(uri, null, cookieData, ref datasize, INTERNET_COOKIE_HTTPONLY, IntPtr.Zero)
            && cookieData.Length > 0)
        {
            return cookieData.ToString().Replace(';', ',');
        }
        else
        {
            return null;
        }
    }

}

There is nothing preventing one from storing arbitrary valid C# code with Add-Type.

password

and handle the Navigated event in the $browser object:

function promptForContinueWithCookies(
    [String] $login_url = $null,
    [Object] $caller= $null
    )
{

$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$timer1 = new-object System.Timers.Timer
$label1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Label

$f.SuspendLayout()
$components = new-object System.ComponentModel.Container


        $browser = new-object System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser
        $f.SuspendLayout();

        # webBrowser1
        $browser.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
        $browser.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(0, 0)
        $browser.Name = "webBrowser1"
        $browser.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(600, 600)
        $browser.TabIndex = 0
        # Form1
        $f.AutoScaleDimensions = new-object System.Drawing.SizeF(6, 13)
        $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
        $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(600, 600)
        $f.Controls.Add($browser)
        $f.Text = "Login to octopus"
        $f.ResumeLayout($false)

$f.Add_Load({
  param ([Object] $sender, [System.EventArgs] $eventArgs )
$browser.Navigate($login_url);
})

$browser.Add_Navigated(
{

  param ([Object] $sender, [System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowserNavigatedEventArgs] $eventArgs )
        # wait for the user to successfully log in
        # then capture the global cookies and sent to $caller
        $url = $browser.Url.ToString()
        if ($caller -ne $null -and $url -ne $null -and $url -match $caller.Url ) {
            $caller.Cookies = $caller.GetGlobalCookies($url)
        }
    }
 )

$f.ResumeLayout($false)
$f.Topmost = $True

$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

[void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

}

password

$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$service_host = 'http://localhost:8088'
$login_route = 'app#/users/sign-in'
$login_url = ('{0}/{1}' -f $service_host , $login_route)

$caller.Url =  'app#/environments'

promptForContinueWithCookies $login_url $caller

write-host ("{0}->{1}" -f , $caller.Url, $caller.Cookies)

The cookie will look like:

OctopusIdentificationToken = 6pivzR9B%2fEOyJwbBkA2XfYe1BW4BNuXUqCtpW7VX943Em%2fkBZataiWxOVRDnsiBz

Common Dialogs

Common dialogs is a good candidate to become a Powershell module (WIP):

@( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

function TextInputBox {
  param(
    $prompt_message = 'Enter the Value',
    $caption = 'Inputbox Test'
  )
  $script:result = @{ 'text' = ''; 'status' = $null; }
  $form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $label_prompt = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $text_input = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $form.SuspendLayout()
  $label_prompt.Anchor = [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right
  $label_prompt.BackColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::Control
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_prompt.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (12,9)
  $label_prompt.Name = 'lblPrompt'
  $label_prompt.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (302,82)
  $label_prompt.TabIndex = 3
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_ok.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
  $button_ok.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Standard
  $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (326,8)
  $button_ok.Name = 'button_ok'
  $button_ok.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_ok.TabIndex = 1
  $button_ok.Text = '&OK'
  $button_ok.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
      $script:result.Text = $text_input.Text
      $form.Dispose()
    })
  $button_ok.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_cancel.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
  $button_cancel.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Standard
  $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (326,40)
  $button_cancel.Name = 'button_cancel'
  $button_cancel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_cancel.TabIndex = 2
  $button_cancel.Text = '&Cancel'
  $button_cancel.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
      $text_input.Text = ''
      $script:result.Text = ''
      $form.Dispose()
    })

  $button_cancel.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $text_input.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (8,100)
  $text_input.Name = 'text_input'
  $text_input.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (379,20)
  $text_input.TabIndex = 0
  $text_input.Text = ''
  $text_input.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $form.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
  $form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (398,128)
  $form.Controls.AddRange(@($text_input,$button_cancel,$button_ok,$label_prompt))
  $form.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedDialog
  $form.MaximizeBox = $false
  $form.MinimizeBox = $false
  $form.Name = 'InputBoxDialog'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)
  $form.AcceptButton = $button_ok
  $form.ShowInTaskbar = $false

  $response = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Ignore
  $result = ''
  $text_input.Text = ''
  $label_prompt.Text = $prompt_message
  $form.Text = $caption
  $form.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen

  $text_input.SelectionStart = 0;
  $text_input.SelectionLength = $text_input.Text.Length
  $text_input.Focus()

  $form.Name = 'Form1'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)

  $form.Topmost = $Trues

  $form.Add_Shown({ $form.Activate() })

  [void]$form.ShowDialog()

  $form.Dispose()
  $form = $null
  return $script:result
}

combo


function ComboInputBox {

  param(
    [string]$prompt_message = 'Select or Enter the Country',
    [string[]]$items = @(),
    [string]$caption = 'combo test'
  )

function PopulateCombo ()
{
  param([string[]]$comboBoxItems)
  for ($i = 0; $i -lt $comboBoxItems.Length; $i++)
  {
    $str = $comboBoxItems[$i]
    if ($str -ne $null)
    {
      [void]$combobox.Items.Add($str)
    }
  }
}

  $script:result = @{ 'text' = ''; 'status' = $null; }
  $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::None;

  $form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $label_prompt = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $combobox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox
  $form.SuspendLayout()
  $label_prompt.Anchor = [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right
  $label_prompt.BackColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::Control
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',8.25,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_prompt.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (12,9)
  $label_prompt.Name = 'lblPrompt'
  $label_prompt.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (302,82)
  $label_prompt.TabIndex = 3
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_ok.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
  $button_ok.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Standard
  $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (326,8)
  $button_ok.Name = 'btnOK'
  $button_ok.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_ok.TabIndex = 1
  $button_ok.Text = '&OK'
  $button_ok.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
      $script:result.Text = $combobox.Text
      $form.Dispose()

    })
  $button_ok.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_cancel.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
  $button_cancel.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Standard
  $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (326,40)
  $button_cancel.Name = 'btnCancel'
  $button_cancel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_cancel.TabIndex = 2
  $button_cancel.Text = '&Cancel'
  $button_cancel.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
      $script:result.Text = ''
      $form.Dispose()

    })
  $button_cancel.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $combobox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (8,100)
  $combobox.Name = 'CmBxComboBox'
  $combobox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (379,20)
  $combobox.TabIndex = 0
  $combobox.Text = ''
  $combobox.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $combobox.Add_TextChanged({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)

    })

  $combobox.Add_KeyPress({
      param(
        [object]$sender,[System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs]$e
      )

    })
  $combobox.Add_TextChanged({
      param(
        [object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e
      )

    })


  $form.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
  $form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (398,128)
  $form.Controls.AddRange(@($combobox,$button_cancel,$button_ok,$label_prompt))
  $form.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedDialog
  $form.MaximizeBox = $false
  $form.MinimizeBox = $false
  $form.Name = 'ComboBoxDialog'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)
  $form.AcceptButton = $button_ok
  $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Ignore
  $script:result.status = ''
  PopulateCombo -comboBoxItems $items
  $label_prompt.Text = $prompt_message
  $form.Text = $caption
  $form.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $combobox.SelectionStart = 0
  $combobox.SelectionLength = $combobox.Text.Length
  $combobox.Focus()
  $form.Name = 'Form1'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)

  $form.Topmost = $True

  $form.Add_Shown({ $form.Activate() })

  [void]$form.ShowDialog($caller)

  $form.Dispose()
  $form = $null
  return $script:result

}

password2


function ChangePasswordDialogBox {

  param(
    [string]$prompt_message = 'Change the password',
    [string]$caption = 'Default Caption',
    [string]$old_password = 'password'

  )
  $script:result = @{ 'text' = ''; 'status' = $null; }

  $form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $label_old_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $label_new_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $label_prompt = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $label_confirm_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $text_old_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $text_new_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $text_confirm_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $form.SuspendLayout()
  $label_old_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_old_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (16,88)
  $label_old_password.Name = 'lblOldPassword'
  $label_old_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (168,24)
  $label_old_password.TabIndex = 1
  $label_old_password.Text = 'Old Password'
  $label_old_password.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $label_new_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_new_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (16,112)
  $label_new_password.Name = 'lblNewPassword'
  $label_new_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (168,24)
  $label_new_password.TabIndex = 2
  $label_new_password.Text = 'New Password'
  $label_new_password.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $label_confirm_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_confirm_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (16,136)
  $label_confirm_password.Name = 'lblConfirmPassword'
  $label_confirm_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (168,24)
  $label_confirm_password.TabIndex = 3
  $label_confirm_password.Text = 'Confirm New Password';
  $label_confirm_password.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_prompt.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (16,8)
  $label_prompt.Name = 'lblPrompt'
  $label_prompt.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (280,72)
  $label_prompt.TabIndex = 9
  $label_prompt.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $text_old_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $text_old_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (192,88)
  $text_old_password.Name = 'txtbxOldPassword'
  $text_old_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (184,21);
  $text_old_password.TabIndex = 4
  $text_old_password.Text = ''
  $text_old_password.PasswordChar = '*'
  $text_new_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0);
  $text_new_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (192,112)
  $text_new_password.Name = 'txtbxNewPassword'
  $text_new_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (184,21)
  $text_new_password.TabIndex = 5
  $text_new_password.Text = ''
  $text_new_password.PasswordChar = '*'
  $text_confirm_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $text_confirm_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (192,136)
  $text_confirm_password.Name = 'txtbxConfirmPassword'
  $text_confirm_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (184,21)
  $text_confirm_password.TabIndex = 6
  $text_confirm_password.Text = ''
  $text_confirm_password.PasswordChar = '*'
  $button_ok.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (312,16)
  $button_ok.Name = 'button_ok'
  $button_ok.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_ok.TabIndex = 7
  $button_ok.Text = 'OK'
  $button_ok.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      if ($text_old_password.Text.Trim() -ne $old_password) {
        # MessageBox.Show(ChangePasswordDialogBox.frmInputDialog, 'Incorrect Old Password', 'LinkSys', MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation);
        $text_old_password.SelectionStart = 0
        $text_old_password.SelectionLength = $text_old_password.Text.Length
        $text_old_password.Focus()
      } else {

        if ($text_new_password.Text.Trim() -ne $text_confirm_password.Text.Trim()) {

          $text_confirm_password.SelectionStart = 0
          $text_confirm_passwordSelectionLength = $text_confirm_password.Text.Length
          $text_confirm_password.Focus()

        } else {

          $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
          $script:result.Text = $text_new_password.Text
          $form.Dispose()
        } }


    })
  $button_cancel.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (312,48)
  $button_cancel.Name = 'btnCancel'
  $button_cancel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_cancel.TabIndex = 8
  $button_cancel.Text = 'Cancel'
  $button_cancel.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
      $text_input.Text = ''
      $script:result.Text = ''
      $form.Dispose()

    }
  )
  $form.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
  $form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (400,182)
  $form.Controls.AddRange(@($text_old_password,
$text_new_password,
$text_confirm_password,
$button_cancel,
$button_ok,
$label_prompt,
$label_old_password,
$label_new_password,
$label_confirm_password))
  $form.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedDialog
  $form.MaximizeBox = $false
  $form.MinimizeBox = $false
  $form.Name = 'InputBoxDialog'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)
  $form.AcceptButton = $button_ok
  $form.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $form.ShowInTaskbar = $false

  $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Ignore

  $label_prompt.Text = $prompt_message
  $label_old_password.Text = 'Old Password'
  $label_new_password.Text = 'New Password'
  $label_confirm_password.Text = 'Confirm New Password'
  $text_old_password.Text = $old_password # ''
  $text_new_password.Text = ''
  $text_confirm_password.Text = ''
  $form.Text = $caption
  # Rectangle workingArea = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea;

  $form.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $text_old_password.Focus()

  $form.Name = 'Form1'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)

  $form.Topmost = $Trues

  $form.Add_Shown({ $form.Activate() })

  [void]$form.ShowDialog()

  $form.Dispose()
  $form = $null
  return $script:result
}

chooser


@( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
$shared_assemblies = @(
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)
$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'
if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}
pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object {
  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $_;
  }
  Write-Debug $_
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd
$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$f = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Form'
$f.Text = $title
$f.SuspendLayout()

$f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6.0,13.0)
$f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
$f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (210,105)
$button_combobox_test = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$button_combobox_test.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
$button_combobox_test.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,10)
$button_combobox_test.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (135,23)
$button_combobox_test.Text = 'Combobox Test'
$button_combobox_test.Add_Click({
    $countries = @(
      "India",
      "USA",
      "UK",
      "Russia",
      "Bulgaria",
      "Singapore",
      "Malayasia",
      "Japan",
      "Thailand"
    )
    $prompt_message = 'Select or Enter the Country'
    $caption = 'Combobox Test' 
    $o = ComboInputBox -items $countries -caption  $caption -prompt_message  $prompt_message 
    if ($o.status -match 'OK') {
      $caller.Data = $o.Text
    $f.Close()
    }
  })
$f.Controls.Add($button_combobox_test)
$button_change_password_test = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$button_change_password_test.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
$button_change_password_test.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,40)
$button_change_password_test.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (135,23)
$button_change_password_test.Text = 'Change Password Test'
$button_change_password_test.Add_Click({
    $prompt_message = 'Change the Password'
    $caption = 'Change Password Test'
    $old_password = '123'
    $o = ChangePasswordDialogBox -prompt_message $prompt_message -caption $caption -old_password $old_password
    if ($o.status -match 'OK') {
      $caller.Data = $o.Text
    $f.Close()
    }

  })
$f.Controls.Add($button_change_password_test)
$button_inputbox_test = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$button_inputbox_test.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
$button_inputbox_test.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,70)
$button_inputbox_test.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (135,23)
$button_inputbox_test.Text = 'Inputbox test'
$button_inputbox_test.Add_Click({
    $prompt_message = 'Enter the Value'
    $caption = 'Inputbox test'
    $o = TextInputBox -caption $caption -prompt_message $prompt_message
    if ($o.status -match 'OK') {
      $caller.Data = $o.Text
    $f.Close()
    }
  })
$f.Controls.Add($button_inputbox_test)
$f.Name = "Form1"
$f.Text = 'Standard Input Dialogs'
$f.ResumeLayout($false)
$f.Topmost = $Trues
$f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })
[void]$f.ShowDialog($caller)
$f.Dispose()
Write-Output $caller.Data

The full example is available in the source zip file.

Tabbed Dialog with Input Focus control

The next big topic is tabbed dialogs. The code implementing such basically repeats what was shown already with one additional feature - it prevents the user from leaving the textbox until there is an input. At the time the form is drawn, the specific tab and input are set to be selected.

If the user attempts to switch to the other tab or input without filing some text, a warning message is displayed under the TextBox.

password

When the input is provided, the warning message is cleared:

password

The code responsible for that is highlighted below:

function PromptWithTabs(
[String] $title,
        [Object] $caller
){
        [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
        [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

        $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
        $f.Text = $title

        $panel2 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
        $textbox1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
        $panel1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
        $button1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Button
        $tab_contol1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabControl
        $panel2.SuspendLayout()
        $panel1.SuspendLayout()
        $tab_contol1.SuspendLayout()
        $f.SuspendLayout()

        $panel2.Controls.Add($textbox1)
        $panel2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
        $panel2.Name = "tabPage2"
        $panel2.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
        $panel2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 52)
        $panel2.TabIndex = 1
        $panel2.Text = "Input Tab"

        $textbox1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(72, 7)
        $textbox1.Name = "textBoxMessage"
        $textbox1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(100, 20)
        $textbox1.TabIndex = 0

        $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
        $l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(72,32)
        $l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(100,16)
        $l1.Text = ''

        $l1.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 8, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);
        $panel2.Controls.Add($l1)

        $textbox1.Add_Leave( {
           param(
            [Object] $sender,
            [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
            )
            if ($sender.Text.length -eq 0) {
              $l1.Text = 'Input required'
              # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show('Input required')
              $tab_contol1.SelectedIndex = 1
              $sender.Select()
              $result = $sender.Focus()
            } else {
              $l1.Text = ''
            }
         })
        $panel1.Controls.Add($button1)
        $panel1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
        $panel1.Name = "tabPage1"
        $panel1.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
        $panel1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 52)
        $panel1.TabIndex = 0
        $panel1.Text = "Action Tab"

        $button1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(74, 7)
        $button1.Name = "buttonShowMessage"
        $button1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(107, 24)
        $button1.TabIndex = 0
        $button1.Text = "Show Message"
        $button1_Click = {
           param(
            [Object] $sender,
            [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
            )
            $caller.Message = $textbox1.Text
            [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show($textbox1.Text);
        }
        $button1.Add_Click($button1_Click)

        $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel1)
        $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel2)
        $tab_contol1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(13, 13)
        $tab_contol1.Name = "tabControl1"
        $tab_contol1.SelectedIndex = 1
        $textbox1.Select()
        $textbox1.Enabled = $true
        $tab_contol1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(267, 88)
        $tab_contol1.TabIndex = 0

        $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
        $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 108)
        $f.Controls.Add($tab_contol1)
        $panel2.ResumeLayout($false)
        $panel2.PerformLayout()
        $panel1.ResumeLayout($false)
        $tab_contol1.ResumeLayout($false)
        $f.ResumeLayout($false)
        $f.ActiveControl = $textbox1

        $f.Topmost = $true


        $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
        $f.KeyPreview = $True


        [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

        $f.Dispose()
}

Note: The order of operations matters in the above fragment. There are subtle differences between focus() and select(), not covered here.

password

Clicking the button launches a messagebox along with storing the result in $caller.Message.

ProgressBar

Next example uses Windows Forms-based custom ProgressBar Host to display, e.g., the status of Powershell jobs performing some dump task on remote hosts to the user.

The source code defining the control class is imported in the script.

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

// "

namespace ProgressBarHost
{
    public class Progress : System.Windows.Forms.UserControl
    {
    // code
    }
}
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll', 'System.Drawing.dll', 'System.Data.dll', 'System.ComponentModel.dll'

The method PerformStep will be used without modifications in this example, but it is likely to be customized in domain-specific way.

The Powershell script does what Form designer is normally doing,

$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
    'Progress'  = [ProgressBarHost.Progress] $null ;
    })

$rs =[runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so', $so)


$run_script = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript({

function Progressbar(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message
    ){

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')


$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(650,120)
$f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

$p = new-object ProgressBarHost.Progress
$p.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(12, 8)
$p.Name = 'status'
$p.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(272, 88)
$p.TabIndex = 0
$so.Progress = $p

$b = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(140, 152)
$b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(92, 24)
$b.Text = 'forward'
$b.Add_Click({ $p.PerformStep()
               if ($p.Maximum -eq $p.Value) {
                   $b.Enabled = false;
              }
         })

$f.Controls.Add($b)
$f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 14)
$f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 194)
$f.Controls.Add($p )
$f.Topmost = $True
$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

[Void] $f.ShowDialog( )

$f.Dispose()
}

Progressbar -title $title -message $message

})

# -- main program --
clear-host
$run_script.Runspace = $rs

$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()

start-sleep 3
$max_cnt  = 10
$cnt = 0
while ($cnt -lt $max_cnt) {
   $cnt ++
    Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 1000
    $so.Progress.PerformStep()
}

password

For debugging purposes, the Forward button with the same handler is added to the form. To keep execution of script possible, the form is launched from a second Powershell runspace. Instead of caller argument, a Synchronized HashTable object is used to communicate. This technique is used heavily with WPF controls.

Timer

Next example uses a sligtly modified Timer Powershell to show elapsing timer, while the main Powershell script continues performing some lengthy task(s).

$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()
foreach ($work_step_cnt in @( 1,2,3,5,6,7)) {
  Write-Output ('Doing lengthy work step {0}' -f $work_step_cnt)
  Start-Sleep -Millisecond 1000
}
Write-Output 'All Work done'
$wait_timer_step = 0
$wait_timer_max = 2

After tasks are finished, if the timer is still visible it is stopped:

while (-not $handle.IsCompleted) {
  Write-Output 'waiting on timer to finish'
  $wait_timer_step++
  Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 1000
  if ($wait_timer_step -ge $wait_timer_max) {
    $so.Progress.Value = $so.Progress.Maximum
    Write-Output 'Stopping timer'
    break
  }
}
$run_script.EndInvoke($handle)
$rs.Close()
return

timer

The Form containing progressbar and timer is entirely in Powershell:

    function GenerateForm {
      param(
        [int]$timeout_sec
      )

      @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

      $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
      $f.MaximumSize = $f.MinimumSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (220,65)
      $so.Form = $f
      $f.Text = 'Timer'
      $f.Name = 'form_main'
      $f.ShowIcon = $False
      $f.StartPosition = 1
      $f.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
      $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.MinimumSize.Width - 10),($f.MinimumSize.Height - 10))

      $components = New-Object System.ComponentModel.Container
      $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
      $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedToolWindow
      $f.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen

      $f.SuspendLayout()

      $t = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Timer

      $p = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ProgressBar
      $p.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
      $p.Maximum = $timeout_sec
      $p.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.ClientSize.Width - 10),($f.ClientSize.Height - 20))
      $p.Step = 1
      $p.TabIndex = 0
      $p.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (5,5)
      $p.Style = 1
      $p.Name = 'progressBar1'
      $so.Progress = $p

      $InitialFormWindowState = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState

      function start_timer {

        $t.Enabled = $true
        $t.Start()

      }

      $t_OnTick = {
        $p.PerformStep()
        $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($p.Maximum - $p.Value)
        $f.Text = ('{0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds)

        if ($p.Value -eq $p.Maximum) {
          $t.Enabled = $false
          $f.Close()
        }
      }

      $OnLoadForm_StateCorrection = {
        # Correct the initial state of the form to prevent the .Net maximized form issue - http://poshcode.org/1192
        $f.WindowState = $InitialFormWindowState
        start_timer
      }

      $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($p.Maximum - $p.Value)
      $f.Text = ('{0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds)

      $f.Controls.Add($p)

      $t.Interval = 1000
      $t.add_tick($t_OnTick)

      $InitialFormWindowState = $f.WindowState
      $f.add_Load($OnLoadForm_StateCorrection)
      [void]$f.ShowDialog()

    }

Task List Progress

Next, by combining Progressbar and Timer examples with Task List Progress assembly one produces the same for long running multi-step Powershell script.

Below, the script source is provide (script can also be found in the source zip. Explaining the mechanics of the form and enabling the Skip forward button is ongoing work in progress:

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'

$shared_assemblies = @(
  # http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/11588/Progress-Task-List-Control
  'ProgressTaskList.dll',
  'nunit.core.dll',
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)


$shared_assmblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {

  Write-Debug ('Using environment: {0}' -f $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH)
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}

pushd $shared_assmblies_path

$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object {
  $assembly = $_
  Write-Debug $assembly
  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $assembly
  }
  Add-Type -Path $assembly
}
popd


# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8343767/how-to-get-the-current-directory-of-the-cmdlet-being-executed
function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
  $Invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation -Scope 1).Value;
  if ($Invocation.PSScriptRoot)
  {
    $Invocation.PSScriptRoot;
  }
  elseif ($Invocation.MyCommand.Path)
  {
    Split-Path $Invocation.MyCommand.Path
  }
  else
  {
    $Invocation.InvocationName.Substring(0,$Invocation.InvocationName.LastIndexOf("\"));
  }
}

In this version the existing functionality of ProgressTaskList.dll will be used, no modifications made, and the assembly is built in Visual Studio and placed into $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH

The actual work steps will be performed in the main script, therefore form is executed in separate Runspace

$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
    'Title' = [string]'';
    'Visible' = [bool]$false;
    'ScriptDirectory' = [string]'';
    'Form' = [System.Windows.Forms.Form]$null;
    'DebugMessage' = '';
    'Current' = 0;
    'Previous' = 0;
    'Last' = 0;
    'Tasks' = [System.Management.Automation.PSReference];
    'Progress' = [Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList]$null;
  })

The $so.Current, $so.Last and $so.Previous are used in the timer callback in the form's runspace to detect when it is time to call NextTask() on Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList object that is placed on the form:

$so.ScriptDirectory = Get-ScriptDirectory
$rs = [runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so',$so)

$run_script = [powershell]::Create().AddScript({

In the form, a System.Windows.Forms.Timer object is instantiated to inspect the state of the Tasks, that are executed in the main script. There is also a System.Windows.Forms.Button to push the curent task, its functionality is unfinished, therefore its state is disabled.

    function ProgressbarTasklist {
      param(
        [string]$title,
        [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$tasks_ref,
        [object]$caller
      )

      @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

      $f = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Form'
      $so.Form = $f
      $f.Text = $title
      $t = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Timer
      $so.DebugMessage = '"in form"'
      function start_timer {

        $t.Enabled = $true
        $t.Start()

      }

      $t_OnTick = {
        # TODO 
        # $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($p.Maximum - $p.Value)
        # $text = ('{0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds)
        if ($so.Current -eq $so.Last) {
          $t.Enabled = $false
          $so.DebugMessage = '"Complete"'
          $f.Close()
        } else {
          $so.DebugMessage = '"in timer"'
          if ($so.Current -gt $so.Previous) {
            $o.NextTask()
            $so.Previous = $so.Current
            $so.DebugMessage = ('Finished "{0}"' -f $so.Previous )
          }
        }
      }
      $t.Interval = 300
      $t.add_tick($t_OnTick)

      $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (650,150)
      $f.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
      $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,14)
      $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (292,144)


      $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
      $panel.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
      $panel.BorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle]::FixedSingle

      $b = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
      $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (210,114)
      $b.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
      $b.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',7,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)

      $b.Text = 'Skip forward'
      [scriptblock]$progress = {

        if (-not $o.Visible) {
          # set the first task to 'in progress'
          $o.Visible = $true
          $so.Current = 1
          $o.Start()

        } else {
          # TODO: set the following task to 'skipped'
          $so.Current = $so.Current + 1
          $so.DebugMessage = ('Skipped "{0}"' -f $so.Current )
          $o.NextTask()
        }
      }

      $progress_click = $b.add_click
      $progress_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          if ($so.Current -eq $so.Last)
          {
            $b.Enabled = $false
            Start-Sleep -Millisecond 300
            $so.Current = $so.Current + 1
            $so.Visible = $false
          } else {
            Invoke-Command $progress -ArgumentList @()
          }

        })
      $b.Enabled = $false
      $o = New-Object -TypeName 'Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList' -ArgumentList @()
      $o.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Transparent
      $o.BorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle]::FixedSingle
      $o.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
      $o.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
      $o.Name = "progressTaskList1"
      $o.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (288,159)
      $o.TabIndex = 2
      $so.Progress = $o
      $o.TaskItems.AddRange(@( [string[]]$tasks_ref.Value))

      $so.Last = $tasks_ref.Value.Count + 1 # will use 1-based index 
      $o.Visible = $false
      $panel.SuspendLayout()
      $panel.ForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Black
      $panel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
      $panel.Name = 'panel'
      $panel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.Size.Width),($f.Size.Height))
      $panel.TabIndex = 1

      $panel.Controls.Add($o)
      $panel.ResumeLayout($false)
      $panel.PerformLayout()
      $InitialFormWindowState = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState

      $f.Controls.AddRange(@( $b,$panel))
      $f.Topmost = $True

      $so.Visible = $true
      $f.Add_Shown({
          $f.WindowState = $InitialFormWindowState
          $f.Activate()
          Invoke-Command $progress -ArgumentList @()
          start_timer
        })
      [void]$f.ShowDialog()

      $f.Dispose()
    }
    $tasks_ref = $so.Tasks
    ProgressbarTasklist -tasks_ref $tasks_ref -Title $so.Title
    Write-Output ("Processed:`n{0}" -f ($tasks_ref.Value -join "`n"))
  })

The caller script that runs in default runspace updates the $so.Current thus signaling the form's timer after performing the appropriate step - currently it sleeps a random time not exceeding 5 seconds. In addidion it prints a progress message to the console, though good syncronization is not the main purpose of this example. Presumably the actual work produces a lot of extra screen output making it difficult to discover when certain step is completed.

$tasks = @(
  'Verifying cabinet integrity',
  'Checking necessary disk space',
  'Extracting files',
  'Modifying registry',
  'Installing files',
  'Removing temporary files')


$task_status = @{}

$tasks | ForEach-Object { $task_status[$_] = $null }

$so.Tasks = ([ref]$tasks)
$so.Title = 'Task List'

$run_script.Runspace = $rs

$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()

function PerformStep {

  param(
    [int]$step,
    [switch]$skip
  )
  $task_status[$step] = $true

  $so.Current = $step
  # can call Progress class methods across Runspaces 
  # $so.Progress.NextTask() 

}

Start-Sleep -Millisecond 100
while ($so.Visible) {
  for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne $tasks.Count; $cnt++) {
    $step_name = $tasks[$cnt]
    Start-Sleep -Milliseconds (Get-Random -Maximum 5000)
    PerformStep -Step $cnt
    Write-Host ('Completes step [{0}] "{1}"' -f $cnt,$step_name)
  }
  $so.Visible = $false
}
Write-Output $so.DebugMessage
# Close the progress form
$so.Form.Close()


$run_script.EndInvoke($handle)
$rs.Close()

After everything is done the Form closes itself and runspace is destroyed.

Three button prompt

If one is about to make modifications to the Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList source, first one stores the Designer generated code and of the class inside the script as a Add-Type TypeDefinition argument. The only modification needed is to download suitable 16x16 icons from https://www.iconfinder.com and replace

this.imageList1.ImageStream = ((System.Windows.Forms.ImageListStreamer)(resources.GetObject("imageList1.ImageStream")))

with

        private string[] iconPaths = new string[] {
          @"C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\1420429962_216151.ico",        
          @"C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\1420429337_5880.ico",
          @"C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\1420429523_62690.ico",        	
          @"C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\1420429596_9866.ico"        
        } ;
...
foreach (string iconPath in this.iconPaths)
            {
                this.imageList1.Images.Add(new Icon(iconPath));
            }

the next step is to refactor the Powershell script temporarily getting rid of extra runspace and of the timer object and focus on the button:

  $b = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (210,114)
  $b.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',7,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)

  $b.Text = 'forward'

  $b.add_click({

      if ($caller.Current -eq $caller.Last)
      {
        $b.Enabled = false
      } else {

        if (-not $o.Visible) {
          # set the first task to 'in progress'
          $o.Visible = $true
          $caller.Current = 1
          $o.Start()


        } else {
          # set the following task to 'in progress'
          $o.NextTask()
          $caller.Current = $caller.Current + 1
        }
      }
    })
  # original assembly
  # $i = New-Object -TypeName 'Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList' -ArgumentList @()
  $o = New-Object -TypeName 'WIP.ProgressTaskList' -ArgumentList @()

In the above, the $caller object is introduced to store the Current and Last indices.

Circle Progress Indicators

Circle Progress

Next example combines Asynchronous GUI with ProgressCircle-progress control to produce a single process circle progress indicator controlled by direct invokation of form elements across Powershell runspaces.

The form (sans the Add-Type of ProgressCircle.ProgressCircle ) is

Add-Type -AssemblyName 'System.Windows.Forms'
Add-Type -AssemblyName 'System.Drawing'
# VisualStyles are only needed for a very few Windows Forms controls like ProgessBar
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms.VisualStyles')


$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$is= New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState
$Form.Text = 'Demo Form'
$Form.Name = 'Form'
$Form.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
$Form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (216,121)
# Label 
$l1.Name = 'progress_label'
$l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (70,34)
$l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (100,23)
$l1.Text = 'Round:'


#  progressCircle1
$c1 = New-Object -TypeName 'ProgressCircle.ProgressCircle'
$c1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (20,20)
$c1.Name = "progress_circle"
$c1.PCElapsedTimeColor1 = [System.Drawing.Color]::Chartreuse
$c1.PCElapsedTimeColor2 = [System.Drawing.Color]::Yellow
$c1.PCLinearGradientMode = [System.Drawing.Drawing2D.LinearGradientMode]::Vertical
$c1.PCRemainingTimeColor1 = [System.Drawing.Color]::Navy
$c1.PCRemainingTimeColor2 = [System.Drawing.Color]::LightBlue
$c1.PCTotalTime = 25
$c1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (47,45)
$c1.TabIndex = 3
$progress_complete = $c1.add_PCCompleted
$progress_complete.Invoke({
    param([object]$sender,[string]$message)
    # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show('Task completed!')
    $l1.Text = ('Task completed!')
  })


$Form.Controls.AddRange(@($l1,$c1))

$is= $Form.WindowState

$Form.add_Load({
    $Form.WindowState = $InitialFormWindowState
  })

The caller constructs the System.EventArgs objects to execute the delegate on the ProgressCircle.ProgressCircle control which increments and updates the correspondent Label found by name. Note there are several ways to do that.

$rs = [Management.Automation.Runspaces.RunspaceFactory]::CreateRunspace($Host)
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()

$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('Form',$Form)
$po = [System.Management.Automation.PowerShell]::Create()
$po.Runspace = $rs

$po.AddScript({
    [System.Windows.Forms.Application]::EnableVisualStyles()
    [System.Windows.Forms.Application]::Run($Form)
  })

$res = $po.BeginInvoke()

if ($PSBoundParameters['pause']) {
  Write-Output 'Pause'
  try {
    [void]$host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey('NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown')
  } catch [exception]{}
} else {
  Start-Sleep -Millisecond 1000
}


# subclass
$eventargs = New-Object -TypeName 'System.EventArgs'

Add-Member -InputObject $eventargs -MemberType 'NoteProperty' -Name 'Increment' -Value 0 -Force
Add-Member -InputObject $eventargs -MemberType 'NoteProperty' -Name 'Total' -Value 0 -Force

$handler = [System.EventHandler]{
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$e
  )
  $local:increment = $e.Increment
  $local:total = $e.Total
  $sender.Increment($local:increment)
  $sender.Text = $e.MyText
  try {
    $elems = $sender.Parent.Controls.Find('progress_label',$false)
  } catch [exception]{
  }
  if ($elems -ne $null) {
    $elems[0].Text = ('Round: {0}' -f $local:total)
  }

}

1..25 | ForEach-Object {

  $eventargs.Total = $_
  $eventargs.Increment = 1
  [void]$c1.BeginInvoke($handler,($c1,([System.EventArgs]$eventargs)))

  Start-Sleep -Milliseconds (Get-Random -Maximum 1000)

}

if ($PSBoundParameters['pause']) {
  # block PowerShell Main-Thread to leave it alive until user enter something
  Write-Output 'Pause'
  try {
    [void]$host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey('NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown')
  } catch [exception]{}
} else {
  Start-Sleep -Millisecond 2000
}


[System.Windows.Forms.Application]::Exit()
$po.EndInvoke($res)
$rs.Close()
$po.Dispose()

NOTE: To make the script work on W2K3 one has to trigger another invocation (updated script is available in the source zip):

1..($total_steps ) | ForEach-Object {

  $current_step = $_
  $message = $eventargs.Text =( 'Processed {0} / {1}' -f $current_step , $total_steps )

  $eventargs.Increment = 1
  [void]$c1.BeginInvoke($handler,($c1,([System.EventArgs]$eventargs)))
  if ($host.Version.Major -eq 2) {
    $c1.Invoke(

        [System.Action[int, string]] { 
            param(
              [int]$increment, 
              [string]$message
            )
            $sender.Increment($increment) 
            try {
              $elems = $sender.Parent.Controls.Find('progress_label',$false)
            } catch [exception]{
            }
            if ($elems -ne $null) {
              $elems[0].Text = $message
            }

        },

        # Argument for the System.Action delegate scriptblock

        @(1, $message)

    )
  }
  Start-Sleep -Milliseconds (Get-Random -Maximum 1000)
}

Generalization to multiple job progress tracking is work in progress. Full example code provided in the source zip.

The Mac OS X style progress circle can be used with minimal modifications to C# code:

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

// "

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Data;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace ProgressControl
{
    public partial class CircularProgressControl : UserControl
    {
    // ... omitted most of the code
        public enum Direction
        {
            CLOCKWISE,
            ANTICLOCKWISE
        }
        public Direction Rotation { get; set; }
        private bool m_clockwise;
        public bool Clockwise 
        {
            get
            {
                return m_clockwise;
            }
            set
            {
                m_clockwise = value;
                if (m_clockwise){ 
                   this.Rotation = Direction.CLOCKWISE;
                } else { 
                   this.Rotation = Direction.ANTICLOCKWISE;
                 }
            }
        }

     // .. the rest of the class definition

    }
}
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll','System.Drawing.dll','System.Data.dll'

The Powershell part of the script is:

@( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6.0,13.0)
$f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
$f.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::LightGray
$f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (170,140)

$button1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$cbc1 = New-Object ProgressControl.CircularProgressControl
$cbc2 = New-Object ProgressControl.CircularProgressControl
$f.SuspendLayout()

$button1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (70,80)
$button1.Name = "button1"
$button1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (75,23)
$button1.TabIndex = 0
$button1.Text = "Start"
$button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true
$button1.add_click.Invoke({
    param(
      [object]$sender,
      [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
    )
    if ($button1.Text -eq "Start")
    {
      $button1.Text = 'Stop'
      $cbc1.Start()
      $cbc2.Start()
    }
    else
    {
      $button1.Text = 'Start'
      $cbc1.Stop()
      $cbc2.Stop()
    }
  })


$cbc1.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Transparent
$cbc1.Interval = 60
$cbc1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,20)
$cbc1.MinimumSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (56,56)
$cbc1.Name = "circularProgressControl1"
$cbc1.Clockwise = $true
$cbc1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (56,56)
$cbc1.StartAngle = 270
$cbc1.TabIndex = 1
$cbc1.TickColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkBlue

$cbc2.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Transparent
$cbc2.Interval = 60
$cbc2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,80)
$cbc2.MinimumSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (56,56)
$cbc2.Name = "$cbc2"
$cbc2.Clockwise = $false
$cbc2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (56,56)
$cbc2.StartAngle = 270
$cbc2.TabIndex = 2
$cbc2.TickColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Yellow

$f.Controls.Add($cbc2)
$f.Controls.Add($button1)
$f.Controls.Add($cbc1)
$f.Name = "Form1"
$f.Text = 'OS X Progress Control'
$f.ResumeLayout($false)

[void]$f.ShowDialog()

osx circle progress

Filesystem TreeView

The next example customizes the Filesystem-TreeView to Powershell. In the Add-Type -TypeDefinition one combines the implementation of FileSystemTreeView and ShellIcon classes :

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Collections;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace C2C.FileSystem
{
    public class FileSystemTreeView : TreeView
    {
...  
    }
    public class ShellIcon
    {
... 
 }

}

In Powershell part one adds AfterSelect handler to C2C.FileSystem.FileSystemTreeView in which the selected TreeNode FullPath is stored and written in the textbox. The $show_files_checkbox checkbox allows switching LoadFiles on and off on the fly.

treeview

$caller = New-Object -TypeName 'Win32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$chooser = New-Object -TypeName 'C2C.FileSystem.FileSystemTreeView' -ArgumentList ($caller)

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data')

# set up form
$form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$form.Text = $title


$form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (700,450)

$panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel


$panel1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$btnDirectory = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$label1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$txtDirectory = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$treePanel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$panel1.SuspendLayout()
$form.SuspendLayout()

# 
# panel1
# 
$panel1.Controls.Add($btnDirectory)
$panel1.Controls.Add($label1)
$panel1.Controls.Add($txtDirectory)
$panel1.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$panel1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
$panel1.Name = 'panel1'
$panel1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (681,57)
$panel1.TabIndex = 0

$show_files_checkbox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox
$show_files_checkbox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (515,27)
$show_files_checkbox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (120,20)
$show_files_checkbox.Text = 'Files'

$panel1.Controls.Add($show_files_checkbox)
$show_files_checkbox.add_click({ if ($show_files_checkbox.Checked -eq $true) { $chooser.ShowFiles = $true } else { $chooser.ShowFiles = $false } })


# 
# btnDirectory
# 
$btnDirectory.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (560,27)
$btnDirectory.Name = "btnDirectory"
$btnDirectory.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (60,21)
$btnDirectory.TabIndex = 2
$btnDirectory.Text = 'Select'
$btnDirectory.add_click({ if ($caller.Data -ne $null) { $form.Close() } })

# 
# label1
# 
$label1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (9,9)
$label1.Name = 'label1'
$label1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (102,18)
$label1.TabIndex = 1
$label1.Text = 'Selection:'

# 
# txtDirectory
# 
$txtDirectory.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (9,27)
$txtDirectory.Name = "txtDirectory"
$txtDirectory.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (503,20)
$txtDirectory.TabIndex = 0
$txtDirectory.Text = ""

# 
# treePanel
# 
$treePanel.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
$treePanel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,57)
$treePanel.Name = "treePanel"
$treePanel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (621,130)
$treePanel.TabIndex = 1

$treePanel.Controls.Add($chooser)
$chooser.ShowFiles = $false
$chooser.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
$chooser.Add_AfterSelect({ $txtDirectory.Text = $caller.Data = $chooser.Data })
$chooser.Load('C:\')
# Form1
# 
$form.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
$form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (621,427)
$form.Controls.Add($treePanel)
$form.Controls.Add($panel1)
$form.Name = 'Form1'
$form.Text = 'Demo Chooser'
$panel1.ResumeLayout($false)
$form.ResumeLayout($false)
$form.Add_Shown({ $form.Activate() })
$form.KeyPreview = $True
$form.Add_KeyDown({

    if ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape') { $caller.Data = $null }
    else { return }
    $form.Close()
  })

[void]$form.ShowDialog([win32window ]($caller))

$form.Dispose()
Write-Output $caller.Data

The full script source is available in the source zip file.

Embedding XAML

password

Designing the Windows Presentation Foundation XAML is even simpler:

Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml =
@"
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="Row GridSplitter Example">
  <StackPanel Height="Auto">
    <Grid Height="400">
      <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="50*"/>
        <RowDefinition Height="50*"/>
      </Grid.RowDefinitions>
      <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
      </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
      <Button Background="gray" Grid.Column="0"
      Grid.Row="0" x:Name="button00" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
      VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Content="Quentin Tarantino"/>
      <Button Background="gray" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1"
      x:Name="button01" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
      VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Content="Larry Dimmick"/>
      <Button Background="gray" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0"
      x:Name="button10" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
      VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Content="Steve Buscemi"/>
      <Button Background="gray" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1"
      x:Name="button11" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
      VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Content="Tim Roth"/>
    </Grid>
  </StackPanel>
</Window>
"@

Now, IWin32Window argument is not accepted by the System.Windows.Window.

$colors = @{
  'Steve Buscemi' = ([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Pink);
  'Larry Dimmick' = ([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::White);
  'Quentin Tarantino' = ([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Orange);
  'Tim Roth' = ([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Brown);
}

$result = @{ }

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
$reader=(New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target=[Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader )
$target.ShowDialog() | out-null
# $result | format-table

For simple behaviors, one way to communicate the result back to the script is via $result hash variable that is defined in the script and is visible in the event handler:

foreach ($button in @("button01" , "button00", "button10", "button11")) {
  $control=$target.FindName($button)
  $eventMethod=$control.add_click
  $eventMethod.Invoke({
     param(
       [Object] $sender,
       [System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs ] $eventargs
     )
    $who = $sender.Content.ToString()
    $color = $colors[$who ]
    # $target.Title=("You will be  Mr. {0}" -f  $color)
    $sender.Background = new-Object System.Windows.Media.SolidColorBrush($color)
    $result[ $who  ] = $true
    write-debug $who
  })
}

This sample is simple - one and the same event handler is attached to each clickable element in the XAML flow. The details of the sender are stored in the $result while to provide for visual cue code is changing the $sender's background.

...on the fly

Another example one can generate the XAML ComboBox source on the fly from the list of $items with the following code snippet:

$items = @(
   'Apple' ,
   'Banana' ,
   'Orange' ,
   'Pineapple' ,
   'Plum'
   )
$selected = @{ }
$context = @'
<window height="60" title="Window1" width="200" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
    <stackpanel>
    <combobox iseditable="False" margin="5" name="comboBox">
'@
$cnt = 1
$items | foreach-object {  $name = "Item_${cnt}" ; $cnt ++ ; $context +="<comboboxitem content="$_" name="${name}">" }
$context += @'
        </comboboxitem></combobox>
    </stackpanel>
</window>
'@


Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml = $context

Clear-Host
$reader=(New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target=[Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader)
$handler = {
      param ([object] $sender,  # System.Windows.Controls.ComboboxItem
                                # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.comboboxitem_properties%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
             [System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs] $eventargs )
      $sender.Background = [ System.Windows.Media.Brushes]::Red
      $target.Title = ( 'Added {0} ' -f $sender.Content )
      $selected[ $sender.Content  ]  = $true
  }

This code provides minimal but clear visual feedback for items selection.

foreach ($item in ("Item_1", "Item_5", "Item_2","Item_3","Item_4") ){
  $combobox_item_control = $target.FindName( $item )
  $eventargsventMethod2 = $combobox_item_control.add_Selected
  $eventargsventMethod2.Invoke( $handler )
  $combobox_item_control = $null
}

yielding:

TreeView

and prints the selected results in the Powershell fashion.

$target.ShowDialog() | out-null
write-output 'Selected items:'$items | where-object {$selected.ContainsKey( $_ ) }

TreeView

and More

Notably, one can design a very rich user interface in pure XAML while keeping the actual selection processing simple

For example, by repeating (largely) the previous exercise, but draw 3 color-filled arrow polygons on the panel.

Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml = @"
// .... code below
"@

<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Height="100" Width="200" Title="Window1">
  <Canvas Height="100" Width="200" Name="Canvas1">
    <!-- Draws a triangle with a blue interior. -->
    <Polygon Points="0,0 0,30 0,10 30,10 30,-10 45,10 30,30 30,20 0,20 0,0 30,0 30,10 0,10" Fill="Blue" Name="Polygon1" Canvas.Left="40" Canvas.Top="30" Canvas.ZIndex="40"/>
    <Polygon Points="0,0 0,30 0,10 30,10 30,-10 45,10 30,30 30,20 0,20 0,0 30,0 30,10 0,10" Fill="Green" Name="Polygon2" Canvas.Left="70" Canvas.Top="30" Canvas.ZIndex="30"/>
    <Polygon Points="0,0 0,30 0,10 30,10 30,-10 45,10 30,30 30,20 0,20 0,0 30,0 30,10 0,10" Fill="Red" Name="Polygon3" Canvas.Left="100" Canvas.Top="30" Canvas.ZIndex="20"/>
  </Canvas>
</Window>

and in the event handler perform color and ZIndex change of the Mouse-selected arrow and reflect the selected polygon name it in the title of the window:

Clear-Host

$polygon_data = @{}
$reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader)
$canvas = $target.FindName("Canvas1")
function save_orig_design{
  param ([String] $name)
  $control = $target.FindName($name)
  return @{
      'fill'   =  ( $control.Fill.Color );
      'ZIndex' =  ( [System.Windows.Controls.Canvas]::GetZIndex($control) )
      }
  }
  $polygon_data['Polygon1'] = (save_orig_design('Polygon1'))
  $polygon_data['Polygon2'] = (save_orig_design('Polygon2'))
  $polygon_data['Polygon3'] = (save_orig_design('Polygon3'))

# TODO :
# $canvas.Add_Initialized ...
function restore_orig {
  param ( [String] $name )
  $control = $target.FindName( $name )
  $color = [System.Windows.Media.ColorConverter]::ConvertFromString( [String] $polygon_data[$name]['fill'] )
  $control.Fill = new-Object System.Windows.Media.SolidColorBrush( $color )
  [System.Windows.Controls.Canvas]::SetZIndex($control, [Object] $polygon_data[$name]['ZIndex'])
}
$handler = {
param (
    [Object]  $sender,
    [System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs] $e  )
  @('Polygon1', 'Polygon2', 'Polygon3') | % { restore_orig( $_) }
  # Highlight sender
  $sender.Fill = new-Object System.Windows.Media.SolidColorBrush([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Orange)
  # uncomment to reveal a distortion
  # $sender.Stroke = new-Object System.Windows.Media.SolidColorBrush([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Black)
  # Bring sender to front
  [System.Windows.Controls.Canvas]::SetZIndex($sender,[Object]100)
  $target.Title="Hello $($sender.Name)"
}
foreach ($item in ('Polygon1', 'Polygon2', 'Polygon3') ){
  $control = $target.FindName($item)
  $eventMethod = $control.add_MouseDown
  $eventMethod.Invoke( $handler )
  $control = $null
 }
$eventMethod.Invoke($handler)
$target.ShowDialog() | out-null

one can get distinct visual effect:

TreeView

TreeView

TreeView

But designing code behind may be tough. Arranging the communication between Powershell and WPF properly is well documented and appears to be quite a challenging task.

Connecting the WPF Events

To arrange the interaction between PowerShell run spaces one creates an optionally strongly-typed synchronized object and creates an additional RunSpace to execute WPF events.

#requires -version 2
$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
    'Result'  = '';
    'Window'  = [System.Windows.Window] $null ;
    'TextBox' = [System.Windows.Controls.TextBox] $null ;
    })
$so.Result = ''
$rs =[runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so', $so)

Next, one wraps the XAML handling code in the Add-Script method.

$run_script = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript({

Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml = @"
<window height="100" title="Example with TextBox" width="300" x:name="Window" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
    <stackpanel height="100" width="300">
          <textblock fontsize="14" fontweight="Bold" text="A spell-checking TextBox:">
        <textbox acceptsreturn="True" acceptstab="True" fontsize="14" margin="5" spellcheck.isenabled="True" textwrapping="Wrap" x:name="textbox">

        </textbox>

  </textblock></stackpanel>
</window>
"@

$reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load( $reader )
$so.Window  = $target
$handler = {
    param (
    [Object]  $sender,
    [System.Windows.Controls.TextChangedEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
    $so.Result  = $sender.Text
}
$control = $target.FindName("textbox")
$so.TextBox = $control

$event = $control.Add_TextChanged
$event.Invoke( $handler )

$eventMethod.Invoke($handler)
$target.ShowDialog() | out-null
})

Then design accessor functions operating via the shared object $so. Note that certain properties that have to be accessible cannot be evaluated on a different thread. The calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it exception is only raised at runtime.

function send_text {
    Param (
        $content,
        [switch] $append
    )
    # WARNING - uncommenting the following line leads to exception
    # $so.Textbox = $so.Window.FindName("textbox")

    # NOTE - host-specific method signature:
    $so.Textbox.Dispatcher.invoke([System.Action]{

        if ($PSBoundParameters['append_content']) {
            $so.TextBox.AppendText($content)
        } else {
            $so.TextBox.Text = $content
        }
        $so.Result = $so.TextBox.Text
    }, 'Normal')
}

function close_dialog {
    $so.Window.Dispatcher.invoke([action]{
       $so.Window.Close()
    }, 'Normal')
}

Finally, the main script invokes the dynamically created one and controls the form.

$run_script.Runspace = $rs
Clear-Host

$data = $run_script.BeginInvoke()

# TODO - synchronize properly

start-sleep 1
write-host $so.Result
send_text -Content 'The qick red focks jumped over the lasy brown dog.'
$cnt = 10
[bool] $done = $false
while (($cnt  -ne 0 ) -and -not $done) {
  write-output ('Text: {0} ' -f $so.Result )
  if ($so.Result -eq 'The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.' ){
    $done = $true;
  }
  else {
    start-sleep 10
  }
  $cnt --
}
close_dialog

if ( -not $done ){
    write-output 'Time is up!'
} else {
    write-output 'Well done!'
}

This example initializes the text with some typos.

TypeText1

and waits for the user to fix the typos. Once the text is corrected or the timeout expired, the form is closed and the summary is printed.

TypeText2

Due to somewhat more complex code needed for Powershell / WPF communication, it is advisable to start with the simpler example and only convert into final form once all event handlers execute as desired. Earlier examples can be reasonably quickly converted this way.

One can also arrange bidirectional communication between Form and script from the Form, e.g., loading some current data into the checkbox tooltip in a slightly modified version of the script below:

function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
    $Invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation -Scope 1).Value;
    if($Invocation.PSScriptRoot)
    {
        $Invocation.PSScriptRoot;
    }
    Elseif($Invocation.MyCommand.Path)
    {
        Split-Path $Invocation.MyCommand.Path
    }
    else
    {
        $Invocation.InvocationName.Substring(0,$Invocation.InvocationName.LastIndexOf("\"));
    }
}

$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
        'Result'  = [string] '';
        'ScriptDirectory'  = [string] '';

    'Window'  = [System.Windows.Window] $null ;
    'Control' = [System.Windows.Controls.ToolTip] $null ;
    'Contents' = [System.Windows.Controls.TextBox] $null ;
    'NeedData' = [bool] $false ;
    'HaveData' = [bool] $false ;

    })
$so.ScriptDirectory = Get-ScriptDirectory

$so.Result = ''
$rs =[runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so', $so)
$run_script = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript({

Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml = @"
<window height="190" removed="LightGray" title="About WPF" width="168" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation">
        <canvas>

        <img opacity=".7" source="$('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'clock.jpg' )" width="150" />
          <image.tooltip>
            <tooltip name="tooltip">
            <stackpanel>
              <label background="Blue" fontweight="Bold" foreground="White">
                The CheckBox
              </label>
              <stackpanel orientation="Horizontal">
                <img margin="2" name="hourglass" source="$('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'hourglass.jpg' )" visibility="Collapsed" width="20" />
              <textblock name="tooltip_textbox" padding="10" textwrapping="WrapWithOverflow" width="200">
                please wait...
              </textblock>
              </stackpanel>
            </stackpanel>
           </tooltip>
          </image.tooltip>

        </canvas>
</window>
"@

$reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader)
$so.Window  = $target
$control = $target.FindName("tooltip")
$so.Indicator = $target.FindName("hourglass")
$contents = $target.FindName("tooltip_textbox")
$so.Control = $control
$so.Contents = $contents
$handler_opened = {
  param (
    [Object]  $sender,
    [System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
        $so.Contents.Text = 'please wait...'
        $so.Indicator.Visibility = 'Visible'
    $so.NeedData  = $true
        $so.Result = ''
}
$handler_closed = {
  param (
    [Object]  $sender,
    [System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
        $so.HaveData = $false
    $so.NeedData = $false
}

[System.Management.Automation.PSMethod] $event_opened = $control.Add_Opened
[System.Management.Automation.PSMethod] $event_closed = $control.Add_Closed

$event_opened.Invoke( $handler_opened )
$event_closed.Invoke( $handler_closed)
$target.ShowDialog() | out-null
})

function send_text {
    Param (
        $content,
        [switch] $append
    )

    # NOTE - host-specific method signature:
    $so.Indicator.Dispatcher.invoke([System.Action]{
        $so.Indicator.Visibility = 'Collapsed'
    }, 'Normal')
    $so.Contents.Dispatcher.invoke([System.Action]{

        if ($PSBoundParameters['append_content']) {
            $so.Contents.AppendText($content)
        } else {
            $so.Contents.Text = $content
        }
    $so.Result = $so.Contents.Text
    }, 'Normal')
}

$run_script.Runspace = $rs
Clear-Host

$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()
While (-Not $handle.IsCompleted) {
    Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100
    if ($so.NeedData -and -not $so.HaveData){
      write-output ('Need to provide data' )
      Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 10
      send_text -Content (Date)
      write-output ('Sent {0}' -f $so.Result )
      $so.HaveData = $true
    }
}
$run_script.EndInvoke($handle)
$rs.Close()

Toolbox1

In this example, the ToolTip Opened,Closed events are used to set and clear the NeedData flag via Synchronized to the top level script than change the text to please wait and show the hourglass until the data is ready. The rendering of the data is again performed in the send_text. Note that the send_text function now invokes Dispatcher twice and the visual feedback is not perfect. Every time the mouse leaves and re-enters the Tooltip activation area, new data is requested and provided.

Toolbox2

TreeView

Plain

TreeView

Picking specific node from hierarchy grouped in some fashion is often required when launching Powershell script e.g. for metric collection.

function PromptTreeView
{
     Param(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message)

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections.Generic')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Text')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data')
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title
  $t = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $components = new-object System.ComponentModel.Container
  $f.SuspendLayout();
  $t.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $i = new-Object System.Windows.Forms.ImageList($components)
  $i.Images.Add([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Application)
  $t.ImageList = $i


  $t.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
        -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
        -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t.ImageIndex = -1
  $t.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t.Name = "treeFood"
  $t.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 256)
  $t.TabIndex = 1;
  $t_AfterSelect =  $t.add_AfterSelect
  $t_AfterSelect.Invoke({
    param(
    [Object] $sender,
    [System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
    if ($eventargs.Action -eq [System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewAction]::ByMouse)
    {
        write-host $eventargs.Node.FullPath
    }
})

 $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
 $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 266)
 $f.Controls.AddRange(@( $t))
 $f.Name = "TreeViewExample"
 $f.Text = "TreeView Example"
 $f_Load = $f.add_Load
 $f_Load.Invoke({
   param(
    [Object] $sender,
    [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
   )

    $node = $t.Nodes.Add("Fruits")
    $node.Nodes.Add("Apple")
    $node.Nodes.Add("Peach")

    $node = $t.Nodes.Add("Vegetables")
    $node.Nodes.Add("Tomato")
    $node.Nodes.Add("Eggplant")
})

  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.Name = 'Form1'
  $f.Text = 'TreeView Sample'
  $t.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'
  $f.KeyPreview = $false

  $f.Topmost = $True
  $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

  $t.Dispose()
  $f.Dispose()
}

Advanced

Custom Icons

By adding the ScriptDirectory property...

    private string _script_directory;
    public string ScriptDirectory
    {
        get { return _script_directory; }
        set { _script_directory = value; }
    }

...and updating the PromptTreeView signature to receive the $caller the script can pass its location to the Form via $caller.

$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$caller.ScriptDirectory = Get-ScriptDirectory

$result = PromptTreeView 'Items'  $caller

function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
#  implementation omitted
# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8343767/how-to-get-the-current-directory-of-the-cmdlet-being-executed
}

and the latter will be able to load custom icons:

   try {
     $script_path  = $caller.ScriptDirectory
    } catch [Exception] {
           # slurp the exception - debug code omitted
    }
    if ($script_path -eq '' -or $script_path -eq $null )  {
      $script_path = get-location
   }
  foreach ($n in @(1,2,3)){
     $image_path =  ( '{0}\color{1}.gif' -f $script_path ,  $n )
     $image = [System.Drawing.Image]::FromFile($image_path)
     $i.Images.Add($image)
  }

TreeView

and use distinct icons for individual nodes. Using the same technique, the caller script may describe which icons to render for which node.

$node = $t.Nodes.Add("Fruits")
    $apple = $node.Nodes.Add("Apple")
    $apple.ImageIndex  = 1

    $node.Nodes.Add("Peach")

    $node = $t.Nodes.Add("Vegetables")
    $tomato = $node.Nodes.Add("Tomato")
    $tomato.ImageIndex  = 2

Background Worker

The next iteration of this script also contains a more elaborated version of the event handler. The sample can be used to handle time-consuming validations that may be required when e.g. the object being offered to the user represents a remote location with some latency. It may be desirable to do such validation without forcing the user to quit the dialog. In the code below, the form TreeView element click instantiates a BackgroundWorker to process the operation on separate thread. The form currently provides no visual cue, that $worker has started, though it is clearly possible.

Thus modal dialogs are still OK - since the event handling code is 100% PowerShell, there is no need to arrange on complex synchronization between script and the form - every time the Form desires to run some data validations vis invoking some relevant PowerShell cmdlets, it can do it directly.

$worker = new-object System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker
    $worker.WorkerReportsProgress = $false;
    $worker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = $false;
    $worker_DoWork  = $worker.Add_DoWork
    $worker_DoWork.Invoke({
        param(
        [Object] $sender,
        [System.Windows.Forms.DoWorkEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
    })

All work is done in the Completed event handler. On the example, a text file 'etc/hosts' is open in Notepad and the thread waits for user to close notepad. This is standard example / recommended practice with Windows.Forms except the Backgroundworker is usually implemented in C#. It is nice to discover it works right out of the box with PowerShell code.

$worker_RunWorkerCompleted = $worker.Add_RunWorkerCompleted
    $worker_RunWorkerCompleted.Invoke({
        param(
        [Object] $sender,
        [System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs] $eventargs
        )
       $child_proc  = [System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start('notepad',"$env:windir\system32\drivers\etc\hosts")
       $child_proc.WaitForExit()
})

Tabbed

One would really like to plant tree views not into text boxes, but on tabs. This would make the option selection entirely mouse-driven and is possible.

The minor difference with the earlier example is the name of the event the treeview redraws after - for tabPage it is VisibleChangedEvent.

#
$panel1.add_VisibleChanged({
   param(
    [Object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
   )
    $t1.SuspendLayout()
    $t1.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t1.Nodes.Add('Target Environment')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Database Server')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Application Server')
    $sites = $node.Nodes.Add('Web Server')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t1.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t1.PerformLayout()
})

The full source is provided below:

function TabsWithTreeViews(
    [String] $title,
  [Object] $caller
    ){

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $panel2 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
  $panel1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
  $tab_contol1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabControl
  $panel2.SuspendLayout()
  $panel1.SuspendLayout()
  $tab_contol1.SuspendLayout()
  $f.SuspendLayout()

  $panel2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
  $panel2.Name = "tabPage2"
  $panel2.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
  $panel2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 352)
  $panel2.AutoSize  = $true
  $panel2.TabIndex = 1
  $panel2.Text = "Source Node"

  $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8,12)
  $l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(220,16)
  $l1.Text = 'enter status message here'

  $l1.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 8, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);

  $groupBox1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox

  $groupBox1.SuspendLayout()

  $groupBox1.Controls.AddRange( @($l1 ))
  $groupBox1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8,230)
  $groupBox1.Name = 'groupBox1'
  $groupBox1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(244,32)
  $groupBox1.TabIndex = 0
  $groupBox1.TabStop = $false
  $groupBox1.Text = 'status'


  $panel2.Controls.Add($groupBox1)

  $t2 = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $t2.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $i = new-Object System.Windows.Forms.ImageList($components)
  $i.Images.Add([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Application)
  $t2.ImageList = $i

  $t2.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t2.ImageIndex = -1
  $t2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t2.Name = "treeFood"
  $t2.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 224)

  $t2.AutoSize  = $true
  $t2.TabIndex = 1;
  $panel2.Controls.AddRange(@($t2))

 # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.tabpage.visiblechanged%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
   $panel2.add_VisibleChanged({
     param(
      [Object] $sender,
      [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
      )
    $t2.SuspendLayout()
    $t2.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t2.Nodes.Add('Source Environment')
    $server = $node.Nodes.Add('Test Server')
    $databases = $server.Nodes.Add('Databases')
    $server.Nodes.Add('DB 1')
    $server.Nodes.Add('DB 2')

    $server.Nodes.Add('Application')
    $sites = $server.Nodes.Add('IIS Web Sites')

    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t2.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t2.PerformLayout()
})

  $panel1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
  $panel1.Name = "tabPage1"
  $panel1.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
  $panel1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 252)
  $panel1.TabIndex = 0
  $panel1.Text = "Destination Node"

  $t1 = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $t1.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $t1.ImageList = $i

  $t1.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t1.ImageIndex = -1
  $t1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t1.Name = "treeFood"
  $t1.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 224)

  $t1.AutoSize  = $true
  $t1.TabIndex = 1;
  $panel1.Controls.AddRange(@($t1))

   $panel1.add_VisibleChanged({
       param(
          [Object] $sender,
          [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
       )
    $t1.SuspendLayout()
    $t1.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t1.Nodes.Add('Target Environment')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Database Server')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Application Server')
    $sites = $node.Nodes.Add('Web Server')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t1.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t1.PerformLayout()
})

  $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel1)
  $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel2)

  $tab_contol1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(13, 13)
  $tab_contol1.Name = "tabControl1"
  $tab_contol1.SelectedIndex = 1
  $tab_contol1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(267, 288)
  $tab_contol1.TabIndex = 0

  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
  $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 308)
  $f.Controls.Add($tab_contol1)
  $panel2.ResumeLayout($false)
  $panel2.PerformLayout()
  $panel1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $tab_contol1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.Topmost = $true


  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
  $f.KeyPreview = $True


  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

  $f.Dispose()
}

TreeView

Code is work in progress, with the intent to use status label for validation warnings and the worker process for more deep validation of selected environments.

TreeView

DropDown ComboBox

To manage Powershell Desired State Configuration Configuration Manager - Node - Provider - Attribute inputs in pre-V4 Powershell environment, one may wish to extend the treeview with combobox. For example, the custom TreeView Control with ComboBox Dropdown Nodes by Mattman206 can be used as follows. After compiling the class and placing the assembly in SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH folder, one loads it into the script, and adds to the form freely mixing System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode and DropDownTreeView.DropDownTreeNode nodes when processing the form's Load event:Mattman206 can be used as follows. After compiling the class and placing the assembly in SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH folder, one loads it into the script,

Tabbed

One would really like to plant tree views not into text boxes, but on tabs. This would make the option selection entirely mouse-driven and is possible.

The minor difference with the earlier example is the name of the event the treeview redraws after - for tabPage it is VisibleChangedEvent.

#
$panel1.add_VisibleChanged({
   param(
    [Object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
   )
    $t1.SuspendLayout()
    $t1.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t1.Nodes.Add('Target Environment')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Database Server')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Application Server')
    $sites = $node.Nodes.Add('Web Server')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t1.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t1.PerformLayout()
})

The full source is provided below:

function TabsWithTreeViews(
    [String] $title,
  [Object] $caller
    ){

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $panel2 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
  $panel1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
  $tab_contol1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabControl
  $panel2.SuspendLayout()
  $panel1.SuspendLayout()
  $tab_contol1.SuspendLayout()
  $f.SuspendLayout()

  $panel2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
  $panel2.Name = "tabPage2"
  $panel2.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
  $panel2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 352)
  $panel2.AutoSize  = $true
  $panel2.TabIndex = 1
  $panel2.Text = "Source Node"

  $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8,12)
  $l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(220,16)
  $l1.Text = 'enter status message here'

  $l1.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 8, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);

  $groupBox1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox

  $groupBox1.SuspendLayout()

  $groupBox1.Controls.AddRange( @($l1 ))
  $groupBox1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8,230)
  $groupBox1.Name = 'groupBox1'
  $groupBox1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(244,32)
  $groupBox1.TabIndex = 0
  $groupBox1.TabStop = $false
  $groupBox1.Text = 'status'


  $panel2.Controls.Add($groupBox1)

  $t2 = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $t2.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $i = new-Object System.Windows.Forms.ImageList($components)
  $i.Images.Add([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Application)
  $t2.ImageList = $i

  $t2.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t2.ImageIndex = -1
  $t2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t2.Name = "treeFood"
  $t2.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 224)

  $t2.AutoSize  = $true
  $t2.TabIndex = 1;
  $panel2.Controls.AddRange(@($t2))

 # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.tabpage.visiblechanged%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
   $panel2.add_VisibleChanged({
     param(
      [Object] $sender,
      [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
      )
    $t2.SuspendLayout()
    $t2.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t2.Nodes.Add('Source Environment')
    $server = $node.Nodes.Add('Test Server')
    $databases = $server.Nodes.Add('Databases')
    $server.Nodes.Add('DB 1')
    $server.Nodes.Add('DB 2')

    $server.Nodes.Add('Application')
    $sites = $server.Nodes.Add('IIS Web Sites')

    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t2.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t2.PerformLayout()
})

  $panel1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
  $panel1.Name = "tabPage1"
  $panel1.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
  $panel1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 252)
  $panel1.TabIndex = 0
  $panel1.Text = "Destination Node"

  $t1 = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $t1.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $t1.ImageList = $i

  $t1.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t1.ImageIndex = -1
  $t1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t1.Name = "treeFood"
  $t1.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 224)

  $t1.AutoSize  = $true
  $t1.TabIndex = 1;
  $panel1.Controls.AddRange(@($t1))

   $panel1.add_VisibleChanged({
       param(
          [Object] $sender,
          [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
       )
    $t1.SuspendLayout()
    $t1.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t1.Nodes.Add('Target Environment')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Database Server')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Application Server')
    $sites = $node.Nodes.Add('Web Server')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t1.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t1.PerformLayout()
})

  $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel1)
  $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel2)

  $tab_contol1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(13, 13)
  $tab_contol1.Name = "tabControl1"
  $tab_contol1.SelectedIndex = 1
  $tab_contol1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(267, 288)
  $tab_contol1.TabIndex = 0

  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
  $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 308)
  $f.Controls.Add($tab_contol1)
  $panel2.ResumeLayout($false)
  $panel2.PerformLayout()
  $panel1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $tab_contol1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.Topmost = $true


  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
  $f.KeyPreview = $True


  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

  $f.Dispose()
}

TreeView

Code is work in progress, with the intent to use status label for validation warnings and the worker process for more deep validation of selected environments.

TreeView

Tristate Treeview

With Powershell allowing administrator to manage large volume of data, it is often desirable to update complex object collections and a tristate treeview may be the to rescue. The following example wraps the custom TriStateTreeView class by RikTheVeggie. In fact the source TriStateTreeView.cs and has been embedded in the script unmodified - the only part that required modification was PopulateTree and triStateTreeView1_BeforeExpand from the test example - these methods have converted to Powershell semantics:

function populateTree {
  param(
    [System.Windows.Forms.TreeNodeCollection]$parent_nodes,
    [string]$text
  )
  # Add 5 nodes to the current node.  Every other node will have a child

  for ($i = 0; $i -lt 5; $i++) {

    [System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode]$tn = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode (("{0}{1}" -f $text,($i + 1)))

    if (($i % 2) -eq 0) {
      # add a 'dummy' child node which will be replaced at runtime when the parent is expanded
      $tn.Nodes.Add("")

    }
    # There is no need to set special properties on the node if adding it at form creation or when expanding a parent node.
    # Otherwise, set 
    # tn.StateImageIndex = [int]([RikTheVeggie.TriStateTreeView.CheckedState]::UnChecked)
    $parent_nodes.Add($tn)
  }
}

  $t = New-Object -typeName 'RikTheVeggie.TriStateTreeView'
  $t.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
  $t.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
  $t.Name = 'triStateTreeView1'
  $t.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (284,262)
  $t.TabIndex = 0
  populateTree -parent_nodes $t.Nodes -text ""
  $treeview_BeforeExpand = $t.add_BeforeExpand
  $treeview_BeforeExpand.Invoke({
    param(
      [object]$sender,
      [System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewCancelEventArgs]$e
    )
    # A node in the tree has been selected
    [System.Windows.Forms.TreeView]$tv = $sender
    $tv.UseWaitCursor = $true
    if (($e.Node.Nodes.Count -eq 1) -and ($e.Node.Nodes[0].Text -eq '')) {
      # This is a 'dummy' node.  Replace it with actual data
      $e.Node.Nodes.RemoveAt(0)
	  populateTree -parent_nodes $e.Node.Nodes -text $e.Node.Text
    }
    $tv.UseWaitCursor = $false

  })

The selected nodes information is stored in the $caller object and passed to the script in AfterCheck event handler which P.O.C:

$treeview_AfterCheck = $t.add_AfterCheck
  $treeview_AfterCheck.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewEventArgs]$eventargs
      )
        # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show($eventargs.Node.Text);
		if ( $eventargs.Node.Checked ) {
		  if ($eventargs.Node.Text -ne '') {
            $caller.Message += ('{0},' -f $eventargs.Node.Text)
		  }
		}  
    })

tristateTreeView

A more practically useful example combines Tri-State-Tree-View with the example fromMSDN, to collect all 'checked' nodes ina button click handler, loads the following sample data into RikTheVeggie.TriStateTreeView in Powershell (most of the System.Windows.Forms.TreeView operations are in C# part of the script):


$tree = @{

  'Vegetable' = @{
                  'Allium sativum' = @{
                                       'garlic' = '$null';
                                      };
                  'Phaseolus' = @{
                                  'green bean' = '$null';
                                  'haricot bean' = '$null';
                                  'French bean' = '$null';
                                  'runner bean' = '$null';
                                  'Lima bean' = '$null';
                                 };
  };
  'Fruit' = @{
              'Hesperidium' = @{
                                'Lemon' = '$null';
                                'Grapefruit' = '$null';
                                'Lime' = '$null';
                                'Orange' = '$null';
                               };
              'Pepo' = '$null';
              'True berry' = @{
                               'Lucuma' = '$null';
                               'Blueberry' = '$null';
...

- of course it can process arbitrary deeply-nested tree like:

$deeply_nested_tree =
@{
  'a' = @{
          'aa' = @{
                   'aaa' = @{
                             'aaaa' = @{
                                        'aaaaa' = '$null';
                                       }
                            };
                   'aab' = @{
                             'aaba' = '$null';
                            };
                   'aac' = '$null';
                  };
          'ab' = @{
                   'aba' = @{
                             'abaa' = '$null';
                             'abab' = '$null'
                            }
                  };
          'ac' = @{
                   'aca' = '$null';
                   'acb' = '$null';
                   'acc' = '$null';
                   'acd' = '$null';
                   'ace' = '$null';
                   'acf' = '$null';
                   'acg' = '$null';
                   'ach' = '$null';
                  };
          'ad' = '$null';
         };
  'b' = @{
          'ba' = '$null'
          'bb' = '$null';
          'bc' = '$null';
          'bd' = '$null';
          'be' = '$null';
         };
  'c ' = '$null';
 }

with the help of the following function:


function populateTree {
  param(
    [Object]$Object,
    [System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode]$parent_node
  )
 
  [System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode]$new_node

  if ( $Object -is [hashtable] ) {
    foreach ( $pair in $Object.GetEnumerator() ){
      # Add node
      if ($parent_node -eq $null) { 
        $new_node = $t.treeView1.Nodes.Add($pair.Key)
      } else {
        $new_node  = $parent_node.Nodes.Add($pair.Key)
      }
      # Recursion is here
      populateTree -object $pair.Value -parent_node $new_node 
    }
  }

}

and processes the selections via HashSet sampe code taken from www.java2s.com

if ($caller.Count -gt 0) {
  Write-Output 'Selection is : '
  $caller.GetEnumerator() | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_ }
} else { 
  Write-Output 'Nothing was selected.'

}

The treeView1_AfterCheck correctly updates the node checked state:

    private void treeView1_AfterCheck(object sender, TreeViewEventArgs e)
    {

        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5478984/treeview-with-checkboxes-in-c-sharp
        if (isDrawing) return;
        isDrawing = true;
        
        if (!e.Node.Checked)
        {

            if (e.Node.Parent!= null && !HasCheckedChildNodes(e.Node.Parent))
            {
                try
                {
                    e.Node.Parent.Checked = false;
                }
                catch { }
            }
        } 
        
        try
        {
            checkNodes(e.Node, e.Node.Checked);
        }
        finally
        {
            isDrawing = false;
        }
    }

The Show Selected Items button is collecting the nodes with checked (grand) children. The removal of the event handler does not work well when coded in Powershell, so everything is left in C#:

private void showCheckedNodesButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        treeView1.BeginUpdate();
        treeView1.CollapseAll();
        treeView1.BeforeExpand += checkForCheckedChildren;

        // Prevent Nodes without checked children from expanding 
        treeView1.ExpandAll();

        // Remove the checkForCheckedChildren event handler 
        treeView1.BeforeExpand -= checkForCheckedChildren;

        // Enable redrawing of treeView1.
        treeView1.EndUpdate();
    }

A Tree of Tab Items

Next example utilized the beautiful TreeTabControl. A Tree of Tab Items for Powershell.

There is a little public method to add to TreeTab/TreeTab/TreeTabControl.xaml.cs class to make Powershell use the class :

        /// <summary>
        /// Converts the string parameter to TreeItemType enumeration.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="_typestring">string</param>
        /// <returns>_type</returns>
        public TreeItem.TREEITEM_TYPE ConvertType(string _typestring ){
         TreeItem.TREEITEM_TYPE _type;
            if (String.Compare(_typestring, "MAIN", true) == 0)
            	_type = TreeItem.TREEITEM_TYPE.MAIN;         
            else
            	_type = TreeItem.TREEITEM_TYPE.GROUP;
            return _type;
        }

because the

 public enum TREEITEM_TYPE
        {
            MAIN,
            GROUP
        }

is inaccessible to Powershell.

One uses the original container XAML practically unmodified:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:custom="clr-namespace:TreeTab;assembly=TreeTab" Title="Window1" Margin="0,0,0,0" Height="244" Width="633">
  <Grid x:Name="Container">
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
      <RowDefinition Height="30"/>
      <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>
    <Grid>
      <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
      </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
      <Button x:Name="Hide_Tree" Grid.Column="1">Hide Tree</Button>
      <Button x:Name="Show_Tree" Grid.Column="0">Show Tree</Button>
    </Grid>
    <Grid x:Name="Container2" Grid.Row="1" Margin="5,5,5,5">
      <StackPanel x:Name="TreeTabContainer"></StackPanel>
    </Grid>
  </Grid>
</Window>

TreeView

The Powershell script initializes the plumbing code :

$shared_assemblies = @(
  'TreeTab.dll',
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')

$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}

pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object { Unblock-File -Path $_; Add-Type -Path $_ }
popd


Clear-Host


$reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader)

and after compiling the class and placing the assembly in SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH folder, places the instance of TreeTab.TreeTabControl into the StackPanel:

$t = New-Object -TypeName 'TreeTab.TreeTabControl'

$c = $target.FindName('TreeTabContainer')
$t.IsTreeExpanded = $true
$t.Name = 'treeTab'
[void]$t.HideTree()
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Global','Global',$false,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),'')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Staging_Environment','Staging Environment',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),'')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Test_Environment','Test Environment',$false,$t.ConvertType($t.ConvertType('GROUP')),'')

[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp0 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('Staging_Environment')
[TreeTab.TreeTabItem]$tItem = $t.AddTabItem('Certificates','Certificates',$false,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp0)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('IIS_Web_Sites','IIS Web Sites',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),$tp0)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Databases','Databases',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),$tp0)

[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp02 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('Databases')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('DB_1','DB 1',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp02)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('DB_2','DB 2',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp02)

[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp03 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('IIS_Web_Sites')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_1','Site 1',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp03)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_2','Site 2',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp03)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_3','Site 3',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp03)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_4','Site 4',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp03)


[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp01 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('Test_Environment')
[TreeTab.TreeTabItem]$t23 = $t.AddTabItem('Certificates1','Certificates',$false,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp01)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('IIS_Web_Sites2','IIS Web Sites',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),$tp01)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Databases2','Databases',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),$tp01)


[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp12 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('Databases2')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('DB_11','DB 1',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp12)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('DB_12','DB 2',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp12)

[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp13 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('IIS_Web_Sites2')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_11','Site 1',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp13)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_12','Site 2',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp13)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_13','Site 3',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp13)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_14','Site 4',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp13)


[void]$t.ShowTree()
[void]$c.AddChild($t)

$target.FindName("Hide_Tree").add_click.Invoke({
    [void]$t.HideTree()
  })
$target.FindName("Show_Tree").add_click.Invoke({
    [void]$t.ShowTree()
  })

$target.ShowDialog() | Out-Null

The class autmates the tab navigation. Next is to fill the tabs with standard WPF inputs and provide the domain-specific callbacks:

E.g. given

[xml]$parent_markup = @"

<pre lang="xml">
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="Window1" Margin="5,5,5,5" Height="310" Width="420">
<ScrollViewer>
    <WrapPanel>
  <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
  </Grid>
     </WrapPanel>
  </ScrollViewer>
</Window>

"@

and

[xml]$child_markup = @"

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<StackPanel xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
  <StackPanel.Resources>
    <Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBox}">
      <Setter Property="Margin" Value="0,10,0,0"/>
    </Style>
  </StackPanel.Resources>
  <Label x:Name="lblNumberOfTargetHits" HorizontalAlignment="Center">Input:</Label>
  <TextBox Width="120" x:Name="txtTargetKeyFocus" FontSize="12"/>
  <TextBox x:Name="txtTargetFocus" TextWrapping="Wrap" FontSize="12"/>
</StackPanel>

"@

nesting controls is accomplished just like:

$parent_reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $parent_markup)
$parent_target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($parent_reader)
$LayoutRoot = $parent_target.FindName("LayoutRoot")
$child_reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $child_markup)
$child_target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($child_reader)
$LayoutRoot.add_Loaded.Invoke({
    $LayoutRoot.Children.Add($child_target)
  })

To run code in WPF control event handlers one makes sure the controls are found by their markup x:Name attribute by $child, not $parent e.g:

$target = $child_target
$control = $target.FindName("txtTargetKeyFocus")

$handler_got_keyboard_focus = {
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.Windows.Input.KeyboardFocusChangedEventArgs]$e
  )
  $source = $e.Source
  $source.Background = [System.Windows.Media.Brushes]::LightBlue
  $source.Clear()

}
$handler_lost_keyboard_focus = {
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.Windows.Input.KeyboardFocusChangedEventArgs]$e
  )
  $source = $e.Source
  $source.Background = [System.Windows.Media.Brushes]::White
}

[System.Management.Automation.PSMethod]$event_got_keyboard_focus = $control.Add_GotKeyboardFocus
[System.Management.Automation.PSMethod]$event_lost_keyboard_focus = $control.Add_LostKeyboardFocus

$event_got_keyboard_focus.Invoke($handler_got_keyboard_focus)
$event_lost_keyboard_focus.Invoke($handler_lost_keyboard_focus)
$control = $null

continued with the remainder of controls.

Note: with the help of System.Management.Automation.TypeAccelerators assembly, one may save oneself from typing the full class names in the script:

$ta = [PSObject].Assembly.GetType('System.Management.Automation.TypeAccelerators')

Add-Type -AssemblyName 'PresentationCore','PresentationFramework' -Passthru |
Where-Object IsPublic |
ForEach-Object {
  $_class = $_
  try {
    $ta::Add($_class.Name,$_class)
  } catch {
    ( 'Failed to add {0} accelerator resolving to {1}' -f $_class.Name ,   $_class.FullName )
  }
}

with the help of the code above the following fragment

# http://poshcode.org/5730
[Window]@{
  Width = 310
  Height = 110
  WindowStyle = 'SingleBorderWindow'
  AllowsTransparency = $false
  TopMost = $true
  Content = & {
    $c1 = [StackPanel]@{
      Margin = '5'
      VerticalAlignment = 'Center'
      HorizontalAlignment = 'Center'
      Orientation='Horizontal'
    }

 $t = [textblock]@{}
$t.AddChild([label]@{
Margin = '5'
VerticalAlignment = 'Center'
HorizontalAlignment = 'Center'
FontSize = '11'
FontFamily = 'Calibri'
Foreground = 'Black'
Content = 'Enter Password:'
}
)
$c1.AddChild($t)
$c1.AddChild(
[passwordbox]@{
Name = 'passwordBox'
PasswordChar = '*'
VerticalAlignment = 'Center'
Width = '120'
}
)
$c1.AddChild(
[button]@{
Content = 'OK'
IsDefault = 'True'
Margin = '5'
Name = 'button1'
Width = '50'
VerticalAlignment = 'Center'
}
)
,$c1} | ForEach-Object {
  $_.Add_MouseLeftButtonDown({
      $this.DragMove()
    })
  $_.Add_MouseRightButtonDown({
      $this.Close()
    })
  $_.ShowDialog() | Out-Null
}

produces the similar effect as

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="Window1" Margin="5,5,5,5" Height="110" Width="310">

 <StackPanel xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" Orientation="Horizontal"  VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment = "Center">
   <TextBlock Margin="5" FontSize = "11" FontFamily = "Calibri">
             Enter Password:
         </TextBlock>
   <PasswordBox Name="passwordBox" PasswordChar="*" VerticalAlignment="Center" Width="120"/>
   <Button Content="OK" IsDefault="True" Margin="5" Name="button1"  Width="50" VerticalAlignment="Center"/>
 </StackPanel>
</Window>

In the majority of cases this leads to no ambiguity in event handlers

System Tray Notification Icon

Say the script is running a series of steps with verbose logs and takes a lot of time to complete. It is natural to spawn a Windows System tray Notification icon that would indicate what the ongoing process is doing. The key is how to arrange the code so the control remains in the main script.

With minimal modifications, the Notification icon in the system tray example provided by ScriptIT one can make the main script manifest its state to the Balloon Tip message and the console, and the build log file is used to render the tray icon menu and to pass additional information to it.

TreeView

#requires -version 2
Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework

function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
    $Invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation -Scope 1).Value;
    if($Invocation.PSScriptRoot)
    {
        $Invocation.PSScriptRoot;
    }
    Elseif($Invocation.MyCommand.Path)
    {
        Split-Path $Invocation.MyCommand.Path
    }
    else
    {
        $Invocation.InvocationName.Substring(0,$Invocation.InvocationName.LastIndexOf("\"));
    }
}

$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
        'Result'  = [string] '';
        'ConfigFile'  = [string] '';
        'ScriptDirectory'  = [string] '';
    'Form'  = [System.Windows.Forms.Form] $null ;
    'NotifyIcon' = [System.Windows.Controls.ToolTip] $null ;
    'ContextMenu' = [System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu] $null ;
    })
$so.ScriptDirectory = Get-ScriptDirectory
$so.Result = ''
$rs =[runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so', $so)

$run_script = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript({

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')

$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$so.Form  = $f
$notify_icon = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
$so.NotifyIcon = $notify_icon
$context_menu = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu
$exit_menu_item = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
$AddContentMenuItem = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem

$build_log = ('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'build.log' )

function Read-Config {
  $context_menu.MenuItems.Clear()
  if(Test-Path $build_log){
    $ConfigData = Get-Content $build_log
    $i = 0
    foreach($line in $ConfigData){
      if($line.Length -gt 0){
        $line = $line.Split(",")
        $Name = $line[0]
        $FilePath = $line[1]
        # Powershell style function invocation syntax
        $context_menu | Build-ContextMenu -index $i -text $Name -Action $FilePath
        $i++
      }
    }
  }

# Create an Exit Menu Item
$exit_menu_item.Index = $i+1
$exit_menu_item.Text = 'E&xit'
$exit_menu_item.add_Click({
$f.Close()
$notify_icon.visible = $false
})

$context_menu.MenuItems.Add($exit_menu_item) | Out-Null
}

function new-scriptblock([string]$textofscriptblock)
{
$executioncontext.InvokeCommand.NewScriptBlock($textofscriptblock)
}

# construct objects from the build log file and fill the context Menu
function Build-ContextMenu {
  param (
        [int]$index = 0,
        [string]$Text,
        [string] $Action
  )
begin
{
$menu_item = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
}
process
{
# Assign the Context Menu Object from the pipeline to the ContexMenu var
$ContextMenu = $_
}
end
{
# Create the Menu Item$menu_item.Index = $index
$menu_item.Text = $Text
$scriptAction = $(new-scriptblock "Invoke-Item $Action")
$menu_item.add_Click($scriptAction)
$ContextMenu.MenuItems.Add($menu_item) | Out-Null
}
}
# http://bytecookie.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/gui-creation-with-powershell-part-2-the-notify-icon-or-how-to-make-your-own-hdd-health-monitor/

$notify_icon.Icon = ('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'sample.ico' )
#
$notify_icon.Text = 'Context Menu Test'
# Assign the Context Menu
$notify_icon.ContextMenu = $context_menu
$f.ContextMenu = $context_menu

# Control Visibility and state of things
$notify_icon.Visible = $true
$f.Visible = $false
$f.WindowState = 'minimized'
$f.ShowInTaskbar = $false
$f.add_Closing({ $f.ShowInTaskBar = $False })
$context_menu.Add_Popup({Read-Config})
$f.ShowDialog()
})

function send_text {
    Param (
        [String] $title = 'script',
        [String] $message,
        [int]    $timeout = 10 ,
        [switch] $append
    )

    $so.NotifyIcon.ShowBalloonTip($timeout, $title , $message, [System.Windows.Forms.ToolTipIcon]::Info)
    write-output  -InputObject  ( '{0}:{1}' -f $title,  $message)
}

# -- main program --
clear-host
$run_script.Runspace = $rs

$cnt = 0
$total = 4
$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()

start-sleep 1

send_text -title 'script' -message 'Starting...' -timeout 10
$so.ConfigFile = $build_log = ('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'build.log' )
set-Content -path $build_log -value ''

While (-Not $handle.IsCompleted -and $cnt -lt $total) {
  start-sleep -Milliseconds 10000
  $cnt ++
  send_text -title 'script' -message ("Finished {0} of {1} items..."  -f $cnt, $total  )  -timeout 10
  write-output ("Subtask {0} ..." -f $cnt ) | out-file -FilePath $build_log -Append -encoding ascii
}

$so.Form.Close()

$run_script.EndInvoke($handle) | out-null
$rs.Close()
write-output 'All finished'

TreeView

Selenium Test

Next example shows performing a Selenium WebDriver transaction from PowerShell. There is still a lot of code to add to this example, but the portion developed already is hopefully worth seeing. A simple transaction is chosen for illustration here. It was converted from the following MS Test example.

using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Text;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
using Microsoft.Activities.UnitTesting;
using Moq;

using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Remote;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI;
using OpenQA.Selenium.IE;
using OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Safari;
namespace SeleniumTests
{
    [TestClass]
    public class SeleniumTest
    {

    private static IWebDriver driver;
    private static StringBuilder verificationErrors = new StringBuilder();
        private string baseURL;
        private bool acceptNextAlert = true;

        [ClassCleanup()]
        public static void MyClassCleanup() {
            try {
        driver.Quit();
            } catch (Exception) {
                // Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
            }
            Assert.AreEqual("", verificationErrors.ToString());
        }

        [TestInitialize()]
        public void MyTestInitialize()
        {
         // DesiredCapabilities capability = DesiredCapabilities.PhantomJSDriver();
         // error CS0117: 'OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities' dos not contain a definition for 'PhantomJSDriver'
         // DesiredCapabilities capability = DesiredCapabilities.Firefox();
         // driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri("http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub"), capability );
         // driver = new PhantomJSDriver();
         driver = new SafariDriver();
         Assert.IsNotNull(driver );

         driver.Url =  baseURL = "http://www.wikipedia.org";
         driver.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitlyWait( TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10 )) ;
         verificationErrors = new StringBuilder();

        }

        [TestCleanup()]
        public void MyTestCleanup() {

    }

        [TestMethod]
        public void Test()
        {

            // Arrange
            driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(baseURL + "/");
            WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10)) ;

            // Act
            IWebElement queryBox = driver.FindElement(By.Id("searchInput"));
            queryBox.Clear();
            queryBox.SendKeys("Selenium");
        queryBox.SendKeys(Keys.ArrowDown);
            queryBox.Submit();
            driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("Selenium (software)")).Click();
            // Assert
            Assert.IsTrue(driver.Title.IndexOf("Selenium (software)") > -1, driver.Title);
        }
    }
}

which in turn is essentially an MS Test decorated Selenium IDE recording.

The conversion to Powershell was made using similar approach as the rest of the examples in this article - mainly through consulting the API documents.

The script uses PhantomeJS Selenium driver for quick test run and a real Firefox browser for a thorough run.

All standard Selenium C# client API dlls are placed in the folder pointed to by SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH environment.

$shared_assemblies =  @(
    'WebDriver.dll',
    'WebDriver.Support.dll',
    'Selenium.WebDriverBackedSelenium.dll',
    'Moq.dll'
)

$shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | foreach-object { Unblock-File -Path $_ ; Add-Type -Path  $_ }
popd

Naturally, if there is a business logic layer or DSL wrapping low level WebDriver calls, it can be compiled from C# into a standalone assembly DLL and made available to the PowerShell in much the same way

$testSuite = [System.Reflection.AssemblyName]::GetAssemblyName('${assembly_path}\BusinessTestSuite.dll')

$framework = [System.Reflection.Assembly]::ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(
'${assembly_path}\BusinessSpecificWebDriverFramework.dll')

To avoid copying the Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework.dll but load from where it is installed on the machine, and make the familiar assertion calls available in the script, the following code performs a quick discovery. For simplicity just the Microsoft Test Agent InstallLocation registry key scan is shown, additional keys need to be tried, note that Visual Studio Express Edition does not install this dll, while the Enterprize installs several copies.

function read_registry{
  param ([string] $registry_path,
         [string] $package_name

)

pushd HKLM:
cd -path $registry_path
$settings = get-childitem -Path . | where-object { $_.Property  -ne $null } | where-object {$_.name -match  $package_name } |   select-object -first 1
$values = $settings.GetValueNames()

if ( -not ($values.GetType().BaseType.Name -match  'Array' ) ) {
  throw 'Unexpected result type'
}
$result = $null
$values | where-object {$_ -match 'InstallLocation'} | foreach-object {$result = $settings.GetValue($_).ToString() ; write-debug $result}

popd
$result

}

$shared_assemblies =  @(
    'Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework.dll'
)

$shared_assemblies_path = (  "{0}\{1}" -f   ( read_registry -registry_path '/HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Uninstall' -package_name '{6088FCFB-2FA4-3C74-A1D1-F687C5F14A0D}' ) , 'Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies' )
$shared_assemblies_path =
pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | foreach-object { Unblock-File -Path $_ ; Add-Type -Path  $_ }
popd

[Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.Assert]::AreEqual("true", (@('true','false') | select-object -first 1) )

Based on switch, the script initializes either phantom or real browser driver ...

if ($PSBoundParameters['browser']) {

  Try {
    $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
    $connection.Connect('127.0.0.1',4444)
    $connection.Close()
    }
  catch {
    $selemium_driver_folder = 'c:\java\selenium'
    start-process -filepath 'C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe' -argumentlist "start cmd.exe /c ${selemium_driver_folder}\hub.cmd"
    start-process -filepath 'C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe' -argumentlist "start cmd.exe /c ${selemium_driver_folder}\node.cmd"
    start-sleep 10
  }

  $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Firefox()
  $uri = [System.Uri]('http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub')
  $driver = new-object OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver($uri , $capability)
} else {
  $phantomjs_executable_folder = 'C:\tools\phantomjs'
  $driver = new-object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSDriver($phantomjs_executable_folder)
  $driver.Capabilities.SetCapability('ssl-protocol', 'any' );
  $driver.Capabilities.SetCapability('ignore-ssl-errors', $true);
  $driver.capabilities.SetCapability("takesScreenshot", $false );
  $driver.capabilities.SetCapability("userAgent",
              "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1) AppleWebKit/534.34 (KHTML, like Gecko) PhantomJS/1.9.7 Safari/534.34")
}

There is no need to explicitly start PhantomJS driver.

Finally, the test begins (the implementations of Get-ScriptDirectory and Assert are not shown and can be found in the attached source zip and author's github repo).

# http://selenium.googlecode.com/git/docs/api/dotnet/index.html
[void]$driver.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitlyWait( [System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(10 ))
[string]$baseURL = $driver.Url = 'http://www.wikipedia.org';
$driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(('{0}/' -f $baseURL ))
[OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$queryBox = $driver.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::Id('searchInput'))

$queryBox.Clear()
$queryBox.SendKeys('Selenium')
$queryBox.SendKeys([OpenQA.Selenium.Keys]::ArrowDown)
$queryBox.Submit()
$driver.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::LinkText('Selenium (software)')).Click()
$title =  $driver.Title
assert -Script { ($title.IndexOf('Selenium (software)') -gt -1 ) } -message $title

Pretending that the test failed, the script navigates to the URL identifying the browser and takes a screenshot.

$driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.whatismybrowser.com/")
[OpenQA.Selenium.Screenshot]$screenshot = $driver.GetScreenshot()
$screenshot_path = $env:SCREENSHOT_PATH
$screenshot.SaveAsFile(('{0}\{1}' -f $screenshot_path, 'a.png' ), [System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat]::Png)

Browser

and finishes the test run.

try {
  $driver.Quit()
} catch [Exception] {
  # Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
}

One would possibly introduce a separate script via proper CreateRunspace call and develop Synchronized object to allow controlling the invocation of $driver.GetScreenshot call when some test fails, from a separate Powershell runspace connected to main script (this is currently work in progress) in a similar way the System Tray Notification icon has controlled in an earlier example.

The Selenium RC version of the script would be loading different libraries and switch to Nunit library Asserts.

$shared_assemblies =  @(
    'ThoughtWorks.Selenium.Core.dll',
    'nunit.core.dll',
    'nunit.framework.dll'
)

and invoke different methods:

$verificationErrors = new-object System.Text.StringBuilder
$selenium = new-object Selenium.DefaultSelenium('localhost', 4444, '*firefox', 'http://www.wikipedia.org/')
$selenium.Start()
$selenium.Open('/')
$selenium.Click('css=strong')
$selenium.WaitForPageToLoad('30000')
$selenium.Type('id=searchInput', 'selenium')
$selenium.Click('id=searchButton')
$selenium.WaitForPageToLoad('30000')
$selenium.Click('link=Selenium (software)')
$selenium.WaitForPageToLoad('30000')

the rest of the script will be unchanged.

RC Driver called from Powershell

Naturally one can craft script directly in Powershell ISE which would save a lt of developer time.

TreeView

To work with laterst version of Firefox (e.g. 33) one needs ensure the specific versions of Selenium C# libraries are loaded - similar version check is important for Nunit to access StringAssert:

$shared_assemblies = @{
  'WebDriver.dll' = 2.44;
  'WebDriver.Support.dll' = '2.44';
  'nunit.core.dll' = $null;
  'nunit.framework.dll' = '2.6.3';

}

$shared_assemblies.Keys | ForEach-Object {
  $assembly = $_
  $assembly_path = [System.IO.Path]::Combine($shared_assemblies_path,$assembly)
  $assembly_version = [Reflection.AssemblyName]::GetAssemblyName($assembly_path).Version
  $assembly_version_string = ('{0}.{1}' -f $assembly_version.Major,$assembly_version.Minor)
  if ($shared_assemblies[$assembly] -ne $null) {
 
    if (-not ($shared_assemblies[$assembly] -match $assembly_version_string)) {
      Write-Output ('Need {0} {1}, got {2}' -f $assembly,$shared_assemblies[$assembly],$assembly_path)
      Write-Output $assembly_version
      throw ('invalid version :{0}' -f $assembly)
    }
  }

  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $_;
  }
  Write-Debug $_
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd

One very promising potential enhancement is related to handling File download dialogs or multi-option Internet Explorer Alert popups. These not well supported by pure Selenium. Either a separate tool like Autoit is to be bundled in the test framework or one of many workarounds need to be adopted - the latter option sometimes feels somewhat quirky.

When the Selenium test is executed by Powershell, one may incorporate the class that invokes win32 API from C# and uses EnumWindows, GetWindowInfo, EnumPropsEx, GetProp, GetWindowText, GetWindowTextLength, GetWindowThreadProcessId win32 API from user32.dll via [DllImport()] and loads numerous necessary structures defined in Windows.h to access the window handle and invoke PostMessage or SendMessage on desired button or simply CloseWindow on the Alert / File Download dialog found by title. The latter would cause one test to fail but will prevent the entire test suite from hanging after browser loses the mouse focus. This is explained in several resources in the web.

and " save="" as"="" dialog="" is="" closed="" by="" sending="" it="" a="" WM_CLOSE Windows message.

With a little more P/invoke

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern Int32 SendMessage(IntPtr hwnd, UInt32 Msg, IntPtr wParam, [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string lParam);

    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.SysUInt)]
    [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = false)]
    static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, UInt32 Msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    static extern int GetClassName(IntPtr hWnd, StringBuilder lpClassName, int nMaxCount);

    public static string GetText(IntPtr hWnd)
    {
        int length = GetWindowTextLength(hWnd);
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(length + 1);
        GetWindowText(hWnd, sb, sb.Capacity);
        return sb.ToString();
    }
    private static string GetWindowClassName(IntPtr hWnd)
    {
        int nRet;
        StringBuilder ClassName = new StringBuilder(256);
        nRet = GetClassName(hWnd, ClassName, ClassName.Capacity);
        return (nRet != 0) ? ClassName.ToString() : null;
    }
    public static void SetText(IntPtr hWnd, String text)
    {

        UInt32 WM_SETTEXT = 0x000C;
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(text);
        int result = SendMessage(hWnd, WM_SETTEXT, (IntPtr)sb.Length, (String)sb.ToString());
    }

one may locate the elements of the dialog and enter some text into file name text box and send a buttonclick to save as button.

    private static bool EnumWindow(IntPtr handle, IntPtr pointer)
    {
        GCHandle gch = GCHandle.FromIntPtr(pointer);
        String window_class_name = GetWindowClassName(handle);
        // Set textbox text - filename to save
        if (string.Compare(window_class_name, "Edit", true, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) == 0 ) {
            // http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd375731%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
            const UInt32 WM_CHAR = 0x0102;
            const UInt32 WM_KEYDOWN = 0x0100;
            const UInt32 WM_KEYUP = 0x0101;
            const UInt32 VK_RETURN = 0x0D;
            SendMessage(handle, WM_CHAR, new IntPtr(WM_KEYDOWN), IntPtr.Zero);
            SetText(handle, @"c:\temp\my random filename");
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            SendMessage(handle, WM_CHAR, new IntPtr(VK_RETURN), IntPtr.Zero);
        }
        // Click 'Save'
        if (string.Compare(window_class_name, "Button", true, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) == 0 ) {
            string button_text = GetText(handle);
            if (string.Compare(button_text, "&Save", true, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) == 0) {
                SetText(handle, "About to click");
                const UInt32 BM_CLICK = 0x00F5;
                Thread.Sleep(1000);
                SendMessage(handle, BM_CLICK, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);
            }
        }

        List<IntPtr> list = gch.Target as List<IntPtr>;
        if (list == null)
            throw new InvalidCastException("cast exception");
        list.Add(handle);
        return true;
    }

Save As manipulation

Note that without sending the "Enter" key the Windows Explorer would have ignored the text entered behind the scene and saved the file in the original location / name.

Save As manipulation

The modified code is provided in the archive. With minimal effort one has the class integrated with PowerShell, but extending the example to be really useful is more work and somewhat beyond the scope of this article.

Another interesting possible scenario is when the target web site is hosted on Tomcat running on Linux host but the Internet Explorer integration tests are required to run. With the following boilerplate Perl code snippet, one would be able to launch the PowerShell script remotely through ssh: cygwin, TeamCity, Jenkins, etc.

use Net::SSH::Perl;
use Data::Dumper;
use constant DEBUG => 0;

our ($HOSTNAME, $USER, $PASSWORD );
my $POWERSHELL_SCRIPT = ...
$HOSTNAME = '192.168.56.102';
$USER = 'cyg_server';
$PASSWORD = 'cyg_server';

# workaround cygwin console IO challenge
my $ssh_command =
"cat /dev/null|\
/cygdrive/c/Windows/system32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe \
-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -command \"&{ $POWERSHELL_SCRIPT }\"";

print STDERR $ssh_command if (DEBUG) ;

my $ssh = Net::SSH::Perl->new( $HOSTNAME, debug => 0 );
$ssh->login( $USER, $PASSWORD );

my ( $stdout, $stderr, $exitcode ) = $ssh->cmd( $ssh_command, undef );
print STDERR Dumper \[ $stdout, $stderr, $exitcode ];

1;

END

This clearly is not necessary with Selenium grid test script, but may be used for other situations.

For example by running the following textbook Powershell script through ssh

Import-module WebAdministration
$WebSiteAlias = 'Test'
$AppPoolAlias = 'Test'
pushd 'IIS:\Sites\Default Web Site'
$IISPath = "..\$WebSiteAlias"
if (Test-Path $IISPath) {
  Write-Host "Web Site '$WebSiteAlias' exists."
}
$IISPath = "IIS:\AppPools"
cd $IISPath
if (Test-Path ".$AppPoolAlias") {
  Write-Host "Application Pool '$AppPoolAlias' exists."
}

The result will be available to a caller script...

Linux invoking Powershell

This is useful when the business runs a mixed Tomcat / IIS web sites, and for some reason deployment has to be orchestrated from Linux machine. In this case, more complex Powershell code will be user for, e.g. performing some app pools checks, invoking msdeploy.exe, followed by the business-specific web sites "priming", from Linux

Generic Selenium Automation

The following Selenium automation script fragment selects the Carribbean honeymoon vacation cruise from one of cruise vendors. The code for selecting Destination, Date range and Number of Travelers is quite redundant and is shown only partially. The full working script is available in the zip.

# Select destination
$value1 = 'dest'
$css_selector1 = ('a[data-param={0}]' -f $value1)
try {

  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1)))
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}

$element1 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($element1.Text -match 'Select a destination' ))

Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element1.Text)
$element1.Click()
Start-Sleep 1

$value2 =  'C'
$css_selector2 = ('a[data-id={0}]' -f $value2)
try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element2 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2)))
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
$element2 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))

Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element2.Text)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions2 = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($selenium)
$actions2.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element2).Build().Perform()
$actions2.Click().Build().Perform()
Start-Sleep 3


$value1 = 'dat'
$css_selector1 = ('a[data-param={0}]' -f $value1)
try {

  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1)))
##
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}

$element1 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($element1.Text -match 'Select a date'))

Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element1.Text)
$element1.Click()
Start-Sleep 1

$value2 =  '"022015"'
$css_selector2 = ('a[data-id={0}]' -f $value2)
try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element2 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2)))
##
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
$element2 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))
Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element2.Text)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions2 = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($selenium)
$actions2.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element2).Build().Perform()
$actions2.Click().Build().Perform()
Start-Sleep 3

$value1 = 'numGuests'
$css_selector1 = ('a[data-param={0}]' -f $value1)
try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1)))
##
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}

$element1 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($element1.Text -match 'How many travelers'))

Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element1.Text)
$element1.Click()
Start-Sleep 1

$value2 =  '"2"'
$css_selector2 = ('a[data-id={0}]' -f $value2)
try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150

  [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element2 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2)))
##
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
$element2 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))
Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element2.Text)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions2 = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($selenium)
$actions2.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element2).Build().Perform()
$actions2.Click().Build().Perform()
Start-Sleep 3

$css_selector1 = 'div.actions > a.search'
try {
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}

$element1 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($element1.Text -match 'SEARCH'))
Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element1.Text)
$element1.Click()

Start-Sleep 10

try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Screenshot]$screenshot =  $selenium.GetScreenshot()
  $guid = [guid]::NewGuid()
  $image_name = ($guid.ToString())
  [string]$image_path = ('{0}\{1}\{2}.{3}' -f (Get-ScriptDirectory),'temp',$image_name,'.jpg')
  $screenshot.SaveAsFile($image_path,[System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat]::Jpeg)

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output $_.Exception.Message
}
# Cleanup
try {
  $selenium.Quit()
} catch [exception]{
  # Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
}

Selenium

The script can successfully replay in any browser except IE 11. The following code selects the browser:

param(
  [string]$browser,
  [int]$version
)
...
if ($browser -ne $null -and $browser -ne '') {
  try {
    $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
    $connection.Connect("127.0.0.1",4444)
    $connection.Close()
  } catch {
    Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\hub.cmd"
    Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\node.cmd"
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
  }
  Write-Host "Running on ${browser}"
  if ($browser -match 'firefox') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Firefox()

  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'chrome') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Chrome()
  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'ie') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::InternetExplorer()
    if ($version -ne $null -and $version -ne 0) {
      $capability.SetCapability("version", $version.ToString());
    }
  }

  elseif ($browser -match 'safari') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Safari()
  }
  else {
    throw "unknown browser choice:${browser}"
  }
  $uri = [System.Uri]("http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub")
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver ($uri,$capability)
} else {
  Write-Host 'Running on phantomjs'
...

When executed the script prints minimal breadcrumps indicating actions taken.

Uploading a file with Selenium sendKeys

The following example translates a text on www.freetranslation.com. The page contains the following fragment:

Three button prompt

<div class="gw-upload-action clearfix">
  <div id="upload-button" class="btn"><img class="gw-icon upload" alt="" src="http://d2yxcfsf8zdogl.cloudfront.net/home-php/assets/home/img/pixel.gif"/>
         Choose File(s)                        
        <div class="ajaxupload-wrapper" style="width: 300px; height: 50px;"><input class="ajaxupload-input" type="file" name="file" multiple=""/></div>
    </div>
</div>

The scripts writes text to a file and uploads it:

[void]$selenium.Manage().timeouts().ImplicitlyWait([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(60))

$base_url = 'http://www.freetranslation.com/'

$text_file = ('{0}\{1}' -f (Get-ScriptDirectory),'testfile.txt')
Write-Output 'good morning driver' | Out-File -FilePath $text_file -Encoding ascii
$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)
$selenium.Manage().Window.Maximize()
$upload_element = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::ClassName('ajaxupload-input'))
$upload_element.SendKeys($text_file)

then waits until the following element is present:

Three button prompt

<a href="..." class="gw-download-link">
  <img class="gw-icon download" src="http://d2yxcfsf8zdogl.cloudfront.net/home-php/assets/home/img/pixel.gif"/>
  Download
</a>

[OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
$wait.PollingInterval = 100

[OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element1 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::ClassName("gw-download-link")))

[OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element2 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector('img.gw-icon')))
$text_url = $element1.getAttribute('href')

and downloads the results:

$result = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $text_url
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($result.RawContent -match 'Bonjour pilote'))

and verifies the result against a known translation.

Selenium IDE Powershell Formatter

Next, one would exclude C# from the pipeline and record Powershell transaction directly in Selenium IDE. Custom formatting is fully supported; one does not need to bother with packaging the xpi at the early development phase.

To proceed, author forks one of the existing repositories, by David Zwarg and modifies the C# formatter to follow Powershell syntax and do other necessary adjustments. All that is needed to create formatter is one file.

Three button prompt

One thing to be careful is not to start with Selenium Remote Control - based plugins: The RC plugin can be developed but protocol is outdated and in particular no headless drivers is available.

The full JavaScript source of the formatter is not displayed here yet: it is an alpha-quality design, with pull request pending. Conversion between IDE commands, intermediate JavaScript method prototypes and final C# method calls is quite a pain.

The source is available on the author's github repo.

The plugin inherits from the webdriver.js,

if (!this.formatterType) {
  var subScriptLoader = Components.classes['@mozilla.org/moz/jssubscript-loader;1'].getService(Components.interfaces.mozIJSSubScriptLoader);
  subScriptLoader.loadSubScript('chrome://selenium-ide/content/formats/webdriver.js', this);
}

and currently adds minimal functionality of its own - currently there exist quite a few formatters with nearly identical code.

The modifications consists of providing full class paths in all method references, e.g.

WDAPI.Utils.isElementPresent = function(how, what) {
return "IsElementPresent(" + WDAPI.Driver.searchContext(how, what) + ")";
};

becomes:

WDAPI.Utils.isElementPresent = function(how, what) {
  return '[Selenium.Internal.SeleniumEmulation]::IsElementPresent(' + WDAPI.Driver.searchContext(how, what) + ')';
};

and tweaking semantics, e.g:

Equals.prototype.toString = function() {
  return this.e1.toString() + ' == ' + this.e2.toString() ;
}

becomes:

Equals.prototype.toString = function() {
  return this.e1.toString() + ' -eq ' + this.e2.toString();
};

It looks natural to use Nunit.dll however accessing the StringAssert appears to be a little problematic, thus one may choose to use Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework.dll as shown earlier

All Powershell initialization code from the earlier example goes into header option of the driver class:

this.options = {
  receiver: '$selenium',
  base_url: 'http://docs.seleniumhq.org/docs/02_selenium_ide.jsp',
  driver_namespace: "OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox",
  driver_capabilities: "Firefox()",
  showSelenese: 'false',
  indent: '4',
  initialIndents:  '3',
  header:
     'Param (\n'+
     indents(1) + '[switch] $browser\n'+
     ')\n'
  // ...
   '$capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::${driver_capabilities}\n' +
  // ...

  footer:
     '# Cleanup\n' +
     'try {\n' +
     indents(1) + '$selenium.Quit()\n' +
     '} catch [Exception] {\n' +
     indents(1) + '# Ignore errors if unable to close the browser\n' +
          '}\n',
  defaultExtension: 'ps1'
};

Key properties converted into regular formatter Inputs:

this.configForm =
    '<description>Selenium instance name</description>' +
    '<textbox id="options_receiver" />' +
    '<description>WebDriver Capabilities</description>' +
    '<menulist id="options_driver_capabilities"><menupopup>' +
    '<menuitem label="Firefox" value="Firefox()"/>' +
    '<menuitem label="Google Chrome" value="Chrome()"/>' +
    '<menuitem label="Safari" value="Safari()"/>' +
    '<menuitem label="Internet Explorer" value="InternetExplorer()"/>' +
    '</menupopup></menulist>'+
  // ...

Selenium IDE options

At the later stage of the development, one will arrange the sources as appropriate for xpi and craft the chrome.manifest, install.rdf and format-loader.xul, e.g.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet href="chrome://global/skin/" type="text/css"?>

<overlay id="webdriver_format_loader_overlay"
         xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"
         xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <script type="application/x-javascript" src="chrome://selenium-ide/content/api.js"/>
    <html:script type="application/javascript">
        var ide_api = new API();
        ide_api.addPlugin("powershell-webdriver-formatter@serguei.kouzmine");
        ide_api.addPluginProvidedFormatter("powershell-webdriver", "Powershell - WebDriver", "chrome://powershell-webdriver-formatter/content/formats/powershell-webdriver.js");
        ide_api.addPluginProvidedFormatter("powershell-remotecontrol", "Powershell - RC", "chrome://powershell-webdriver-formatter/content/formats/powershell-remotecontrol.js");
    </html:script>
</overlay>

This enables packaging into standalone Firefox Add-On via simple batch command (or equivalent bash script)

@echo off
setlocal

pushd %~dp0


set APP_NAME="powershell-webdriver-formatter"
set CHROME_PROVIDERS="content"

set ROOT_DIR=%CD%
set TMP_DIR="build"

REM remove any left-over files from previous build
del /Q %APP_NAME%.xpi
del /S /Q %TMP_DIR%

mkdir %TMP_DIR%\chrome\content

robocopy.exe content %TMP_DIR%\chrome\content /E
robocopy.exe locale %TMP_DIR%\chrome\locale /E
robocopy.exe skin %TMP_DIR%\chrome\skin /E
robocopy.exe defaults %TMP_DIR%\defaults /E
copy install.rdf %TMP_DIR%
copy chrome.manifest.production %TMP_DIR%\chrome.manifest

rem Package the XPI file
cd %TMP_DIR%
echo "Generating %APP_NAME%.xpi..."

PATH=%PATH%;%ProgramFiles%\7-Zip;%ProgramFiles(x86)%\7-Zip

7z.exe a -r -y -tzip ../%APP_NAME%.zip *

cd %ROOT_DIR%
rename %APP_NAME%.zip %APP_NAME%.xpi

endlocal

Thre logo border

To use the formatter,

Open Selenium IDE, record the transaction
Select Options from the Options menu
Select the "Formats" tab
- Fill the inputs if the formatter xpi was loaded or
- Click on the "Add" button
- Name the format
- Paste and save the Javascript source (losing the inputs)
In the "File" "Export Test Case as..." select the format

If everything is done right, the generated Powershell script will need no modifications and can be run right away.

For example, in the following fragment, after loading the required assemblies and launching the Selenium, draws a border around the Google logo by executing a Javascript code in the context of the loaded page, through Selenium.

$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl('http://www.google.com')
[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement] $element = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::Id("hplogo"))[OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('style', arguments[1]);", $element, "color: yellow; border: 4px solid yellow;")
start-sleep 3
  [OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('style', arguments[1]);", $element, '')

The Logo border

Clearly the Javascript is the only part that matters here. Sacrificing the overhead of C# project seems to be appropriate.

Another possible examle would execute $selenium.Manage().Timeouts().setScriptTimeout and [OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteAsyncScript followed by $selenium.FindElement to either "stamp" the build information into the page or, instead perform checks and store the answer into a dynamically appended div element and communicate the assertion results back to the script (work in progress).

Small-time development activities e.g. standard CI post-deployment web site "warm-up" are also likely to be easier through Selenium IDE with subsequent launch from Powershell rather then via coding a separate application.

Show Selenium Debugging messages on Explorer Taskbar

The following example combines code from Hosting And Changing Controls In Other Applicationswith a typical Selenium transaction (this one involving frames). Some web sites are really coded to be sensitive to mouse hover events. This example shows debugging the transaction in the situation when additional monitor is not available e.g. in VirtualBox, and the browser is maximized to fill the screen leaving no room to trace the execution.

The code from Hosting And Changing Controls In Other Applications responsible for adding an extra control to already running window, is used without modifications, but some changes being planned, one keeps the source together with the script rather than compiling it into an assembly

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
namespace System.Windows
{
    class Win32WindowEvents
    {
//...
    public static class WinAPI
    {
//...
        public static class Win32ControlType
        {
            public static string Button = "Button";

//... 
    ///

The goal is to stock the Windows control on a TaskBar

function custom_debug {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$local:button_ref,
    [string]$message
  )
  Write-Debug $message
  $local:button = $local:button_ref.Value
  if ($local:button -eq $null) {
    $exlorer_window = [System.Windows.Win32Window]::FromProcessName('explorer')
    # $window.ClassName = Shell_TrayWnd
    $exlorer_window.Title = "A control WINDOW";
    $local:button = New-Object System.Windows.Win32Button
    # NOTE: The position and size are manually set
    $local:button.TopMost = $true
    $local:button.Width = 600
    $local:button.Height = 60
    $x = ($exlorer_window.Position.Right - $local:button.Width)
    $y = -20

    $local:button.Pos_X = $x
    $local:button.Pos_Y = $y

    $local:button.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',7,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
    $exlorer_window.AddControl($local:button)

    $local:button_ref.Value = $local:button
  }
  $local:button.Text = $message
}

The Debug button

This button is used to display debugging messages and (WIP) pause the execution of the script.

$shared_assemblies = @(
  'WebDriver.dll',
  'WebDriver.Support.dll',
  'nunit.core.dll',
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)


$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}

pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object {

  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $_;
  }
  Write-Debug $_
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
# Convertfrom-JSON applies To: Windows PowerShell 3.0 and above
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue($host.Version.Major -gt 2)

$hub_host = '127.0.0.1'
$hub_port = '4444'

$uri = [System.Uri](('http://{0}:{1}/wd/hub' -f $hub_host,$hub_port))
[object]$button = $null

custom_debug ([ref]$button) 'Starting firefox'

if ($browser -ne $null -and $browser -ne '') {
  try {
    $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
    $connection.Connect($hub_host,[int]$hub_port)
    $connection.Close()
  } catch {
    Start-Process -FilePath 'C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe' -ArgumentList 'start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\hub.cmd'
    Start-Process -FilePath 'C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe' -ArgumentList 'start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\node.cmd'
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
  }
  Write-Host "Running on ${browser}"
  if ($browser -match 'firefox') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Firefox()

  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'chrome') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Chrome()
  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'ie') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::InternetExplorer()
  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'safari') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Safari()
  }
  else {
    throw "unknown browser choice:${browser}"
  }
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver ($uri,$capability)
} else {
  # this example may not work with phantomjs 
  $phantomjs_executable_folder = "c:\tools\phantomjs"
  Write-Host 'Running on phantomjs'
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSDriver ($phantomjs_executable_folder)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("ssl-protocol","any")
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("ignore-ssl-errors",$true)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("takesScreenshot",$true)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("userAgent","Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1) AppleWebKit/534.34 (KHTML, like Gecko) PhantomJS/1.9.7 Safari/534.34")
  $options = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSOptions
  $options.AddAdditionalCapability("phantomjs.executable.path",$phantomjs_executable_folder)
}

[void]$selenium.Manage().timeouts().ImplicitlyWait([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(60))

$selenium.url = $base_url = 'http://translation2.paralink.com'
$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl(($base_url + '/'))

[string]$xpath = "//frame[@id='topfr']"
[object]$top_frame = $null
find_page_element_by_xpath ([ref]$selenium) ([ref]$top_frame) $xpath
$current_frame = $selenium.SwitchTo().Frame($top_frame)

[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($current_frame.url,('{0}/{1}' -f $base_url,'newtop.asp'),$current_frame.url)
Write-Debug ('Switched to {0} {1}' -f $current_frame.url,$xpath)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Switched to {0} {1}' -f $current_frame.url,$xpath)
$top_frame = $null

[string]$text = 'Spanish-Russian translation'
$css_selector = 'select#directions > option[value="es/ru"]'
[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $null
find_page_element_by_css_selector ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element) $css_selector
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($text,$element.Text,$element.Text)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('selected "{0}"' -f $text)
$element.Click()
$element = $null

custom_pause

[string]$xpath2 = "//textarea[@id='source']"

[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $null
find_page_element_by_xpath ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element) $xpath2
highlight ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($current_frame)
$actions.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element).Click().Build().Perform()

$text = @"
Yo, Juan Gallo de Andrada, escribano de C?mara del Rey nuestro se?or, de los que residen en su Consejo, certifico y doy fe que, habiendo visto por los se?ores d?l un libro intitulado El ingenioso hidalgo de la Mancha, compuesto por Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, tasaron cada pliego del dicho libro a tres maraved?s y medio; el cual tiene ochenta y tres pliegos, que al dicho precio monta el dicho libro docientos y noventa maraved?s y medio, en que se ha de vender en papel;.
"@
[void]$element.SendKeys($text)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Entered "{0}"' -f $text.Substring(0,100))
$element = $null

Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 1000
$css_selector = 'img[src*="btn-en-tran.gif"]'

$title = 'Translate'
find_page_element_by_css_selector ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element) $css_selector
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($title,$element.GetAttribute('title'),$element.GetAttribute('title'))
highlight ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($current_frame)
$actions.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element).Click().Build().Perform()
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Clicked on "{0}"' -f $title)

$element = $null
custom_pause

[void]$selenium.SwitchTo().DefaultContent()

[string]$xpath = "//frame[@id='botfr']"
[object]$bot_frame = $null
find_page_element_by_xpath ([ref]$selenium) ([ref]$bot_frame) $xpath
$current_frame = $selenium.SwitchTo().Frame($bot_frame)
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($current_frame.url,('{0}/{1}' -f $base_url,'newbot.asp'),$current_frame.url)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Switched to {0}' -f $current_frame.url)
$bot_frame = $null

[string]$xpath2 = "//textarea[@id='target']"

[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $null
find_page_element_by_xpath ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element) $xpath2
highlight ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element)
$text = $element.Text
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Read "{0}"' -f $text.Substring(0,100))
custom_pause

# https://code.google.com/p/selenium/source/browse/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/HttpCommandExecutor.java?r=3f4622ced689d2670851b74dac0c556bcae2d0fe
# write-output $frame.PageSource
[void]$selenium.SwitchTo().DefaultContent()

$current_frame = $selenium.SwitchTo().Frame(1)
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($current_frame.url,('{0}/{1}' -f $base_url,'newbot.asp'),$current_frame.url)

custom_pause

[void]$selenium.SwitchTo().DefaultContent()
$current_frame = $selenium.SwitchTo().Frame(0)
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($current_frame.url,('{0}/{1}' -f $base_url,'newtop.asp'),$current_frame.url)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Switched to {0}' -f $current_frame.url)
custom_pause

[void]$selenium.SwitchTo().DefaultContent()
Write-Debug ('Switched to {0}' -f $selenium.url)

# Cleanup
cleanup ([ref]$selenium)

$button.Visible = $false

The Transaction

The full source is available in the zip.

Selenium EventFiring WebDriver example

The following is a quick example of SeleniumEventFiringWebDriver access from Powershell. One captures the result of an Ajax auto-suggestion by running code after Selenium events

param(
  [string]$browser = 'firefox',
  [int]$event_delay = 250,
  [switch]$pause

)


function netstat_check
{
  param(
    [string]$selenium_http_port = 4444
  )

  $results = Invoke-Expression -Command "netsh interface ipv4 show tcpconnections"

  $t = $results -split "`r`n" | Where-Object { ($_ -match "\s$selenium_http_port\s") }
  (($t -ne '') -and $t -ne $null)

}

function cleanup
{
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$selenium_ref
  )
  try {
    $selenium_ref.Value.Quit()
  } catch [exception]{
    Write-Output (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0]
    # Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
  }
}

$shared_assemblies = @(
  'WebDriver.dll',
  'WebDriver.Support.dll',# for Events
  'nunit.core.dll',
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)

$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}
pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object {
  # Unblock-File -Path $_; 
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
$verificationErrors = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder
$phantomjs_executable_folder = "C:\tools\phantomjs"
if ($browser -ne $null -and $browser -ne '') {
  try {
    $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
    $connection.Connect("127.0.0.1",4444)
    $connection.Close()
  } catch {
    Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\hub.cmd"
    Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\node.cmd"
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
  }
  Write-Host "Running on ${browser}" -foreground 'Yellow'
  if ($browser -match 'firefox') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Firefox()

  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'chrome') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Chrome()
  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'ie') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::InternetExplorer()
    if ($version -ne $null -and $version -ne 0) {
      $capability.SetCapability("version",$version.ToString());
    }

  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'safari') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Safari()
  }
  else {
    throw "unknown browser choice:${browser}"
  }
  $uri = [System.Uri]("http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub")
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver ($uri,$capability)
} else {
  Write-Host 'Running on phantomjs' -foreground 'Yellow'
  $phantomjs_executable_folder = "C:\tools\phantomjs"
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSDriver ($phantomjs_executable_folder)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("ssl-protocol","any")
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("ignore-ssl-errors",$true)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("takesScreenshot",$true)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("userAgent","Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1) AppleWebKit/534.34 (KHTML, like Gecko) PhantomJS/1.9.7 Safari/534.34")
  $options = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSOptions
  $options.AddAdditionalCapability("phantomjs.executable.path",$phantomjs_executable_folder)
}


if ($host.Version.Major -le 2) {
  [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  $selenium.Manage().Window.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (600,400)
  $selenium.Manage().Window.Position = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
} else {
  $selenium.Manage().Window.Size = @{ 'Height' = 400; 'Width' = 600; }
  $selenium.Manage().Window.Position = @{ 'X' = 0; 'Y' = 0 }
}

$window_position = $selenium.Manage().Window.Position
$window_size = $selenium.Manage().Window.Size

$base_url = 'http://www.google.com/'

# TODO: invoke NLog assembly for quicker logging triggered by the events
# www.codeproject.com/Tips/749612/How-to-NLog-with-VisualStudio

$event = New-Object -Type 'OpenQA.Selenium.Support.Events.EventFiringWebDriver' -ArgumentList @( $selenium)

$element_value_changing_handler = $event.add_ElementValueChanging
$element_value_changing_handler.Invoke(
  {
    param(
      [object]$sender,
      [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.Events.WebElementEventArgs]$eventargs
    )
    Write-Host 'Value Change handler' -foreground 'Yellow'
    if ($eventargs.Element.GetAttribute('id') -eq 'gbqfq') {
      $xpath1 = "//div[@class='sbsb_a']"
      try {
        [OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$local:element = $sender.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::XPath($xpath1))
      } catch [exception]{
      }
      Write-Host $local:element.Text -foreground 'Blue'
    }

  })

$verificationErrors = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder
$base_url = 'http://www.google.com'
$event.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)

# protect from blank page
[OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($event,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(10))
$wait.PollingInterval = 50
[void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::Id("hplogo")))

$xpath = "//input[@id='gbqfq']"

# for mobile
# $xpath = "//input[@id='mib']"

[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $event.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::XPath($xpath))

# http://software-testing-tutorials-automation.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-handle-ajax-auto-suggest-drop.html
$element.SendKeys('Sele')
# NOTE:cannot use 
# [OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($event)
# $actions.SendKeys($element,'Sele')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys('nium')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys(' webdriver')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys(' C#')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys(' tutorial')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys([OpenQA.Selenium.Keys]::Enter)
Start-Sleep 10

# Cleanup
cleanup ([ref]$event)

The Google suggestions

Misc. Utilities

One can port the Console Monitor from c# to Powershell to periodically collect desktop screen shots on the grid computer as needed by some Continuous Integration build automation

# http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/816113/Console-Monitor
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
// "
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
public class WindowHelper
{
    private int _count = 0;
    public int Count
    {
        get { return _count; }
        set { _count = value; }
    }
   public String TakeScreenshot()
    {
        Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width, Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height);
        Graphics gr = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);
        gr.CopyFromScreen(0, 0, 0, 0, bmp.Size);
        string str = string.Format(@"C:\temp\Snap[{0}].jpeg", _count);
        bmp.Save(str, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
        bmp.Dispose();
        gr.Dispose();
        return str;
    }
    public WindowHelper()
    {
    }

}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll','System.Drawing.dll','System.Data.dll'

$timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer

[int32]$max_iterations = 20
[int32]$iteration = 0

$action = {

  Write-Host "Iteration # ${iteration}"
  Write-Host "Timer Elapse Event: $(get-date -Format 'HH:mm:ss')"
  $owner = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  $owner.count = $iteration
  $owner.Screenshot()
  $iteration++
  if ($iteration -ge $max_iterations)
  {
    Write-Host 'Stopping'
    $timer.stop()
    Unregister-Event thetimer -Force 
    Write-Host 'Completed'   
  }
}

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName elapsed -SourceIdentifier thetimer -Action $action

Note that one ca not pass the data by reference to the script function called from the timer event and hence one can not execute the Add-Type remotely

 $action = {

  param(
   [System.Management.Automation.PSReference] $ref_screen_grabber 
)
  [Win32Window]$screen_grabber = $ref_screen_grabber.Value

followed by

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName elapsed -SourceIdentifier thetimer -Action $action -MessageData  ([ref]$owner )

will break. Debugging this further is Work in progress

To toggle the Powershell console window minimize when the form is displayed, one can use the following code:

Add-Type -Name Window -Namespace Console -MemberDefinition @"
// "
[DllImport("Kernel32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();
 
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 nCmdShow);
"@

Screenshots

One can port the Console Monitor from c# to Powershell to periodically collect desktop screen shots on the grid computer as needed by some Continuous Integration build automation

# http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/816113/Console-Monitor
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
// "
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
public class WindowHelper
{
    private int _count = 0;
    public int Count
    {
        get { return _count; }
        set { _count = value; }
    }
   public String TakeScreenshot()
    {
        Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width, Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height);
        Graphics gr = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);
        gr.CopyFromScreen(0, 0, 0, 0, bmp.Size);
        string str = string.Format(@"C:\temp\Snap[{0}].jpeg", _count);
        bmp.Save(str, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
        bmp.Dispose();
        gr.Dispose();
        return str;
    }
    public WindowHelper()
    {
    }

}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll','System.Drawing.dll','System.Data.dll'

$timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer

[int32]$max_iterations = 20
[int32]$iteration = 0

$action = {

  Write-Host "Iteration # ${iteration}"
  Write-Host "Timer Elapse Event: $(get-date -Format 'HH:mm:ss')"
  $owner = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  $owner.count = $iteration
  $owner.Screenshot()
  $iteration++
  if ($iteration -ge $max_iterations)
  {
    Write-Host 'Stopping'
    $timer.stop()
    Unregister-Event thetimer -Force 
    Write-Host 'Completed'   
  }
}

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName elapsed -SourceIdentifier thetimer -Action $action

Note that one ca not pass the data by reference to the script function called from the timer event and hence one can not execute the Add-Type remotely

 $action = {

  param(
   [System.Management.Automation.PSReference] $ref_screen_grabber 
)
  [Win32Window]$screen_grabber = $ref_screen_grabber.Value

followed by

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName elapsed -SourceIdentifier thetimer -Action $action -MessageData  ([ref]$owner )

will break. Debugging this further is Work in progress

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
 
$showButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$showButton.Text = 'ShowConsole'
$showButton.Top = 10
$showButton.Left = 10
$showButton.Width = 100
$showButton.add_Click({Show-Console})
$form.controls.Add($showButton)
 
$hideButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$hideButton.Text = 'HideConsole'
$hideButton.Top = 60
$hideButton.Left = 10
$hideButton.Width = 100
$hideButton.add_Click({hide-Console})
$form.controls.Add($hideButton)
 
$Form.ShowDialog()

IpBox

The functions operate constants from winuser.h

function Show-Console {
   $consolePtr = [Console.Window]::GetConsoleWindow()
  #5 show
 [Console.Window]::ShowWindow($consolePtr, 5)
}
 
function Hide-Console {
    $consolePtr = [Console.Window]::GetConsoleWindow()
  #0 hide
 [Console.Window]::ShowWindow($consolePtr, 0)
}

IpBox

Crafting Selenium Scripts in Powershell ISE<</a>

One can find it convenient to use Poweshell ISE together with Firebug or other Browser-hosted Developer tool to craft the actual scrtipt:

param(
  [string]$hub_host = '127.0.0.1',
  [string]$browser,
  [string]$version,
  [string]$profile = 'Selenium',
  [switch]$pause = $true
)

function set_timeouts {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$selenium_ref,
    [int]$explicit = 120,
    [int]$page_load = 600,
    [int]$script = 3000
  )

  [void]($selenium_ref.Value.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitlyWait([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds($explicit)))
  [void]($selenium_ref.Value.Manage().Timeouts().SetPageLoadTimeout([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds($pageload)))
  [void]($selenium_ref.Value.Manage().Timeouts().SetScriptTimeout([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds($script)))

}

# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8343767/how-to-get-the-current-directory-of-the-cmdlet-being-executed
function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
  $Invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation -Scope 1).Value
  if ($Invocation.PSScriptRoot) {
    $Invocation.PSScriptRoot
  }
  elseif ($Invocation.MyCommand.Path) {
    Split-Path $Invocation.MyCommand.Path
  } else {
    $Invocation.InvocationName.Substring(0,$Invocation.InvocationName.LastIndexOf(""))
  }
}

function cleanup
{
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$selenium_ref
  )
  try {
    $selenium_ref.Value.Quit()
  } catch [exception]{
    # Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
    Write-Output (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0]

  }
}

$shared_assemblies = @{
  'WebDriver.dll' = 2.44;
  'WebDriver.Support.dll' = '2.44';
  'nunit.core.dll' = $null;
  'nunit.framework.dll' = '2.6.3';

}

$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}

pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies.Keys | ForEach-Object {
  # http://all-things-pure.blogspot.com/2009/09/assembly-version-file-version-product.html
  $assembly = $_
  $assembly_path = [System.IO.Path]::Combine($shared_assemblies_path,$assembly)
  $assembly_version = [Reflection.AssemblyName]::GetAssemblyName($assembly_path).Version
  $assembly_version_string = ('{0}.{1}' -f $assembly_version.Major,$assembly_version.Minor)
  if ($shared_assemblies[$assembly] -ne $null) {
    # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26999510/selenium-webdriver-2-44-firefox-33
    if (-not ($shared_assemblies[$assembly] -match $assembly_version_string)) {
      Write-Output ('Need {0} {1}, got {2}' -f $assembly,$shared_assemblies[$assembly],$assembly_path)
      Write-Output $assembly_version
      throw ('invalid version :{0}' -f $assembly)
    }
  }

  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $_;
  }
  Write-Debug $_
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd

$verificationErrors = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder

$hub_port = '4444'
$uri = [System.Uri](('http://{0}:{1}/wd/hub' -f $hub_host,$hub_port))

try {
  $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
  $connection.Connect($hub_host,[int]$hub_port)
  $connection.Close()
} catch {
  Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\selenium.cmd"

  Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
}
[object]$profile_manager = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfileManager

[OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfile]$selected_profile_object = $profile_manager.GetProfile($profile)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfile]$selected_profile_object = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfile ($profile)
$selected_profile_object.setPreference('general.useragent.override','Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16')

$selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxDriver ($selected_profile_object)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfile[]]$profiles = $profile_manager.ExistingProfiles


$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
$base_url = 'http://www.codeproject.com/'

$selenium.Manage().Window.Size = @{ 'Height' = 600; 'Width' = 480; }
$selenium.Manage().Window.Position = @{ 'X' = 0; 'Y' = 0 }

$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)
set_timeouts ([ref]$selenium)

$css_selector = 'span.member-signin'
Write-Debug ('Trying CSS Selector "{0}"' -f $css_selector)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(1))

try {

  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector)))

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception with {0}: {1} ...`n(ignored)" -f $id1,(($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
Write-Debug  ('Found via CSS Selector "{0}"' -f $css_selector )

# highlight the element
[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector))
[OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('style', arguments[1]);",$element,'border: 2px solid red;')
Start-Sleep 3
[OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('style', arguments[1]);",$element,'')

# Click on the element:
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($selenium)

try {
$actions.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element).Click().Build().Perform()

} catch [OpenQA.Selenium.WebDriverTimeoutException]{
  # Ignore
  # 
  # Timed out waiting for async script result  (Firefox)
  # asynchronous script timeout: result was not received (Chrome)
  [NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue($_.Exception.Message -match '(?:Timed out waiting for page load.)')
}

$input_name = 'ctl01$MC$MemberLogOn$CurrentEmail'
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(1))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 100

  $xpath = ( "//input[@name='{0}']"  -f  $input_name)
  Write-Debug ('Trying XPath "{0}"' -f $xpath)

try {
  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementIsVisible([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::XPath($xpath)))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception with {0}: {1} ...`n(ignored)" -f $id1,(($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
  Write-Debug ('Found XPath "{0}"' -f $xpath)

[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::XPath($xpath))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue($element.GetAttribute('type') -match 'email')
$email_str = 'kouzmine_serguei@yahoo.com'
$element.SendKeys($email_str)



# Do not close Browser / Selenium when run from Powershell ISE
if (-not ($host.name -match 'ISE') ) {

if ($PSBoundParameters['pause']) {
  try {
    [void]$host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey('NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown')
  } catch [exception]{}

} else {
  Start-Sleep -Millisecond 1000
}

# Cleanup
 cleanup ([ref]$selenium)
}

Lets dissect this script. The following screenshot illustrates the proces.

Extreme Case

For an example of relatively big syntax difference between C# and Powershell consider converting the custom input element handler responsible for processing the ipv4 address input fields from IpBox in C# for beginners article by Mervick.

The C# version (fragment):

		private void OnTextChange(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
		{
			int box_type = 0;

			CultureInfo MyCultureInfo = new CultureInfo("en-GB");

			double d;

			if( sender.Equals( ip1 ) )
				box_type = 1;
			if( sender.Equals( ip2 ) )
				box_type = 2;
			if( sender.Equals( ip3 ) )
				box_type = 3;
			if( sender.Equals( ip4 ) )
				box_type = 4;

			switch( box_type )
			{
				case 1:

					if( this.ip1.Text.Length > 0 && this.ip1.Text.ToCharArray()[this.ip1.Text.Length - 1] == '.' )
					{
						this.ip1.Text = this.ip1.Text.TrimEnd( '.' );
						ip1.Text = (this.ip1.Text.Length > 0 ) ? int.Parse( this.ip1.Text ).ToString() : "0" ;
						ip2.Focus();
						return;
					}

					// integer validation
					if( double.TryParse(
						this.ip1.Text,
						System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Integer,
						MyCultureInfo,
						out d ) == false
						)
					{
						this.ip1.Text = this.ip1.Text.Remove( 0, this.ip1.Text.Length );
						return;
					}

					// change focus to the next textbox if fully inserted
					if( this.ip1.Text.Length == 3 )
					{
						if( int.Parse( this.ip1.Text ) >= 255 )
							this.ip1.Text = "255";
						else
							ip1.Text = int.Parse( ip1.Text ).ToString();
						ip2.Focus();
					}
					break;
				case 2:
...

The equivalent Powershell version:

function text_changed () {
param(
[object]$sender,
[System.EventArgs]$eventargs
)
[int]$box_type = 0
[System.Globalization.CultureInfo]$ci = New-Object System.Globalization.CultureInfo ("en-GB")
[double]$d = 0
if ($sender -eq $ip1) {
$box_type = 1 }
if ($sender -eq $ip2) {
$box_type = 2 }
if ($sender -eq $ip3) {
$box_type = 3 }
if ($sender -eq $ip4) {
$box_type = 4 }
switch ($box_type)
{
1 {
if (($ip1.Text.Length -gt 0) -and ($ip1.Text.ToCharArray()[$ip1.Text.Length - 1] -eq '.'))
{
$ip1.Text = $ip1.Text.TrimEnd('.')
if ($ip1.Text.Length -gt 0) {
$ip1.Text = [int]::Parse($ip1.Text).ToString()
} else {
$ip1.Text = '0'
}
$ip2.Focus()
return
}
# integer validation
if ([double]::TryParse(
$ip1.Text,
[System.Globalization.NumberStyles]::Integer,
$ci,
([ref]$d)) -eq $false
)
{
$ip1.Text = $ip1.Text.Remove(0,$ip1.Text.Length)
return
}
# change focus to the next textbox if fully inserted
if ($ip1.Text.Length -eq 3) {
if ([int]::Parse($ip1.Text) -ge 255) {
$ip1.Text = '255'
} else {
$ip1.Text = [int]::Parse($ip1.Text).ToString()
}
$ip2.Focus()
}
}
2 {
...

IpBox

In this example, conversion should probably be avoided. The full script source is available in the source zip file.

Dissecting the Process

Preliminary Discussion

In this section, we convert C# to a runnable Powershell script one step at a time, in 3 steps followed by 2 more steps.

Download the code from http://www.java2s.com/Code/CSharp/GUI-Windows-Form/MyClockForm.htm, save is in a text file timer.cs. Compile and ensure it runs in console:
```
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\csc.exe timer.cs

invoke-expression -command './timer.exe'
```

Create a blank text file timer_iter1.ps1, put the following boilerplate code there:

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
// -- about to paste the c# code below. Any class would do
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll', 'System.Drawing.dll', 'System.Data.dll', 'System.ComponentModel.dll'

$clock = New-Object MyClock.MyClockForm
$clock.ShowDialog()
$clock.Dispose()

Inspect the namespace and class name of the class being converted, make sure Powershell is creating the instance of the same class.

namespace MyClock
{
public class MyClockForm : System.Windows.Forms.Form {
/// implementation
} }

hence New-Object MyClock.MyClockForm.

Figure out which are the needed assemblies from the 'using' area of the C# class:

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data;

Paste the code of the class into the Powershell script Add-Type cmdlet TypeDefinition's text argument and ensure it is runnable.

. ./timer_iter1.ps1

If receiving the error:
```
Add-Type : Cannot add type. The type name 'Win32Window' already exists.
```
the Powershell window needs to be recycled. Of course if one receives:
```
Add-Type : Cannot add type. Compilation errors occurred.
FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,
```
you will need to fix the code.

The Powershell version of the class should look and feel the same as compiled executable but clearly there is no obvious way to share the data between script and dialog yet.
Now turn the script process into the caller of the dialog explicitly.

Note that http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.form.showdialog(v=vs.90).aspx describes two alternative signatures of the ShowDialog method every Windows Form responds to. The latter of the two is accepting the owner object.

ShowDialog(IWin32Window) Shows the form as a modal dialog box with the specified caller.

Any class implementing IWin32Window can become the owner of the windows modal dialog with an arbitrary Window Forms inside.

So we repeat the earlier Add-Type code blend exercise with a plain C# object code source passed in:
```
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

// "
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
public class Win32Window : IWin32Window
{
    private IntPtr _hWnd;
    private int _data;
    private string _message;

    public int Data
    {
        get { return _data; }
        set { _data = value; }
    }
    public string Message
    {
        get { return _message; }
        set { _message = value; }
    }

    public Win32Window(IntPtr handle)
    {
        _hWnd = handle;
    }

    public IntPtr Handle
    {
        get { return _hWnd; }
    }
}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll'
```
The code above is implemented the single method required for the interfact IWin32Window - constructor with a handle to the window. The other properties in the code above Data and Message properties are not required by the interface but are essential to tie the parts together.
Finally, change the code to deal with the caller.
- Pass the argument to Windows.Forms:
```
$process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle )

  $timer.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($process_window) ) | out-null

write-output $process_window.GetHashCode()
```
- Access the object from within the form:
  You need to add a member variable to the class and modify the following two methods. Note this is not required when implementing the PowerShell version. There must be a better way to illustrate this. For now, the goal is to move to Powershell version, and eventually discard the modified class. This sort of 'justifies' the hack.
```
private void OnTimerElapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
        {
            // The interval has elapsed and this timer function is called after 1 second
            // Update the time now.
            label1.Text = DateTime.Now.ToString();

            label1.Text = String.Format("My Clock {0} {1}", caller.ToString(), caller.GetHashCode() );
        }

    public new DialogResult ShowDialog(IWin32Window caller){
        this.caller = caller ;
        return base.ShowDialog(caller);
    }
```
  On the other hand, when the code being ported is a more complex form than in this example, it would be helpful to exchange all domain specific data the same object $caller regardless of the complexity. One can test either side of the pipeline in Visual Studio or in Powershell ISE and mock the opposite side without worrying much about details.
Save the code as timer_iter2.ps1 and confirm it still runs.

Running the script yields the same object available to both script and form.

Actual Conversion to Powershell

The next step is to selectively re-write the methods and elements of the form in Powershell and get rid of 'chimera' code. It would not be easy to make the C# compiler accept the fact that the $caller responds to many additional data messages . Another option, to use reflection, does not lead to compact or pretty code.

The required code edits are all semantic.

Get rid of instance references (this) and the class decorations, constructors, namespaces and such. The member this.timer1 becomes $timer1 and so on. The this becomes simply the $f - the form object.
Amend the semantics of method calls: new System.Timers.Timer(); becomes new-object System.Timers.Timer, etc. When found class instantiation inside the method call argument, it appears safe to separate the nested method calls.
Change the semantics of constant resolutions:System.Drawing.ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter becomes [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleCenter etc. Always provide fully resolved class names: ImageList il = new ImageList(); would have to become $il = new-object System.Windows.Forms.ImageList etc. If uncertain, check through MSDN.
Watch for minor semantic difference like -eq instead of ==, -bor instead of | and the like
Initially run the visual layout, but comment the event propagation. Once the form begins to show, deal with events.

Make sure that event handler(s) is defined before using those with events: for example moving the first lines in the following code to the top
```
$button1_Click = {
   param(
    [Object] $sender,
    [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
    )
    [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show('hello');
}
$button1.Add_Click($button1_Click)
```
would lead to the form to cease showing the blank messagebox when $button1 is clicked.

Create a wrapping PowerShell function, add the code to make the form visible.

$f.ResumeLayout($false)
$f.Topmost = $true
$f.Activate()
$f.Displose()

Move the $caller and showDialog(...) inside the Powershell function.

$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
[void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

The result would look like the following:

function exampleTimer(
    [Object] $caller= $null
    )
{
$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$timer1 = new-object System.Timers.Timer
$label1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Label


$f.SuspendLayout()
$components = new-object System.ComponentModel.Container
$label1.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 14.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);
$label1.ForeColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::Highlight
$label1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(24, 8)
$label1.Name = "label1"
$label1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(224, 48)
$label1.TabIndex = 0;
$label1.Text = [System.DateTime]::Now.ToString()
$label1.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleCenter

$f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
$f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 69)
$f.Controls.AddRange(@( $label1))
$f.Name = 'MyClockForm';
$f.Text = 'My Clock';

# This was added - it does not belong to the original Form
$eventMethod=$label1.add_click
$eventMethod.Invoke({$f.Text="You clicked my label $((Get-Date).ToString('G'))"})

# This silently ceases to work
$f.Add_Load({
  param ([Object] $sender, [System.EventArgs] $eventArgs )
    $timer1.Interval = 1000
    $timer1.Start()
    $timer1.Enabled = $true

})

$timer1.Add_Elapsed({
     $label1.Text = [System.DateTime]::Now.ToString()
})

# This loudly ceases to start the timer "theTimer"
$global:timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer
$global:timer.Interval = 1000
Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $global:timer -EventName Elapsed -SourceIdentifier theTimer -Action {AddToLog('') }
$global:timer.Start()
$global:timer.Enabled = $true

function AddToLog()
{
param ([string] $text )

     $label1.Text = [System.DateTime]::Now.ToString()
}

$f.ResumeLayout($false)
$f.Topmost = $True

if ($caller -eq $null ){
  $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
}

$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
$f.ShowDialog([Win32Window] ($caller) )

}

This will have almost everything in place except for the event handler that does not seem to be triggered - the time stamp is not updating. This code apparently needs to be fixed.

Debugging the Timer Problem

After some debugging, it appears that the script is not properly dealing with the timer object that was owned by the Windows.Form class instance but no longer is. This constitutes a separate issue to fix, and work is underway. To prove that most of the event handlers can be converted to run Powershell code with nearly zero effort, the click handler was added to the label

$eventMethod=$label1.add_click
$eventMethod.Invoke({$f.Text="You clicked my label $((Get-Date).ToString('G'))"})

PromptForChoice

and clicked. The result looks as expected.

To recap writing the equivalent code in Powershell based on C# blueprint for the form layout and handling the events were the two remaining steps promised earlier in this chapter.

The visual design replication step is clearly a no brainer, a typing exercise at best. With Windows Presentation Foundation it is even unnecessary: one is able to load the same XAML.

Event management on the contrary may consume some effort to tame.

In the PowerShell samples through this article, a slightly different semantics for event handling code had been attempted every time. This diversity was introduced intentionally - all the variants are equivalent - the .NET Framework generates a lot of code behind the scenes to support MulticastDelegate.

To recap, replicating the visual design in Powershell based on C# blueprint and handling events are two remaining steps promised earlier in this chapter. The visual design step is a no-brainer, a typing exercise at best. On the contrary, the event management may take some effort to tame. In the Powershell samples though this article, a slightly different semantics of event handling code had been chosen every time. The Diversity was introduced intentionally - all the variants are equivalent. Under the hood, MS .NET generates a lot of code behind the scenes to subclass the MulticastDelegate.

PromptForChoice

The prompting mechanism built into PowerShell is intended primarily to control destructive actions . Its exact presentation depends on the host in which Powershell script is run. The endless loop solution suggested in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff730939.aspx for a basic multi-choice select Yes? No? Maybe is barely an acceptable one. It sends a clear message: "Forget about multi-select prompts".

$heads = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Heads", "Select Heads."
    $tails = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Tails", "Select Tails."
    $cancel = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Cancel", "Skip to the next step."
    $options = [System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription[]]($heads, $tails, $cancel)
    $host.ui.PromptForChoice("Call it","----", $options,2 )

PromptForChoice

It renders differently based on the host capabilities in ConsoleHost vs. Windows PowerShell ISE Host

PromptForChoice

and returns the index - 0,1,2 in the selected option.

Platform Compatibility

The Powershell Scripts presented in this article have been verified to work on the following platforms:

Windows Server 2012 - Desktop-Experience	Yes
Windows Server 2012 - Minimal Server Interface, Windows Server 2012 - Windows Server Core	Most of examples work, except one: `toggle_display.ps1` manages to show the form, and hide, but never shows Powershell console back.
Windows Server 2008 R2	Yes
Windows Server 2008	Yes
Windows Server 2003	Yes
Windows 8	?
Windows 7	Yes
Windows Vista	Yes
Windows XP	Yes
Windows 2000	No

History

The work started with automating the daily dev ops routine configuring vanilla UAT environments full of Microsoft Software, hosted in private cloud. One particularly cumbersome step was with selectively cloning SQL configurations via SQL Server Client Network Utility. The latter being remarkably user un-friendly.

cliconfg.exe

Under the hood, all information is stored in a single registry key. This makes loading this information from remote host a good candidate for automation, but the operator's role is still vital for as long as the subtle difference between the environments landscapes: which IIS applications is hosted on which computer. This would not be a problem had the settings been converted to the Puppet-style node definitions.

Source Code on GitHub

For most examples, complete source is provided in the article and in the attached zip. One can also clone the completed source from Github:

Release History

2014-07-21 - Initial version
2014-07-21 - Added more samples
2014-07-22 - Added comment on code conversion
2014-07-22 - Added XAML example
2014-07-23 - Added TreeView example
2014-07-24 - Added Dissect Conversion example
2014-07-25 - Added Custom Icons with Treeview
2014-07-25 - Added remark regarding Get-Credential cmdlet
2014-07-26 - Added TabControl and Focus sample
2014-07-26 - Added TOC
2014-07-26 - Added Tabbed Treeviews
2014-07-26 - Refactored example code snippets
2014-07-27 - Added WebBrowser1 sample
2014-07-27 - Added Platform compatibility matrix
2014-07-28 - Added generation of XAML dialog on the fly example
2014-07-29 - Added script parameter prompt DataGridView example
2014-07-29 - Added Fill Color and ZIndex manipulation example
2014-07-29 - Added WPF Form Text manipulation example
2014-07-29 - Added bidirectional Form Script Text communication example
2014-08-09 - Added Selenium Script example
2014-08-09 - Modified Selenium Grid Test example to execute on Safari browser
2014-08-09 - Added a note of File Download dialog handling
2014-08-10 - Added TreeView Control with ComboBox example
2014-08-10 - Added Workaround for code formatting defect
2014-08-11 - Added ProgressBar example
2014-08-13 - Added Selenium IE dialog processor example
2014-08-13 - Fixed formatting and separates some inline XAML code for readability
2014-08-16 - Added Selenium IDE Powershell Formatter example
2014-08-16 - Updated links to author's Powershell Selenium IDE Formatter git repository
2014-08-19 - Added Drag and Drop example
2014-08-22 - Added running Javascript through Selenium example
2014-08-22 - Added Microsoft Test Agent DLL discovery example
2014-08-22 - Added overview and build instructions for the xpi
2014-08-23 - Added clicking button on Save Dialog example
2014-08-23 - Added running Powershell from Linux example
2014-08-24 - Updated version of Save Dialog example to accept the specified download file path
2014-09-03 - Added Web Driver Drag and Drop example
2014-09-09 - Added Misc. Web Driver example
2014-09-09 - Added Hide Powershell console window example
2014-09-09 - Added note regarding Powershell UI in Windows Server Core
2014-09-21 - Added Bar Chart (VB.Net) example
2014-09-24 - Added Up Down picker example
2014-09-26 - Added Timing out confirmation dialog example
2014-10-07 - Added Extreme case example, recovered few damaged sections, performed minor HTML formatting cleanup
2014-10-07 - Added Selenium SendKeys example
2014-10-07 - Recovered Selenium IDE Powershell Formatter section
2014-10-07 - Recovered DropDown ComboBox section
2014-11-01 - Added Filesystem Treeview example
2014-11-03 - Updated Source Zip with final Filesystem Treeview and custom MsgBox examples
2014-11-04 - Added Custom MsgBox examples
2014-11-14 - Added Ribbon example
2014-11-14 - Added Selenium Powershell ISE example
2014-12-07 - Added Collapsible List example
2014-12-14 - Added Checked Combo Listbox example
2014-12-20 - Added Pie and Bar Chart Draw example
2014-12-22 - Added Timer example
2015-01-04 - Added Task List Progress example
2015-01-05 - Commented Task List Progress
2015-01-14 - Added Accordion Menu example
2015-01-14 - Added Accordion Menu code refactoring example
2015-01-17 - Added Circle Progress Indicator example
2015-01-19 - Added Circle Progress Indicator W2K3 compatiliblity patch
2015-02-07 - Refactred Ribbon buttons example
2015-02-15 - Added Selenium Debugging messages on Explorer Taskbar example
2015-02-16 - Added Selenium EventFiring WebDriver example *WIP
2015-02-17 - Fixed formatting defects
2015-02-27 - Added TreeTabControl example
2015-02-27 - Continued TreeTabControl example *WIP
2015-03-10 - Added alternative Add-Type syntax example. Trimmed blank lines.
2015-03-22 - Provided alternative $script: syntax example and uploaded a typo fix.
2015-03-23 - Added note regarding System.Management.Automation.TypeAccelerators.
2015-03-25 - Added test configuration display example.
2015-04-04 - Replaced and somewhat simplified Custom Debugging Message Box example.
2015-04-05 - Added OS X Circle Progress Indicator example.
2015-04-10 - Added sortable ListView example.
2015-04-17 - Added filling GridView example.
2015-05-31 - Added Common Dialogs example.

2015-05-3 - Added Common Dialogs example.

Download scripts - 174 KB

Table Of Contents

Introduction
PromptForChoice ?!
Background
Using the Code
Misc. Utilities
- Screenshots
- Hiding Powershell Console
Crafting Selenium Scripts in Powershell ISE
Extreme Case
Dissecting the process
- Preliminary discussion
- Actual Conversion to Powershell
Source Code on GitHub
History

Introduction

Powershell is an advanced scripting framework, typically script is run in console host, most often remotely, but the Powershell scripts are still relatively frequently used interactively on a Windows computer. When a generic script executes, it is likely to need more than one option to be selected. Multiple options need to offered to the user in a cascading manner, with complex selection scenarios often desirable. For certain data selections, GUI in more intuitive and faster than CLI - in the console, even basic choice does not look very pretty.

For many situations, plain old Windows Forms is still a convenient means of prompting the user. This is the main focus of this article. We examine few elementary examples from http://www.java2s.com/ and convert those to Powershell. Later, we use the earlier samples as building blocks for something more complex. The fact all code of these examples in available in a one single file and no separate designer code needs to be merged, greatly simplifies the conversion. The focus is to keep the emerging Powershell code to a minimum required for processing various data selection scenarios for prompt, password, checkbox, radio, checked list, grid, treeview, tabbed dialogs and combination of those. In addition, it will be demonstrated that form element-specific event handlers will execute PowerShell code. Finally, controls like TreeView visualize the data very well on its own and potentially make few rounds of prompts unnecessary.

On the other hand, the Windows Presentation Foundation might feel somewhat heavy to embark and/or debug but entirely doable - examples are provided at the middle of this article. Interacting with WPF requires multithreading and this technique is also valuable for asynchronous status reporting of long running scripts.

A pleasant note is that all scripts continue to function in Minimal Server Interface and even in Server Core Windows Server 2012 GUI levels. The reason is: even after both "Server Graphical Shell" and "Server Graphical Management Tools & Infrastructure" Windows Features are "removed", full Microsoft .Net Framework is still present. The ultimate goal of the examples of offering a familiar user interface to complex custom data - can still be met on Windows Server Core. Note that since mouse is available even in Server Core, adding keyboard shortcuts to form elements isn't required.

In further examples, it is shown how to construct Powershell Selenium scripts from C# equivalents manually or record in Selenium IDE automatically; definite benefits of using Powershell to run Selenium recordings are illustrated.

Finally, the step-by-step conversion exercise is covered in detail.

Background

One will recognize the Powershell version of the code to be practically identical to the C# version with only semantic differences. All sources available on the author's github repo and new code are being developed daily.

We currently need to construct the helper class responsible for passing information to the Powershell script caller in plain C# and make its properties available to Windows Form in the event handlers, though all dialogs will be drawn modally. Without such tight link, some hard-to- debug race condition errors might be possible. The analysis of these assumptions is deferred to the future article.

Using the Code

The samples provided in the article are hopefully easily tailored to any purpose the reader finds them fit.

Code Details

The class that will be used to share information from the form to Powershell is quite basic. All it needs is to implement IWin32Window interface; it will also have various private data members with getters and setters and methods - to be used in the form in some examples below.

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

// "
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
public class Win32Window : IWin32Window
{
    private IntPtr _hWnd;
    private int _data;

    public int Data
    {
        get { return _data; }
        set { _data = value; }
    }

    public Win32Window(IntPtr handle)
    {
        _hWnd = handle;
    }

    public IntPtr Handle
    {
        get { return _hWnd; }
    }
}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll'

The Powershell stores its own Window Handle in the class:

if ($process_window -eq $null ){
  $process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
  ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
}

The entries selection and the overall status is read from $caller.Message and $caller.Data:

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'

  if($process_window.Data -ne $RESULT_CANCEL) {
    write-debug ('Selection is : {0}' -f  , $process_window.Message )
  } else {
    write-debug ('Result is : {0} ({1})' -f
    $Readable.Item($process_window.Data) , $process_window.Data )
  }

Alternative syntax can be

$guid = [guid]::NewGuid()

$helper_namespace = ("Util_{0}" -f ($guid -replace '-',''))
$helper_name = 'Helper'

Add-Type -UsingNamespace @(
  'System.Drawing',
  'System.IO',
  'System.Windows.Forms',
  'System.Drawing.Imaging',
  'System.Collections.Generic',
  'System.Text' `
  ) `
   -MemberDefinition @"
// inline C# code without class decoration
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies @( 'System.Windows.Forms.dll',`
     'System.Drawing.dll',`
     'System.Data.dll',`
     'System.Xml.dll') `
   -Namespace $helper_namespace -Name $helper_name -ErrorAction Stop

$helper = New-Object -TypeName ('{0}.{1}' -f $helper_namespace,$helper_type)
# the rest of Powershell code

This way one does not worry about seeing the annoying warning every time the inline C# code is modified:


Add-Type : Cannot add type. The type name 'Win32Window' already exists.
At C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\treeview_c.ps1:21 char:1
+ Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

NOTE, that few namespaces are already included by default and should not be provided explicitly in the invocation agument to avid

 Warning as Error: 
 The using directive for 'System' appeared previously in this namespace
 The using directive for 'System.Runtime.InteropServices' appeared previously in this namespace

Multiple Choice Prompt

Three button prompt

The multiple choice decision prompt is the simplest example that requires no communication between form elements - the form sets the $caller.Data independently in each button Click event handlers.

function PromptAuto(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message,
    [Object] $caller = $null
    ){

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(650,120)
$f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

$f.KeyPreview = $True
$f.Add_KeyDown({

    if     ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Y')       { $caller.Data = $RESULT_POSITIVE }
    elseif ($_.KeyCode -eq 'N')       { $caller.Data = $RESULT_NEGATIVE }
    elseif ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape')  { $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL }
    else                              { return }
    $f.Close()

})

$b1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(50,40)
$b1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$b1.Text = 'Yes!'
$b1.Add_Click({ $caller.Data = $RESULT_POSITIVE; $f.Close(); })

$b2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(125,40)
$b2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$b2.Text = 'No!'
$b2.Add_Click({ $caller.Data = $RESULT_NEGATIVE; $f.Close(); })

$b3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b3.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(200,40)
$b3.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$b3.Text = 'Maybe'
$b3.Add_Click({$caller.Data =  $RESULT_CANCEL ; $f.Close()})

$l = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$l.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)
$l.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(280,20)
$l.Text = $message

$f.Controls.Add($b1)
$f.Controls.Add($b3)
$f.Controls.Add($b2)
$f.Controls.Add($l)
$f.Topmost = $True

if ($caller -eq $null ){
  $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
  ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
}

$caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL;
$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

[void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )
$f.Dispose()
}

The options text and definitions are hard coded in the function.

$RESULT_POSITIVE = 0
$RESULT_NEGATIVE = 1
$RESULT_CANCEL = 2

$Readable = @{
    $RESULT_NEGATIVE = 'NO!';
    $RESULT_POSITIVE = 'YES!' ;
    $RESULT_CANCEL = 'MAYBE...'
    }

$process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

$title = 'Question'
$message =  "Continue to Next step?"

$result = PromptAuto -title  $title -message $message  -caller $process_window

write-debug ("Result is : {0} ({1})" -f $Readable.Item($process_window.Data) , $process_window.Data )

Timing Out Prompt

One popular feature of closing the idle input box after some timeout can be provided by e.g. adding to the script a System.Windows.Forms.Panel subclass which houses a System.Timers.Timer :

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class TimerPanel : System.Windows.Forms.Panel
{
    private System.Timers.Timer _timer;
    private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;
    public System.Timers.Timer Timer
    {
        get
        {
            return _timer;
        }
        set { _timer = value; }
    }

    public TimerPanel()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        if (disposing)
        {
            if (components != null)
            {
                components.Dispose();
            }
        }
        _timer.Stop();
        base.Dispose(disposing);
    }

    private void InitializeComponent()
    {
        this._timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
        ((System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize)(this._timer)).BeginInit();
        this.SuspendLayout();
        this._timer.Interval = 1000;
        this._timer.Start();
        this._timer.Enabled = true;
        this._timer.SynchronizingObject = this;
        this._timer.Elapsed += new System.Timers.ElapsedEventHandler(this.OnTimerElapsed);
        ((System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize)(this._timer)).EndInit();
        this.ResumeLayout(false);
    }

    private void OnTimerElapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
    {
        // Console.WriteLine(".");
    }

}

then placing all inputs on the panel.


  $p = New-Object TimerPanel
  $p.Size = $f.Size
  $end = (Get-Date -UFormat "%s")
  $end = ([int]$end + 60)
  $p.Timer.Stop()
  $p.Timer.Interval = 5000;
  $p.Timer.Start()
  $p.Timer.add_Elapsed({
      $start = (Get-Date -UFormat "%s")

      $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($start - $end)
      $l.Text = ('Remaining time {0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds,($end - $start))

      if ($end - $start -lt 0) {
        $caller.Data = $RESULT_TIMEOUT;
        $f.Close()
      }

    })

The properties and methods of Timer being public, therefore the script provides the event handler(s) - in the example above the one minute interval in seconds is harf coded

timing out prompt

The full example is shown below and is available in the source zip file.

$RESULT_OK = 0
$RESULT_CANCEL = 1
$RESULT_TIMEOUT = 2

$Readable = @{
  $RESULT_OK = 'OK';
  $RESULT_CANCEL = 'CANCEL';
  $RESULT_TIMEOUT = 'TIMEOUT';
}

function PromptTimedAutoClose  {

param(
  [string]$title,
  [string]$message,
  [object]$caller
)

  [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (240,110)

  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $True
  $f.Add_KeyDown({

      if ($_.KeyCode -eq 'O') { $caller.Data = $RESULT_OK }
      elseif ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape') { $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL }
      else { return }
      $f.Close()

    })

  $b1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (50,40)
  $b1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (75,23)
  $b1.Text = 'OK'
  $b1.add_click({ $caller.Data = $RESULT_OK; $f.Close(); })
  $p = New-Object TimerPanel
  $p.Size = $f.Size

  $p.Controls.Add($b1)
  $end = (Get-Date -UFormat "%s")
  $end = ([int]$end + 60)
  $b2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (130,40)
  $b2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (75,23)
  $b2.Text = 'Cancel'
  $b2.add_click({
      $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL;
      $f.Close();
    })
  $p.Controls.Add($b2)

  $l = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $l.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (10,20)
  $l.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (280,20)
  $l.Text = $message
  $p.Controls.Add($l)

  $p.Timer.Stop()
  $p.Timer.Interval = 5000;
  $p.Timer.Start()
  $p.Timer.add_Elapsed({
      $start = (Get-Date -UFormat "%s")

      $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($start - $end)
      $l.Text = ('Remaining time {0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds,($end - $start))

      if ($end - $start -lt 0) {
        $caller.Data = $RESULT_TIMEOUT;
        $f.Close()
      }

    })
  $f.Controls.Add($p)
  $f.Topmost = $True

  $caller.Data = $RESULT_TIMEOUT;
  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

  [void]$f.ShowDialog([win32window ]($caller))
  $f.Dispose()
}

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
$title = 'Prompt w/timeout'
$message = "Continue ?"
$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

PromptTimedAutoClose -Title $title -Message $message -caller $caller
$result = $caller.Data
Write-Debug ("Result is : {0} ({1})" -f $Readable.Item($result),$result)

Collecting Selections from Checkbox and Radiobutton Groups

button broups

This example code is more interesting because the script will collect the state from several grouped element. Managing the individual checkbox and radiobutton behavior is left intact and only implements button Click handler where the Form draws the selected elements summary and stores it into the $caller - for simplicity, both $shapes and $color are placed into one $caller.Message.

function PromptWithCheckboxesAndRadionbuttons(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message,
    [Object] $caller = $null
    ){

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title
  $groupBox1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox
  $checkBox1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox
  $checkBox2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox
  $checkBox3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox
  $radioButton1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.RadioButton
  $radioButton2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.RadioButton
  $radioButton3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.RadioButton
  $button1  = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $components =  New-Object System.ComponentModel.Container

  $groupBox1.SuspendLayout()
  $f.SuspendLayout()
  $color = ''
  $shapes = @()

  # groupBox1
  $groupBox1.Controls.AddRange(
     @(
       $radioButton1,
       $radioButton2,
       $radioButton3
      ))
  $groupBox1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 120)
  $groupBox1.Name = 'groupBox1'
  $groupBox1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(120, 144)
  $groupBox1.TabIndex = 0
  $groupBox1.TabStop = $false
  $groupBox1.Text = 'Color'

  # checkBox1
  $checkBox1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 8)
  $checkBox1.Name = 'checkBox1'
  $checkBox1.TabIndex = 1
  $checkBox1.Text = 'Circle'

  # checkBox2

  $checkBox2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 40)
  $checkBox2.Name = 'checkBox2'
  $checkBox2.TabIndex = 2
  $checkBox2.Text = 'Rectangle'

  # checkBox3

  $checkBox3.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 72)
  $checkBox3.Name = 'checkBox3'
  $checkBox3.TabIndex = 3
  $checkBox3.Text = 'Triangle'

  # radioButton1

  $radioButton1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 32)
  $radioButton1.Name = 'radioButton1'
  $radioButton1.TabIndex = 4
  $radioButton1.Text = 'Red'
  $radioButton1.Add_CheckedChanged({ })

  # radioButton2

  $radioButton2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 64)
  $radioButton2.Name = 'radioButton2'
  $radioButton2.TabIndex = 5
  $radioButton2.Text = 'Green'

  # radioButton3

  $radioButton3.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 96)
  $radioButton3.Name = 'radioButton3'
  $radioButton3.TabIndex = 6
  $radioButton3.Text = 'Blue'

  # button1

  $button1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 280)
  $button1.Name = 'button1'
  $button1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(112, 32)
  $button1.TabIndex = 4
  $button1.Text = 'Draw'

  $button1.Add_Click({

  $color = ''
  $shapes = @()
  foreach ($o in @($radioButton1, $radioButton2, $radioButton3)){
  if ($o.Checked){
      $color = $o.Text}
  }
  foreach ($o in @($checkBox1, $checkBox2, $checkBox3)){
  if ($o.Checked){
      $shapes += $o.Text}

  }
  $g = [System.Drawing.Graphics]::FromHwnd($f.Handle)
  $rc = New-Object System.Drawing.Rectangle(150, 50, 250, 250)
  $brush = New-Object System.Drawing.SolidBrush([System.Drawing.Color]::White)
  $g.FillRectangle($brush, $rc)
  $font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font('Verdana', 12)
  $col = New-Object System.Drawing.SolidBrush([System.Drawing.Color]::Black)
  $str = [String]::Join(';', $shapes )
  $pos1 = New-Object System.Drawing.PointF(160, 60)
  $pos2 = New-Object System.Drawing.PointF(160, 80)

  $g.DrawString($color, $font, $col , $pos1)
  $g.DrawString($str, $font, $col , $pos2)
  start-sleep 1

  $caller.Message =  ('color:{0} shapes:{1}' -f $color , $str)

  $f.Close()
 })

  # Form1

  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
  $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(408, 317)
  $f.Controls.AddRange( @(
     $button1,
     $checkBox3,
     $checkBox2,
     $checkBox1,
     $groupBox1))

  $f.Name = 'Form1'
  $f.Text = 'CheckBox and RadioButton Sample'
  $groupBox1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $True

  $f.Add_KeyDown({

    if ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape')  { $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL }
    else          {  }
    $f.Close()
  })

  $f.Topmost = $True
  if ($caller -eq $null ){
    $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
    ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  }

  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )
  $F.Dispose()

  return $caller.Data
}

Listbox Selection

listboxes

The next iteration is to let the form receive a string of text from Powershell and display individual words as checked listbox items, waiting for the user to select individual words by clicking the checkbox next to word.

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
$result = PromptCheckedList ''  'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit'

write-debug ('Selection is : {0}' -f  , $result )

The listbox on the right provides a visual cue to the user. When the 'Done' button is pressed, the selections are saved in the $caller object and form is closed and disposed.

This time, we return the $caller.Message explicitly, though it not really required. Note the event handler code highlighted in bold.

function PromptCheckedList
{
     Param(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message)

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections.Generic')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Text')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $i = new-object System.Windows.Forms.CheckedListBox
  $d = new-object System.Windows.Forms.ListBox
  $d.SuspendLayout()
  $i.SuspendLayout()
  $f.SuspendLayout()
  $i.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 11,
  [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);
  $i.FormattingEnabled = $true;
  $i.Items.AddRange(( $message -split '[ ,]+' ));

  $i.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(17, 12)
  $i.Name = 'inputCheckedListBox'
  $i.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(202, 188)
  $i.TabIndex = 0
  $i.TabStop = $false

  $event_handler = {
       param(
            [Object] $sender,
            [System.Windows.Forms.ItemCheckEventArgs ] $eventargs
         )
         $item = $i.SelectedItem
         if ( $eventargs.NewValue -eq  [System.Windows.Forms.CheckState]::Checked ) {
            $d.Items.Add( $item );
         } else {
            $d.Items.Remove( $item );
         }
  }
  $i.Add_ItemCheck($event_handler)

  $d.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font('Verdana', 11)
  $d.FormattingEnabled = $true
  $d.ItemHeight = 20;
  $d.Location =  New-Object System.Drawing.Point(236, 12);
  $d.Name = 'displayListBox';
  $d.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(190, 184);
  $d.TabIndex = 1;

  $b  = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8, 280)
  $b.Name = 'button1'
  $b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(112, 32)
  $b.TabIndex = 4
  $b.Text = 'Done'

  $b.Add_Click({
    $shapes = @()
    foreach ($o in $d.Items){
      $shapes += $o
    }
    $caller.Message =  [String]::Join(';', $shapes )
    $f.Close()
 })

  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
  $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(408, 317)
  $components =  New-Object System.ComponentModel.Container

  $f.Controls.AddRange( @( $i, $d, $b))

  $f.Name = 'Form1'
  $f.Text = 'CheckListBox Sample'
  $i.ResumeLayout($false)
  $d.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $True

  $f.Topmost = $True
  $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
  ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )
  $f.Dispose()
  $result = $caller.Message
  $caller = $null
  return $result
}

Here, the event handler in written in PowerShell but it operates the standard event arguments therefore the Powershell function is called from Form elements essentially connection them to one another. It is virtually indistinguishable from the class method it have been converted from.

this.inputCheckedListBox.ItemCheck +=
new System.Windows.Forms.ItemCheckEventHandler(this.inputCheckedListBox_ItemCheck);

...

private void inputCheckedListBox_ItemCheck(object sender, ItemCheckEventArgs e )
      {
         string item = inputCheckedListBox.SelectedItem.ToString();

         if ( e.NewValue == CheckState.Checked )
            displayListBox.Items.Add( item );
         else
            displayListBox.Items.Remove( item );
      }

Accordion Menu

Accordion Menu

Next example comes from conversion Accordion Collapsible Panel from C# to Powershell. Naturally, the code is extremely redundant. Only portion is shown. Full script is in the source zip.

collapsed

$caller = New-Object -TypeName 'Win32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

@( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

$f = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Form'
$f.Text = $title
$f.SuspendLayout()

$p = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$m = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$p_3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$b_3_3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_3_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_3_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$g_3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$p_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel

$b_2_4 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_2_3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_2_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_2_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$g_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$p_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$b_1_2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b_1_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$g_1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$lblMenu = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$m.SuspendLayout()
$p_3.SuspendLayout()
$p_2.SuspendLayout()
$p_1.SuspendLayout()
$p.SuspendLayout()

..
#  Panel Menu 1
$p_1.Controls.AddRange(@($b_1_2, $b_1_1,  $g_1) )
$p_1.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$p_1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,23)
$p_1.Name = "p_1"
# $p_1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,104)
$p_1.TabIndex = 1

#  Menu 1 button 1
$b_1_1.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
$b_1_1.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$b_1_1.FlatAppearance.BorderColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkGray
$b_1_1.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Flat
$b_1_1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,($global:button_panel_height * 2))

$b_1_1.Name = "b_1_1"
$b_1_1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,$global:button_panel_height)
$b_1_1.TabIndex = 2
$b_1_1.Text = "Group 1 Sub Menu 1"
$b_1_1.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
$b_1_1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $false
$b_1_1_click = $b_1_1.add_Click
$b_1_1_click.Invoke({

    param([object]$sender,[string]$message)
    $caller.Data = $sender.Text
    [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(('{0} clicked!' -f $sender.Text) )
  })

#  Menu 1 button 2
$b_1_2.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
$b_1_2.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$b_1_2.FlatAppearance.BorderColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkGray
$b_1_2.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Flat
$b_1_2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,($global:button_panel_height * 3))

$b_1_2.Name = "$b_1_2"
$b_1_2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,$global:button_panel_height)
$b_1_2.TabIndex = 3
$b_1_2.Text = "Group 1 Sub Menu 2"
$b_1_2.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
$b_1_2.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $false

#  Menu 1 button group 
$g_1.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Gray
$g_1.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$g_1.FlatAppearance.BorderColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Gray
$g_1.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Flat
$g_1.ImageAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleRight
$g_1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
$g_1.Name = "g_1"
$g_1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,$global:button_panel_height)
$g_1.TabIndex = 0
$g_1.Text = "Menu Group 1"
$g_1.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
$g_1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $false
$g_1_click = $g_1.add_click
$g_1_click.Invoke({
    param(
      [object]$sender,
      [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
    )

    $ref_panel = ([ref]$p_1)
    $ref_button_menu_group = ([ref]$g_1)
    $num_buttons = 3
    # use the current height of the element as indicator of its state.
    if ($ref_panel.Value.Height -eq $global:button_panel_height)
    {
      $ref_panel.Value.Height = ($global:button_panel_height * $num_buttons) + 2
      $ref_button_menu_group.Value.Image = New-Object System.Drawing.Bitmap ("C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\unfinished\up.png")
    }
    else
    {
      $ref_panel.Value.Height = $global:button_panel_height
      $ref_button_menu_group.Value.Image = New-Object System.Drawing.Bitmap ("C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\unfinished\down.png")
    }
  })


$m.ResumeLayout($false)
$p_3.ResumeLayout($false)
$p_2.ResumeLayout($false)
$p_1.ResumeLayout($false)
$p.ResumeLayout($false)


$f.Controls.Add($p)
#  Form1
$f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6.0,13.0)
$f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
$f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (210,280)
$f.Controls.Add($c1)
$f.Controls.Add($p)
$f.Controls.Add($b1)
$f.Name = "Form1"
$f.Text = "ProgressCircle"
$f.ResumeLayout($false)

$f.Topmost = $True

$f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

[void]$f.ShowDialog([win32window]($caller))

$f.Dispose()

expanded

To fight redundancy one may introduce utility functions e.g.

function add_button {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$button_data_ref,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$button_ref
  )

  $button_data = $button_data_ref.Value

  #  TODO: assert ?

  $local:b = $button_ref.Value
  $local:b.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
  $local:b.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
  $local:b.FlatAppearance.BorderColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkGray
  $local:b.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Flat
  $local:b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,($global:button_panel_height * $button_data['cnt']))
  $local:b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($global:button_panel_width,$global:button_panel_height)
  $local:b.TabIndex = 3
  $local:b.Name = $button_data['name']
  $local:b.Text = $button_data['text']
  $local:b.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $local:b.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $false

  $local:click_handler = $local:b.add_Click
  if ($button_data.ContainsKey('callback')) {
    $local:click_handler.Invoke($button_data['callback'])
  }

  else {
    # provide default click handler

    $local:click_handler.Invoke({

        param(
          [object]$sender,
          [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
        )
        $caller.Data = $sender.Text
        [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(('{0} default click handler!' -f $sender.Text))
      })

  }
  $button_ref.Value = $local:b
}

and refactor the code to pack together code references, menu text, etc.:

#  Menu 3 button 3
# Provide a callback with  System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick Method argument signature
[scriptblock]$b3_3_callback_ref = {
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
  )
  $caller.Data = 'something'
  [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(('This is custom callback for {0} click!' -f $sender.Text))
}

add_button -button_ref ([ref]$b3_3) `
   -button_data_ref ([ref]@{
    'cnt' = 3;
    'text' = 'Menu 3 Sub Menu 3';
    'name' = 'b3_3';
    'callback' = $b3_3_callback_ref;
  })

The eventual layout of button data objects and callback action code is of course highly domain-specific

Checked Combobox

Next example uses the code from ComboBox with a CheckedListBox as a Dropdown article. Unlike most of examples in this article, this script does not use $caller object - the CheckedComboBox class has plenty of proprties on its own - to return the selection data as text - but rather passes the hash of objects by reference to the form:

$albums = @{

  'Ring Ring (1973)' = $false;
  'Waterloo (1974)' = $false;
  'ABBA (1975)' = $true;
  'Arrival (1976)' = $false;
  'The Album (1977)' = $true;
  'Voulez-Vous (1979)' = $false;
  'Super Trouper (1980)' = $false;
  'The Visitors (1981)' = $false;
}

PromptCheckedCombo -Title 'Checked ComboBox  Sample Project' -data_ref ([ref]$albums)
Write-Output ('Result is: {0}' -f $caller.Message)
$albums

Here the signature of the function is:

function PromptCheckedCombo {

  param(
    [string]$title,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$data_ref  
)
...
  $ccb = New-Object -TypeName 'CheckComboBoxTest.CheckedComboBox'

  $data = $data_ref.Value
  $cnt = 0
  $data.Keys | ForEach-Object { $display_item = $_;

    [CheckComboBoxTest.CCBoxItem]$item = New-Object CheckComboBoxTest.CCBoxItem ($display_item,$cnt)
    $ccb.Items.Add($item) | Out-Null
    if ($data[$display_item]) {
      $ccb.SetItemChecked($cnt,$true)
    }
    $cnt++
  }

result

In the Form delegate, one iterates of the referenced data keys and clears / sets the hash values

  $eventMethod_ccb = $ccb.add_DropDownClosed
  $eventMethod_ccb.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )

      $data = $data_ref.Value
      $data.Keys | ForEach-Object {
        $display_item = $_;
        $data_ref.Value[$display_item] = $false
      }
      foreach ($item in $ccb.CheckedItems) {
        $data_ref.Value[$item.Name] = $true
      }

      $data_ref.Value = $data

    })

result

Bar Chart

Next example shows custom-drawn Bar Chart which has no third-party charting library dependencies. The VB.NET example code from Drawing a Bar Chart article is used, with few minor refactoring and modifications:

Add-Type -Language 'VisualBasic' -TypeDefinition  @"

Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic
Imports System
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Drawing.Drawing2D
Imports System.Collections
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class BarChart

    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form

    Public Sub New()
        MyBase.New()
        InitializeComponent()
    End Sub

    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
        If disposing Then
            If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
                components.Dispose()
            End If
        End If
        MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
    End Sub

    Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer

    <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()
        Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
        Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(344, 302)
        Me.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.Sizable
        Me.Name = "BarChart"
        Me.Text = "BarChart"
        Me.components = New System.ComponentModel.Container
        Me.ttHint = New System.Windows.Forms.ToolTip(Me.components)
    End Sub

    Dim blnFormLoaded As Boolean = False
    Dim objHashTableG As New Hashtable(100)

    Dim objColorArray(150) As Brush
    Private Sub BarChart_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

    End Sub

    Public Sub LoadData(ByVal objCallerHashTable As Hashtable )
       objHashTableG =  objCallerHashTable.Clone()
    End Sub


    Public Sub RenderData 
        Me.BarChart_Paint(Nothing, New System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs( _
        CreateGraphics(), _
	New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height) _
        )) 
    End Sub

    Private Sub BarChart_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, _
                               ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs _
                               ) Handles MyBase.Paint
        Try
            Dim intMaxWidth As Integer
            Dim intMaxHeight As Integer
            Dim intXaxis As Integer
            Dim intYaxis As Integer
            Me.SuspendLayout()
            Me.LoadColorArray()
            intMaxHeight = CType((Me.Height / 2) - (Me.Height / 12), Integer)
            intMaxWidth = CType(Me.Width - (Me.Width / 4), Integer)
            intXaxis = CType(Me.Width / 12, Integer)
            intYaxis = CType(Me.Height / 2, Integer)
            drawBarChart(objHashTableG.GetEnumerator , _
                         objHashTableG.Count, _
                         "Graph 1", _
                         intXaxis, _
                         intYaxis, _
                         intMaxWidth, _
                         intMaxHeight, _
                         True, _
                         False)
            blnFormLoaded = True
            Me.ResumeLayout(False)
        Catch ex As Exception
            Throw ex
        End Try
        
    End Sub

    Public Sub drawBarChart(ByVal objEnum As IDictionaryEnumerator, _
                            ByVal intItemCount As Integer, _
                            ByVal strGraphTitle As String, _
                            ByVal Xaxis As Integer, _
                            ByVal Yaxis As Integer, _
                            ByVal MaxWidth As Int16, _
                            ByVal MaxHt As Int16, _
                            ByVal clearForm As Boolean, _
                            Optional ByVal SpaceRequired As Boolean = False)

        Dim intGraphXaxis As Integer = Xaxis
        Dim intGraphYaxis As Integer = Yaxis
        Dim intWidthMax As Integer = MaxWidth
        Dim intHeightMax As Integer = MaxHt
        Dim intSpaceHeight As Integer
        Dim intMaxValue As Integer = 0
        Dim intCounter As Integer
        Dim intBarWidthMax
        Dim intBarHeight
        Dim strText As String
        Try
            Dim grfx As Graphics = CreateGraphics()
            If clearForm = True Then
                grfx.Clear(BackColor)
            End If

            grfx.DrawString(strGraphTitle, New Font("Verdana", 12.0, FontStyle.Bold, GraphicsUnit.Point), Brushes.DeepPink, intGraphXaxis + (intWidthMax / 4), (intGraphYaxis - intHeightMax) - 40)

            'Get the Height of the Bar        
            intBarHeight = CInt(intHeightMax / intItemCount)

            'Get the space Height of the Bar 
            intSpaceHeight = CInt((intHeightMax / (intItemCount - 1)) - intBarHeight)

            'Find Maximum of the input value
            If Not objEnum Is Nothing Then
                While objEnum.MoveNext = True
                    If objEnum.Value > intMaxValue Then
                        intMaxValue = objEnum.Value
                    End If
                End While
            End If

            'Get the Maximum Width of the Bar
            intBarWidthMax = CInt(intWidthMax / intMaxValue)

            ' Obtain the Graphics object exposed by the Form.
            If Not objEnum Is Nothing Then
                intCounter = 1
                objEnum.Reset()
                'Draw X axis and Y axis lines
                'grfx.DrawLine(Pens.Black, intGraphXaxis, intGraphYaxis, intGraphXaxis + intWidthMax, intGraphYaxis)
                'grfx.DrawLine(Pens.Black, intGraphXaxis, intGraphYaxis, intGraphXaxis, (intGraphYaxis - intHeightMax) - 25)

                While objEnum.MoveNext = True
                    'Get new Y axis
                    intGraphYaxis = intGraphYaxis - intBarHeight

                    Dim objRec as Rectangle
                    objRec = New System.Drawing.Rectangle(intGraphXaxis, intGraphYaxis, intBarWidthMax * objEnum.Value, intBarHeight)
                    'Draw Rectangle
                    grfx.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, objRec)
                    'Fill Rectangle
                    grfx.FillRectangle(objColorArray(intCounter), objRec )
                    'Display Text and value
                    ' http://www.java2s.com/Tutorial/VB/0300__2D-Graphics/Measurestringanddrawstring.htm
                    strText =  objEnum.Key & "=" & objEnum.Value 
                    Dim objLabelFont as Font
                    objLabelFont = New Font("Verdana", 7.2, FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Point) 
                    Dim textLabelArea As SizeF : textLabelArea = grfx.MeasureString(strText, objLabelFont)

                    Dim linePen As Pen: linePen = New Pen(Color.Gray, 1)
                    linePen.DashStyle = Drawing2D.DashStyle.Dash

                    Dim fontRatio As Single 
                    fontRatio = objLabelFont.Height / objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetLineSpacing(FontStyle.Regular)
 
                    Dim ascentSize As Single
                    ascentSize = objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetCellAscent(FontStyle.Regular) * fontRatio
                    Dim descentSize As Single
                    descentSize = objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetCellDescent(FontStyle.Regular) * fontRatio
                    Dim emSize As Single
                    emSize = objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetEmHeight(FontStyle.Regular) * fontRatio
                    Dim cellHeight As Single
                    cellHeight = ascentSize + descentSize
                    Dim internalLeading As Single
                    internalLeading = cellHeight - emSize
                    Dim externalLeading As Single
                    externalLeading = (objLabelFont.FontFamily.GetLineSpacing(FontStyle.Regular) * fontRatio) - cellHeight


                    Dim labelLeft As Single : labelLeft = intGraphXaxis + (intBarWidthMax * objEnum.Value)
                    labelLeft = intGraphXaxis
                    Dim labelBottom As Single:  labelBottom =  intGraphYaxis
                    Dim labelRight As Single : labelRight = labelLeft + textLabelArea.Width
                    Dim labelTop As Single : labelTop = textLabelArea.Height + labelBottom

                    Dim objLabelRec as Rectangle
                    objLabelRec = New System.Drawing.Rectangle(labelLeft, labelBottom, textLabelArea.Width , textLabelArea.Height )
                 
                    grfx.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, objLabelRec)
                    'Fill Rectangle
                    grfx.FillRectangle(Brushes.White, objLabelRec )

                    grfx.DrawLine(linePen, labelLeft, labelTop, labelLeft , labelBottom)
                    grfx.DrawLine(linePen, labelRight, labelTop, labelRight , labelBottom)
                    grfx.DrawLine(linePen, labelLeft, labelTop, labelRight , labelTop)
                    grfx.DrawLine(linePen, labelLeft, labelBottom, labelRight , labelBottom)
                    grfx.DrawString(strText, objLabelFont, Brushes.Black, labelLeft, labelBottom)

                    intCounter += 1
                    If SpaceRequired = True Then
                        intGraphYaxis = intGraphYaxis - intSpaceHeight
                    End If
                    If intCounter > objColorArray.GetUpperBound(0) Then
                        intCounter = 1
                    End If
                End While
                If clearForm = True Then
                    grfx.Dispose()
                End If
            End If
        Catch ex As Exception
            Throw ex
        End Try
    End Sub

    Public Sub LoadColorArray()
        objColorArray(1) = Brushes.Blue
        objColorArray(2) = Brushes.Pink
        objColorArray(3) = Brushes.Brown
        objColorArray(4) = Brushes.BurlyWood
        objColorArray(5) = Brushes.CadetBlue
        objColorArray(6) = Brushes.Chartreuse
        objColorArray(7) = Brushes.Chocolate
        objColorArray(8) = Brushes.Coral
        objColorArray(9) = Brushes.CornflowerBlue
        objColorArray(10) = Brushes.Cornsilk
        objColorArray(11) = Brushes.Crimson
        objColorArray(12) = Brushes.Cyan
        objColorArray(13) = Brushes.DarkBlue
        objColorArray(14) = Brushes.DarkCyan
        objColorArray(15) = Brushes.DarkGoldenrod
        objColorArray(16) = Brushes.DarkGray
        objColorArray(17) = Brushes.DarkGreen
        objColorArray(18) = Brushes.DarkKhaki
        objColorArray(19) = Brushes.DarkMagenta
        objColorArray(20) = Brushes.DarkOliveGreen
        objColorArray(21) = Brushes.DarkOrange
        objColorArray(22) = Brushes.DarkOrchid
        objColorArray(23) = Brushes.DarkRed
        objColorArray(24) = Brushes.DarkSalmon
        objColorArray(25) = Brushes.DarkSeaGreen
        objColorArray(26) = Brushes.DarkSlateBlue
        objColorArray(27) = Brushes.DarkSlateGray
        objColorArray(28) = Brushes.DarkTurquoise
        objColorArray(29) = Brushes.DarkViolet
        objColorArray(30) = Brushes.DeepPink
        objColorArray(31) = Brushes.DeepSkyBlue
        objColorArray(32) = Brushes.DimGray
        objColorArray(33) = Brushes.DodgerBlue
        objColorArray(34) = Brushes.Firebrick
        objColorArray(35) = Brushes.FloralWhite
        objColorArray(36) = Brushes.ForestGreen
        objColorArray(37) = Brushes.Fuchsia
        objColorArray(38) = Brushes.Gainsboro
        objColorArray(39) = Brushes.GhostWhite
        objColorArray(40) = Brushes.Gold
        objColorArray(41) = Brushes.Goldenrod
        objColorArray(42) = Brushes.Gray
        objColorArray(43) = Brushes.Green
        objColorArray(44) = Brushes.GreenYellow
        objColorArray(45) = Brushes.Honeydew
        objColorArray(46) = Brushes.HotPink
        objColorArray(47) = Brushes.IndianRed
        objColorArray(48) = Brushes.Indigo
        objColorArray(49) = Brushes.Ivory
        objColorArray(50) = Brushes.Khaki
        objColorArray(51) = Brushes.Lavender
        objColorArray(52) = Brushes.LavenderBlush
        objColorArray(53) = Brushes.LawnGreen
        objColorArray(54) = Brushes.LemonChiffon
        objColorArray(55) = Brushes.LightBlue
        objColorArray(56) = Brushes.LightCoral
        objColorArray(57) = Brushes.LightCyan
        objColorArray(58) = Brushes.LightGoldenrodYellow
        objColorArray(59) = Brushes.LightGray
        objColorArray(60) = Brushes.LightGreen
        objColorArray(61) = Brushes.LightPink
        objColorArray(62) = Brushes.LightSalmon
        objColorArray(63) = Brushes.LightSeaGreen
        objColorArray(64) = Brushes.LightSkyBlue
        objColorArray(65) = Brushes.LightSlateGray
        objColorArray(66) = Brushes.LightSteelBlue
        objColorArray(67) = Brushes.LightYellow
        objColorArray(68) = Brushes.Lime
        objColorArray(69) = Brushes.LimeGreen
        objColorArray(70) = Brushes.Linen
        objColorArray(71) = Brushes.Magenta
        objColorArray(72) = Brushes.Maroon
        objColorArray(73) = Brushes.MediumAquamarine
        objColorArray(74) = Brushes.MediumBlue
        objColorArray(75) = Brushes.MediumOrchid
        objColorArray(76) = Brushes.MediumPurple
        objColorArray(77) = Brushes.MediumSeaGreen
        objColorArray(78) = Brushes.MediumSlateBlue
        objColorArray(79) = Brushes.MediumSpringGreen
        objColorArray(80) = Brushes.MediumTurquoise
        objColorArray(81) = Brushes.MediumVioletRed
        objColorArray(82) = Brushes.MidnightBlue
        objColorArray(83) = Brushes.MintCream
        objColorArray(84) = Brushes.MistyRose
        objColorArray(85) = Brushes.Moccasin
        objColorArray(86) = Brushes.NavajoWhite
        objColorArray(87) = Brushes.Navy
        objColorArray(88) = Brushes.OldLace
        objColorArray(89) = Brushes.Olive
        objColorArray(90) = Brushes.OliveDrab
        objColorArray(91) = Brushes.Orange
        objColorArray(92) = Brushes.OrangeRed
        objColorArray(93) = Brushes.Orchid
        objColorArray(94) = Brushes.PaleGoldenrod
        objColorArray(95) = Brushes.PaleGreen
        objColorArray(96) = Brushes.PaleTurquoise
        objColorArray(97) = Brushes.PaleVioletRed
        objColorArray(98) = Brushes.PapayaWhip
        objColorArray(99) = Brushes.PeachPuff
        objColorArray(100) = Brushes.Peru
        objColorArray(101) = Brushes.Pink
        objColorArray(102) = Brushes.Plum
        objColorArray(103) = Brushes.PowderBlue
        objColorArray(104) = Brushes.Purple
        objColorArray(105) = Brushes.Red
        objColorArray(106) = Brushes.RosyBrown
        objColorArray(107) = Brushes.RoyalBlue
        objColorArray(108) = Brushes.SaddleBrown
        objColorArray(109) = Brushes.Salmon
        objColorArray(110) = Brushes.SandyBrown
        objColorArray(111) = Brushes.SeaGreen
        objColorArray(112) = Brushes.SeaShell
        objColorArray(113) = Brushes.Sienna
        objColorArray(114) = Brushes.Silver
        objColorArray(115) = Brushes.SkyBlue
        objColorArray(116) = Brushes.SlateBlue
        objColorArray(117) = Brushes.SlateGray
        objColorArray(118) = Brushes.Snow
        objColorArray(119) = Brushes.SpringGreen
        objColorArray(120) = Brushes.SteelBlue
        objColorArray(121) = Brushes.Tan
        objColorArray(122) = Brushes.Teal
        objColorArray(123) = Brushes.Thistle
        objColorArray(124) = Brushes.Tomato
        objColorArray(125) = Brushes.Transparent
        objColorArray(126) = Brushes.Turquoise
        objColorArray(127) = Brushes.Violet
        objColorArray(128) = Brushes.Wheat
        objColorArray(129) = Brushes.White
        objColorArray(130) = Brushes.WhiteSmoke
        objColorArray(131) = Brushes.Yellow
        objColorArray(132) = Brushes.YellowGreen
    End Sub
    Private Sub BarChart_Resize(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Resize
        If blnFormLoaded = True Then
            BarChart_Paint(Me, New System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs(CreateGraphics(), New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height)))
        End If
    End Sub
    Friend WithEvents ttHint As System.Windows.Forms.ToolTip
    ' Friend WithEvents RecLabel As System.Windows.Forms.Label
    '' need to draw System.Windows.Forms.Control
End Class

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll', 'System.Drawing.dll', 'System.Drawing.dll'

In this demo, Powershell opens the Form and sends two data samples to it, waiting for few seconds after each sample is rendered, then closes the Form.

grid

$object = New-Object -TypeName 'BarChart'

$data1 = New-Object System.Collections.Hashtable(10)
$data1.Add("Product1", 25)
$data1.Add("Product2", 15)
$data1.Add("Product3", 35)
$object.LoadData([System.Collections.Hashtable] $data1)

[void]$object.Show()
start-sleep -seconds 5

$data2 =  New-Object System.Collections.Hashtable(100)
$data2.Add("Item1", 50)
$data2.Add("Item2", 150)
$data2.Add("Item3", 250)
$data2.Add("Item4", 20)
$data2.Add("Item5", 100)
$data2.Add("Item6", 125)
$data2.Add("Item7", 148)
$data2.Add("Item8", 199)
$data2.Add("Item9", 267)

$object.LoadData([System.Collections.Hashtable] $data2)

$object.RenderData()
start-sleep -seconds 5

$object.Close()
$object.Dispose()

Two public methods LoadData and RenderData have been added to allow controlling the form from the script. To prevent modifying the original example, the first method clones the data from the caller, while the latter creates a dummy event Args and calls the handler:

    Public Sub LoadData(ByVal objCallerHashTable As Hashtable )
       objHashTableG =  objCallerHashTable.Clone()
    End Sub


    Public Sub RenderData 
        Me.BarChart_Paint(Nothing, New System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs( _
        CreateGraphics(), _
	New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height) _
        )) 
    End Sub

No communication back from Form to the script is present, thus no separate object implementing IWin32Window is needed. For the sake of the example, a VB.Net version is still provided below:

Add-Type -Language 'VisualBasic' -TypeDefinition @"

Public Class MyWin32Window 
Implements System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window

    Dim _hWnd As System.IntPtr

    Public Sub New(ByVal handle As System.IntPtr)

       _hWnd = handle

    End Sub

    Public ReadOnly Property Handle() As System.IntPtr Implements System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window.Handle
        Get
            Handle = _hWnd
        End Get
    End Property
 
End Class

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll'

$caller = New-Object -TypeName 'MyWin32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

Real World Data for Charts

To provide real world data samples for the Bar Chart (alternatively one may even render data via Gantt Chart) one would like to capture the Web Site Page element load duration for some performance meaurement scenario. This is easily done with the help of FiddlerCore assembly. The c# part of the script contains a modified fiddlercore-demo example, with the focus on subset of metrics returned by Fiddler:

Add-Type @"

using System;
using Fiddler;

namespace WebTester
{
    public class Monitor
    {
        public Monitor()
        {
            #region AttachEventListeners

            // Simply echo notifications to the console.  Because CONFIG.QuietMode=true 
            // by default, we must handle notifying the user ourselves.
            FiddlerApplication.OnNotification += delegate(object sender, NotificationEventArgs oNEA) { Console.WriteLine("** NotifyUser: " + oNEA.NotifyString); };
            FiddlerApplication.Log.OnLogString += delegate(object sender, LogEventArgs oLEA) { Console.WriteLine("** LogString: " + oLEA.LogString); };

            FiddlerApplication.BeforeRequest += (s) =>
            {
                // In order to enable response tampering, buffering mode must
                // be enabled; this allows FiddlerCore to permit modification of
                // the response in the BeforeResponse handler rather than streaming
                // the response to the client as the response comes in.
                s.bBufferResponse = true;
            };

            FiddlerApplication.BeforeResponse += (s) =>
            {
                // Uncomment the following to decompress/unchunk the HTTP response 
                // s.utilDecodeResponse(); 
            };


            FiddlerApplication.AfterSessionComplete += (fiddler_session) =>
            {
                // Ignore HTTPS connect requests
                if (fiddler_session.RequestMethod == "CONNECT")
                    return;

                if (fiddler_session == null || fiddler_session.oRequest == null || fiddler_session.oRequest.headers == null)
                    return;

                var full_url = fiddler_session.fullUrl;
                Console.WriteLine("URL: " + full_url);

                HTTPResponseHeaders response_headers = fiddler_session.ResponseHeaders;
                Console.WriteLine("HTTP Response: " + response_headers.HTTPResponseCode.ToString());
                /*
                foreach (HTTPHeaderItem header_item in response_headers){
                   Console.WriteLine(header_item.Name + " " + header_item.Value);
                }
                    */
                // http://fiddler.wikidot.com/timers
                var timers = fiddler_session.Timers;
                var duration = timers.ClientDoneResponse - timers.ClientBeginRequest;
                Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Duration: {0:F10}", duration.Milliseconds));

            };
            #endregion AttachEventListeners
        }


        public void Start()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Starting FiddlerCore...");
            // For the purposes of this demo, we'll forbid connections to HTTPS 
            // sites that use invalid certificates
            CONFIG.IgnoreServerCertErrors = false;
            // Because we've chosen to decrypt HTTPS traffic, makecert.exe must
            // be present in the Application folder.
            FiddlerApplication.Startup(8877, true, true);
            Console.WriteLine("Hit CTRL+C to end session.");
            // Wait Forever for the user to hit CTRL+C.  
            // BUG BUG: Doesn't properly handle shutdown of Windows, etc.
        }

        public void Stop()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Shutdown.");
            FiddlerApplication.Shutdown();
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1);
        }
        public static Monitor m;

        static void Console_CancelKeyPress(object sender, ConsoleCancelEventArgs e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Stop.");
            m.Stop();
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1);
        }
    }
}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.dll','System.Data.dll',"${shared_assemblies_path}\FiddlerCore4.dll"

Modifications mostly made to AfterSessionComplete delegate. This class is embedded in Powershell, and sets to listen to the traffic roughly for the duration of the $selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url) call:

$o = New-Object -TypeName 'WebTester.Monitor'
$o.Start()
# ...  initialize $selenium ...
$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)
$o.Stop()
[bool]$fullstop = [bool]$PSBoundParameters['pause'].IsPresent

The other option to collect durations is to simply invoke in Chrome browser through Selenium:

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.IO;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Remote;

namespace WebTester
{

        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6229769/execute-javascript-using-selenium-webdriver-in-c-sharp
        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14146513/selenium-web-driver-c-sharp-invalidcastexception-for-list-of-webelements-after-j
        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8133661/checking-page-load-time-of-several-url-simultaneously
        // http://blogs.msdn.com/b/fiddler/archive/2011/02/10/fiddler-is-better-with-internet-explorer-9.aspx

    public static class Extensions
    {
        static int cnt = 0;

        public static T Execute(this IWebDriver driver, string script)
        {
            return (T)((IJavaScriptExecutor)driver).ExecuteScript(script);
        }

		        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6229769/execute-javascript-using-selenium-webdriver-in-c-sharp
        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14146513/selenium-web-driver-c-sharp-invalidcastexception-for-list-of-webelements-after-j
        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8133661/checking-page-load-time-of-several-url-simultaneously
        // http://blogs.msdn.com/b/fiddler/archive/2011/02/10/fiddler-is-better-with-internet-explorer-9.aspx

        public static List> Performance(this IWebDriver driver)
        {
            // NOTE: performance.getEntries is only with Chrome
            // performance.timing is available for FF and PhantomJS

            string performance_script = @"
var ua = window.navigator.userAgent;

if (ua.match(/PhantomJS/)) {
    return 'Cannot measure on ' + ua;
} else {
    var performance =
        window.performance ||
        window.mozPerformance ||
        window.msPerformance ||
        window.webkitPerformance || {};

    // var timings = performance.timing || {};
    // return timings;
    var network = performance.getEntries() || {};
    return network;
}
";
            List> result = new List>();
            IEnumerable<Object> raw_data = driver.Execute>(performance_script);

            foreach (var element in (IEnumerable<Object>)raw_data)
            {
                Dictionary row = new Dictionary();
                Dictionary dic = (Dictionary)element;
                foreach (object key in dic.Keys)
                {
                    Object val = null;
                    if (!dic.TryGetValue(key.ToString(), out val)) { val = ""; }
                    row.Add(key.ToString(), val.ToString());
                }
                result.Add(row);
            }
            return result;
        }

public static void WaitDocumentReadyState(
/* this // no longer is an extension method  */ 
IWebDriver driver, string expected_state, int max_cnt = 10)
        {
            cnt = 0;
            var wait = new OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30.00));
            wait.PollingInterval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.50);
            wait.Until(dummy =>
            {
                string result = driver.Execute("return document.readyState").ToString();
                Console.Error.WriteLine(String.Format("result = {0}", result));
                Console.WriteLine(String.Format("cnt = {0}", cnt));
                cnt++;
                // TODO: match
                return ((result.Equals(expected_state) || cnt > max_cnt));
            });
        }
    }

}

$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)
$expected_states = @( "interactive", "complete" );
[WebTester.Extensions]::WaitDocumentReadyState($selenium, $expected_states[1])
$script = @"
var ua = window.navigator.userAgent;

if (ua.match(/PhantomJS/)) { 
return 'Cannot measure on '+ ua;
}
else{
var performance = 
      window.performance || 
      window.mozPerformance || 
      window.msPerformance || 
      window.webkitPerformance || {}; 
// var timings = performance.timing || {};
// return timings;
// NOTE:  performance.timing will not return anything with Chrome
// timing is returned by FF
// timing is returned by Phantom
var network = performance.getEntries() || {}; 
 return network;
}


"@

# executeScript works fine with Chrome or Firefox 31, ie 10, but not IE 11.
# Exception calling "ExecuteScript" with "1" argument(s): "Unable to get browser
# https://code.google.com/p/selenium/issues/detail?id=6511  
# 
# https://code.google.com/p/selenium/source/browse/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/HttpCommandExecutor.java?r=3f4622ced689d2670851b74dac0c556bcae2d0fe

$savedata = $true

if ($headless) {
  # for PhantomJS more work is needed
  # https://github.com/detro/ghostdriver/blob/master/binding/java/src/main/java/org/openqa/selenium/phantomjs/PhantomJSDriver.java
  $result = ([OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSDriver]$selenium).ExecutePhantomJS($script,[System.Object[]]@())
  $result | Format-List
  return
} else {

  $result = ([OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium).executeScript($script)
  # $result | get-member 

  $result | ForEach-Object {
    $element_result = $_
    # $element_result | format-list
    Write-Output $element_result.Name
    Write-Output $element_result.duration
    $o = New-Object PSObject
    $caption = 'test'
    $o | Add-Member Noteproperty 'url' $element_result.Name
    $o | Add-Member Noteproperty 'caption' $caption
    $o | Add-Member Noteproperty 'load_time' $element_result.duration
    $o | Format-List

    if ($savedata) {
      insert_database3 -data $o -database "$script_directory\timings.db"
    }
    $o = $null

The full script is available in the attached zip file.

Line, Bar and Pie Charts

Next example shows another custom-drawn Line, Bar and Pie Chart library which also is implemented in a single C# class:

result

Add-Type @"

// "
 #region PROGRAM HEADER
/*
*********************************************************************************************
* FILE NAME      : DrawGraph.cs                                                             *
* DESCRIPTION    : Generates Bar, Line & Pie graph for a set of values [maximum limit= 10]  *
* AUTHOR         : Anoop Unnikrishnan   (AUK) 
// ... currently we use unmodified code ...


"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll','System.Drawing.dll','System.Data.dll','System.Xml.dll'

The form is limited to selection of the graph shape. Note there are few more shapes available in library (not shown here)

function DrawGraph {

  param(
    [string]$title,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$data_ref,
    [object]$caller
  )

  @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title


  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (470,385)
  $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
  $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedToolWindow
  $f.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $f.SuspendLayout()

  $o = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Anoop.Graph.DrawGraph' -ArgumentList @( [string[]]$data_ref.Value.Keys,
    [float[]]$data_ref.Value.Values,
    $null,
    $null,
    'Arial',
    200
  )
  [System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox]$b = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox'
  $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (40,20)
  $b.Name = 'p5'
  $b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.Size.Width - 20),($f.Size.Height - 100))
  $b.SizeMode = [System.Windows.Forms.PictureBoxSizeMode]::AutoSize
  $b.TabIndex = 1
  $b.TabStop = $false

  $m = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.MenuStrip'
  $file_m1 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $shape_m1 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $shape_m2 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $shape_m3 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $exit_m1 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem'
  $m.SuspendLayout()

  #  m0
  $m.Items.AddRange(@( $file_m1,$exit_m1))
  $m.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
  $m.Name = "m0"
  $m.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.Size.Width),24)
  $m.TabIndex = 0
  $m.Text = "m0"


  #  ShapeToolStripMenuItem
  $shape_m1.Name = "LineGraphToolStripMenuItem"
  $shape_m1.Text = "Line Graph"

  $eventMethod_shape_m1 = $shape_m1.add_click
  $eventMethod_shape_m1.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}." -f $who))
      $b.Image = $o.DrawLineGraph()
      $caller.Data = $sender.Text
    })

  $shape_m2.Name = "BarGraphToolStripMenuItem"
  $shape_m2.Text = "Bar Graph"

  $eventMethod_shape_m2 = $shape_m2.add_click
  $eventMethod_shape_m2.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}." -f $who))
      $b.Image = $o.DrawBarGraph()
      $caller.Data = $sender.Text
    })

  $shape_m3.Name = "3dPieChartToolStripMenuItem"
  $shape_m3.Text = "3d Pie Chart"

  $eventMethod_shape_m3 = $shape_m3.add_click
  $eventMethod_shape_m3.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}." -f $who))
      $b.Image = $o.Draw3DPieGraph()
      $caller.Data = $sender.Text
    })

  # Separator 
  $dash = New-Object -TypeName System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripSeparator

  #  exitToolStripMenuItem
  $exit_m1.Name = "exitToolStripMenuItem"
  $exit_m1.Text = "Exit"

  $eventMethod_exit_m1 = $exit_m1.add_click
  $eventMethod_exit_m1.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}." -f $who))
      $caller.Data = $sender.Text
      $f.Close()
    })

  #  fileToolStripMenuItem1
  $file_m1.DropDownItems.AddRange(@( $shape_m1, $shape_m2, $dash, $shape_m3))
  $file_m1.Name = "DrawToolStripMenuItem1"
  $file_m1.Text = "Draw"

  $m.ResumeLayout($false)

  #  MenuTest
  $f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (1,1)
  $f.Controls.AddRange(@( $m,$b))
  $f.Topmost = $True

  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

  [void]$f.ShowDialog([win32window]($caller))

  $f.Dispose()
}

result

The caller passes the data by reference


$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$data = @{
  "USA" = 10;
  "UK" = 30;
  "Japan" = 60;
  "China" = 40;
  "Bhutan" = 5;
  "India" = 60; 
}
[void](DrawGraph -Title $title -caller $caller -data_ref ([ref]$data))

Data Grid Proof-of-Concept

grid

The grid is notably the most complex object to offer to the user to manipulate.

function PromptGrid(
    [System.Collections.IList] $data,
    [Object] $caller = $null
    ){

  if ($caller -eq $null ){
    $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
    ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  }

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartiaName('System.Windows.Forms') | out-null
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel') | out-null
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data') | out-null
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')  | out-null

$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = 'how do we open these stones? '
$f.AutoSize  = $true
$grid = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DataGrid
$grid.PreferredColumnWidth = 100

$System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
$grid.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
$grid.HeaderForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::FromArgb(255,0,0,0)

$grid.Name = "dataGrid1"
$grid.DataMember = ''
$grid.TabIndex = 0
$System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
$System_Drawing_Point.X = 13;
$System_Drawing_Point.Y = 48 ;
$grid.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
$grid.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill

$button = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$button.Text = 'Open'
$button.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Bottom

$f.Controls.Add( $button )
$f.Controls.Add( $grid )

$button.add_Click({
# http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.datagridviewrow.cells%28v=vs.110%29.aspx

if ($grid.IsSelected(0)){
 $caller.Data = 42;
}
$f.Close()

})

$grid.DataSource =  $data
$f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller)) | out-null
$f.Topmost = $True
$f.refresh()
$f.Dispose()
}

function display_result{
param ([Object] $result)

$array = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList

foreach ($key in $result.keys){
  $value = $result[$key]
  $o = New-Object PSObject
  $o | add-member Noteproperty 'Substance'  $value[0]
  $o | add-member Noteproperty 'Action' $value[1]
  $array.Add($o)
}

$process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList
([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$ret = (PromptGrid $array $process_window)
}

$data = @{ 1 = @('wind', 'blows...');
           2 = @('fire',  'burns...');
           3 = @('water',  'falls...')
        }

display_result $data

Here, the event handler is temporarily left as an exercise to the reader - it can be quite domain specific. Please visit the author's github repository for the updates to this script.

For example, one can use GridListView to prompt the user for missing parameters. If the script parameters are

[CmdletBinding()]param ( [string] $string_param1 = '' ,
        [string] $string_param2 = '' ,
        [string] $string_param3 = '' ,
        [boolean] $boolean_param = $false,
        [int] $int_param
    )

and the invocation only passes some but not all, one can discover the parameters state with the help of the following code snippet:

[CmdletBinding()]# Get the command name
$CommandName = $PSCmdlet.MyInvocation.InvocationName

# Get the list of parameters for the command
$ParameterList = (Get-Command -Name $CommandName).Parameters
$parameters = @{}
foreach ($Parameter in $ParameterList) {
  # Grab each parameter value, using Get-Variable
  $value = Get-Variable -Name $Parameter.Values.Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}

Then fill the $parameters Hashtable and pass it to the Form:

$parameters = @{ }
$value | foreach-object {$parameters[$_.Name] = $_.Value }
$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
Edit_Parameters -parameters ($parameters) -caller $caller -title 'Provide parameters: '

that is defined like that:

function Edit_Parameters {
     Param(
    [Hashtable] $parameters,
        [String] $title,
    [Object] $caller= $null
    )

  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms') | out-null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel') | out-null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data') | out-null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')  | out-null

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.SuspendLayout();

  $f.Text = $title
  $f.AutoSize  = $true
  $grid = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView
  $grid.Autosize = $true
  $grid.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0

  $grid.Name = 'dataGrid1'
  $grid.DataMember = ''
  $grid.TabIndex = 0
  $grid.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(13,50)
  $grid.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill

  $grid.ColumnCount = 2
  $grid.Columns[0].Name = 'Parameter Name'
  $grid.Columns[1].Name = 'Value'

  $parameters.Keys | foreach-object {
            $row1 = @( $_,  $parameters[$_].ToString())
            $grid.Rows.Add($row1)
  }

  $grid.Columns[0].ReadOnly = $true;

  foreach ($row in $grid.Rows){
             $row.cells[0].Style.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::LightGray
             $row.cells[0].Style.ForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::White
             $row.cells[1].Style.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font('Lucida Console', 9)
      }

  $button = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button.Text = 'Run'
  $button.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Bottom

  $f.Controls.Add( $button)
  $f.Controls.Add( $grid )
  $grid.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $button.add_Click({

    foreach ($row in $grid.Rows){
      # do not close the form if some parameters are not entered
      if (($row.cells[0].Value -ne $null -and $row.cells[0].Value -ne '' ) -and ($row.cells[1].Value -eq $null -or $row.cells[1].Value -eq '')) {
        $row.cells[0].Style.ForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Red
        $grid.CurrentCell  = $row.cells[1]
        return;
      }
    }
      # TODO: return $caller.HashData
      # write-host ( '{0} = {1}' -f $row.cells[0].Value, $row.cells[1].Value.ToString())

    $f.Close()

  })

  $f.ShowDialog($caller) | out-null
  $f.Topmost = $True
  $f.refresh()
  $f.Dispose()
}

In the button handler, we prevent closing the form until there are blank parameters. The input focus it brought to the cell where the input is expected. For simplicity, we accept text input for all parameters regardless of the type here.

password

List Views

Now suppose one runs a series of loose (e.g. Selenium) tests utilizing Excel file for test parameters and results:

configuration

To read the settings

$data_name = 'Servers.xls'
[string]$filename = ('{0}\{1}' -f (Get-ScriptDirectory),$data_name)

$sheet_name = 'ServerList$'
[string]$oledb_provider = 'Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0'
$data_source = "Data Source = $filename"
$ext_arg = "Extended Properties=Excel 8.0"
# TODO: hard coded id
[string]$query = "Select * from [${sheet_name}] where [id] <> 0"
[System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection]$connection = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection ("$oledb_provider;$data_source;$ext_arg")
[System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand]$command = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand ($query)


[System.Data.DataTable]$data_table = New-Object System.Data.DataTable
[System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter]$ole_db_adapter = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter
$ole_db_adapter.SelectCommand = $command

$command.Connection = $connection
($rows = $ole_db_adapter.Fill($data_table)) | Out-Null
$connection.open()
$data_reader = $command.ExecuteReader()
$plain_data = @()
$row_num = 1
[System.Data.DataRow]$data_record = $null
if ($data_table -eq $null) {}
else {

  foreach ($data_record in $data_table) {
    $data_record | Out-Null
    # Reading the columns of the current row

    $row_data = @{
      'id' = $null;
      'baseUrl' = $null;
      'status' = $null;
      'date' = $null;
      'result' = $null;
      'guid' = $null;
      'environment' = $null ;
      'testName' = $null;

    }

    [string[]]($row_data.Keys) | ForEach-Object {
      # An error occurred while enumerating through a collection: Collection was
      # modified; enumeration operation may not execute..
      $cell_name = $_
      $cell_value = $data_record."${cell_name}"
      $row_data[$cell_name] = $cell_value
    }
    Write-Output ("row[{0}]" -f $row_num)
    $row_data
    Write-Output "`n"
    # format needs to be different 
    $plain_data += $row_data
    $row_num++
  }
}

$data_reader.Close()
$command.Dispose()
$connection.Close()

and write the results

function update_single_field {
  param(
    [string]$sql,
    # [ref]$connection does not seem to work here
    # [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$connection_ref,
    [System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection]$connection,
    [string]$where_column_name,
    [object]$where_column_value,
    [string]$update_column_name,
    [object]$update_column_value,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$update_column_type_ref = ([ref][System.Data.OleDb.OleDbType]::VarChar),
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$where_column_type_ref = ([ref][System.Data.OleDb.OleDbType]::Numeric)
  )

  [System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand]$local:command = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand
  $local:command.Connection = $connection

  $local:command.Parameters.Add($update_column_name,$update_column_type_ref.Value).Value = $update_column_value
  $local:command.Parameters.Add($where_column_name,$where_column_type_ref.Value).Value = $where_column_value
  $local:command.CommandText = $sql

  # TODO: Exception calling "Prepare" with "0" argument(s): "OleDbCommand.Prepare method requires all variable length parameters to have an explicitly set non-zero Size."
  # $command.Prepare()

  $local:result = $local:command.ExecuteNonQuery()
  Write-Output ('Update query: {0}' -f (($sql -replace $update_column_name,$update_column_value) -replace $where_column_name,$where_column_value))
  Write-Output ('Update result: {0}' -f $local:result)

  $local:command.Dispose()

  return $local:result

}

update_single_field `
   -connection $connection `
   -sql "UPDATE [${sheet_name}] SET [status] = @status WHERE [id] = @id" `
   -update_column_name "@status" `
   -update_column_value $false `
   -update_column_type_ref ([ref][System.Data.OleDb.OleDbType]::Boolean) `
   -where_column_name '@id' `
   -where_column_value 2

some home-brewed functions are written. There may be no Excel installed on the test box (e.g. Spoon.Net) and when the number of tests grows, it will not be handy to select certain tests to rerun. A gridview comes to rescue (arguably this is just an initial solution, better ones may exist):

$RESULT_OK = 0
$RESULT_CANCEL = 2
$Readable = @{
  $RESULT_OK = 'OK'
  $RESULT_CANCEL = 'CANCEL'
}


# http://www.cosmonautdreams.com/2013/09/06/Parse-Excel-Quickly-With-Powershell.html
# for singlee column spreadsheets see also
# http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2008/09/11/how-can-i-read-from-excel-without-using-excel.aspx

function PromptGrid (
  [System.Collections.IList]$data,
  [object]$caller = $null
) {

  if ($caller -eq $null) {
    $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  }

  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms') | Out-Null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel') | Out-Null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data') | Out-Null
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing') | Out-Null


  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = 'Test suite'
  $f.AutoSize = $true
  $grid = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DataGrid
  $grid.PreferredColumnWidth = 100

  $System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size
  $grid.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
  $grid.HeaderForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::FromArgb(255,0,0,0)

  $grid.Name = 'dataGrid1'
  $grid.DataMember = ''
  $grid.TabIndex = 0
  $System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point
  $System_Drawing_Point.X = 13;
  $System_Drawing_Point.Y = 48;
  $grid.Location = $System_Drawing_Point
  $grid.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill

  $button = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button.Text = 'Open'
  $button.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Bottom

  $f.Controls.Add($button)
  $f.Controls.Add($grid)
  $button.add_click({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
      # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.datagridviewrow.cells%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
      # TODO:
      # [System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewSelectedRowCollection]$rows = $grid.SelectedRows
      # [System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewRow]$row = $null 
      # [System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewSelectedCellCollection] $selected_cells = $grid.SelectedCells; 
      $script:Data = 0
      $script:Status = $RESULT_CANCEL
      # $last_row = ($grid.Rows.Count)
      $last_row =  $data.Count
      for ($counter = 0; $counter -lt $last_row;$counter++) { 
        if ($grid.IsSelected($counter)) {
          $row =  $data[$counter]
          $script:Data = $row.Guid
          $script:Status = $RESULT_OK
         }
      }
      $f.Close()

    })

  $grid.DataSource = $data
  $f.ShowDialog() | Out-Null
  $f.Topmost = $True
  $f.Refresh()

}


function display_result {
  param([object[]]$result)
  $script:Data = 0 
  $array = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
  foreach ($row_data in $result) {
    $o = New-Object PSObject
    foreach ($row_data_key in $row_data.Keys) {
      $row_data_value = $row_data[$row_data_key]

      $o | Add-Member Noteproperty $row_data_key $row_data_value
    }
    [void]$array.Add($o)
  }

  $process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  $ret = (PromptGrid $array $process_window)
  if ($script:Status -eq $RESULT_OK ) { 
    Write-Output @( 'Rerun ->', $script:Data )
  }
}

gridview

The full script source is available in the source zip file.

The pure ListView container is rendered like:

function PromptListView
{
  param(
    [System.Collections.IList]$data_rows,
    [string[]]$column_names = $null,
    [string[]]$column_tags,
    [bool]$debug
  )
  @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

  $numCols = $column_names.Count

  # figure out form width
  $width = $numCols * 120

  $title = 'Select process'
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title
  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($width,400)
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $true

  $select_button = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $select_button.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (10,10)
  $select_button.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (70,23)
  $select_button.Text = 'Select'
  $select_button.add_click({
      # TODO: implementation 
      # select_sailing ($script:Item)
    })

  $button_panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $button_panel.Height = 40
  $button_panel.Dock = 'Bottom'
  $button_panel.Controls.AddRange(@( $select_button))


  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $panel.Dock = 'Fill'
  $f.Controls.Add($panel)
  $list_view = New-Object windows.forms.ListView
  $panel.Controls.AddRange(@( $list_view,$button_panel))


  # create the columns
  $list_view.View = [System.Windows.Forms.View]'Details'
  $list_view.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($width,350)
  $list_view.FullRowSelect = $true
  $list_view.GridLines = $true
  $list_view.Dock = 'Fill'
  foreach ($col in $column_names) {
    [void]$list_view.Columns.Add($col,100)
  }

  # populate the view
  foreach ($data_row in $data_rows) {
    # NOTE: special processing of first column
    $cell = (Invoke-Expression (('$data_row.{0}' -f $column_names[0]))).ToString()
    $item = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem ($cell)
    for ($i = 1; $i -lt $column_names.Count; $i++) {
      $cell = (Invoke-Expression ('$data_row.{0}' -f $column_names[$i]))

      if ($cell -eq $null) {
        $cell = ''
      }
      [void]$item.SubItems.Add($cell.ToString())
    }
    $item.Tag = $data_row
    [void]$list_view.Items.Add($item)
  }
  <#
  $list_view.add_ItemActivate({
      param(
        [object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)

      [System.Windows.Forms.ListView]$lw = [System.Windows.Forms.ListView]$sender
      [string]$filename = $lw.SelectedItems[0].Tag.ToString()
    })
  #>

  # store the selected item id
  $list_view.add_ItemSelectionChanged({
      param(
        [object]$sender,[System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItemSelectionChangedEventArgs]$e)

      [System.Windows.Forms.ListView]$lw = [System.Windows.Forms.ListView]$sender
      [int]$process_id = 0
      [int32]::TryParse(($e.Item.SubItems[0]).Text,([ref]$process_id))
      $script:Item = $process_id
      # write-host ( '-> {0}' -f $script:Item )
    })

  # tags for sorting
  for ($i = 0; $i -lt $column_tags.Count; $i++) {
    $list_view.Columns[$i].Tag = $column_tags[$i]
  }
  # see below..
  $list_view.Add_ColumnClick({
      $list_view.ListViewItemSorter = New-Object ListViewItemComparer ($_.Column,$script:IsAscending)
      $script:IsAscending = !$script:IsAscending
    })
  $script:Item = 0
  $script:IsAscending = $false
  $f.Topmost = $True
  $script:IsAscending = $false
  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })
  $x = $f.ShowDialog()
}

with sort

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;

public class ListViewItemComparer : System.Collections.IComparer
{
    public int col = 0;
    public System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder Order;
    public ListViewItemComparer()
    {
        col = 0;
    }

    public ListViewItemComparer(int column, bool asc)
    {
        col = column;
        if (asc)
        { Order = SortOrder.Ascending; }
        else
        { Order = SortOrder.Descending; }
    }

    public int Compare(object x, object y)
    {
        if (!(x is ListViewItem)) return (0);
        if (!(y is ListViewItem)) return (0);

        ListViewItem l1 = (ListViewItem)x;
        ListViewItem l2 = (ListViewItem)y;

        if (l1.ListView.Columns[col].Tag == null)
        {
            l1.ListView.Columns[col].Tag = "Text";
        }

        if (l1.ListView.Columns[col].Tag.ToString() == "Numeric")
        {
            float fl1 = float.Parse(l1.SubItems[col].Text);
            float fl2 = float.Parse(l2.SubItems[col].Text);
            return (Order == SortOrder.Ascending) ?  fl1.CompareTo(fl2) :  fl2.CompareTo(fl1);
        }
        else
        {
            string str1 = l1.SubItems[col].Text;
            string str2 = l2.SubItems[col].Text;
            return (Order == SortOrder.Ascending) ? str1.CompareTo(str2) : str2.CompareTo(str1);
        }

    }
}

listview

function display_result {
  param([object[]]$result)
  $column_names = @(
    'id',
    'dest',
    'port',
    'state',
    'title',
    'link'
  )
  $column_tags = @(
    'Numeric',
    'Text',
    'Text',
    'Text',
    'Text',
    'Text'

  )
  $data_rows = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
  foreach ($row_data in $result) {
    $o = New-Object PSObject
    foreach ($row_data_key in $column_names) {
      $row_data_value = $row_data[$row_data_key]
      $o | Add-Member Noteproperty $row_data_key $row_data_value
    }
    [void]$data_rows.Add($o)
  }

  [void](PromptListView -data_rows $data_rows -column_names $column_names -column_tags $column_tags)
}

Filling GridView DataTable

Loading data into the grid or listview one entry at a time may not be the desired interface. Generic list of dictionaries seems to not work, as a workaround one may store it inside a suitable class:

    public class DictionaryContainer
    {
        private List<Dictionary<string, object>> _data = new List<Dictionary<string, object>> { };

        public List<Dictionary<string, object>> Data
        {
            get { return _data; }
        }

        public void add_row(Dictionary<string, object> row)
        {
            _data.Add(row);
        }

        public DictionaryContainer()
        {
        }
    }

in this example, the DataGridView with a Togggle All States class was used for rendering the data :

function SelectAllGrid {

  param(
    [string]$title,
    [string]$message
  )


  @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (470,235)
  $f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6.0,13.0)
  $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
  $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedToolWindow
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $urls = @( 'http://www.travelocity.com/','http://www.bcdtravel.com/','http://www.airbnb.com','http://www.priceline.com','http://www.tripadvisor.com')


  # https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/microsoft.public.windows.powershell/Ta9NyFPovgI 
  $array_of_dictionaries_container = New-Object -Type 'Custom.DictionaryContainer'

  for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne 5; $cnt++) {
    $item = New-Object 'System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[String,Object]'
    $item.Add('RandomNo',(Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 10001))
    $item.Add('date',(Date))
    $item.Add('url',$urls[$cnt])
    $array_of_dictionaries_container.add_row($item)
  }

  $r = New-Object -TypeName 'Custom.SelectAllGrid' -ArgumentList $array_of_dictionaries_container
  $r.Size = $f.Size

  $f.Controls.Add($r)
  $f.Topmost = $True

  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  $f.Dispose()

}
$script:Data = $null
SelectAllGrid -Title 'Selection Grid Sample Project'

It had been modified to become a Panel rather than Form and to accept:

        private System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView dgvSelectAll;
        public SelectAllGrid(DictionaryContainer userDataContainer = null)
        {
           this.dgvSelectAll = new System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView();
           // ... misc initialization code 
           dgvSelectAll.DataSource = GetDataSource(userDataContainer);
        }
        public DataTable GetDataSource(DictionaryContainer userDataContainer = null)
        {
            DataTable dTable = new DataTable();

            DataRow dRow = null;
            List> sampleData;
            if (userDataContainer == null)
            {
                Random rnd = new Random();
                sampleData = new List> {

                              new Dictionary { { "RandomNo", rnd.NextDouble()}, { "Date", DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") }, { "url", "www.facebook.com"}} ,
                              new Dictionary { { "RandomNo", rnd.NextDouble()}, { "Date", DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") }, { "url", "www.linkedin.com"}} ,
                              new Dictionary { { "RandomNo", rnd.NextDouble()}, { "Date", DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") }, { "url", "www.odesk.com"}}  
                              };
            }
            else
            {
                sampleData = userDataContainer.Data;
            }
            Dictionary openWith = sampleData[0];

            Dictionary.KeyCollection keyColl = openWith.Keys;

            dTable.Columns.Add("IsChecked", System.Type.GetType("System.Boolean"));
            foreach (string s in keyColl)
            {
                dTable.Columns.Add(s);
            }

            foreach (Dictionary objitem in sampleData)
            {
                dRow = dTable.NewRow();
                foreach (KeyValuePair kvp in objitem)
                {
                    dRow[kvp.Key] = kvp.Value.ToString();
                }
                dTable.Rows.Add(dRow);
                dTable.AcceptChanges();

            }
            return dTable;
        }

password

Note that modifying the SelectAllGridto take List<Dictionary<string, object>> directly and passing the data via

$array_of_dictionaries = New-Object 'System.Collections.Generic.List[System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[String,Object]]'
for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne 5; $cnt++) {
    $item = New-Object 'System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[String,Object]'
    $item.Add('RandomNo',(Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 10001))
    $item.Add('date',(Date))
    $item.Add('url',$urls[$cnt])
    $array_of_dictionaries.Add($item)
  }
  $array_of_dictionaries | ForEach-Object { $row = $_
    $row | Format-List
  }
 $r = New-Object -TypeName 'Custom.SelectAllGrid' -ArgumentList $array_of_dictionaries

fails with the error:

New-Object : Cannot find an overload for "SelectAllGrid" and the argument count: "5".

and that one had to add System.Data.dll to the list of referenced assemblies of Custom.SelectAllGrid to prevent the error:

Add-Type : c:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\ypffadcb.0.cs(90) : 
The type 'System.Xml.Serialization.IXmlSerializable' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. 
You must add a reference to assembly 
'System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'.

List With Collapsible Groups

Next example uses Collapsible Groups Control to offer to the user the aggregated configration information:

function GroupedListBox
{
  param(
    [string]$title,
 [bool]$show_buttons)


  @('System.Drawing','System.Collections', 'System.Collections.Generic' , 'System.Drawing', 'System.ComponentModel', 'System.Windows.Forms', 'System.Data') |  foreach-object {   [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) } 

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form

  $f.Text = $title
  $width = 500
  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size ($width,400)
  $glc = New-Object -TypeName 'GroupedListControl.GroupListControl'
  $glc.SuspendLayout()

  $glc.AutoScroll = $true
  $glc.BackColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::Control
  $glc.FlowDirection = [System.Windows.Forms.FlowDirection]::TopDown
  $glc.SingleItemOnlyExpansion = $false
  $glc.WrapContents = $false
  $glc.Anchor = ([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles](0 `
         -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top `
         -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom `
         -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left `
         -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right `
      ))

  $f.SuspendLayout()

  if ($show_buttons) {
        [System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox]$cb1 = new-object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox'
        $cb1.AutoSize = $true
        $cb1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(12, 52)
        $cb1.Name = "chkSingleItemOnlyMode"
        $cb1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(224, 17)
        $cb1.Text = 'Single-Group toggle'
        $cb1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $true
        function chkSingleItemOnlyMode_CheckedChanged
        {
         param([Object] $sender, [EventArgs] $e)
            $glc.SingleItemOnlyExpansion = $cb1.Checked
            if ($glc.SingleItemOnlyExpansion) {
                $glc.CollapseAll()
            } else {
                $glc.ExpandAll()
            }
        }
        $cb1.Add_CheckedChanged({ chkSingleItemOnlyMode_CheckedChanged } )
        [System.Windows.Forms.Label]$label1 = new-object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Label' 
        $label1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(12, 13)
        $label1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(230, 18) 
	$label1.Text = 'Grouped List Control Demo'
        # $label1.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("Lucida Sans", 12F, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, ((byte)(0)))
        [System.Windows.Forms.Button]$button1 = new-object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Button' 

            $button1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(303, 46)
            $button1.Name = "button1"
            $button1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(166, 23)
            $button1.TabIndex = 3
            $button1.Text = 'Add Data Items (disconnected)'
            $button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true
            $button1.Add_Click( { write-host $glc.GetType() 
$x =  $glc | get-member
write-host ($x -join "`n")
})
         
    $f.Controls.Add($cb1)
    $f.Controls.Add($button1)
    $f.Controls.Add($label1)

    $glc.Location =  new-object System.Drawing.Point(0, 75)
    $glc.Size =  new-object  System.Drawing.Size($f.size.Width, ($f.size.Height - 75))

  } else { 
  $glc.Size = $f.Size

}

  for ($group = 1; $group -le 5; $group++)
  {
    [GroupedListControl.ListGroup]$lg = New-Object -TypeName 'GroupedListControl.ListGroup'
    $lg.Columns.Add("List Group " + $group.ToString(), 120 )
    $lg.Columns.Add("Group " + $group + " SubItem 1", 150 )
    $lg.Columns.Add("Group " + $group + " Subitem 2", 150 )
    $lg.Name = ("Group " + $group)
    # add some sample items:
    for ($j = 1; $j -le 5; $j++){
      [System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem]$item = $lg.Items.Add(("Item " + $j.ToString()))
      $item.SubItems.Add($item.Text + " SubItem 1")
      $item.SubItems.Add($item.Text + " SubItem 2")
    }

    $glc.Controls.Add($lg)
  }

  $f.Controls.Add($glc)
  $glc.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $f.KeyPreview = $True

  $f.Topmost = $True

  $caller = New-Object -TypeName 'Win32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })

  [void]$f.ShowDialog([win32window]($caller))
  $f.Dispose()
  $result = $caller.Message
  $caller = $null
  return $result
}
$show_buttons_arg  = $false

  if ($PSBoundParameters["show_buttons"]) {
$show_buttons_arg = $true
  }

To pass the real data to display, use the following structure:

$configuration_discovery_results = @{
  'Web.config' = @{
    'COMMENT' = 'Web Server';
    'DOMAIN' = '';
    'CONFIGURATIONS' = @{
      'Exit SSL cms targetted offers' = $Extract_appSetting;
      'Force Non Https for Home Page' = $Extract_appSetting;
      'To new deck plans page' = $Extract_RuleActionurl ;
      'imagesCdnHostToPrepend' = $Extract_RuleActionurl ;
    };
  };

[scriptblock]$Extract_appSetting = {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$object_ref,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$result_ref,
    [string]$key = $null
  )

  if ($key -eq $null -or $key -eq '') {
    throw 'Key cannot be null'

  }

[scriptblock]$Extract_RuleActionurl = {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$object_ref,
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$result_ref,
    [string]$key = $null
  )

  if ($key -eq $null -or $key -eq '') {
    throw 'Key cannot be null'
  }

  $data = @{}
  $nodes = $object_ref.Value.Configuration.Location.'system.webServer'.rewrite.rules.rule
  if ($global:debug) {
    Write-Host $nodes.count
  }
  for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne $nodes.count; $cnt++) {

    $k = $nodes[$cnt].Getattribute('name')
    $v = $nodes[$cnt].action.Getattribute('url')
    if ($k -match $key) {
      $data[$k] += $v
      if ($global:debug) {
        Write-Output $k; Write-Output $v
      }
    }

  }

  $result_ref.Value = $data[$key]
}

  $data = @{}
  $nodes = $object_ref.Value.Configuration.Location.appSettings.Add
  for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne $nodes.count; $cnt++) {
    $k = $nodes[$cnt].Getattribute('key')
    $v = $nodes[$cnt].Getattribute('value')

    if ($k -match $key) {
      if ($global:debug) {
        Write-Host $k
        Write-Host $key
        Write-Host $v
      }
      $data[$k] += $v
    }
  }
  $result_ref.Value = $data[$key]
}

To collect the data from various *.config files use e.g. code

function collect_config_data {

  param(
    [ValidateNotNull()]
    [string]$target_domain,
    [string]$target_unc_path,
    [scriptblock]$script_block,
    [bool]$verbose,
    [bool]$debug
  )

  $local:result = @()
  if (($target_domain -eq $null) -or ($target_domain -eq '')) {
    if ($powerless) {
      return $local:result
    } else {
      throw 'unspecified DOMAIN'
    }
  }

  [xml]$xml_config = Get-Content -Path $target_unc_path
  $object_ref = ([ref]$xml_config)
  $result_ref = ([ref]$local:result)

  Invoke-Command $script_block -ArgumentList $object_ref,$result_ref,$verbose,$debug

  if ($verbose) {
    Write-Host ("Result:`r`n---`r`n{0}`r`n---`r`n" -f ($local:result -join "`r`n"))
  }

}

To fill the List, use

  foreach ($key in $configuration_discovery_results.Keys) {
    $values = $configuration_discovery_results[$key]
    $configurations = $values['CONFIGURATIONS']
    [GroupedListControl.ListGroup]$lg = New-Object -TypeName 'GroupedListControl.ListGroup'
    $lg.Columns.Add($values['COMMENT'],120)
    $lg.Columns.Add("Key",150)
    $lg.Columns.Add("Value",300)
    # TODO - document the error.
    #    $configurations.Keys | foreach-object {  
    foreach ($k in $configurations.Keys) {
      $v = $configurations[$k]
      [System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem]$item = $lg.Items.Add($key)
      $item.SubItems.Add($k)
      $item.SubItems.Add($v)
    }

    $glc.Controls.Add($lg)

  }

password

Drag and Drop

Next example covers drag and drop listboxes. There is a big number of events to craft and it is unpractical and error prone to convert the MSDN examplehttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.control.dodragdrop%28v=vs.100%29.aspx from C# to Powershell syntax entirely. One only needs the final ListDragTarget.Items, so one adds a string getter method to Add-Type leaving the rest of the snippet intact sans the main entry point:

  public class DragNDrop : System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  {

  private string _message;
  public string Message
   {
      get {
                _message = "";
                List<string>  _items = new List<string>();
                foreach (object _item in ListDragTarget.Items) {
                   _items.Add(_item.ToString());
                }
                _message = String.Join(",", _items.ToArray() );
                return _message;
         }
      set { _message = value; }

        private System.Windows.Forms.ListBox ListDragSource;
        private System.Windows.Forms.ListBox ListDragTarget;
        private System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox UseCustomCursorsCheck;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Label DropLocationLabel;

        private int indexOfItemUnderMouseToDrag;
        private int indexOfItemUnderMouseToDrop;

        private Rectangle dragBoxFromMouseDown;
        private Point screenOffset;

        private Cursor MyNoDropCursor;
        private Cursor MyNormalCursor;

        /// The main entry point for the application removed.

        public DragNDrop(String message)
        {

// rest of the code see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.control.dodragdrop%28v=vs.100%29.aspx

and changes the constructor to accept a String message. Also, after making DragNDrop class inherit from System.Windows.Forms.Panel rather than ystem.Windows.Forms.Form it will be placed on the form:

function PromptWithDragDropNish {
param
(

[String] $title,
        [Object] $caller
)

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')


$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$panel = New-Object DragNDrop($caller.Message)

$f.ClientSize = new-object  System.Drawing.Size(288, 248)
$f.Controls.AddRange(@( $panel ))
$f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedDialog

one uses the $caller object to handle the Message here, keeping in mind potential additional functionality though it is not strictly necessary. Finally, the script is receiving the result:

  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )
  $result = $panel.Message
  $panel.Dispose()
  $f.Dispose()

  $caller = $null

  return $result

}

$data = @(
   'one','two','three','four','five',
   'six','seven','nine','ten','eleven'
)
$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

$caller.Message = $data -join ','
$result = PromptWithDragDropNish 'Items'  $caller

# write-debug ('Selection is : {0}' -f  , $result )

$result -split ',' | format-table -autosize

grid

The form adjusts the cursor appropriately - this is not captured in the screenshot. After the form is closed the script prints the selected items. Such widget may be handy for e.g. arranging of Selenium tests into subsets (conversion to and from the *.orderedtests resource not shown). The full script source is available in the source zip file.

grid

DF5B1F66EB484A2E8DDC06BD183B0E3F

Up Down

For time interval selection one can use either DateTimePicker with a suitable System.Windows.Forms.DateTimePickerFormat

or even a DomainUpDown-derived custom time picker class:

// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16789399/looking-for-time-picker-control-with-half-hourly-up-down
public class CustomTimePicker : System.Windows.Forms.DomainUpDown
    public CustomTimePicker()
    {         
        // build the list of times...
        for (double time = 23.5; time >= 0; time -= 0.5)
        {
            int hour = (int)time; 
            int minutes = (int)((time - hour) * 60); 
            this.Items.Add(hour.ToString("00") + ":" + minutes.ToString("00")); 
        }
        this.SelectedIndex = Items.IndexOf("09:00"); // select a default time
        this.Wrap = true; 
    }

updown

$form_onload = {
   $script:numeric_value = 0
   $script:time_value = ''
   $script:custom_value= ''
function UpDownsPrompt
  param(
    [object]$caller
  )
  @( 'System.Drawing',
    'System.Collections.Generic',
    'System.Collections',
    'System.ComponentModel',
    'System.Windows.Forms',
    'System.Text',
    'System.Data'
  ) | ForEach-Object { $assembly = $_; [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($assembly) }
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (180,120)
  $n = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown
  $n.SuspendLayout()
  $n.Parent = $this
  $n.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (30,80)
  $n.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (50,20)
  $n.Value = 1
  $n.Minimum = 0
  $n.Maximum = 1000
  $n.Increment = 1
  $n.DecimalPlaces = 0
  $n.ReadOnly = $false
  $n.TextAlign = [System.Windows.Forms.HorizontalAlignment]::Right
  ($n.add_ValueChanged).Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $script:numeric_value = $n.Value
    }
  )
  $c = New-Object CustomTimePicker
  $c.Parent = $f
  $c.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (30,50)
  $c.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (70,20)
  $c.TextAlign = [System.Windows.Forms.HorizontalAlignment]::Left
  $c.ReadOnly = $true
  ($c.add_TextChanged).Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
        $script:custom_value = $c.SelectedItem.ToString()
    }
  )
  $c.SuspendLayout()
  $c.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $c.ReadOnly = $true
  $c.TabIndex = 0
  $c.TabStop = $false
  $s = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DateTimePicker
  $s.Parent = $f
  $s.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (30,20)
  $s.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $s.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (70,20)
  $s.Format = [System.Windows.Forms.DateTimePickerFormat]::Custom
  $s.CustomFormat = 'hh:mm'
  $s.ShowUpDown = $true
  $s.Checked = $false
  $s.Add_VisibleChanged({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs)
      $script:datetime_value = $s.Value
    })
  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
  $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (180,120)
  $components = New-Object System.ComponentModel.Container
  $f.Controls.AddRange(@( $c,$n,$s))
  $f.Name = 'Form1'
  $f.Text = 'UpDown Sample'
  $c.ResumeLayout($false)
  $n.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'
  $f.KeyPreview = $True
  $f.Topmost = $True
  $f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  $f.add_Load($form_onload)
  $f.Dispose()
$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
Write-Debug ('Time Selection is : {0}' -f $script:datetime_value )
Write-Debug ('Numeric Value is : {0}' -f $script:numeric_value)
Write-Debug ('Custom contol Value is : {0}' -f $script:custom_value)

results

Ribbon Buttons

One may adapt the Floating/Sliding/Moving Menu in C#.NET for C# code to only contain ribbon slider control with Timers while definition of UserControl1 moved to Powershell by subclassing the Panel (orig. Form1) from Panel rather than Form and get rid of the default constructor:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace Ribbon
{

    public class Panel : System.Windows.Forms.Panel
    {

        private System.Windows.Forms.Panel panel1;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Panel panel2;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Button button2;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Button button1;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Panel panel3;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer1;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer2;
        private System.Windows.Forms.UserControl _usrCtrl;
        private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;
  // ...
        public Panel(System.Windows.Forms.UserControl u)
        {
         if (u == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("Usercontrol required");
          this._usrCtrl = u; 
          InitializeComponent();
        }

Then designing all buttons and subpanels in Powershell semantics:

function PromptRibbon {

  param(
    [string]$title,
    [string]$message,
    [object]$caller
  )


  @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (470,135)
  $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
  $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedToolWindow
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

  $u = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.UserControl
  $p1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label

  $p2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $l2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label

  $b1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b3 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b4 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b5 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b6 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b7 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b8 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b9 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b10 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b11 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b12 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b13 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b14 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b15 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b16 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b17 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b18 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b19 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b20 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $p1.SuspendLayout()
  $p2.SuspendLayout()
  $u.SuspendLayout()

  function button_click {
    param(
      [object]$sender,
      [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
    )
    $who = $sender.Text
    [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing {0}.`rThere is no callback defined yet." -f $who))
  }

  $callbacks = @{
    'b1' = [scriptblock]{
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing`rcallback function for {0}." -f $who))
    };
    'b3' = [scriptblock]{
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      $who = $sender.Text
      [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show(("We are processing`rcallback function defined for {0}." -f $who))
    };

  }

  #  panels
  $cnt = 0
  @(
    ([ref]$p1),
    ([ref]$p2)
  ) | ForEach-Object {
    $p = $_.Value
    $p.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
    $p.BorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle]::FixedSingle
    $p.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Left
    $p.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point ((440 * $cnt),0)
    $p.Name = ('panel {0}' -f $cnt)
    $p.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (440,100)
    $p.TabIndex = $cnt
    $cnt++
  }

  # labels
  $cnt = 0
  @(
    ([ref]$l1),
    ([ref]$l2)
  ) | ForEach-Object {
    $l = $_.Value
    $l.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkGray
    $l.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
    $l.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
    $l.Name = ('label {0}' -f $cnt)
    $l.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (176,23)
    $l.TabIndex = 0
    $l.Text = ('Menu Group  {0}' -f $cnt)
    $l.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
    $cnt++
  }
  # buttons
  $positions = @{
    'b1' = @{ 'x' = 6; 'y' = 27; };
    'b2' = @{ 'x' = 6; 'y' = 64; };
    'b3' = @{ 'x' = 92; 'y' = 27; };
    'b4' = @{ 'x' = 92; 'y' = 64; };
    'b5' = @{ 'x' = 178; 'y' = 27; };
    'b6' = @{ 'x' = 178; 'y' = 64; };
    'b7' = @{ 'x' = 264; 'y' = 27; };
    'b8' = @{ 'x' = 264; 'y' = 64; };
    'b9' = @{ 'x' = 350; 'y' = 27; };
    'b10' = @{ 'x' = 350; 'y' = 64; };
    'b11' = @{ 'x' = 6; 'y' = 27; };
    'b12' = @{ 'x' = 6; 'y' = 64; };
    'b13' = @{ 'x' = 92; 'y' = 27; };
    'b14' = @{ 'x' = 92; 'y' = 64; };
    'b15' = @{ 'x' = 178; 'y' = 27; };
    'b16' = @{ 'x' = 178; 'y' = 64; };
    'b17' = @{ 'x' = 264; 'y' = 27; };
    'b18' = @{ 'x' = 264; 'y' = 64; };
    'b19' = @{ 'x' = 350; 'y' = 27; };
    'b20' = @{ 'x' = 350; 'y' = 64; };

  }
  $cnt = 1

  @(
    ([ref]$b1),
    ([ref]$b2),
    ([ref]$b3),
    ([ref]$b4),
    ([ref]$b5),
    ([ref]$b6),
    ([ref]$b7),
    ([ref]$b8),
    ([ref]$b9),
    ([ref]$b10),
    ([ref]$b11),
    ([ref]$b12),
    ([ref]$b13),
    ([ref]$b14),
    ([ref]$b15),
    ([ref]$b16),
    ([ref]$b17),
    ([ref]$b18),
    ([ref]$b19),
    ([ref]$b20)
  ) | ForEach-Object {
    $b = $_.Value
    $b.Name = ('b{0}' -f $cnt)
    $x = $positions[$b.Name].x
    $y = $positions[$b.Name].y
    Write-Debug ('button{0} x = {1}  y = {2}' -f $cnt,$x,$y)
    $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point ($x,$y)
    $b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (80,30)
    $b.TabIndex = 1
    $b.Text = ('Button {0}' -f $cnt)
    $b.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $true
    if ($callbacks[$b.Name]) {
      $b.add_click({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          [scriptblock]$s = $callbacks[$sender.Name]
          $local:result = $null
          Invoke-Command $s -ArgumentList $sender,$eventargs


        })

    } else {
      $b.add_click({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          $caller.Data = $sender.Text
          button_click -Sender $sender -eventargs $eventargs

        })

    }
    $cnt++

  }

  # Panel1 label and buttons

  $p1.Controls.Add($l1)
  $p1.Controls.AddRange(@( $b10,$b9,$b8,$b7,$b6,$b5,$b4,$b3,$b2,$b1))

  # Panel2 label and buttons
  $p2.Controls.AddRange(@( $b20,$b19,$b18,$b17,$b16,$b15,$b14,$b13,$b12,$b11))
  $p2.Controls.Add($l2)

  #  UserControl1
  $u.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6,13)
  $u.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
  $u.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Gainsboro

  $u.Controls.AddRange(@( $p2,$p1))
  $u.Name = 'UserControl1'
  $u.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (948,100)
  $p1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $p2.ResumeLayout($false)
  $u.ResumeLayout($false)

and displaying the form with the ribbon buttons:

ribbon

$caller = New-Object -TypeName 'Win32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

PromptRibbon -Title 'Floating Menu Sample Project' -caller $caller
write-output $caller.Data

When the callback exists for a button, it is run, otherwise generic button_clisk is called.The full script source is available in the source zip file.

Custom Debugging Message Boxes

Next example displays the Custom Message Box variants with C# code converted to Powershell semantics

function return_response
{
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
  )

  [string ]$button_text = ([System.Windows.Forms.Button]$sender[0]).Text

  if ($button_text -match '(Yes|No|OK|Cancel|Abort|Retry|Ignore)') {
    $script:Result = $button_text
  }
  $f.Dispose()
}

function add_buttons {
  param([psobject]$param)

  switch ($param) {
    ('None') {
      $button_ok.Width = 80
      $button_ok.Height = 24
      $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_ok.Text = 'OK'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_ok)
      $button_ok.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })

    }
    ('OK') {
      $button_ok.Width = 80
      $button_ok.Height = 24
      $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_ok.Text = 'OK'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_ok)
      $button_ok.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
    }
    ('YesNo') {
      # add No button
      $button_no.Width = 80
      $button_no.Height = 24
      $button_no.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_no.Text = 'No'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_no)
      $button_no.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      # add Yes button
      $button_yes.Width = 80
      $button_yes.Height = 24
      $button_yes.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_no.Location.X - $button_no.Width - 2),114)
      $button_yes.Text = 'Yes'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_yes)
      $button_yes.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
    }
    ('YesNoCancel') {
      # add Cancel button
      $button_cancel.Width = 80
      $button_cancel.Height = 24
      $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_cancel.Text = 'Cancel'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_cancel)
      $button_cancel.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      # add No button
      $button_no.Width = 80
      $button_no.Height = 24
      $button_no.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_cancel.Location.X - $button_cancel.Width - 2),114)
      $button_no.Text = 'No'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_no)
      $button_no.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })

      # add Yes button
      $button_yes.Width = 80
      $button_yes.Height = 24
      $button_yes.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_no.Location.X - $button_no.Width - 2),114)
      $button_yes.Text = 'Yes'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_yes)
      $button_yes_Response.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
    }
    ('RetryCancel') {
      # add Cancel button
      $button_cancel.Width = 80
      $button_cancel.Height = 24
      $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_cancel.Text = 'Cancel'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_cancel)
      $button_cancel.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      # add Retry button
      $button_retry.Width = 80
      $button_retry.Height = 24
      $button_retry.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_cancel.Location.X - $button_cancel.Width - 2),114)
      $button_retry.Text = 'Retry'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_retry)
      $button_retry.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })

    }
    ('AbortRetryIgnore') {
      # add Ignore button
      $button_ignore.Width = 80
      $button_ignore.Height = 24
      $button_ignore.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (391,114)
      $button_ignore.Text = 'Ignore'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_ignore)
      $button_ignore.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      # add Retry button
      $button_retry.Width = 80
      $button_retry.Height = 24
      $button_retry.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_ignore.Location.X - $button_ignore.Width - 2),114)
      $button_retry.Text = 'Retry'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_retry)
      $button_retry.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
      #add Abort button
      $button_abort.Width = 80
      $button_abort.Height = 24
      $button_abort.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (($button_retry.Location.X - $button_retry.Width - 2),114)
      $button_abort.Text = 'Abort'
      $panel.Controls.Add($button_abort)
      $button_abort.add_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          return_response ($sender,$eventargs)
        })
    }
    default {}
  }
}

function add_icon_bitmap {
  param([psobject]$param)

  switch ($param)
  {
    ('Error') {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Error).ToBitmap()
    }
    ('Information') {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Information).ToBitmap()
    }
    ('Question') {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Question).ToBitmap()
    }
    ('Warning') {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Warning).ToBitmap()
    }
    default {
      $icon_bitmap.Image = ([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Information).ToBitmap()
    }
  }
}

function click_handler
{

  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventArgs
  )
  if ($button_details.Tag.ToString() -match 'collapse')
  {
    $f.Height = $f.Height + $txtDescription.Height + 6
    $button_details.Tag = 'expand'
    $button_details.Text = 'Hide Details'
    $txtDescription.WordWrap = true
    # txtDescription.Focus();
    # txtDescription.SelectionLength = 0;
  }
  elseif ($button_details.Tag.ToString() -match 'expand')
  {
    $f.Height = $f.Height - $txtDescription.Height - 6
    $button_details.Tag = 'collapse'
    $button_details.Text = 'Show Details'
  }
}

function set_message_text
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText,
    [string]$Title,
    [string]$Description
  )
  $label_message.Text = $messageText
  if (($Description -ne $null) -and ($Description -ne ''))
  {
    $txtDescription.Text = $Description
  }
  else
  {
    $button_details.Visible = $false
  }
  if (($Title -ne $null) -and ($Title -ne ''))
  {
    $f.Text = $Title
  }
  else
  {
    $f.Text = 'Your Message Box'
  }
}

function Show1
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText
  )

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  set_message_text $messageText '' $null
  add_icon_bitmap -param 'Information'
  add_buttons -param 'OK'
  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  $script:Result
}

function Show2
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText,
    [string]$messageTitle,
    [string]$description
  )
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  set_message_text $messageText $messageTitle $description
  add_icon_bitmap -param 'Information'
  add_buttons -param 'OK'
  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  return $script:Result
}

function Show3
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText,
    [string]$messageTitle,
    [string]$description,
    [object]$IcOn,
    [object]$btn
  )

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label

  set_message_text $messageText $messageTitle $description
  add_icon_bitmap -param $IcOn
  add_buttons -param $btn
  $script:Result = 'Cancel'

  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  $f.Dispose()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  return $script:Result
}

function show_exception
{
  param([System.Exception]$ex)

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  set_message_text -Title 'Exception' -messageText $ex.Message -Description $ex.StackTrace
  add_icon_bitmap -param 'Error'
  add_buttons -param 'YesNo'
  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  return $script:Result
}

function DrawBox
{
  $f.Controls.Add($panel)
  $panel.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
  # draw picturebox
  $icon_bitmap.Height = 36
  $icon_bitmap.Width = 40
  $icon_bitmap.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,11)
  $panel.Controls.Add($icon_bitmap)
  # add textbox
  $txtDescription.Multiline = $true
  $txtDescription.Height = 183
  $txtDescription.Width = 464
  $txtDescription.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (6,143)
  $txtDescription.BorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle]::Fixed3D
  $txtDescription.ScrollBars = [System.Windows.Forms.ScrollBars]::Both
  $txtDescription.ReadOnly = $true
  $panel.Controls.Add($txtDescription)

  # add detail button
  $button_details.Height = 24
  $button_details.Width = 80
  $button_details.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (6,114)
  $button_details.Tag = 'expand'
  $button_details.Text = 'Show Details'
  $panel.Controls.Add($button_details)
  $button_details.add_click.Invoke({
      param(
        [object]$sender,
        [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
      )
      click_handler ($sender,$eventargs)
    })

  $label_message.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (64,22)
  $label_message.AutoSize = $true
  $panel.Controls.Add($label_message)
  $f.Height = 360
  $f.Width = 483

  # set form layout
  $f.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedSingle
  $f.MaximizeBox = $false
  $f.MinimizeBox = $false
  ## frm.FormClosing += new FormClosingEventHandler(frm_FormClosing)
  $f.BackColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::ButtonFace

  ## origin http://www.iconarchive.com/search?q=ico+files&page=7
  $f.Icon = New-Object System.Drawing.Icon ([System.IO.Path]::Combine((Get-ScriptDirectory),"Martz90-Circle-Files.ico"))
  if ($button_details.Tag.ToString() -match 'expand')
  {
    $f.Height = $f.Height - $txtDescription.Height - 6
    $button_details.Tag = 'collapse'
    $button_details.Text = 'Show Details'
  }
}

combined with Pure Powershell Assert functon from http://poshcode.org:

function assert {
  [CmdletBinding()]
  param(
    [Parameter(Position = 0,ParameterSetName = 'Script',Mandatory = $true)]
    [scriptblock]$Script,
    [Parameter(Position = 0,ParameterSetName = 'Condition',Mandatory = $true)]
    [bool]$Condition,
    [Parameter(Position = 1,Mandatory = $true)]
    [string]$message)

  $message = "ASSERT FAILED: $message"
  if ($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName -eq 'Script') {
    try {
      $ErrorActionPreference = 'STOP'
      $success = & $Script
    } catch {
      $success = $false
      $message = "$message`nEXCEPTION THROWN: $($_.Exception.GetType().FullName)"
    }
  }
  if ($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName -eq 'Condition') {
    try {
      $ErrorActionPreference = 'STOP'
      $success = $Condition
    } catch {
      $success = $false
      $message = "$message`nEXCEPTION THROWN: $($_.Exception.GetType().FullName)"
    }
  }

  if (!$success) {
    $action = Show3 -messageText $message `
       -messageTitle 'Assert failed' `
       -icon $MSGICON.Error `
       -Btn $MSGBUTTON.RetryCancle `
       -Description ("Try:{0}`r`nScript:{1}`r`nLine:{2}`r`nFunction:{3}" -f $Script,(Get-PSCallStack)[1].ScriptName,(Get-PSCallStack)[1].ScriptLineNumber,(Get-PSCallStack)[1].FunctionName)


    if ($action -ne $MSGRESPONSE.Ignore) {
      throw $message
    }
  }
}

slightly modified to display the exception dialog box

Custom Assert Dialog

and call stack information in the dialog and optionally continue execution:

function Show3
{
  param(
    [string]$messageText,
    [string]$messageTitle,
    [string]$description,
    [object]$IcOn,
    [object]$btn
  )

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $button_details = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_yes = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_no = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_abort = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_retry = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_ignore = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $txtDescription = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $icon_bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox
  $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
  $label_message = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label

  set_message_text $messageText $messageTitle $description
  add_icon_bitmap -param $IcOn
  add_buttons -param $btn
  $script:Result = 'Cancel'

  DrawBox
  [void]$f.ShowDialog()
  $f.Dispose()
  Write-Host ('$script:Result = ' + $script:Result)
  return $script:Result
}

One can use the snippet to handle regular exceptions as well:

Standard Exception Dialog

or a variety of button combinations. The full example is available in the source zip file (two versions: one preserving original C# code and a simplified one).

Misc. Password

Plain

Now, suppose the task needs to authenticate to the source control, CI or some other remote service that uses its own authentication mechanism and does not accept NTLM. The following code helps prompting the username/password. It uses standard Windows Form practice of masking the password text box:

password

function PromptPassword(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $user,
        [Object] $caller
    ){

        [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
        [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

        $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
        $f.MaximizeBox = $false;
        $f.MinimizeBox = $false;
        $f.Text = $title

        $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
        $l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)
        $l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(100,20)
        $l1.Text = 'Username'
        $f.Controls.Add($l1)

        $f.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 10, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);

        $t1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
        $t1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(120, 20)
        $t1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(140, 20)
        $t1.Text = $user;
        $t1.Name = 'txtUser';
        $f.Controls.Add($t1);

        $l2 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
        $l2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,50)
        $l2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(100,20)
        $l2.Text = 'Password'
        $f.Controls.Add($l2)

        $t2 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
        $t2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(120, 50)
        $t2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(140, 20)
        $t2.Text = ''
        $t2.Name = 'txtPassword'
        $t2.PasswordChar = '*'
        $f.Controls.Add($t2)

        $btnOK = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Button
        $x2 = 20
        $y1 = ($t1.Location.Y + $t1.Size.Height + + $btnOK.Size.Height + 20)
        $btnOK.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point($x2 , $y1 )
        $btnOK.Text = "OK";
        $btnOK.Name = "btnOK";
        $f.Controls.Add($btnOK);

        $btnCancel = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Button
        $x1 = (($f.Size.Width -  $btnCancel.Size.Width) - 20 )

        $btnCancel.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point($x1, $y1 );
        $btnCancel.Text = 'Cancel';
        $btnCancel.Name = 'btnCancel';
        $f.Controls.Add($btnCancel);
        $s1 = ($f.Size.Width -  $btnCancel.Size.Width) - 20
        $y2 = ($t1.Location.Y + $t1.Size.Height + $btnOK.Size.Height)

        $f.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size($f.Size.Width,  (($btnCancel.Location.Y +
                             $btnCancel.Size.Height + 40)))

        $btnCancel.Add_Click({$caller.txtPassword = $null ; $caller.txtUser =  $null ;$f.Close()})
        $btnOK.Add_Click({$caller.Data = $RESULT_OK;$caller.txtPassword  = $t2.Text ; $caller.txtUser = $t1.Text;  $f.Close()})

$f.Controls.Add($l)
$f.Topmost = $true


$caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL;
$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
$f.KeyPreview = $True
$f.Add_KeyDown({

    if ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape')  { $caller.Data = $RESULT_CANCEL }
    else                              { return }
    $f.Close()
})

[Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

$f.Dispose()
}

In this script, we store User and password in separate fields:

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'

$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

PromptPassword -title 'Enter credentials'  -user 'admin' -caller $caller
if ($caller.Data -ne $RESULT_CANCEL) {
write-debug ("Result is : {0} / {1}  " -f  $caller.TxtUser , $caller.TxtPassword )
}

Active Directory

Note the above example is not intended to collect NTLM credentials of the user, like e.g., changing the newly installed Windows service to execute with desired user credentials. For this case, use Microsoft Get-Credential cmdlet:

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'

$target_service_name = 'MsDepSvc'
$domain = $env:USERDOMAIN
if ($domain -like 'UAT') {
  $user = '_uatmsdeploy'
}
elseif ($domain -like 'PROD') {
  $user = '_msdeploy'
}
else {
  $user = $env:USERNAME
}

$target_account = "${domain}\${user}"
$credential = Get-Credential -username $target_account -message 'Please authenticate'

if ($credential -ne $null) {
  $target_account  = $credential.Username
  $target_password  = $credential.GetNetworkCredential().Password
  write-Debug $target_password
} else {

}
return

Code for credentials verify, admin rights, modify the newly installed service emitted from the display.

password

Session Cookies

Another possible login scenario is when user can authenticate with his/her domain credentials, but the system internally uses session cookie in the browser.

One can create a dialog with WebBrowser and monitor when the user successfully logs in, then collect the session global cookie.

For that purpose, the wininet.dll p/invoke code is added to $caller object and called when appropriate. Dealing with browser cookies is explained in various sources e.g. here.

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
// ... c sharp code
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll', 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.dll', 'System.Net.dll'

with the code:

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

public class Win32Window : IWin32Window
{
    private IntPtr _hWnd;
    private string _cookies;
    private string _url;

    public string Cookies
    {
        get { return _cookies; }
        set { _cookies = value; }
    }

    public string Url
    {
        get { return _url; }
        set { _url = value; }
    }

    public Win32Window(IntPtr handle)
    {
        _hWnd = handle;
    }

    public IntPtr Handle
    {
        get { return _hWnd; }
    }

    [DllImport("wininet.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    public static extern bool InternetGetCookieEx(
        string url,
        string cookieName,
        StringBuilder cookieData,
        ref int size,
        Int32 dwFlags,
        IntPtr lpReserved);

    private const int INTERNET_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = 0x00002000;
    private const int INTERNET_OPTION_END_BROWSER_SESSION = 42;

public string GetGlobalCookies(string uri)
    {
        int datasize = 1024;
        StringBuilder cookieData = new StringBuilder((int)datasize);
        if (InternetGetCookieEx(uri, null, cookieData, ref datasize, INTERNET_COOKIE_HTTPONLY, IntPtr.Zero)
            && cookieData.Length > 0)
        {
            return cookieData.ToString().Replace(';', ',');
        }
        else
        {
            return null;
        }
    }

}

There is nothing preventing one from storing arbitrary valid C# code with Add-Type.

password

and handle the Navigated event in the $browser object:

function promptForContinueWithCookies(
    [String] $login_url = $null,
    [Object] $caller= $null
    )
{

$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$timer1 = new-object System.Timers.Timer
$label1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Label

$f.SuspendLayout()
$components = new-object System.ComponentModel.Container


        $browser = new-object System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser
        $f.SuspendLayout();

        # webBrowser1
        $browser.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
        $browser.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(0, 0)
        $browser.Name = "webBrowser1"
        $browser.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(600, 600)
        $browser.TabIndex = 0
        # Form1
        $f.AutoScaleDimensions = new-object System.Drawing.SizeF(6, 13)
        $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
        $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(600, 600)
        $f.Controls.Add($browser)
        $f.Text = "Login to octopus"
        $f.ResumeLayout($false)

$f.Add_Load({
  param ([Object] $sender, [System.EventArgs] $eventArgs )
$browser.Navigate($login_url);
})

$browser.Add_Navigated(
{

  param ([Object] $sender, [System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowserNavigatedEventArgs] $eventArgs )
        # wait for the user to successfully log in
        # then capture the global cookies and sent to $caller
        $url = $browser.Url.ToString()
        if ($caller -ne $null -and $url -ne $null -and $url -match $caller.Url ) {
            $caller.Cookies = $caller.GetGlobalCookies($url)
        }
    }
 )

$f.ResumeLayout($false)
$f.Topmost = $True

$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

[void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

}

password

$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$service_host = 'http://localhost:8088'
$login_route = 'app#/users/sign-in'
$login_url = ('{0}/{1}' -f $service_host , $login_route)

$caller.Url =  'app#/environments'

promptForContinueWithCookies $login_url $caller

write-host ("{0}->{1}" -f , $caller.Url, $caller.Cookies)

The cookie will look like:

OctopusIdentificationToken = 6pivzR9B%2fEOyJwbBkA2XfYe1BW4BNuXUqCtpW7VX943Em%2fkBZataiWxOVRDnsiBz

Common Dialogs

Common dialogs is a good candidate to become a Powershell module (WIP):

@( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

function TextInputBox {
  param(
    $prompt_message = 'Enter the Value',
    $caption = 'Inputbox Test'
  )
  $script:result = @{ 'text' = ''; 'status' = $null; }
  $form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $label_prompt = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $text_input = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $form.SuspendLayout()
  $label_prompt.Anchor = [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right
  $label_prompt.BackColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::Control
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_prompt.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (12,9)
  $label_prompt.Name = 'lblPrompt'
  $label_prompt.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (302,82)
  $label_prompt.TabIndex = 3
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_ok.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
  $button_ok.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Standard
  $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (326,8)
  $button_ok.Name = 'button_ok'
  $button_ok.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_ok.TabIndex = 1
  $button_ok.Text = '&OK'
  $button_ok.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
      $script:result.Text = $text_input.Text
      $form.Dispose()
    })
  $button_ok.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_cancel.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
  $button_cancel.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Standard
  $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (326,40)
  $button_cancel.Name = 'button_cancel'
  $button_cancel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_cancel.TabIndex = 2
  $button_cancel.Text = '&Cancel'
  $button_cancel.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
      $text_input.Text = ''
      $script:result.Text = ''
      $form.Dispose()
    })

  $button_cancel.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $text_input.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (8,100)
  $text_input.Name = 'text_input'
  $text_input.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (379,20)
  $text_input.TabIndex = 0
  $text_input.Text = ''
  $text_input.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $form.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
  $form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (398,128)
  $form.Controls.AddRange(@($text_input,$button_cancel,$button_ok,$label_prompt))
  $form.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedDialog
  $form.MaximizeBox = $false
  $form.MinimizeBox = $false
  $form.Name = 'InputBoxDialog'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)
  $form.AcceptButton = $button_ok
  $form.ShowInTaskbar = $false

  $response = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Ignore
  $result = ''
  $text_input.Text = ''
  $label_prompt.Text = $prompt_message
  $form.Text = $caption
  $form.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen

  $text_input.SelectionStart = 0;
  $text_input.SelectionLength = $text_input.Text.Length
  $text_input.Focus()

  $form.Name = 'Form1'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)

  $form.Topmost = $Trues

  $form.Add_Shown({ $form.Activate() })

  [void]$form.ShowDialog()

  $form.Dispose()
  $form = $null
  return $script:result
}

combo


function ComboInputBox {

  param(
    [string]$prompt_message = 'Select or Enter the Country',
    [string[]]$items = @(),
    [string]$caption = 'combo test'
  )

function PopulateCombo ()
{
  param([string[]]$comboBoxItems)
  for ($i = 0; $i -lt $comboBoxItems.Length; $i++)
  {
    $str = $comboBoxItems[$i]
    if ($str -ne $null)
    {
      [void]$combobox.Items.Add($str)
    }
  }
}

  $script:result = @{ 'text' = ''; 'status' = $null; }
  $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::None;

  $form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $label_prompt = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $combobox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox
  $form.SuspendLayout()
  $label_prompt.Anchor = [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right
  $label_prompt.BackColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::Control
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',8.25,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_prompt.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (12,9)
  $label_prompt.Name = 'lblPrompt'
  $label_prompt.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (302,82)
  $label_prompt.TabIndex = 3
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_ok.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
  $button_ok.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Standard
  $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (326,8)
  $button_ok.Name = 'btnOK'
  $button_ok.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_ok.TabIndex = 1
  $button_ok.Text = '&OK'
  $button_ok.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
      $script:result.Text = $combobox.Text
      $form.Dispose()

    })
  $button_ok.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_cancel.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
  $button_cancel.FlatStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle]::Standard
  $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (326,40)
  $button_cancel.Name = 'btnCancel'
  $button_cancel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_cancel.TabIndex = 2
  $button_cancel.Text = '&Cancel'
  $button_cancel.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
      $script:result.Text = ''
      $form.Dispose()

    })
  $button_cancel.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $combobox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (8,100)
  $combobox.Name = 'CmBxComboBox'
  $combobox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (379,20)
  $combobox.TabIndex = 0
  $combobox.Text = ''
  $combobox.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $combobox.Add_TextChanged({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)

    })

  $combobox.Add_KeyPress({
      param(
        [object]$sender,[System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs]$e
      )

    })
  $combobox.Add_TextChanged({
      param(
        [object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e
      )

    })


  $form.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
  $form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (398,128)
  $form.Controls.AddRange(@($combobox,$button_cancel,$button_ok,$label_prompt))
  $form.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedDialog
  $form.MaximizeBox = $false
  $form.MinimizeBox = $false
  $form.Name = 'ComboBoxDialog'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)
  $form.AcceptButton = $button_ok
  $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Ignore
  $script:result.status = ''
  PopulateCombo -comboBoxItems $items
  $label_prompt.Text = $prompt_message
  $form.Text = $caption
  $form.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $combobox.SelectionStart = 0
  $combobox.SelectionLength = $combobox.Text.Length
  $combobox.Focus()
  $form.Name = 'Form1'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)

  $form.Topmost = $True

  $form.Add_Shown({ $form.Activate() })

  [void]$form.ShowDialog($caller)

  $form.Dispose()
  $form = $null
  return $script:result

}

password2


function ChangePasswordDialogBox {

  param(
    [string]$prompt_message = 'Change the password',
    [string]$caption = 'Default Caption',
    [string]$old_password = 'password'

  )
  $script:result = @{ 'text' = ''; 'status' = $null; }

  $form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $label_old_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $label_new_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $label_prompt = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $label_confirm_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $button_ok = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $button_cancel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $text_old_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $text_new_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $text_confirm_password = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
  $form.SuspendLayout()
  $label_old_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_old_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (16,88)
  $label_old_password.Name = 'lblOldPassword'
  $label_old_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (168,24)
  $label_old_password.TabIndex = 1
  $label_old_password.Text = 'Old Password'
  $label_old_password.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $label_new_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_new_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (16,112)
  $label_new_password.Name = 'lblNewPassword'
  $label_new_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (168,24)
  $label_new_password.TabIndex = 2
  $label_new_password.Text = 'New Password'
  $label_new_password.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $label_confirm_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_confirm_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (16,136)
  $label_confirm_password.Name = 'lblConfirmPassword'
  $label_confirm_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (168,24)
  $label_confirm_password.TabIndex = 3
  $label_confirm_password.Text = 'Confirm New Password';
  $label_confirm_password.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $label_prompt.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (16,8)
  $label_prompt.Name = 'lblPrompt'
  $label_prompt.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (280,72)
  $label_prompt.TabIndex = 9
  $label_prompt.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleLeft
  $label_prompt.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $text_old_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $text_old_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (192,88)
  $text_old_password.Name = 'txtbxOldPassword'
  $text_old_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (184,21);
  $text_old_password.TabIndex = 4
  $text_old_password.Text = ''
  $text_old_password.PasswordChar = '*'
  $text_new_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0);
  $text_new_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (192,112)
  $text_new_password.Name = 'txtbxNewPassword'
  $text_new_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (184,21)
  $text_new_password.TabIndex = 5
  $text_new_password.Text = ''
  $text_new_password.PasswordChar = '*'
  $text_confirm_password.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $text_confirm_password.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (192,136)
  $text_confirm_password.Name = 'txtbxConfirmPassword'
  $text_confirm_password.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (184,21)
  $text_confirm_password.TabIndex = 6
  $text_confirm_password.Text = ''
  $text_confirm_password.PasswordChar = '*'
  $button_ok.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_ok.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (312,16)
  $button_ok.Name = 'button_ok'
  $button_ok.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_ok.TabIndex = 7
  $button_ok.Text = 'OK'
  $button_ok.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      if ($text_old_password.Text.Trim() -ne $old_password) {
        # MessageBox.Show(ChangePasswordDialogBox.frmInputDialog, 'Incorrect Old Password', 'LinkSys', MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation);
        $text_old_password.SelectionStart = 0
        $text_old_password.SelectionLength = $text_old_password.Text.Length
        $text_old_password.Focus()
      } else {

        if ($text_new_password.Text.Trim() -ne $text_confirm_password.Text.Trim()) {

          $text_confirm_password.SelectionStart = 0
          $text_confirm_passwordSelectionLength = $text_confirm_password.Text.Length
          $text_confirm_password.Focus()

        } else {

          $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::OK
          $script:result.Text = $text_new_password.Text
          $form.Dispose()
        } }


    })
  $button_cancel.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
  $button_cancel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (312,48)
  $button_cancel.Name = 'btnCancel'
  $button_cancel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (64,24)
  $button_cancel.TabIndex = 8
  $button_cancel.Text = 'Cancel'
  $button_cancel.Add_Click({
      param([object]$sender,[System.EventArgs]$e)
      $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Cancel
      $text_input.Text = ''
      $script:result.Text = ''
      $form.Dispose()

    }
  )
  $form.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
  $form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (400,182)
  $form.Controls.AddRange(@($text_old_password,
$text_new_password,
$text_confirm_password,
$button_cancel,
$button_ok,
$label_prompt,
$label_old_password,
$label_new_password,
$label_confirm_password))
  $form.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedDialog
  $form.MaximizeBox = $false
  $form.MinimizeBox = $false
  $form.Name = 'InputBoxDialog'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)
  $form.AcceptButton = $button_ok
  $form.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $form.ShowInTaskbar = $false

  $script:result.status = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Ignore

  $label_prompt.Text = $prompt_message
  $label_old_password.Text = 'Old Password'
  $label_new_password.Text = 'New Password'
  $label_confirm_password.Text = 'Confirm New Password'
  $text_old_password.Text = $old_password # ''
  $text_new_password.Text = ''
  $text_confirm_password.Text = ''
  $form.Text = $caption
  # Rectangle workingArea = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea;

  $form.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
  $text_old_password.Focus()

  $form.Name = 'Form1'
  $form.ResumeLayout($false)

  $form.Topmost = $Trues

  $form.Add_Shown({ $form.Activate() })

  [void]$form.ShowDialog()

  $form.Dispose()
  $form = $null
  return $script:result
}

chooser


@( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
$shared_assemblies = @(
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)
$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'
if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}
pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object {
  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $_;
  }
  Write-Debug $_
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd
$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$f = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Form'
$f.Text = $title
$f.SuspendLayout()

$f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6.0,13.0)
$f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
$f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (210,105)
$button_combobox_test = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$button_combobox_test.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
$button_combobox_test.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,10)
$button_combobox_test.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (135,23)
$button_combobox_test.Text = 'Combobox Test'
$button_combobox_test.Add_Click({
    $countries = @(
      "India",
      "USA",
      "UK",
      "Russia",
      "Bulgaria",
      "Singapore",
      "Malayasia",
      "Japan",
      "Thailand"
    )
    $prompt_message = 'Select or Enter the Country'
    $caption = 'Combobox Test' 
    $o = ComboInputBox -items $countries -caption  $caption -prompt_message  $prompt_message 
    if ($o.status -match 'OK') {
      $caller.Data = $o.Text
    $f.Close()
    }
  })
$f.Controls.Add($button_combobox_test)
$button_change_password_test = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$button_change_password_test.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
$button_change_password_test.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,40)
$button_change_password_test.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (135,23)
$button_change_password_test.Text = 'Change Password Test'
$button_change_password_test.Add_Click({
    $prompt_message = 'Change the Password'
    $caption = 'Change Password Test'
    $old_password = '123'
    $o = ChangePasswordDialogBox -prompt_message $prompt_message -caption $caption -old_password $old_password
    if ($o.status -match 'OK') {
      $caller.Data = $o.Text
    $f.Close()
    }

  })
$f.Controls.Add($button_change_password_test)
$button_inputbox_test = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$button_inputbox_test.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Arial',10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
$button_inputbox_test.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,70)
$button_inputbox_test.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (135,23)
$button_inputbox_test.Text = 'Inputbox test'
$button_inputbox_test.Add_Click({
    $prompt_message = 'Enter the Value'
    $caption = 'Inputbox test'
    $o = TextInputBox -caption $caption -prompt_message $prompt_message
    if ($o.status -match 'OK') {
      $caller.Data = $o.Text
    $f.Close()
    }
  })
$f.Controls.Add($button_inputbox_test)
$f.Name = "Form1"
$f.Text = 'Standard Input Dialogs'
$f.ResumeLayout($false)
$f.Topmost = $Trues
$f.Add_Shown({ $f.Activate() })
[void]$f.ShowDialog($caller)
$f.Dispose()
Write-Output $caller.Data

The full example is available in the source zip file.

Tabbed Dialog with Input Focus control

The next big topic is tabbed dialogs. The code implementing such basically repeats what was shown already with one additional feature - it prevents the user from leaving the textbox until there is an input. At the time the form is drawn, the specific tab and input are set to be selected.

If the user attempts to switch to the other tab or input without filing some text, a warning message is displayed under the TextBox.

password

When the input is provided, the warning message is cleared:

password

The code responsible for that is highlighted below:

function PromptWithTabs(
[String] $title,
        [Object] $caller
){
        [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
        [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

        $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
        $f.Text = $title

        $panel2 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
        $textbox1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
        $panel1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
        $button1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Button
        $tab_contol1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabControl
        $panel2.SuspendLayout()
        $panel1.SuspendLayout()
        $tab_contol1.SuspendLayout()
        $f.SuspendLayout()

        $panel2.Controls.Add($textbox1)
        $panel2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
        $panel2.Name = "tabPage2"
        $panel2.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
        $panel2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 52)
        $panel2.TabIndex = 1
        $panel2.Text = "Input Tab"

        $textbox1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(72, 7)
        $textbox1.Name = "textBoxMessage"
        $textbox1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(100, 20)
        $textbox1.TabIndex = 0

        $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
        $l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(72,32)
        $l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(100,16)
        $l1.Text = ''

        $l1.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 8, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);
        $panel2.Controls.Add($l1)

        $textbox1.Add_Leave( {
           param(
            [Object] $sender,
            [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
            )
            if ($sender.Text.length -eq 0) {
              $l1.Text = 'Input required'
              # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show('Input required')
              $tab_contol1.SelectedIndex = 1
              $sender.Select()
              $result = $sender.Focus()
            } else {
              $l1.Text = ''
            }
         })
        $panel1.Controls.Add($button1)
        $panel1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
        $panel1.Name = "tabPage1"
        $panel1.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
        $panel1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 52)
        $panel1.TabIndex = 0
        $panel1.Text = "Action Tab"

        $button1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(74, 7)
        $button1.Name = "buttonShowMessage"
        $button1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(107, 24)
        $button1.TabIndex = 0
        $button1.Text = "Show Message"
        $button1_Click = {
           param(
            [Object] $sender,
            [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
            )
            $caller.Message = $textbox1.Text
            [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show($textbox1.Text);
        }
        $button1.Add_Click($button1_Click)

        $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel1)
        $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel2)
        $tab_contol1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(13, 13)
        $tab_contol1.Name = "tabControl1"
        $tab_contol1.SelectedIndex = 1
        $textbox1.Select()
        $textbox1.Enabled = $true
        $tab_contol1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(267, 88)
        $tab_contol1.TabIndex = 0

        $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
        $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 108)
        $f.Controls.Add($tab_contol1)
        $panel2.ResumeLayout($false)
        $panel2.PerformLayout()
        $panel1.ResumeLayout($false)
        $tab_contol1.ResumeLayout($false)
        $f.ResumeLayout($false)
        $f.ActiveControl = $textbox1

        $f.Topmost = $true


        $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
        $f.KeyPreview = $True


        [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

        $f.Dispose()
}

Note: The order of operations matters in the above fragment. There are subtle differences between focus() and select(), not covered here.

password

Clicking the button launches a messagebox along with storing the result in $caller.Message.

ProgressBar

Next example uses Windows Forms-based custom ProgressBar Host to display, e.g., the status of Powershell jobs performing some dump task on remote hosts to the user.

The source code defining the control class is imported in the script.

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

// "

namespace ProgressBarHost
{
    public class Progress : System.Windows.Forms.UserControl
    {
    // code
    }
}
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll', 'System.Drawing.dll', 'System.Data.dll', 'System.ComponentModel.dll'

The method PerformStep will be used without modifications in this example, but it is likely to be customized in domain-specific way.

The Powershell script does what Form designer is normally doing,

$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
    'Progress'  = [ProgressBarHost.Progress] $null ;
    })

$rs =[runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so', $so)


$run_script = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript({

function Progressbar(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message
    ){

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')


$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(650,120)
$f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'

$p = new-object ProgressBarHost.Progress
$p.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(12, 8)
$p.Name = 'status'
$p.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(272, 88)
$p.TabIndex = 0
$so.Progress = $p

$b = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(140, 152)
$b.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(92, 24)
$b.Text = 'forward'
$b.Add_Click({ $p.PerformStep()
               if ($p.Maximum -eq $p.Value) {
                   $b.Enabled = false;
              }
         })

$f.Controls.Add($b)
$f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 14)
$f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 194)
$f.Controls.Add($p )
$f.Topmost = $True
$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

[Void] $f.ShowDialog( )

$f.Dispose()
}

Progressbar -title $title -message $message

})

# -- main program --
clear-host
$run_script.Runspace = $rs

$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()

start-sleep 3
$max_cnt  = 10
$cnt = 0
while ($cnt -lt $max_cnt) {
   $cnt ++
    Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 1000
    $so.Progress.PerformStep()
}

password

For debugging purposes, the Forward button with the same handler is added to the form. To keep execution of script possible, the form is launched from a second Powershell runspace. Instead of caller argument, a Synchronized HashTable object is used to communicate. This technique is used heavily with WPF controls.

Timer

Next example uses a sligtly modified Timer Powershell to show elapsing timer, while the main Powershell script continues performing some lengthy task(s).

$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()
foreach ($work_step_cnt in @( 1,2,3,5,6,7)) {
  Write-Output ('Doing lengthy work step {0}' -f $work_step_cnt)
  Start-Sleep -Millisecond 1000
}
Write-Output 'All Work done'
$wait_timer_step = 0
$wait_timer_max = 2

After tasks are finished, if the timer is still visible it is stopped:

while (-not $handle.IsCompleted) {
  Write-Output 'waiting on timer to finish'
  $wait_timer_step++
  Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 1000
  if ($wait_timer_step -ge $wait_timer_max) {
    $so.Progress.Value = $so.Progress.Maximum
    Write-Output 'Stopping timer'
    break
  }
}
$run_script.EndInvoke($handle)
$rs.Close()
return

timer

The Form containing progressbar and timer is entirely in Powershell:

    function GenerateForm {
      param(
        [int]$timeout_sec
      )

      @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

      $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
      $f.MaximumSize = $f.MinimumSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (220,65)
      $so.Form = $f
      $f.Text = 'Timer'
      $f.Name = 'form_main'
      $f.ShowIcon = $False
      $f.StartPosition = 1
      $f.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
      $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.MinimumSize.Width - 10),($f.MinimumSize.Height - 10))

      $components = New-Object System.ComponentModel.Container
      $f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
      $f.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedToolWindow
      $f.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen

      $f.SuspendLayout()

      $t = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Timer

      $p = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ProgressBar
      $p.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
      $p.Maximum = $timeout_sec
      $p.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.ClientSize.Width - 10),($f.ClientSize.Height - 20))
      $p.Step = 1
      $p.TabIndex = 0
      $p.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (5,5)
      $p.Style = 1
      $p.Name = 'progressBar1'
      $so.Progress = $p

      $InitialFormWindowState = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState

      function start_timer {

        $t.Enabled = $true
        $t.Start()

      }

      $t_OnTick = {
        $p.PerformStep()
        $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($p.Maximum - $p.Value)
        $f.Text = ('{0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds)

        if ($p.Value -eq $p.Maximum) {
          $t.Enabled = $false
          $f.Close()
        }
      }

      $OnLoadForm_StateCorrection = {
        # Correct the initial state of the form to prevent the .Net maximized form issue - http://poshcode.org/1192
        $f.WindowState = $InitialFormWindowState
        start_timer
      }

      $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($p.Maximum - $p.Value)
      $f.Text = ('{0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds)

      $f.Controls.Add($p)

      $t.Interval = 1000
      $t.add_tick($t_OnTick)

      $InitialFormWindowState = $f.WindowState
      $f.add_Load($OnLoadForm_StateCorrection)
      [void]$f.ShowDialog()

    }

Task List Progress

Next, by combining Progressbar and Timer examples with Task List Progress assembly one produces the same for long running multi-step Powershell script.

Below, the script source is provide (script can also be found in the source zip. Explaining the mechanics of the form and enabling the Skip forward button is ongoing work in progress:

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'

$shared_assemblies = @(
  # http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/11588/Progress-Task-List-Control
  'ProgressTaskList.dll',
  'nunit.core.dll',
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)


$shared_assmblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {

  Write-Debug ('Using environment: {0}' -f $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH)
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}

pushd $shared_assmblies_path

$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object {
  $assembly = $_
  Write-Debug $assembly
  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $assembly
  }
  Add-Type -Path $assembly
}
popd


# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8343767/how-to-get-the-current-directory-of-the-cmdlet-being-executed
function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
  $Invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation -Scope 1).Value;
  if ($Invocation.PSScriptRoot)
  {
    $Invocation.PSScriptRoot;
  }
  elseif ($Invocation.MyCommand.Path)
  {
    Split-Path $Invocation.MyCommand.Path
  }
  else
  {
    $Invocation.InvocationName.Substring(0,$Invocation.InvocationName.LastIndexOf("\"));
  }
}

In this version the existing functionality of ProgressTaskList.dll will be used, no modifications made, and the assembly is built in Visual Studio and placed into $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH

The actual work steps will be performed in the main script, therefore form is executed in separate Runspace

$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
    'Title' = [string]'';
    'Visible' = [bool]$false;
    'ScriptDirectory' = [string]'';
    'Form' = [System.Windows.Forms.Form]$null;
    'DebugMessage' = '';
    'Current' = 0;
    'Previous' = 0;
    'Last' = 0;
    'Tasks' = [System.Management.Automation.PSReference];
    'Progress' = [Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList]$null;
  })

The $so.Current, $so.Last and $so.Previous are used in the timer callback in the form's runspace to detect when it is time to call NextTask() on Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList object that is placed on the form:

$so.ScriptDirectory = Get-ScriptDirectory
$rs = [runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so',$so)

$run_script = [powershell]::Create().AddScript({

In the form, a System.Windows.Forms.Timer object is instantiated to inspect the state of the Tasks, that are executed in the main script. There is also a System.Windows.Forms.Button to push the curent task, its functionality is unfinished, therefore its state is disabled.

    function ProgressbarTasklist {
      param(
        [string]$title,
        [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$tasks_ref,
        [object]$caller
      )

      @( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }

      $f = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Windows.Forms.Form'
      $so.Form = $f
      $f.Text = $title
      $t = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Timer
      $so.DebugMessage = '"in form"'
      function start_timer {

        $t.Enabled = $true
        $t.Start()

      }

      $t_OnTick = {
        # TODO 
        # $elapsed = New-TimeSpan -Seconds ($p.Maximum - $p.Value)
        # $text = ('{0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $elapsed.Hours,$elapsed.Minutes,$elapsed.Seconds)
        if ($so.Current -eq $so.Last) {
          $t.Enabled = $false
          $so.DebugMessage = '"Complete"'
          $f.Close()
        } else {
          $so.DebugMessage = '"in timer"'
          if ($so.Current -gt $so.Previous) {
            $o.NextTask()
            $so.Previous = $so.Current
            $so.DebugMessage = ('Finished "{0}"' -f $so.Previous )
          }
        }
      }
      $t.Interval = 300
      $t.add_tick($t_OnTick)

      $f.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (650,150)
      $f.StartPosition = [System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition]::CenterScreen
      $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,14)
      $f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (292,144)


      $panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
      $panel.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Silver
      $panel.BorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle]::FixedSingle

      $b = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
      $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (210,114)
      $b.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
      $b.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',7,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)

      $b.Text = 'Skip forward'
      [scriptblock]$progress = {

        if (-not $o.Visible) {
          # set the first task to 'in progress'
          $o.Visible = $true
          $so.Current = 1
          $o.Start()

        } else {
          # TODO: set the following task to 'skipped'
          $so.Current = $so.Current + 1
          $so.DebugMessage = ('Skipped "{0}"' -f $so.Current )
          $o.NextTask()
        }
      }

      $progress_click = $b.add_click
      $progress_click.Invoke({
          param(
            [object]$sender,
            [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
          )
          if ($so.Current -eq $so.Last)
          {
            $b.Enabled = $false
            Start-Sleep -Millisecond 300
            $so.Current = $so.Current + 1
            $so.Visible = $false
          } else {
            Invoke-Command $progress -ArgumentList @()
          }

        })
      $b.Enabled = $false
      $o = New-Object -TypeName 'Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList' -ArgumentList @()
      $o.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Transparent
      $o.BorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle]::FixedSingle
      $o.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
      $o.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
      $o.Name = "progressTaskList1"
      $o.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (288,159)
      $o.TabIndex = 2
      $so.Progress = $o
      $o.TaskItems.AddRange(@( [string[]]$tasks_ref.Value))

      $so.Last = $tasks_ref.Value.Count + 1 # will use 1-based index 
      $o.Visible = $false
      $panel.SuspendLayout()
      $panel.ForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Black
      $panel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
      $panel.Name = 'panel'
      $panel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (($f.Size.Width),($f.Size.Height))
      $panel.TabIndex = 1

      $panel.Controls.Add($o)
      $panel.ResumeLayout($false)
      $panel.PerformLayout()
      $InitialFormWindowState = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState

      $f.Controls.AddRange(@( $b,$panel))
      $f.Topmost = $True

      $so.Visible = $true
      $f.Add_Shown({
          $f.WindowState = $InitialFormWindowState
          $f.Activate()
          Invoke-Command $progress -ArgumentList @()
          start_timer
        })
      [void]$f.ShowDialog()

      $f.Dispose()
    }
    $tasks_ref = $so.Tasks
    ProgressbarTasklist -tasks_ref $tasks_ref -Title $so.Title
    Write-Output ("Processed:`n{0}" -f ($tasks_ref.Value -join "`n"))
  })

The caller script that runs in default runspace updates the $so.Current thus signaling the form's timer after performing the appropriate step - currently it sleeps a random time not exceeding 5 seconds. In addidion it prints a progress message to the console, though good syncronization is not the main purpose of this example. Presumably the actual work produces a lot of extra screen output making it difficult to discover when certain step is completed.

$tasks = @(
  'Verifying cabinet integrity',
  'Checking necessary disk space',
  'Extracting files',
  'Modifying registry',
  'Installing files',
  'Removing temporary files')


$task_status = @{}

$tasks | ForEach-Object { $task_status[$_] = $null }

$so.Tasks = ([ref]$tasks)
$so.Title = 'Task List'

$run_script.Runspace = $rs

$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()

function PerformStep {

  param(
    [int]$step,
    [switch]$skip
  )
  $task_status[$step] = $true

  $so.Current = $step
  # can call Progress class methods across Runspaces 
  # $so.Progress.NextTask() 

}

Start-Sleep -Millisecond 100
while ($so.Visible) {
  for ($cnt = 0; $cnt -ne $tasks.Count; $cnt++) {
    $step_name = $tasks[$cnt]
    Start-Sleep -Milliseconds (Get-Random -Maximum 5000)
    PerformStep -Step $cnt
    Write-Host ('Completes step [{0}] "{1}"' -f $cnt,$step_name)
  }
  $so.Visible = $false
}
Write-Output $so.DebugMessage
# Close the progress form
$so.Form.Close()


$run_script.EndInvoke($handle)
$rs.Close()

After everything is done the Form closes itself and runspace is destroyed.

Three button prompt

If one is about to make modifications to the Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList source, first one stores the Designer generated code and of the class inside the script as a Add-Type TypeDefinition argument. The only modification needed is to download suitable 16x16 icons from https://www.iconfinder.com and replace

this.imageList1.ImageStream = ((System.Windows.Forms.ImageListStreamer)(resources.GetObject("imageList1.ImageStream")))

with

        private string[] iconPaths = new string[] {
          @"C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\1420429962_216151.ico",        
          @"C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\1420429337_5880.ico",
          @"C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\1420429523_62690.ico",        	
          @"C:\developer\sergueik\powershell_ui_samples\1420429596_9866.ico"        
        } ;
...
foreach (string iconPath in this.iconPaths)
            {
                this.imageList1.Images.Add(new Icon(iconPath));
            }

the next step is to refactor the Powershell script temporarily getting rid of extra runspace and of the timer object and focus on the button:

  $b = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
  $b.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (210,114)
  $b.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',7,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)

  $b.Text = 'forward'

  $b.add_click({

      if ($caller.Current -eq $caller.Last)
      {
        $b.Enabled = false
      } else {

        if (-not $o.Visible) {
          # set the first task to 'in progress'
          $o.Visible = $true
          $caller.Current = 1
          $o.Start()


        } else {
          # set the following task to 'in progress'
          $o.NextTask()
          $caller.Current = $caller.Current + 1
        }
      }
    })
  # original assembly
  # $i = New-Object -TypeName 'Ibenza.UI.Winforms.ProgressTaskList' -ArgumentList @()
  $o = New-Object -TypeName 'WIP.ProgressTaskList' -ArgumentList @()

In the above, the $caller object is introduced to store the Current and Last indices.

Circle Progress Indicators

Circle Progress

Next example combines Asynchronous GUI with ProgressCircle-progress control to produce a single process circle progress indicator controlled by direct invokation of form elements across Powershell runspaces.

The form (sans the Add-Type of ProgressCircle.ProgressCircle ) is

Add-Type -AssemblyName 'System.Windows.Forms'
Add-Type -AssemblyName 'System.Drawing'
# VisualStyles are only needed for a very few Windows Forms controls like ProgessBar
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms.VisualStyles')


$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$is= New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState
$Form.Text = 'Demo Form'
$Form.Name = 'Form'
$Form.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0
$Form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (216,121)
# Label 
$l1.Name = 'progress_label'
$l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (70,34)
$l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (100,23)
$l1.Text = 'Round:'


#  progressCircle1
$c1 = New-Object -TypeName 'ProgressCircle.ProgressCircle'
$c1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (20,20)
$c1.Name = "progress_circle"
$c1.PCElapsedTimeColor1 = [System.Drawing.Color]::Chartreuse
$c1.PCElapsedTimeColor2 = [System.Drawing.Color]::Yellow
$c1.PCLinearGradientMode = [System.Drawing.Drawing2D.LinearGradientMode]::Vertical
$c1.PCRemainingTimeColor1 = [System.Drawing.Color]::Navy
$c1.PCRemainingTimeColor2 = [System.Drawing.Color]::LightBlue
$c1.PCTotalTime = 25
$c1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (47,45)
$c1.TabIndex = 3
$progress_complete = $c1.add_PCCompleted
$progress_complete.Invoke({
    param([object]$sender,[string]$message)
    # [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show('Task completed!')
    $l1.Text = ('Task completed!')
  })


$Form.Controls.AddRange(@($l1,$c1))

$is= $Form.WindowState

$Form.add_Load({
    $Form.WindowState = $InitialFormWindowState
  })

The caller constructs the System.EventArgs objects to execute the delegate on the ProgressCircle.ProgressCircle control which increments and updates the correspondent Label found by name. Note there are several ways to do that.

$rs = [Management.Automation.Runspaces.RunspaceFactory]::CreateRunspace($Host)
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()

$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('Form',$Form)
$po = [System.Management.Automation.PowerShell]::Create()
$po.Runspace = $rs

$po.AddScript({
    [System.Windows.Forms.Application]::EnableVisualStyles()
    [System.Windows.Forms.Application]::Run($Form)
  })

$res = $po.BeginInvoke()

if ($PSBoundParameters['pause']) {
  Write-Output 'Pause'
  try {
    [void]$host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey('NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown')
  } catch [exception]{}
} else {
  Start-Sleep -Millisecond 1000
}


# subclass
$eventargs = New-Object -TypeName 'System.EventArgs'

Add-Member -InputObject $eventargs -MemberType 'NoteProperty' -Name 'Increment' -Value 0 -Force
Add-Member -InputObject $eventargs -MemberType 'NoteProperty' -Name 'Total' -Value 0 -Force

$handler = [System.EventHandler]{
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$e
  )
  $local:increment = $e.Increment
  $local:total = $e.Total
  $sender.Increment($local:increment)
  $sender.Text = $e.MyText
  try {
    $elems = $sender.Parent.Controls.Find('progress_label',$false)
  } catch [exception]{
  }
  if ($elems -ne $null) {
    $elems[0].Text = ('Round: {0}' -f $local:total)
  }

}

1..25 | ForEach-Object {

  $eventargs.Total = $_
  $eventargs.Increment = 1
  [void]$c1.BeginInvoke($handler,($c1,([System.EventArgs]$eventargs)))

  Start-Sleep -Milliseconds (Get-Random -Maximum 1000)

}

if ($PSBoundParameters['pause']) {
  # block PowerShell Main-Thread to leave it alive until user enter something
  Write-Output 'Pause'
  try {
    [void]$host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey('NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown')
  } catch [exception]{}
} else {
  Start-Sleep -Millisecond 2000
}


[System.Windows.Forms.Application]::Exit()
$po.EndInvoke($res)
$rs.Close()
$po.Dispose()

NOTE: To make the script work on W2K3 one has to trigger another invocation (updated script is available in the source zip):

1..($total_steps ) | ForEach-Object {

  $current_step = $_
  $message = $eventargs.Text =( 'Processed {0} / {1}' -f $current_step , $total_steps )

  $eventargs.Increment = 1
  [void]$c1.BeginInvoke($handler,($c1,([System.EventArgs]$eventargs)))
  if ($host.Version.Major -eq 2) {
    $c1.Invoke(

        [System.Action[int, string]] { 
            param(
              [int]$increment, 
              [string]$message
            )
            $sender.Increment($increment) 
            try {
              $elems = $sender.Parent.Controls.Find('progress_label',$false)
            } catch [exception]{
            }
            if ($elems -ne $null) {
              $elems[0].Text = $message
            }

        },

        # Argument for the System.Action delegate scriptblock

        @(1, $message)

    )
  }
  Start-Sleep -Milliseconds (Get-Random -Maximum 1000)
}

Generalization to multiple job progress tracking is work in progress. Full example code provided in the source zip.

The Mac OS X style progress circle can be used with minimal modifications to C# code:

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

// "

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Data;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace ProgressControl
{
    public partial class CircularProgressControl : UserControl
    {
    // ... omitted most of the code
        public enum Direction
        {
            CLOCKWISE,
            ANTICLOCKWISE
        }
        public Direction Rotation { get; set; }
        private bool m_clockwise;
        public bool Clockwise 
        {
            get
            {
                return m_clockwise;
            }
            set
            {
                m_clockwise = value;
                if (m_clockwise){ 
                   this.Rotation = Direction.CLOCKWISE;
                } else { 
                   this.Rotation = Direction.ANTICLOCKWISE;
                 }
            }
        }

     // .. the rest of the class definition

    }
}
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll','System.Drawing.dll','System.Data.dll'

The Powershell part of the script is:

@( 'System.Drawing','System.Windows.Forms') | ForEach-Object { [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($_) }
$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.AutoScaleDimensions = New-Object System.Drawing.SizeF (6.0,13.0)
$f.AutoScaleMode = [System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode]::Font
$f.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::LightGray
$f.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (170,140)

$button1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$cbc1 = New-Object ProgressControl.CircularProgressControl
$cbc2 = New-Object ProgressControl.CircularProgressControl
$f.SuspendLayout()

$button1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (70,80)
$button1.Name = "button1"
$button1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (75,23)
$button1.TabIndex = 0
$button1.Text = "Start"
$button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true
$button1.add_click.Invoke({
    param(
      [object]$sender,
      [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
    )
    if ($button1.Text -eq "Start")
    {
      $button1.Text = 'Stop'
      $cbc1.Start()
      $cbc2.Start()
    }
    else
    {
      $button1.Text = 'Start'
      $cbc1.Stop()
      $cbc2.Stop()
    }
  })


$cbc1.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Transparent
$cbc1.Interval = 60
$cbc1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,20)
$cbc1.MinimumSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (56,56)
$cbc1.Name = "circularProgressControl1"
$cbc1.Clockwise = $true
$cbc1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (56,56)
$cbc1.StartAngle = 270
$cbc1.TabIndex = 1
$cbc1.TickColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::DarkBlue

$cbc2.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Transparent
$cbc2.Interval = 60
$cbc2.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (10,80)
$cbc2.MinimumSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (56,56)
$cbc2.Name = "$cbc2"
$cbc2.Clockwise = $false
$cbc2.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (56,56)
$cbc2.StartAngle = 270
$cbc2.TabIndex = 2
$cbc2.TickColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Yellow

$f.Controls.Add($cbc2)
$f.Controls.Add($button1)
$f.Controls.Add($cbc1)
$f.Name = "Form1"
$f.Text = 'OS X Progress Control'
$f.ResumeLayout($false)

[void]$f.ShowDialog()

osx circle progress

Filesystem TreeView

The next example customizes the Filesystem-TreeView to Powershell. In the Add-Type -TypeDefinition one combines the implementation of FileSystemTreeView and ShellIcon classes :

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Collections;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace C2C.FileSystem
{
    public class FileSystemTreeView : TreeView
    {
...  
    }
    public class ShellIcon
    {
... 
 }

}

In Powershell part one adds AfterSelect handler to C2C.FileSystem.FileSystemTreeView in which the selected TreeNode FullPath is stored and written in the textbox. The $show_files_checkbox checkbox allows switching LoadFiles on and off on the fly.

treeview

$caller = New-Object -TypeName 'Win32Window' -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$chooser = New-Object -TypeName 'C2C.FileSystem.FileSystemTreeView' -ArgumentList ($caller)

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data')

# set up form
$form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$form.Text = $title


$form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (700,450)

$panel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel


$panel1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$btnDirectory = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$label1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$txtDirectory = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$treePanel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Panel
$panel1.SuspendLayout()
$form.SuspendLayout()

# 
# panel1
# 
$panel1.Controls.Add($btnDirectory)
$panel1.Controls.Add($label1)
$panel1.Controls.Add($txtDirectory)
$panel1.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Top
$panel1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
$panel1.Name = 'panel1'
$panel1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (681,57)
$panel1.TabIndex = 0

$show_files_checkbox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox
$show_files_checkbox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (515,27)
$show_files_checkbox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (120,20)
$show_files_checkbox.Text = 'Files'

$panel1.Controls.Add($show_files_checkbox)
$show_files_checkbox.add_click({ if ($show_files_checkbox.Checked -eq $true) { $chooser.ShowFiles = $true } else { $chooser.ShowFiles = $false } })


# 
# btnDirectory
# 
$btnDirectory.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (560,27)
$btnDirectory.Name = "btnDirectory"
$btnDirectory.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (60,21)
$btnDirectory.TabIndex = 2
$btnDirectory.Text = 'Select'
$btnDirectory.add_click({ if ($caller.Data -ne $null) { $form.Close() } })

# 
# label1
# 
$label1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (9,9)
$label1.Name = 'label1'
$label1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (102,18)
$label1.TabIndex = 1
$label1.Text = 'Selection:'

# 
# txtDirectory
# 
$txtDirectory.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (9,27)
$txtDirectory.Name = "txtDirectory"
$txtDirectory.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (503,20)
$txtDirectory.TabIndex = 0
$txtDirectory.Text = ""

# 
# treePanel
# 
$treePanel.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
$treePanel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,57)
$treePanel.Name = "treePanel"
$treePanel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (621,130)
$treePanel.TabIndex = 1

$treePanel.Controls.Add($chooser)
$chooser.ShowFiles = $false
$chooser.Dock = [System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle]::Fill
$chooser.Add_AfterSelect({ $txtDirectory.Text = $caller.Data = $chooser.Data })
$chooser.Load('C:\')
# Form1
# 
$form.AutoScaleBaseSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (5,13)
$form.ClientSize = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (621,427)
$form.Controls.Add($treePanel)
$form.Controls.Add($panel1)
$form.Name = 'Form1'
$form.Text = 'Demo Chooser'
$panel1.ResumeLayout($false)
$form.ResumeLayout($false)
$form.Add_Shown({ $form.Activate() })
$form.KeyPreview = $True
$form.Add_KeyDown({

    if ($_.KeyCode -eq 'Escape') { $caller.Data = $null }
    else { return }
    $form.Close()
  })

[void]$form.ShowDialog([win32window ]($caller))

$form.Dispose()
Write-Output $caller.Data

The full script source is available in the source zip file.

Embedding XAML

password

Designing the Windows Presentation Foundation XAML is even simpler:

Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml =
@"
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="Row GridSplitter Example">
  <StackPanel Height="Auto">
    <Grid Height="400">
      <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="50*"/>
        <RowDefinition Height="50*"/>
      </Grid.RowDefinitions>
      <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
      </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
      <Button Background="gray" Grid.Column="0"
      Grid.Row="0" x:Name="button00" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
      VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Content="Quentin Tarantino"/>
      <Button Background="gray" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1"
      x:Name="button01" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
      VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Content="Larry Dimmick"/>
      <Button Background="gray" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0"
      x:Name="button10" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
      VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Content="Steve Buscemi"/>
      <Button Background="gray" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1"
      x:Name="button11" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
      VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Content="Tim Roth"/>
    </Grid>
  </StackPanel>
</Window>
"@

Now, IWin32Window argument is not accepted by the System.Windows.Window.

$colors = @{
  'Steve Buscemi' = ([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Pink);
  'Larry Dimmick' = ([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::White);
  'Quentin Tarantino' = ([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Orange);
  'Tim Roth' = ([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Brown);
}

$result = @{ }

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
$reader=(New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target=[Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader )
$target.ShowDialog() | out-null
# $result | format-table

For simple behaviors, one way to communicate the result back to the script is via $result hash variable that is defined in the script and is visible in the event handler:

foreach ($button in @("button01" , "button00", "button10", "button11")) {
  $control=$target.FindName($button)
  $eventMethod=$control.add_click
  $eventMethod.Invoke({
     param(
       [Object] $sender,
       [System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs ] $eventargs
     )
    $who = $sender.Content.ToString()
    $color = $colors[$who ]
    # $target.Title=("You will be  Mr. {0}" -f  $color)
    $sender.Background = new-Object System.Windows.Media.SolidColorBrush($color)
    $result[ $who  ] = $true
    write-debug $who
  })
}

This sample is simple - one and the same event handler is attached to each clickable element in the XAML flow. The details of the sender are stored in the $result while to provide for visual cue code is changing the $sender's background.

...on the fly

Another example one can generate the XAML ComboBox source on the fly from the list of $items with the following code snippet:

$items = @(
   'Apple' ,
   'Banana' ,
   'Orange' ,
   'Pineapple' ,
   'Plum'
   )
$selected = @{ }
$context = @'
<window height="60" title="Window1" width="200" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
    <stackpanel>
    <combobox iseditable="False" margin="5" name="comboBox">
'@
$cnt = 1
$items | foreach-object {  $name = "Item_${cnt}" ; $cnt ++ ; $context +="<comboboxitem content="$_" name="${name}">" }
$context += @'
        </comboboxitem></combobox>
    </stackpanel>
</window>
'@


Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml = $context

Clear-Host
$reader=(New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target=[Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader)
$handler = {
      param ([object] $sender,  # System.Windows.Controls.ComboboxItem
                                # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.comboboxitem_properties%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
             [System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs] $eventargs )
      $sender.Background = [ System.Windows.Media.Brushes]::Red
      $target.Title = ( 'Added {0} ' -f $sender.Content )
      $selected[ $sender.Content  ]  = $true
  }

This code provides minimal but clear visual feedback for items selection.

foreach ($item in ("Item_1", "Item_5", "Item_2","Item_3","Item_4") ){
  $combobox_item_control = $target.FindName( $item )
  $eventargsventMethod2 = $combobox_item_control.add_Selected
  $eventargsventMethod2.Invoke( $handler )
  $combobox_item_control = $null
}

yielding:

TreeView

and prints the selected results in the Powershell fashion.

$target.ShowDialog() | out-null
write-output 'Selected items:'$items | where-object {$selected.ContainsKey( $_ ) }

TreeView

and More

Notably, one can design a very rich user interface in pure XAML while keeping the actual selection processing simple

For example, by repeating (largely) the previous exercise, but draw 3 color-filled arrow polygons on the panel.

Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml = @"
// .... code below
"@

<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Height="100" Width="200" Title="Window1">
  <Canvas Height="100" Width="200" Name="Canvas1">
    <!-- Draws a triangle with a blue interior. -->
    <Polygon Points="0,0 0,30 0,10 30,10 30,-10 45,10 30,30 30,20 0,20 0,0 30,0 30,10 0,10" Fill="Blue" Name="Polygon1" Canvas.Left="40" Canvas.Top="30" Canvas.ZIndex="40"/>
    <Polygon Points="0,0 0,30 0,10 30,10 30,-10 45,10 30,30 30,20 0,20 0,0 30,0 30,10 0,10" Fill="Green" Name="Polygon2" Canvas.Left="70" Canvas.Top="30" Canvas.ZIndex="30"/>
    <Polygon Points="0,0 0,30 0,10 30,10 30,-10 45,10 30,30 30,20 0,20 0,0 30,0 30,10 0,10" Fill="Red" Name="Polygon3" Canvas.Left="100" Canvas.Top="30" Canvas.ZIndex="20"/>
  </Canvas>
</Window>

and in the event handler perform color and ZIndex change of the Mouse-selected arrow and reflect the selected polygon name it in the title of the window:

Clear-Host

$polygon_data = @{}
$reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader)
$canvas = $target.FindName("Canvas1")
function save_orig_design{
  param ([String] $name)
  $control = $target.FindName($name)
  return @{
      'fill'   =  ( $control.Fill.Color );
      'ZIndex' =  ( [System.Windows.Controls.Canvas]::GetZIndex($control) )
      }
  }
  $polygon_data['Polygon1'] = (save_orig_design('Polygon1'))
  $polygon_data['Polygon2'] = (save_orig_design('Polygon2'))
  $polygon_data['Polygon3'] = (save_orig_design('Polygon3'))

# TODO :
# $canvas.Add_Initialized ...
function restore_orig {
  param ( [String] $name )
  $control = $target.FindName( $name )
  $color = [System.Windows.Media.ColorConverter]::ConvertFromString( [String] $polygon_data[$name]['fill'] )
  $control.Fill = new-Object System.Windows.Media.SolidColorBrush( $color )
  [System.Windows.Controls.Canvas]::SetZIndex($control, [Object] $polygon_data[$name]['ZIndex'])
}
$handler = {
param (
    [Object]  $sender,
    [System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs] $e  )
  @('Polygon1', 'Polygon2', 'Polygon3') | % { restore_orig( $_) }
  # Highlight sender
  $sender.Fill = new-Object System.Windows.Media.SolidColorBrush([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Orange)
  # uncomment to reveal a distortion
  # $sender.Stroke = new-Object System.Windows.Media.SolidColorBrush([System.Windows.Media.Colors]::Black)
  # Bring sender to front
  [System.Windows.Controls.Canvas]::SetZIndex($sender,[Object]100)
  $target.Title="Hello $($sender.Name)"
}
foreach ($item in ('Polygon1', 'Polygon2', 'Polygon3') ){
  $control = $target.FindName($item)
  $eventMethod = $control.add_MouseDown
  $eventMethod.Invoke( $handler )
  $control = $null
 }
$eventMethod.Invoke($handler)
$target.ShowDialog() | out-null

one can get distinct visual effect:

TreeView

TreeView

TreeView

But designing code behind may be tough. Arranging the communication between Powershell and WPF properly is well documented and appears to be quite a challenging task.

Connecting the WPF Events

To arrange the interaction between PowerShell run spaces one creates an optionally strongly-typed synchronized object and creates an additional RunSpace to execute WPF events.

#requires -version 2
$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
    'Result'  = '';
    'Window'  = [System.Windows.Window] $null ;
    'TextBox' = [System.Windows.Controls.TextBox] $null ;
    })
$so.Result = ''
$rs =[runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so', $so)

Next, one wraps the XAML handling code in the Add-Script method.

$run_script = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript({

Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml = @"
<window height="100" title="Example with TextBox" width="300" x:name="Window" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
    <stackpanel height="100" width="300">
          <textblock fontsize="14" fontweight="Bold" text="A spell-checking TextBox:">
        <textbox acceptsreturn="True" acceptstab="True" fontsize="14" margin="5" spellcheck.isenabled="True" textwrapping="Wrap" x:name="textbox">

        </textbox>

  </textblock></stackpanel>
</window>
"@

$reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load( $reader )
$so.Window  = $target
$handler = {
    param (
    [Object]  $sender,
    [System.Windows.Controls.TextChangedEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
    $so.Result  = $sender.Text
}
$control = $target.FindName("textbox")
$so.TextBox = $control

$event = $control.Add_TextChanged
$event.Invoke( $handler )

$eventMethod.Invoke($handler)
$target.ShowDialog() | out-null
})

Then design accessor functions operating via the shared object $so. Note that certain properties that have to be accessible cannot be evaluated on a different thread. The calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it exception is only raised at runtime.

function send_text {
    Param (
        $content,
        [switch] $append
    )
    # WARNING - uncommenting the following line leads to exception
    # $so.Textbox = $so.Window.FindName("textbox")

    # NOTE - host-specific method signature:
    $so.Textbox.Dispatcher.invoke([System.Action]{

        if ($PSBoundParameters['append_content']) {
            $so.TextBox.AppendText($content)
        } else {
            $so.TextBox.Text = $content
        }
        $so.Result = $so.TextBox.Text
    }, 'Normal')
}

function close_dialog {
    $so.Window.Dispatcher.invoke([action]{
       $so.Window.Close()
    }, 'Normal')
}

Finally, the main script invokes the dynamically created one and controls the form.

$run_script.Runspace = $rs
Clear-Host

$data = $run_script.BeginInvoke()

# TODO - synchronize properly

start-sleep 1
write-host $so.Result
send_text -Content 'The qick red focks jumped over the lasy brown dog.'
$cnt = 10
[bool] $done = $false
while (($cnt  -ne 0 ) -and -not $done) {
  write-output ('Text: {0} ' -f $so.Result )
  if ($so.Result -eq 'The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.' ){
    $done = $true;
  }
  else {
    start-sleep 10
  }
  $cnt --
}
close_dialog

if ( -not $done ){
    write-output 'Time is up!'
} else {
    write-output 'Well done!'
}

This example initializes the text with some typos.

TypeText1

and waits for the user to fix the typos. Once the text is corrected or the timeout expired, the form is closed and the summary is printed.

TypeText2

Due to somewhat more complex code needed for Powershell / WPF communication, it is advisable to start with the simpler example and only convert into final form once all event handlers execute as desired. Earlier examples can be reasonably quickly converted this way.

One can also arrange bidirectional communication between Form and script from the Form, e.g., loading some current data into the checkbox tooltip in a slightly modified version of the script below:

function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
    $Invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation -Scope 1).Value;
    if($Invocation.PSScriptRoot)
    {
        $Invocation.PSScriptRoot;
    }
    Elseif($Invocation.MyCommand.Path)
    {
        Split-Path $Invocation.MyCommand.Path
    }
    else
    {
        $Invocation.InvocationName.Substring(0,$Invocation.InvocationName.LastIndexOf("\"));
    }
}

$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
        'Result'  = [string] '';
        'ScriptDirectory'  = [string] '';

    'Window'  = [System.Windows.Window] $null ;
    'Control' = [System.Windows.Controls.ToolTip] $null ;
    'Contents' = [System.Windows.Controls.TextBox] $null ;
    'NeedData' = [bool] $false ;
    'HaveData' = [bool] $false ;

    })
$so.ScriptDirectory = Get-ScriptDirectory

$so.Result = ''
$rs =[runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so', $so)
$run_script = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript({

Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework
[xml]$xaml = @"
<window height="190" removed="LightGray" title="About WPF" width="168" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation">
        <canvas>

        <img opacity=".7" source="$('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'clock.jpg' )" width="150" />
          <image.tooltip>
            <tooltip name="tooltip">
            <stackpanel>
              <label background="Blue" fontweight="Bold" foreground="White">
                The CheckBox
              </label>
              <stackpanel orientation="Horizontal">
                <img margin="2" name="hourglass" source="$('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'hourglass.jpg' )" visibility="Collapsed" width="20" />
              <textblock name="tooltip_textbox" padding="10" textwrapping="WrapWithOverflow" width="200">
                please wait...
              </textblock>
              </stackpanel>
            </stackpanel>
           </tooltip>
          </image.tooltip>

        </canvas>
</window>
"@

$reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader)
$so.Window  = $target
$control = $target.FindName("tooltip")
$so.Indicator = $target.FindName("hourglass")
$contents = $target.FindName("tooltip_textbox")
$so.Control = $control
$so.Contents = $contents
$handler_opened = {
  param (
    [Object]  $sender,
    [System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
        $so.Contents.Text = 'please wait...'
        $so.Indicator.Visibility = 'Visible'
    $so.NeedData  = $true
        $so.Result = ''
}
$handler_closed = {
  param (
    [Object]  $sender,
    [System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
        $so.HaveData = $false
    $so.NeedData = $false
}

[System.Management.Automation.PSMethod] $event_opened = $control.Add_Opened
[System.Management.Automation.PSMethod] $event_closed = $control.Add_Closed

$event_opened.Invoke( $handler_opened )
$event_closed.Invoke( $handler_closed)
$target.ShowDialog() | out-null
})

function send_text {
    Param (
        $content,
        [switch] $append
    )

    # NOTE - host-specific method signature:
    $so.Indicator.Dispatcher.invoke([System.Action]{
        $so.Indicator.Visibility = 'Collapsed'
    }, 'Normal')
    $so.Contents.Dispatcher.invoke([System.Action]{

        if ($PSBoundParameters['append_content']) {
            $so.Contents.AppendText($content)
        } else {
            $so.Contents.Text = $content
        }
    $so.Result = $so.Contents.Text
    }, 'Normal')
}

$run_script.Runspace = $rs
Clear-Host

$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()
While (-Not $handle.IsCompleted) {
    Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100
    if ($so.NeedData -and -not $so.HaveData){
      write-output ('Need to provide data' )
      Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 10
      send_text -Content (Date)
      write-output ('Sent {0}' -f $so.Result )
      $so.HaveData = $true
    }
}
$run_script.EndInvoke($handle)
$rs.Close()

Toolbox1

In this example, the ToolTip Opened,Closed events are used to set and clear the NeedData flag via Synchronized to the top level script than change the text to please wait and show the hourglass until the data is ready. The rendering of the data is again performed in the send_text. Note that the send_text function now invokes Dispatcher twice and the visual feedback is not perfect. Every time the mouse leaves and re-enters the Tooltip activation area, new data is requested and provided.

Toolbox2

TreeView

Plain

TreeView

Picking specific node from hierarchy grouped in some fashion is often required when launching Powershell script e.g. for metric collection.

function PromptTreeView
{
     Param(
    [String] $title,
    [String] $message)

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections.Generic')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Collections')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.ComponentModel')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Text')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Data')
  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title
  $t = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $components = new-object System.ComponentModel.Container
  $f.SuspendLayout();
  $t.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $i = new-Object System.Windows.Forms.ImageList($components)
  $i.Images.Add([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Application)
  $t.ImageList = $i


  $t.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
        -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
        -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t.ImageIndex = -1
  $t.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t.Name = "treeFood"
  $t.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 256)
  $t.TabIndex = 1;
  $t_AfterSelect =  $t.add_AfterSelect
  $t_AfterSelect.Invoke({
    param(
    [Object] $sender,
    [System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
    if ($eventargs.Action -eq [System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewAction]::ByMouse)
    {
        write-host $eventargs.Node.FullPath
    }
})

 $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
 $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 266)
 $f.Controls.AddRange(@( $t))
 $f.Name = "TreeViewExample"
 $f.Text = "TreeView Example"
 $f_Load = $f.add_Load
 $f_Load.Invoke({
   param(
    [Object] $sender,
    [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
   )

    $node = $t.Nodes.Add("Fruits")
    $node.Nodes.Add("Apple")
    $node.Nodes.Add("Peach")

    $node = $t.Nodes.Add("Vegetables")
    $node.Nodes.Add("Tomato")
    $node.Nodes.Add("Eggplant")
})

  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.Name = 'Form1'
  $f.Text = 'TreeView Sample'
  $t.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'
  $f.KeyPreview = $false

  $f.Topmost = $True
  $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)

  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )

  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

  $t.Dispose()
  $f.Dispose()
}

Advanced

Custom Icons

By adding the ScriptDirectory property...

    private string _script_directory;
    public string ScriptDirectory
    {
        get { return _script_directory; }
        set { _script_directory = value; }
    }

...and updating the PromptTreeView signature to receive the $caller the script can pass its location to the Form via $caller.

$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
$caller.ScriptDirectory = Get-ScriptDirectory

$result = PromptTreeView 'Items'  $caller

function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
#  implementation omitted
# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8343767/how-to-get-the-current-directory-of-the-cmdlet-being-executed
}

and the latter will be able to load custom icons:

   try {
     $script_path  = $caller.ScriptDirectory
    } catch [Exception] {
           # slurp the exception - debug code omitted
    }
    if ($script_path -eq '' -or $script_path -eq $null )  {
      $script_path = get-location
   }
  foreach ($n in @(1,2,3)){
     $image_path =  ( '{0}\color{1}.gif' -f $script_path ,  $n )
     $image = [System.Drawing.Image]::FromFile($image_path)
     $i.Images.Add($image)
  }

TreeView

and use distinct icons for individual nodes. Using the same technique, the caller script may describe which icons to render for which node.

$node = $t.Nodes.Add("Fruits")
    $apple = $node.Nodes.Add("Apple")
    $apple.ImageIndex  = 1

    $node.Nodes.Add("Peach")

    $node = $t.Nodes.Add("Vegetables")
    $tomato = $node.Nodes.Add("Tomato")
    $tomato.ImageIndex  = 2

Background Worker

The next iteration of this script also contains a more elaborated version of the event handler. The sample can be used to handle time-consuming validations that may be required when e.g. the object being offered to the user represents a remote location with some latency. It may be desirable to do such validation without forcing the user to quit the dialog. In the code below, the form TreeView element click instantiates a BackgroundWorker to process the operation on separate thread. The form currently provides no visual cue, that $worker has started, though it is clearly possible.

Thus modal dialogs are still OK - since the event handling code is 100% PowerShell, there is no need to arrange on complex synchronization between script and the form - every time the Form desires to run some data validations vis invoking some relevant PowerShell cmdlets, it can do it directly.

$worker = new-object System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker
    $worker.WorkerReportsProgress = $false;
    $worker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = $false;
    $worker_DoWork  = $worker.Add_DoWork
    $worker_DoWork.Invoke({
        param(
        [Object] $sender,
        [System.Windows.Forms.DoWorkEventArgs] $eventargs
    )
    })

All work is done in the Completed event handler. On the example, a text file 'etc/hosts' is open in Notepad and the thread waits for user to close notepad. This is standard example / recommended practice with Windows.Forms except the Backgroundworker is usually implemented in C#. It is nice to discover it works right out of the box with PowerShell code.

$worker_RunWorkerCompleted = $worker.Add_RunWorkerCompleted
    $worker_RunWorkerCompleted.Invoke({
        param(
        [Object] $sender,
        [System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs] $eventargs
        )
       $child_proc  = [System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start('notepad',"$env:windir\system32\drivers\etc\hosts")
       $child_proc.WaitForExit()
})

Tabbed

One would really like to plant tree views not into text boxes, but on tabs. This would make the option selection entirely mouse-driven and is possible.

The minor difference with the earlier example is the name of the event the treeview redraws after - for tabPage it is VisibleChangedEvent.

#
$panel1.add_VisibleChanged({
   param(
    [Object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
   )
    $t1.SuspendLayout()
    $t1.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t1.Nodes.Add('Target Environment')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Database Server')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Application Server')
    $sites = $node.Nodes.Add('Web Server')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t1.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t1.PerformLayout()
})

The full source is provided below:

function TabsWithTreeViews(
    [String] $title,
  [Object] $caller
    ){

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $panel2 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
  $panel1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
  $tab_contol1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabControl
  $panel2.SuspendLayout()
  $panel1.SuspendLayout()
  $tab_contol1.SuspendLayout()
  $f.SuspendLayout()

  $panel2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
  $panel2.Name = "tabPage2"
  $panel2.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
  $panel2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 352)
  $panel2.AutoSize  = $true
  $panel2.TabIndex = 1
  $panel2.Text = "Source Node"

  $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8,12)
  $l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(220,16)
  $l1.Text = 'enter status message here'

  $l1.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 8, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);

  $groupBox1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox

  $groupBox1.SuspendLayout()

  $groupBox1.Controls.AddRange( @($l1 ))
  $groupBox1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8,230)
  $groupBox1.Name = 'groupBox1'
  $groupBox1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(244,32)
  $groupBox1.TabIndex = 0
  $groupBox1.TabStop = $false
  $groupBox1.Text = 'status'


  $panel2.Controls.Add($groupBox1)

  $t2 = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $t2.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $i = new-Object System.Windows.Forms.ImageList($components)
  $i.Images.Add([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Application)
  $t2.ImageList = $i

  $t2.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t2.ImageIndex = -1
  $t2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t2.Name = "treeFood"
  $t2.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 224)

  $t2.AutoSize  = $true
  $t2.TabIndex = 1;
  $panel2.Controls.AddRange(@($t2))

 # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.tabpage.visiblechanged%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
   $panel2.add_VisibleChanged({
     param(
      [Object] $sender,
      [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
      )
    $t2.SuspendLayout()
    $t2.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t2.Nodes.Add('Source Environment')
    $server = $node.Nodes.Add('Test Server')
    $databases = $server.Nodes.Add('Databases')
    $server.Nodes.Add('DB 1')
    $server.Nodes.Add('DB 2')

    $server.Nodes.Add('Application')
    $sites = $server.Nodes.Add('IIS Web Sites')

    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t2.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t2.PerformLayout()
})

  $panel1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
  $panel1.Name = "tabPage1"
  $panel1.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
  $panel1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 252)
  $panel1.TabIndex = 0
  $panel1.Text = "Destination Node"

  $t1 = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $t1.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $t1.ImageList = $i

  $t1.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t1.ImageIndex = -1
  $t1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t1.Name = "treeFood"
  $t1.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 224)

  $t1.AutoSize  = $true
  $t1.TabIndex = 1;
  $panel1.Controls.AddRange(@($t1))

   $panel1.add_VisibleChanged({
       param(
          [Object] $sender,
          [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
       )
    $t1.SuspendLayout()
    $t1.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t1.Nodes.Add('Target Environment')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Database Server')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Application Server')
    $sites = $node.Nodes.Add('Web Server')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t1.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t1.PerformLayout()
})

  $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel1)
  $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel2)

  $tab_contol1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(13, 13)
  $tab_contol1.Name = "tabControl1"
  $tab_contol1.SelectedIndex = 1
  $tab_contol1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(267, 288)
  $tab_contol1.TabIndex = 0

  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
  $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 308)
  $f.Controls.Add($tab_contol1)
  $panel2.ResumeLayout($false)
  $panel2.PerformLayout()
  $panel1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $tab_contol1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.Topmost = $true


  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
  $f.KeyPreview = $True


  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

  $f.Dispose()
}

TreeView

Code is work in progress, with the intent to use status label for validation warnings and the worker process for more deep validation of selected environments.

TreeView

DropDown ComboBox

To manage Powershell Desired State Configuration Configuration Manager - Node - Provider - Attribute inputs in pre-V4 Powershell environment, one may wish to extend the treeview with combobox. For example, the custom TreeView Control with ComboBox Dropdown Nodes by Mattman206 can be used as follows. After compiling the class and placing the assembly in SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH folder, one loads it into the script, and adds to the form freely mixing System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode and DropDownTreeView.DropDownTreeNode nodes when processing the form's Load event:Mattman206 can be used as follows. After compiling the class and placing the assembly in SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH folder, one loads it into the script,

Tabbed

One would really like to plant tree views not into text boxes, but on tabs. This would make the option selection entirely mouse-driven and is possible.

The minor difference with the earlier example is the name of the event the treeview redraws after - for tabPage it is VisibleChangedEvent.

#
$panel1.add_VisibleChanged({
   param(
    [Object]$sender,
    [System.EventArgs]$eventargs
   )
    $t1.SuspendLayout()
    $t1.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t1.Nodes.Add('Target Environment')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Database Server')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Application Server')
    $sites = $node.Nodes.Add('Web Server')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t1.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t1.PerformLayout()
})

The full source is provided below:

function TabsWithTreeViews(
    [String] $title,
  [Object] $caller
    ){

  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Drawing')

  $f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
  $f.Text = $title

  $panel2 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
  $panel1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabPage
  $tab_contol1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.TabControl
  $panel2.SuspendLayout()
  $panel1.SuspendLayout()
  $tab_contol1.SuspendLayout()
  $f.SuspendLayout()

  $panel2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
  $panel2.Name = "tabPage2"
  $panel2.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
  $panel2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 352)
  $panel2.AutoSize  = $true
  $panel2.TabIndex = 1
  $panel2.Text = "Source Node"

  $l1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
  $l1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8,12)
  $l1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(220,16)
  $l1.Text = 'enter status message here'

  $l1.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif', 8, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, 0);

  $groupBox1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.GroupBox

  $groupBox1.SuspendLayout()

  $groupBox1.Controls.AddRange( @($l1 ))
  $groupBox1.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(8,230)
  $groupBox1.Name = 'groupBox1'
  $groupBox1.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(244,32)
  $groupBox1.TabIndex = 0
  $groupBox1.TabStop = $false
  $groupBox1.Text = 'status'


  $panel2.Controls.Add($groupBox1)

  $t2 = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $t2.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $i = new-Object System.Windows.Forms.ImageList($components)
  $i.Images.Add([System.Drawing.SystemIcons]::Application)
  $t2.ImageList = $i

  $t2.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t2.ImageIndex = -1
  $t2.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t2.Name = "treeFood"
  $t2.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t2.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 224)

  $t2.AutoSize  = $true
  $t2.TabIndex = 1;
  $panel2.Controls.AddRange(@($t2))

 # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.tabpage.visiblechanged%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
   $panel2.add_VisibleChanged({
     param(
      [Object] $sender,
      [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
      )
    $t2.SuspendLayout()
    $t2.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t2.Nodes.Add('Source Environment')
    $server = $node.Nodes.Add('Test Server')
    $databases = $server.Nodes.Add('Databases')
    $server.Nodes.Add('DB 1')
    $server.Nodes.Add('DB 2')

    $server.Nodes.Add('Application')
    $sites = $server.Nodes.Add('IIS Web Sites')

    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t2.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t2.PerformLayout()
})

  $panel1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 22)
  $panel1.Name = "tabPage1"
  $panel1.Padding = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3)
  $panel1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(259, 252)
  $panel1.TabIndex = 0
  $panel1.Text = "Destination Node"

  $t1 = New-Object  System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
  $t1.Font  = new-object System.Drawing.Font('Tahoma', 10.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);

  $t1.ImageList = $i

  $t1.Anchor = ((([System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Top -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Bottom) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Left) `
  -bor [System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles]::Right)
  $t1.ImageIndex = -1
  $t1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(4, 5)
  $t1.Name = "treeFood"
  $t1.SelectedImageIndex = -1
  $t1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(284, 224)

  $t1.AutoSize  = $true
  $t1.TabIndex = 1;
  $panel1.Controls.AddRange(@($t1))

   $panel1.add_VisibleChanged({
       param(
          [Object] $sender,
          [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
       )
    $t1.SuspendLayout()
    $t1.Nodes.Clear()
    $node = $t1.Nodes.Add('Target Environment')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Database Server')
    $node.Nodes.Add('Application Server')
    $sites = $node.Nodes.Add('Web Server')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 1')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 2')
    $sites.Nodes.Add('Site 3')
    $t1.ResumeLayout($false)
    $t1.PerformLayout()
})

  $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel1)
  $tab_contol1.Controls.Add($panel2)

  $tab_contol1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(13, 13)
  $tab_contol1.Name = "tabControl1"
  $tab_contol1.SelectedIndex = 1
  $tab_contol1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(267, 288)
  $tab_contol1.TabIndex = 0

  $f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
  $f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 308)
  $f.Controls.Add($tab_contol1)
  $panel2.ResumeLayout($false)
  $panel2.PerformLayout()
  $panel1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $tab_contol1.ResumeLayout($false)
  $f.ResumeLayout($false)

  $f.Topmost = $true


  $f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
  $f.KeyPreview = $True


  [Void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

  $f.Dispose()
}

TreeView

Code is work in progress, with the intent to use status label for validation warnings and the worker process for more deep validation of selected environments.

TreeView

A Tree of Tab Items

Next example utilized the beautiful TreeTabControl. A Tree of Tab Items for Powershell.

There is a little public method to add to TreeTab/TreeTab/TreeTabControl.xaml.cs class to make Powershell use the class :

        /// <summary>
        /// Converts the string parameter to TreeItemType enumeration.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="_typestring">string</param>
        /// <returns>_type</returns>
        public TreeItem.TREEITEM_TYPE ConvertType(string _typestring ){
         TreeItem.TREEITEM_TYPE _type;
            if (String.Compare(_typestring, "MAIN", true) == 0)
            	_type = TreeItem.TREEITEM_TYPE.MAIN;         
            else
            	_type = TreeItem.TREEITEM_TYPE.GROUP;
            return _type;
        }

because the

 public enum TREEITEM_TYPE
        {
            MAIN,
            GROUP
        }

is inaccessible to Powershell.

One uses the original container XAML practically unmodified:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:custom="clr-namespace:TreeTab;assembly=TreeTab" Title="Window1" Margin="0,0,0,0" Height="244" Width="633">
  <Grid x:Name="Container">
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
      <RowDefinition Height="30"/>
      <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>
    <Grid>
      <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
      </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
      <Button x:Name="Hide_Tree" Grid.Column="1">Hide Tree</Button>
      <Button x:Name="Show_Tree" Grid.Column="0">Show Tree</Button>
    </Grid>
    <Grid x:Name="Container2" Grid.Row="1" Margin="5,5,5,5">
      <StackPanel x:Name="TreeTabContainer"></StackPanel>
    </Grid>
  </Grid>
</Window>

TreeView

The Powershell script initializes the plumbing code :

$shared_assemblies = @(
  'TreeTab.dll',
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')

$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}

pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object { Unblock-File -Path $_; Add-Type -Path $_ }
popd


Clear-Host


$reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml)
$target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($reader)

and after compiling the class and placing the assembly in SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH folder, places the instance of TreeTab.TreeTabControl into the StackPanel:

$t = New-Object -TypeName 'TreeTab.TreeTabControl'

$c = $target.FindName('TreeTabContainer')
$t.IsTreeExpanded = $true
$t.Name = 'treeTab'
[void]$t.HideTree()
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Global','Global',$false,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),'')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Staging_Environment','Staging Environment',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),'')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Test_Environment','Test Environment',$false,$t.ConvertType($t.ConvertType('GROUP')),'')

[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp0 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('Staging_Environment')
[TreeTab.TreeTabItem]$tItem = $t.AddTabItem('Certificates','Certificates',$false,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp0)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('IIS_Web_Sites','IIS Web Sites',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),$tp0)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Databases','Databases',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),$tp0)

[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp02 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('Databases')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('DB_1','DB 1',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp02)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('DB_2','DB 2',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp02)

[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp03 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('IIS_Web_Sites')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_1','Site 1',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp03)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_2','Site 2',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp03)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_3','Site 3',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp03)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_4','Site 4',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp03)


[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp01 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('Test_Environment')
[TreeTab.TreeTabItem]$t23 = $t.AddTabItem('Certificates1','Certificates',$false,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp01)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('IIS_Web_Sites2','IIS Web Sites',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),$tp01)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Databases2','Databases',$false,$t.ConvertType('GROUP'),$tp01)


[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp12 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('Databases2')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('DB_11','DB 1',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp12)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('DB_12','DB 2',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp12)

[TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$tp13 = [TreeTab.TreeTabItemGroup]$t.GetTabItemById('IIS_Web_Sites2')
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_11','Site 1',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp13)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_12','Site 2',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp13)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_13','Site 3',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp13)
[void]$t.AddTabItem('Site_14','Site 4',$true,$t.ConvertType('MAIN'),$tp13)


[void]$t.ShowTree()
[void]$c.AddChild($t)

$target.FindName("Hide_Tree").add_click.Invoke({
    [void]$t.HideTree()
  })
$target.FindName("Show_Tree").add_click.Invoke({
    [void]$t.ShowTree()
  })

$target.ShowDialog() | Out-Null

The class autmates the tab navigation. Next is to fill the tabs with standard WPF inputs and provide the domain-specific callbacks:

E.g. given

[xml]$parent_markup = @"

<pre lang="xml">
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="Window1" Margin="5,5,5,5" Height="310" Width="420">
<ScrollViewer>
    <WrapPanel>
  <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
  </Grid>
     </WrapPanel>
  </ScrollViewer>
</Window>

"@

and

[xml]$child_markup = @"

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<StackPanel xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
  <StackPanel.Resources>
    <Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBox}">
      <Setter Property="Margin" Value="0,10,0,0"/>
    </Style>
  </StackPanel.Resources>
  <Label x:Name="lblNumberOfTargetHits" HorizontalAlignment="Center">Input:</Label>
  <TextBox Width="120" x:Name="txtTargetKeyFocus" FontSize="12"/>
  <TextBox x:Name="txtTargetFocus" TextWrapping="Wrap" FontSize="12"/>
</StackPanel>

"@

nesting controls is accomplished just like:

$parent_reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $parent_markup)
$parent_target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($parent_reader)
$LayoutRoot = $parent_target.FindName("LayoutRoot")
$child_reader = (New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $child_markup)
$child_target = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($child_reader)
$LayoutRoot.add_Loaded.Invoke({
    $LayoutRoot.Children.Add($child_target)
  })

To run code in WPF control event handlers one makes sure the controls are found by their markup x:Name attribute by $child, not $parent e.g:

$target = $child_target
$control = $target.FindName("txtTargetKeyFocus")

$handler_got_keyboard_focus = {
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.Windows.Input.KeyboardFocusChangedEventArgs]$e
  )
  $source = $e.Source
  $source.Background = [System.Windows.Media.Brushes]::LightBlue
  $source.Clear()

}
$handler_lost_keyboard_focus = {
  param(
    [object]$sender,
    [System.Windows.Input.KeyboardFocusChangedEventArgs]$e
  )
  $source = $e.Source
  $source.Background = [System.Windows.Media.Brushes]::White
}

[System.Management.Automation.PSMethod]$event_got_keyboard_focus = $control.Add_GotKeyboardFocus
[System.Management.Automation.PSMethod]$event_lost_keyboard_focus = $control.Add_LostKeyboardFocus

$event_got_keyboard_focus.Invoke($handler_got_keyboard_focus)
$event_lost_keyboard_focus.Invoke($handler_lost_keyboard_focus)
$control = $null

continued with the remainder of controls.

Note: with the help of System.Management.Automation.TypeAccelerators assembly, one may save oneself from typing the full class names in the script:

$ta = [PSObject].Assembly.GetType('System.Management.Automation.TypeAccelerators')

Add-Type -AssemblyName 'PresentationCore','PresentationFramework' -Passthru |
Where-Object IsPublic |
ForEach-Object {
  $_class = $_
  try {
    $ta::Add($_class.Name,$_class)
  } catch {
    ( 'Failed to add {0} accelerator resolving to {1}' -f $_class.Name ,   $_class.FullName )
  }
}

with the help of the code above the following fragment

# http://poshcode.org/5730
[Window]@{
  Width = 310
  Height = 110
  WindowStyle = 'SingleBorderWindow'
  AllowsTransparency = $false
  TopMost = $true
  Content = & {
    $c1 = [StackPanel]@{
      Margin = '5'
      VerticalAlignment = 'Center'
      HorizontalAlignment = 'Center'
      Orientation='Horizontal'
    }

 $t = [textblock]@{}
$t.AddChild([label]@{
Margin = '5'
VerticalAlignment = 'Center'
HorizontalAlignment = 'Center'
FontSize = '11'
FontFamily = 'Calibri'
Foreground = 'Black'
Content = 'Enter Password:'
}
)
$c1.AddChild($t)
$c1.AddChild(
[passwordbox]@{
Name = 'passwordBox'
PasswordChar = '*'
VerticalAlignment = 'Center'
Width = '120'
}
)
$c1.AddChild(
[button]@{
Content = 'OK'
IsDefault = 'True'
Margin = '5'
Name = 'button1'
Width = '50'
VerticalAlignment = 'Center'
}
)
,$c1} | ForEach-Object {
  $_.Add_MouseLeftButtonDown({
      $this.DragMove()
    })
  $_.Add_MouseRightButtonDown({
      $this.Close()
    })
  $_.ShowDialog() | Out-Null
}

produces the similar effect as

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="Window1" Margin="5,5,5,5" Height="110" Width="310">

 <StackPanel xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" Orientation="Horizontal"  VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment = "Center">
   <TextBlock Margin="5" FontSize = "11" FontFamily = "Calibri">
             Enter Password:
         </TextBlock>
   <PasswordBox Name="passwordBox" PasswordChar="*" VerticalAlignment="Center" Width="120"/>
   <Button Content="OK" IsDefault="True" Margin="5" Name="button1"  Width="50" VerticalAlignment="Center"/>
 </StackPanel>
</Window>

In the majority of cases this leads to no ambiguity in event handlers

System Tray Notification Icon

Say the script is running a series of steps with verbose logs and takes a lot of time to complete. It is natural to spawn a Windows System tray Notification icon that would indicate what the ongoing process is doing. The key is how to arrange the code so the control remains in the main script.

With minimal modifications, the Notification icon in the system tray example provided by ScriptIT one can make the main script manifest its state to the Balloon Tip message and the console, and the build log file is used to render the tray icon menu and to pass additional information to it.

TreeView

#requires -version 2
Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework

function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
    $Invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation -Scope 1).Value;
    if($Invocation.PSScriptRoot)
    {
        $Invocation.PSScriptRoot;
    }
    Elseif($Invocation.MyCommand.Path)
    {
        Split-Path $Invocation.MyCommand.Path
    }
    else
    {
        $Invocation.InvocationName.Substring(0,$Invocation.InvocationName.LastIndexOf("\"));
    }
}

$so = [hashtable]::Synchronized(@{
        'Result'  = [string] '';
        'ConfigFile'  = [string] '';
        'ScriptDirectory'  = [string] '';
    'Form'  = [System.Windows.Forms.Form] $null ;
    'NotifyIcon' = [System.Windows.Controls.ToolTip] $null ;
    'ContextMenu' = [System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu] $null ;
    })
$so.ScriptDirectory = Get-ScriptDirectory
$so.Result = ''
$rs =[runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState = 'STA'
$rs.ThreadOptions = 'ReuseThread'
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable('so', $so)

$run_script = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript({

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')

$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$so.Form  = $f
$notify_icon = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
$so.NotifyIcon = $notify_icon
$context_menu = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu
$exit_menu_item = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
$AddContentMenuItem = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem

$build_log = ('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'build.log' )

function Read-Config {
  $context_menu.MenuItems.Clear()
  if(Test-Path $build_log){
    $ConfigData = Get-Content $build_log
    $i = 0
    foreach($line in $ConfigData){
      if($line.Length -gt 0){
        $line = $line.Split(",")
        $Name = $line[0]
        $FilePath = $line[1]
        # Powershell style function invocation syntax
        $context_menu | Build-ContextMenu -index $i -text $Name -Action $FilePath
        $i++
      }
    }
  }

# Create an Exit Menu Item
$exit_menu_item.Index = $i+1
$exit_menu_item.Text = 'E&xit'
$exit_menu_item.add_Click({
$f.Close()
$notify_icon.visible = $false
})

$context_menu.MenuItems.Add($exit_menu_item) | Out-Null
}

function new-scriptblock([string]$textofscriptblock)
{
$executioncontext.InvokeCommand.NewScriptBlock($textofscriptblock)
}

# construct objects from the build log file and fill the context Menu
function Build-ContextMenu {
  param (
        [int]$index = 0,
        [string]$Text,
        [string] $Action
  )
begin
{
$menu_item = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
}
process
{
# Assign the Context Menu Object from the pipeline to the ContexMenu var
$ContextMenu = $_
}
end
{
# Create the Menu Item$menu_item.Index = $index
$menu_item.Text = $Text
$scriptAction = $(new-scriptblock "Invoke-Item $Action")
$menu_item.add_Click($scriptAction)
$ContextMenu.MenuItems.Add($menu_item) | Out-Null
}
}
# http://bytecookie.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/gui-creation-with-powershell-part-2-the-notify-icon-or-how-to-make-your-own-hdd-health-monitor/

$notify_icon.Icon = ('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'sample.ico' )
#
$notify_icon.Text = 'Context Menu Test'
# Assign the Context Menu
$notify_icon.ContextMenu = $context_menu
$f.ContextMenu = $context_menu

# Control Visibility and state of things
$notify_icon.Visible = $true
$f.Visible = $false
$f.WindowState = 'minimized'
$f.ShowInTaskbar = $false
$f.add_Closing({ $f.ShowInTaskBar = $False })
$context_menu.Add_Popup({Read-Config})
$f.ShowDialog()
})

function send_text {
    Param (
        [String] $title = 'script',
        [String] $message,
        [int]    $timeout = 10 ,
        [switch] $append
    )

    $so.NotifyIcon.ShowBalloonTip($timeout, $title , $message, [System.Windows.Forms.ToolTipIcon]::Info)
    write-output  -InputObject  ( '{0}:{1}' -f $title,  $message)
}

# -- main program --
clear-host
$run_script.Runspace = $rs

$cnt = 0
$total = 4
$handle = $run_script.BeginInvoke()

start-sleep 1

send_text -title 'script' -message 'Starting...' -timeout 10
$so.ConfigFile = $build_log = ('{0}\{1}' -f $so.ScriptDirectory, 'build.log' )
set-Content -path $build_log -value ''

While (-Not $handle.IsCompleted -and $cnt -lt $total) {
  start-sleep -Milliseconds 10000
  $cnt ++
  send_text -title 'script' -message ("Finished {0} of {1} items..."  -f $cnt, $total  )  -timeout 10
  write-output ("Subtask {0} ..." -f $cnt ) | out-file -FilePath $build_log -Append -encoding ascii
}

$so.Form.Close()

$run_script.EndInvoke($handle) | out-null
$rs.Close()
write-output 'All finished'

TreeView

Selenium Test

Next example shows performing a Selenium WebDriver transaction from PowerShell. There is still a lot of code to add to this example, but the portion developed already is hopefully worth seeing. A simple transaction is chosen for illustration here. It was converted from the following MS Test example.

using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Text;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
using Microsoft.Activities.UnitTesting;
using Moq;

using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Remote;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI;
using OpenQA.Selenium.IE;
using OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Safari;
namespace SeleniumTests
{
    [TestClass]
    public class SeleniumTest
    {

    private static IWebDriver driver;
    private static StringBuilder verificationErrors = new StringBuilder();
        private string baseURL;
        private bool acceptNextAlert = true;

        [ClassCleanup()]
        public static void MyClassCleanup() {
            try {
        driver.Quit();
            } catch (Exception) {
                // Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
            }
            Assert.AreEqual("", verificationErrors.ToString());
        }

        [TestInitialize()]
        public void MyTestInitialize()
        {
         // DesiredCapabilities capability = DesiredCapabilities.PhantomJSDriver();
         // error CS0117: 'OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities' dos not contain a definition for 'PhantomJSDriver'
         // DesiredCapabilities capability = DesiredCapabilities.Firefox();
         // driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri("http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub"), capability );
         // driver = new PhantomJSDriver();
         driver = new SafariDriver();
         Assert.IsNotNull(driver );

         driver.Url =  baseURL = "http://www.wikipedia.org";
         driver.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitlyWait( TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10 )) ;
         verificationErrors = new StringBuilder();

        }

        [TestCleanup()]
        public void MyTestCleanup() {

    }

        [TestMethod]
        public void Test()
        {

            // Arrange
            driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(baseURL + "/");
            WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10)) ;

            // Act
            IWebElement queryBox = driver.FindElement(By.Id("searchInput"));
            queryBox.Clear();
            queryBox.SendKeys("Selenium");
        queryBox.SendKeys(Keys.ArrowDown);
            queryBox.Submit();
            driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("Selenium (software)")).Click();
            // Assert
            Assert.IsTrue(driver.Title.IndexOf("Selenium (software)") > -1, driver.Title);
        }
    }
}

which in turn is essentially an MS Test decorated Selenium IDE recording.

The conversion to Powershell was made using similar approach as the rest of the examples in this article - mainly through consulting the API documents.

The script uses PhantomeJS Selenium driver for quick test run and a real Firefox browser for a thorough run.

All standard Selenium C# client API dlls are placed in the folder pointed to by SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH environment.

$shared_assemblies =  @(
    'WebDriver.dll',
    'WebDriver.Support.dll',
    'Selenium.WebDriverBackedSelenium.dll',
    'Moq.dll'
)

$shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | foreach-object { Unblock-File -Path $_ ; Add-Type -Path  $_ }
popd

Naturally, if there is a business logic layer or DSL wrapping low level WebDriver calls, it can be compiled from C# into a standalone assembly DLL and made available to the PowerShell in much the same way

$testSuite = [System.Reflection.AssemblyName]::GetAssemblyName('${assembly_path}\BusinessTestSuite.dll')

$framework = [System.Reflection.Assembly]::ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(
'${assembly_path}\BusinessSpecificWebDriverFramework.dll')

To avoid copying the Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework.dll but load from where it is installed on the machine, and make the familiar assertion calls available in the script, the following code performs a quick discovery. For simplicity just the Microsoft Test Agent InstallLocation registry key scan is shown, additional keys need to be tried, note that Visual Studio Express Edition does not install this dll, while the Enterprize installs several copies.

function read_registry{
  param ([string] $registry_path,
         [string] $package_name

)

pushd HKLM:
cd -path $registry_path
$settings = get-childitem -Path . | where-object { $_.Property  -ne $null } | where-object {$_.name -match  $package_name } |   select-object -first 1
$values = $settings.GetValueNames()

if ( -not ($values.GetType().BaseType.Name -match  'Array' ) ) {
  throw 'Unexpected result type'
}
$result = $null
$values | where-object {$_ -match 'InstallLocation'} | foreach-object {$result = $settings.GetValue($_).ToString() ; write-debug $result}

popd
$result

}

$shared_assemblies =  @(
    'Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework.dll'
)

$shared_assemblies_path = (  "{0}\{1}" -f   ( read_registry -registry_path '/HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Uninstall' -package_name '{6088FCFB-2FA4-3C74-A1D1-F687C5F14A0D}' ) , 'Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies' )
$shared_assemblies_path =
pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | foreach-object { Unblock-File -Path $_ ; Add-Type -Path  $_ }
popd

[Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.Assert]::AreEqual("true", (@('true','false') | select-object -first 1) )

Based on switch, the script initializes either phantom or real browser driver ...

if ($PSBoundParameters['browser']) {

  Try {
    $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
    $connection.Connect('127.0.0.1',4444)
    $connection.Close()
    }
  catch {
    $selemium_driver_folder = 'c:\java\selenium'
    start-process -filepath 'C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe' -argumentlist "start cmd.exe /c ${selemium_driver_folder}\hub.cmd"
    start-process -filepath 'C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe' -argumentlist "start cmd.exe /c ${selemium_driver_folder}\node.cmd"
    start-sleep 10
  }

  $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Firefox()
  $uri = [System.Uri]('http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub')
  $driver = new-object OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver($uri , $capability)
} else {
  $phantomjs_executable_folder = 'C:\tools\phantomjs'
  $driver = new-object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSDriver($phantomjs_executable_folder)
  $driver.Capabilities.SetCapability('ssl-protocol', 'any' );
  $driver.Capabilities.SetCapability('ignore-ssl-errors', $true);
  $driver.capabilities.SetCapability("takesScreenshot", $false );
  $driver.capabilities.SetCapability("userAgent",
              "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1) AppleWebKit/534.34 (KHTML, like Gecko) PhantomJS/1.9.7 Safari/534.34")
}

There is no need to explicitly start PhantomJS driver.

Finally, the test begins (the implementations of Get-ScriptDirectory and Assert are not shown and can be found in the attached source zip and author's github repo).

# http://selenium.googlecode.com/git/docs/api/dotnet/index.html
[void]$driver.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitlyWait( [System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(10 ))
[string]$baseURL = $driver.Url = 'http://www.wikipedia.org';
$driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(('{0}/' -f $baseURL ))
[OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$queryBox = $driver.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::Id('searchInput'))

$queryBox.Clear()
$queryBox.SendKeys('Selenium')
$queryBox.SendKeys([OpenQA.Selenium.Keys]::ArrowDown)
$queryBox.Submit()
$driver.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::LinkText('Selenium (software)')).Click()
$title =  $driver.Title
assert -Script { ($title.IndexOf('Selenium (software)') -gt -1 ) } -message $title

Pretending that the test failed, the script navigates to the URL identifying the browser and takes a screenshot.

$driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.whatismybrowser.com/")
[OpenQA.Selenium.Screenshot]$screenshot = $driver.GetScreenshot()
$screenshot_path = $env:SCREENSHOT_PATH
$screenshot.SaveAsFile(('{0}\{1}' -f $screenshot_path, 'a.png' ), [System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat]::Png)

Browser

and finishes the test run.

try {
  $driver.Quit()
} catch [Exception] {
  # Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
}

One would possibly introduce a separate script via proper CreateRunspace call and develop Synchronized object to allow controlling the invocation of $driver.GetScreenshot call when some test fails, from a separate Powershell runspace connected to main script (this is currently work in progress) in a similar way the System Tray Notification icon has controlled in an earlier example.

The Selenium RC version of the script would be loading different libraries and switch to Nunit library Asserts.

$shared_assemblies =  @(
    'ThoughtWorks.Selenium.Core.dll',
    'nunit.core.dll',
    'nunit.framework.dll'
)

and invoke different methods:

$verificationErrors = new-object System.Text.StringBuilder
$selenium = new-object Selenium.DefaultSelenium('localhost', 4444, '*firefox', 'http://www.wikipedia.org/')
$selenium.Start()
$selenium.Open('/')
$selenium.Click('css=strong')
$selenium.WaitForPageToLoad('30000')
$selenium.Type('id=searchInput', 'selenium')
$selenium.Click('id=searchButton')
$selenium.WaitForPageToLoad('30000')
$selenium.Click('link=Selenium (software)')
$selenium.WaitForPageToLoad('30000')

the rest of the script will be unchanged.

RC Driver called from Powershell

Naturally one can craft script directly in Powershell ISE which would save a lt of developer time.

TreeView

To work with laterst version of Firefox (e.g. 33) one needs ensure the specific versions of Selenium C# libraries are loaded - similar version check is important for Nunit to access StringAssert:

$shared_assemblies = @{
  'WebDriver.dll' = 2.44;
  'WebDriver.Support.dll' = '2.44';
  'nunit.core.dll' = $null;
  'nunit.framework.dll' = '2.6.3';

}

$shared_assemblies.Keys | ForEach-Object {
  $assembly = $_
  $assembly_path = [System.IO.Path]::Combine($shared_assemblies_path,$assembly)
  $assembly_version = [Reflection.AssemblyName]::GetAssemblyName($assembly_path).Version
  $assembly_version_string = ('{0}.{1}' -f $assembly_version.Major,$assembly_version.Minor)
  if ($shared_assemblies[$assembly] -ne $null) {
 
    if (-not ($shared_assemblies[$assembly] -match $assembly_version_string)) {
      Write-Output ('Need {0} {1}, got {2}' -f $assembly,$shared_assemblies[$assembly],$assembly_path)
      Write-Output $assembly_version
      throw ('invalid version :{0}' -f $assembly)
    }
  }

  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $_;
  }
  Write-Debug $_
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd

One very promising potential enhancement is related to handling File download dialogs or multi-option Internet Explorer Alert popups. These not well supported by pure Selenium. Either a separate tool like Autoit is to be bundled in the test framework or one of many workarounds need to be adopted - the latter option sometimes feels somewhat quirky.

When the Selenium test is executed by Powershell, one may incorporate the class that invokes win32 API from C# and uses EnumWindows, GetWindowInfo, EnumPropsEx, GetProp, GetWindowText, GetWindowTextLength, GetWindowThreadProcessId win32 API from user32.dll via [DllImport()] and loads numerous necessary structures defined in Windows.h to access the window handle and invoke PostMessage or SendMessage on desired button or simply CloseWindow on the Alert / File Download dialog found by title. The latter would cause one test to fail but will prevent the entire test suite from hanging after browser loses the mouse focus. This is explained in several resources in the web.

and " save="" as"="" dialog="" is="" closed="" by="" sending="" it="" a="" WM_CLOSE Windows message.

With a little more P/invoke

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern Int32 SendMessage(IntPtr hwnd, UInt32 Msg, IntPtr wParam, [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string lParam);

    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.SysUInt)]
    [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = false)]
    static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, UInt32 Msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    static extern int GetClassName(IntPtr hWnd, StringBuilder lpClassName, int nMaxCount);

    public static string GetText(IntPtr hWnd)
    {
        int length = GetWindowTextLength(hWnd);
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(length + 1);
        GetWindowText(hWnd, sb, sb.Capacity);
        return sb.ToString();
    }
    private static string GetWindowClassName(IntPtr hWnd)
    {
        int nRet;
        StringBuilder ClassName = new StringBuilder(256);
        nRet = GetClassName(hWnd, ClassName, ClassName.Capacity);
        return (nRet != 0) ? ClassName.ToString() : null;
    }
    public static void SetText(IntPtr hWnd, String text)
    {

        UInt32 WM_SETTEXT = 0x000C;
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(text);
        int result = SendMessage(hWnd, WM_SETTEXT, (IntPtr)sb.Length, (String)sb.ToString());
    }

one may locate the elements of the dialog and enter some text into file name text box and send a buttonclick to save as button.

    private static bool EnumWindow(IntPtr handle, IntPtr pointer)
    {
        GCHandle gch = GCHandle.FromIntPtr(pointer);
        String window_class_name = GetWindowClassName(handle);
        // Set textbox text - filename to save
        if (string.Compare(window_class_name, "Edit", true, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) == 0 ) {
            // http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd375731%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
            const UInt32 WM_CHAR = 0x0102;
            const UInt32 WM_KEYDOWN = 0x0100;
            const UInt32 WM_KEYUP = 0x0101;
            const UInt32 VK_RETURN = 0x0D;
            SendMessage(handle, WM_CHAR, new IntPtr(WM_KEYDOWN), IntPtr.Zero);
            SetText(handle, @"c:\temp\my random filename");
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            SendMessage(handle, WM_CHAR, new IntPtr(VK_RETURN), IntPtr.Zero);
        }
        // Click 'Save'
        if (string.Compare(window_class_name, "Button", true, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) == 0 ) {
            string button_text = GetText(handle);
            if (string.Compare(button_text, "&Save", true, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) == 0) {
                SetText(handle, "About to click");
                const UInt32 BM_CLICK = 0x00F5;
                Thread.Sleep(1000);
                SendMessage(handle, BM_CLICK, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);
            }
        }

        List<IntPtr> list = gch.Target as List<IntPtr>;
        if (list == null)
            throw new InvalidCastException("cast exception");
        list.Add(handle);
        return true;
    }

Save As manipulation

Note that without sending the "Enter" key the Windows Explorer would have ignored the text entered behind the scene and saved the file in the original location / name.

Save As manipulation

The modified code is provided in the archive. With minimal effort one has the class integrated with PowerShell, but extending the example to be really useful is more work and somewhat beyond the scope of this article.

Another interesting possible scenario is when the target web site is hosted on Tomcat running on Linux host but the Internet Explorer integration tests are required to run. With the following boilerplate Perl code snippet, one would be able to launch the PowerShell script remotely through ssh: cygwin, TeamCity, Jenkins, etc.

use Net::SSH::Perl;
use Data::Dumper;
use constant DEBUG => 0;

our ($HOSTNAME, $USER, $PASSWORD );
my $POWERSHELL_SCRIPT = ...
$HOSTNAME = '192.168.56.102';
$USER = 'cyg_server';
$PASSWORD = 'cyg_server';

# workaround cygwin console IO challenge
my $ssh_command =
"cat /dev/null|\
/cygdrive/c/Windows/system32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe \
-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -command \"&{ $POWERSHELL_SCRIPT }\"";

print STDERR $ssh_command if (DEBUG) ;

my $ssh = Net::SSH::Perl->new( $HOSTNAME, debug => 0 );
$ssh->login( $USER, $PASSWORD );

my ( $stdout, $stderr, $exitcode ) = $ssh->cmd( $ssh_command, undef );
print STDERR Dumper \[ $stdout, $stderr, $exitcode ];

1;

END

This clearly is not necessary with Selenium grid test script, but may be used for other situations.

For example by running the following textbook Powershell script through ssh

Import-module WebAdministration
$WebSiteAlias = 'Test'
$AppPoolAlias = 'Test'
pushd 'IIS:\Sites\Default Web Site'
$IISPath = "..\$WebSiteAlias"
if (Test-Path $IISPath) {
  Write-Host "Web Site '$WebSiteAlias' exists."
}
$IISPath = "IIS:\AppPools"
cd $IISPath
if (Test-Path ".$AppPoolAlias") {
  Write-Host "Application Pool '$AppPoolAlias' exists."
}

The result will be available to a caller script...

Linux invoking Powershell

This is useful when the business runs a mixed Tomcat / IIS web sites, and for some reason deployment has to be orchestrated from Linux machine. In this case, more complex Powershell code will be user for, e.g. performing some app pools checks, invoking msdeploy.exe, followed by the business-specific web sites "priming", from Linux

Generic Selenium Automation

The following Selenium automation script fragment selects the Carribbean honeymoon vacation cruise from one of cruise vendors. The code for selecting Destination, Date range and Number of Travelers is quite redundant and is shown only partially. The full working script is available in the zip.

# Select destination
$value1 = 'dest'
$css_selector1 = ('a[data-param={0}]' -f $value1)
try {

  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1)))
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}

$element1 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($element1.Text -match 'Select a destination' ))

Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element1.Text)
$element1.Click()
Start-Sleep 1

$value2 =  'C'
$css_selector2 = ('a[data-id={0}]' -f $value2)
try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element2 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2)))
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
$element2 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))

Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element2.Text)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions2 = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($selenium)
$actions2.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element2).Build().Perform()
$actions2.Click().Build().Perform()
Start-Sleep 3


$value1 = 'dat'
$css_selector1 = ('a[data-param={0}]' -f $value1)
try {

  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1)))
##
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}

$element1 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($element1.Text -match 'Select a date'))

Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element1.Text)
$element1.Click()
Start-Sleep 1

$value2 =  '"022015"'
$css_selector2 = ('a[data-id={0}]' -f $value2)
try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element2 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2)))
##
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
$element2 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))
Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element2.Text)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions2 = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($selenium)
$actions2.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element2).Build().Perform()
$actions2.Click().Build().Perform()
Start-Sleep 3

$value1 = 'numGuests'
$css_selector1 = ('a[data-param={0}]' -f $value1)
try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150
  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1)))
##
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}

$element1 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($element1.Text -match 'How many travelers'))

Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element1.Text)
$element1.Click()
Start-Sleep 1

$value2 =  '"2"'
$css_selector2 = ('a[data-id={0}]' -f $value2)
try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 150

  [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element2 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2)))
##
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
$element2 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector2))
Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element2.Text)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions2 = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($selenium)
$actions2.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element2).Build().Perform()
$actions2.Click().Build().Perform()
Start-Sleep 3

$css_selector1 = 'div.actions > a.search'
try {
  [void]$selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception : {0} ...`n" -f (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}

$element1 = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector1))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($element1.Text -match 'SEARCH'))
Write-Output ('Clicking on ' + $element1.Text)
$element1.Click()

Start-Sleep 10

try {
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Screenshot]$screenshot =  $selenium.GetScreenshot()
  $guid = [guid]::NewGuid()
  $image_name = ($guid.ToString())
  [string]$image_path = ('{0}\{1}\{2}.{3}' -f (Get-ScriptDirectory),'temp',$image_name,'.jpg')
  $screenshot.SaveAsFile($image_path,[System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat]::Jpeg)

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output $_.Exception.Message
}
# Cleanup
try {
  $selenium.Quit()
} catch [exception]{
  # Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
}

Selenium

The script can successfully replay in any browser except IE 11. The following code selects the browser:

param(
  [string]$browser,
  [int]$version
)
...
if ($browser -ne $null -and $browser -ne '') {
  try {
    $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
    $connection.Connect("127.0.0.1",4444)
    $connection.Close()
  } catch {
    Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\hub.cmd"
    Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\node.cmd"
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
  }
  Write-Host "Running on ${browser}"
  if ($browser -match 'firefox') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Firefox()

  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'chrome') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Chrome()
  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'ie') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::InternetExplorer()
    if ($version -ne $null -and $version -ne 0) {
      $capability.SetCapability("version", $version.ToString());
    }
  }

  elseif ($browser -match 'safari') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Safari()
  }
  else {
    throw "unknown browser choice:${browser}"
  }
  $uri = [System.Uri]("http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub")
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver ($uri,$capability)
} else {
  Write-Host 'Running on phantomjs'
...

When executed the script prints minimal breadcrumps indicating actions taken.

Uploading a file with Selenium sendKeys

The following example translates a text on www.freetranslation.com. The page contains the following fragment:

Three button prompt

<div class="gw-upload-action clearfix">
  <div id="upload-button" class="btn"><img class="gw-icon upload" alt="" src="http://d2yxcfsf8zdogl.cloudfront.net/home-php/assets/home/img/pixel.gif"/>
         Choose File(s)                        
        <div class="ajaxupload-wrapper" style="width: 300px; height: 50px;"><input class="ajaxupload-input" type="file" name="file" multiple=""/></div>
    </div>
</div>

The scripts writes text to a file and uploads it:

[void]$selenium.Manage().timeouts().ImplicitlyWait([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(60))

$base_url = 'http://www.freetranslation.com/'

$text_file = ('{0}\{1}' -f (Get-ScriptDirectory),'testfile.txt')
Write-Output 'good morning driver' | Out-File -FilePath $text_file -Encoding ascii
$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)
$selenium.Manage().Window.Maximize()
$upload_element = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::ClassName('ajaxupload-input'))
$upload_element.SendKeys($text_file)

then waits until the following element is present:

Three button prompt

<a href="..." class="gw-download-link">
  <img class="gw-icon download" src="http://d2yxcfsf8zdogl.cloudfront.net/home-php/assets/home/img/pixel.gif"/>
  Download
</a>

[OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(3))
$wait.PollingInterval = 100

[OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element1 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::ClassName("gw-download-link")))

[OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebElement]$element2 = $wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector('img.gw-icon')))
$text_url = $element1.getAttribute('href')

and downloads the results:

$result = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $text_url
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue(($result.RawContent -match 'Bonjour pilote'))

and verifies the result against a known translation.

Selenium IDE Powershell Formatter

Next, one would exclude C# from the pipeline and record Powershell transaction directly in Selenium IDE. Custom formatting is fully supported; one does not need to bother with packaging the xpi at the early development phase.

To proceed, author forks one of the existing repositories, by David Zwarg and modifies the C# formatter to follow Powershell syntax and do other necessary adjustments. All that is needed to create formatter is one file.

Three button prompt

One thing to be careful is not to start with Selenium Remote Control - based plugins: The RC plugin can be developed but protocol is outdated and in particular no headless drivers is available.

The full JavaScript source of the formatter is not displayed here yet: it is an alpha-quality design, with pull request pending. Conversion between IDE commands, intermediate JavaScript method prototypes and final C# method calls is quite a pain.

The source is available on the author's github repo.

The plugin inherits from the webdriver.js,

if (!this.formatterType) {
  var subScriptLoader = Components.classes['@mozilla.org/moz/jssubscript-loader;1'].getService(Components.interfaces.mozIJSSubScriptLoader);
  subScriptLoader.loadSubScript('chrome://selenium-ide/content/formats/webdriver.js', this);
}

and currently adds minimal functionality of its own - currently there exist quite a few formatters with nearly identical code.

The modifications consists of providing full class paths in all method references, e.g.

WDAPI.Utils.isElementPresent = function(how, what) {
return "IsElementPresent(" + WDAPI.Driver.searchContext(how, what) + ")";
};

becomes:

WDAPI.Utils.isElementPresent = function(how, what) {
  return '[Selenium.Internal.SeleniumEmulation]::IsElementPresent(' + WDAPI.Driver.searchContext(how, what) + ')';
};

and tweaking semantics, e.g:

Equals.prototype.toString = function() {
  return this.e1.toString() + ' == ' + this.e2.toString() ;
}

becomes:

Equals.prototype.toString = function() {
  return this.e1.toString() + ' -eq ' + this.e2.toString();
};

It looks natural to use Nunit.dll however accessing the StringAssert appears to be a little problematic, thus one may choose to use Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework.dll as shown earlier

All Powershell initialization code from the earlier example goes into header option of the driver class:

this.options = {
  receiver: '$selenium',
  base_url: 'http://docs.seleniumhq.org/docs/02_selenium_ide.jsp',
  driver_namespace: "OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox",
  driver_capabilities: "Firefox()",
  showSelenese: 'false',
  indent: '4',
  initialIndents:  '3',
  header:
     'Param (\n'+
     indents(1) + '[switch] $browser\n'+
     ')\n'
  // ...
   '$capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::${driver_capabilities}\n' +
  // ...

  footer:
     '# Cleanup\n' +
     'try {\n' +
     indents(1) + '$selenium.Quit()\n' +
     '} catch [Exception] {\n' +
     indents(1) + '# Ignore errors if unable to close the browser\n' +
          '}\n',
  defaultExtension: 'ps1'
};

Key properties converted into regular formatter Inputs:

this.configForm =
    '<description>Selenium instance name</description>' +
    '<textbox id="options_receiver" />' +
    '<description>WebDriver Capabilities</description>' +
    '<menulist id="options_driver_capabilities"><menupopup>' +
    '<menuitem label="Firefox" value="Firefox()"/>' +
    '<menuitem label="Google Chrome" value="Chrome()"/>' +
    '<menuitem label="Safari" value="Safari()"/>' +
    '<menuitem label="Internet Explorer" value="InternetExplorer()"/>' +
    '</menupopup></menulist>'+
  // ...

Selenium IDE options

At the later stage of the development, one will arrange the sources as appropriate for xpi and craft the chrome.manifest, install.rdf and format-loader.xul, e.g.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet href="chrome://global/skin/" type="text/css"?>

<overlay id="webdriver_format_loader_overlay"
         xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"
         xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <script type="application/x-javascript" src="chrome://selenium-ide/content/api.js"/>
    <html:script type="application/javascript">
        var ide_api = new API();
        ide_api.addPlugin("powershell-webdriver-formatter@serguei.kouzmine");
        ide_api.addPluginProvidedFormatter("powershell-webdriver", "Powershell - WebDriver", "chrome://powershell-webdriver-formatter/content/formats/powershell-webdriver.js");
        ide_api.addPluginProvidedFormatter("powershell-remotecontrol", "Powershell - RC", "chrome://powershell-webdriver-formatter/content/formats/powershell-remotecontrol.js");
    </html:script>
</overlay>

This enables packaging into standalone Firefox Add-On via simple batch command (or equivalent bash script)

@echo off
setlocal

pushd %~dp0


set APP_NAME="powershell-webdriver-formatter"
set CHROME_PROVIDERS="content"

set ROOT_DIR=%CD%
set TMP_DIR="build"

REM remove any left-over files from previous build
del /Q %APP_NAME%.xpi
del /S /Q %TMP_DIR%

mkdir %TMP_DIR%\chrome\content

robocopy.exe content %TMP_DIR%\chrome\content /E
robocopy.exe locale %TMP_DIR%\chrome\locale /E
robocopy.exe skin %TMP_DIR%\chrome\skin /E
robocopy.exe defaults %TMP_DIR%\defaults /E
copy install.rdf %TMP_DIR%
copy chrome.manifest.production %TMP_DIR%\chrome.manifest

rem Package the XPI file
cd %TMP_DIR%
echo "Generating %APP_NAME%.xpi..."

PATH=%PATH%;%ProgramFiles%\7-Zip;%ProgramFiles(x86)%\7-Zip

7z.exe a -r -y -tzip ../%APP_NAME%.zip *

cd %ROOT_DIR%
rename %APP_NAME%.zip %APP_NAME%.xpi

endlocal

Thre logo border

To use the formatter,

Open Selenium IDE, record the transaction
Select Options from the Options menu
Select the "Formats" tab
- Fill the inputs if the formatter xpi was loaded or
- Click on the "Add" button
- Name the format
- Paste and save the Javascript source (losing the inputs)
In the "File" "Export Test Case as..." select the format

If everything is done right, the generated Powershell script will need no modifications and can be run right away.

For example, in the following fragment, after loading the required assemblies and launching the Selenium, draws a border around the Google logo by executing a Javascript code in the context of the loaded page, through Selenium.

$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl('http://www.google.com')
[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement] $element = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::Id("hplogo"))[OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('style', arguments[1]);", $element, "color: yellow; border: 4px solid yellow;")
start-sleep 3
  [OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('style', arguments[1]);", $element, '')

The Logo border

Clearly the Javascript is the only part that matters here. Sacrificing the overhead of C# project seems to be appropriate.

Another possible examle would execute $selenium.Manage().Timeouts().setScriptTimeout and [OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteAsyncScript followed by $selenium.FindElement to either "stamp" the build information into the page or, instead perform checks and store the answer into a dynamically appended div element and communicate the assertion results back to the script (work in progress).

Small-time development activities e.g. standard CI post-deployment web site "warm-up" are also likely to be easier through Selenium IDE with subsequent launch from Powershell rather then via coding a separate application.

Show Selenium Debugging messages on Explorer Taskbar

The following example combines code from Hosting And Changing Controls In Other Applicationswith a typical Selenium transaction (this one involving frames). Some web sites are really coded to be sensitive to mouse hover events. This example shows debugging the transaction in the situation when additional monitor is not available e.g. in VirtualBox, and the browser is maximized to fill the screen leaving no room to trace the execution.

The code from Hosting And Changing Controls In Other Applications responsible for adding an extra control to already running window, is used without modifications, but some changes being planned, one keeps the source together with the script rather than compiling it into an assembly

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
namespace System.Windows
{
    class Win32WindowEvents
    {
//...
    public static class WinAPI
    {
//...
        public static class Win32ControlType
        {
            public static string Button = "Button";

//... 
    ///

The goal is to stock the Windows control on a TaskBar

function custom_debug {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$local:button_ref,
    [string]$message
  )
  Write-Debug $message
  $local:button = $local:button_ref.Value
  if ($local:button -eq $null) {
    $exlorer_window = [System.Windows.Win32Window]::FromProcessName('explorer')
    # $window.ClassName = Shell_TrayWnd
    $exlorer_window.Title = "A control WINDOW";
    $local:button = New-Object System.Windows.Win32Button
    # NOTE: The position and size are manually set
    $local:button.TopMost = $true
    $local:button.Width = 600
    $local:button.Height = 60
    $x = ($exlorer_window.Position.Right - $local:button.Width)
    $y = -20

    $local:button.Pos_X = $x
    $local:button.Pos_Y = $y

    $local:button.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font ('Microsoft Sans Serif',7,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular,[System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point,0)
    $exlorer_window.AddControl($local:button)

    $local:button_ref.Value = $local:button
  }
  $local:button.Text = $message
}

The Debug button

This button is used to display debugging messages and (WIP) pause the execution of the script.

$shared_assemblies = @(
  'WebDriver.dll',
  'WebDriver.Support.dll',
  'nunit.core.dll',
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)


$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}

pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object {

  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $_;
  }
  Write-Debug $_
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')

$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
# Convertfrom-JSON applies To: Windows PowerShell 3.0 and above
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue($host.Version.Major -gt 2)

$hub_host = '127.0.0.1'
$hub_port = '4444'

$uri = [System.Uri](('http://{0}:{1}/wd/hub' -f $hub_host,$hub_port))
[object]$button = $null

custom_debug ([ref]$button) 'Starting firefox'

if ($browser -ne $null -and $browser -ne '') {
  try {
    $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
    $connection.Connect($hub_host,[int]$hub_port)
    $connection.Close()
  } catch {
    Start-Process -FilePath 'C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe' -ArgumentList 'start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\hub.cmd'
    Start-Process -FilePath 'C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe' -ArgumentList 'start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\node.cmd'
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
  }
  Write-Host "Running on ${browser}"
  if ($browser -match 'firefox') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Firefox()

  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'chrome') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Chrome()
  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'ie') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::InternetExplorer()
  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'safari') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Safari()
  }
  else {
    throw "unknown browser choice:${browser}"
  }
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver ($uri,$capability)
} else {
  # this example may not work with phantomjs 
  $phantomjs_executable_folder = "c:\tools\phantomjs"
  Write-Host 'Running on phantomjs'
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSDriver ($phantomjs_executable_folder)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("ssl-protocol","any")
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("ignore-ssl-errors",$true)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("takesScreenshot",$true)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("userAgent","Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1) AppleWebKit/534.34 (KHTML, like Gecko) PhantomJS/1.9.7 Safari/534.34")
  $options = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSOptions
  $options.AddAdditionalCapability("phantomjs.executable.path",$phantomjs_executable_folder)
}

[void]$selenium.Manage().timeouts().ImplicitlyWait([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(60))

$selenium.url = $base_url = 'http://translation2.paralink.com'
$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl(($base_url + '/'))

[string]$xpath = "//frame[@id='topfr']"
[object]$top_frame = $null
find_page_element_by_xpath ([ref]$selenium) ([ref]$top_frame) $xpath
$current_frame = $selenium.SwitchTo().Frame($top_frame)

[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($current_frame.url,('{0}/{1}' -f $base_url,'newtop.asp'),$current_frame.url)
Write-Debug ('Switched to {0} {1}' -f $current_frame.url,$xpath)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Switched to {0} {1}' -f $current_frame.url,$xpath)
$top_frame = $null

[string]$text = 'Spanish-Russian translation'
$css_selector = 'select#directions > option[value="es/ru"]'
[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $null
find_page_element_by_css_selector ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element) $css_selector
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($text,$element.Text,$element.Text)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('selected "{0}"' -f $text)
$element.Click()
$element = $null

custom_pause

[string]$xpath2 = "//textarea[@id='source']"

[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $null
find_page_element_by_xpath ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element) $xpath2
highlight ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($current_frame)
$actions.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element).Click().Build().Perform()

$text = @"
Yo, Juan Gallo de Andrada, escribano de C?mara del Rey nuestro se?or, de los que residen en su Consejo, certifico y doy fe que, habiendo visto por los se?ores d?l un libro intitulado El ingenioso hidalgo de la Mancha, compuesto por Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, tasaron cada pliego del dicho libro a tres maraved?s y medio; el cual tiene ochenta y tres pliegos, que al dicho precio monta el dicho libro docientos y noventa maraved?s y medio, en que se ha de vender en papel;.
"@
[void]$element.SendKeys($text)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Entered "{0}"' -f $text.Substring(0,100))
$element = $null

Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 1000
$css_selector = 'img[src*="btn-en-tran.gif"]'

$title = 'Translate'
find_page_element_by_css_selector ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element) $css_selector
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($title,$element.GetAttribute('title'),$element.GetAttribute('title'))
highlight ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($current_frame)
$actions.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element).Click().Build().Perform()
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Clicked on "{0}"' -f $title)

$element = $null
custom_pause

[void]$selenium.SwitchTo().DefaultContent()

[string]$xpath = "//frame[@id='botfr']"
[object]$bot_frame = $null
find_page_element_by_xpath ([ref]$selenium) ([ref]$bot_frame) $xpath
$current_frame = $selenium.SwitchTo().Frame($bot_frame)
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($current_frame.url,('{0}/{1}' -f $base_url,'newbot.asp'),$current_frame.url)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Switched to {0}' -f $current_frame.url)
$bot_frame = $null

[string]$xpath2 = "//textarea[@id='target']"

[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $null
find_page_element_by_xpath ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element) $xpath2
highlight ([ref]$current_frame) ([ref]$element)
$text = $element.Text
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Read "{0}"' -f $text.Substring(0,100))
custom_pause

# https://code.google.com/p/selenium/source/browse/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/HttpCommandExecutor.java?r=3f4622ced689d2670851b74dac0c556bcae2d0fe
# write-output $frame.PageSource
[void]$selenium.SwitchTo().DefaultContent()

$current_frame = $selenium.SwitchTo().Frame(1)
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($current_frame.url,('{0}/{1}' -f $base_url,'newbot.asp'),$current_frame.url)

custom_pause

[void]$selenium.SwitchTo().DefaultContent()
$current_frame = $selenium.SwitchTo().Frame(0)
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::AreEqual($current_frame.url,('{0}/{1}' -f $base_url,'newtop.asp'),$current_frame.url)
custom_debug ([ref]$button) ('Switched to {0}' -f $current_frame.url)
custom_pause

[void]$selenium.SwitchTo().DefaultContent()
Write-Debug ('Switched to {0}' -f $selenium.url)

# Cleanup
cleanup ([ref]$selenium)

$button.Visible = $false

The Transaction

The full source is available in the zip.

Selenium EventFiring WebDriver example

The following is a quick example of SeleniumEventFiringWebDriver access from Powershell. One captures the result of an Ajax auto-suggestion by running code after Selenium events

param(
  [string]$browser = 'firefox',
  [int]$event_delay = 250,
  [switch]$pause

)


function netstat_check
{
  param(
    [string]$selenium_http_port = 4444
  )

  $results = Invoke-Expression -Command "netsh interface ipv4 show tcpconnections"

  $t = $results -split "`r`n" | Where-Object { ($_ -match "\s$selenium_http_port\s") }
  (($t -ne '') -and $t -ne $null)

}

function cleanup
{
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$selenium_ref
  )
  try {
    $selenium_ref.Value.Quit()
  } catch [exception]{
    Write-Output (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0]
    # Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
  }
}

$shared_assemblies = @(
  'WebDriver.dll',
  'WebDriver.Support.dll',# for Events
  'nunit.core.dll',
  'nunit.framework.dll'
)

$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}
pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies | ForEach-Object {
  # Unblock-File -Path $_; 
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
$verificationErrors = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder
$phantomjs_executable_folder = "C:\tools\phantomjs"
if ($browser -ne $null -and $browser -ne '') {
  try {
    $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
    $connection.Connect("127.0.0.1",4444)
    $connection.Close()
  } catch {
    Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\hub.cmd"
    Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\node.cmd"
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
  }
  Write-Host "Running on ${browser}" -foreground 'Yellow'
  if ($browser -match 'firefox') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Firefox()

  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'chrome') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Chrome()
  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'ie') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::InternetExplorer()
    if ($version -ne $null -and $version -ne 0) {
      $capability.SetCapability("version",$version.ToString());
    }

  }
  elseif ($browser -match 'safari') {
    $capability = [OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities]::Safari()
  }
  else {
    throw "unknown browser choice:${browser}"
  }
  $uri = [System.Uri]("http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub")
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver ($uri,$capability)
} else {
  Write-Host 'Running on phantomjs' -foreground 'Yellow'
  $phantomjs_executable_folder = "C:\tools\phantomjs"
  $selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSDriver ($phantomjs_executable_folder)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("ssl-protocol","any")
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("ignore-ssl-errors",$true)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("takesScreenshot",$true)
  $selenium.Capabilities.SetCapability("userAgent","Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1) AppleWebKit/534.34 (KHTML, like Gecko) PhantomJS/1.9.7 Safari/534.34")
  $options = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.PhantomJS.PhantomJSOptions
  $options.AddAdditionalCapability("phantomjs.executable.path",$phantomjs_executable_folder)
}


if ($host.Version.Major -le 2) {
  [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms')
  $selenium.Manage().Window.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size (600,400)
  $selenium.Manage().Window.Position = New-Object System.Drawing.Point (0,0)
} else {
  $selenium.Manage().Window.Size = @{ 'Height' = 400; 'Width' = 600; }
  $selenium.Manage().Window.Position = @{ 'X' = 0; 'Y' = 0 }
}

$window_position = $selenium.Manage().Window.Position
$window_size = $selenium.Manage().Window.Size

$base_url = 'http://www.google.com/'

# TODO: invoke NLog assembly for quicker logging triggered by the events
# www.codeproject.com/Tips/749612/How-to-NLog-with-VisualStudio

$event = New-Object -Type 'OpenQA.Selenium.Support.Events.EventFiringWebDriver' -ArgumentList @( $selenium)

$element_value_changing_handler = $event.add_ElementValueChanging
$element_value_changing_handler.Invoke(
  {
    param(
      [object]$sender,
      [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.Events.WebElementEventArgs]$eventargs
    )
    Write-Host 'Value Change handler' -foreground 'Yellow'
    if ($eventargs.Element.GetAttribute('id') -eq 'gbqfq') {
      $xpath1 = "//div[@class='sbsb_a']"
      try {
        [OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$local:element = $sender.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::XPath($xpath1))
      } catch [exception]{
      }
      Write-Host $local:element.Text -foreground 'Blue'
    }

  })

$verificationErrors = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder
$base_url = 'http://www.google.com'
$event.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)

# protect from blank page
[OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($event,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(10))
$wait.PollingInterval = 50
[void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::Id("hplogo")))

$xpath = "//input[@id='gbqfq']"

# for mobile
# $xpath = "//input[@id='mib']"

[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $event.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::XPath($xpath))

# http://software-testing-tutorials-automation.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-handle-ajax-auto-suggest-drop.html
$element.SendKeys('Sele')
# NOTE:cannot use 
# [OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($event)
# $actions.SendKeys($element,'Sele')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys('nium')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys(' webdriver')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys(' C#')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys(' tutorial')
Start-Sleep -Millisecond $event_delay
$element.SendKeys([OpenQA.Selenium.Keys]::Enter)
Start-Sleep 10

# Cleanup
cleanup ([ref]$event)

The Google suggestions

Misc. Utilities

One can port the Console Monitor from c# to Powershell to periodically collect desktop screen shots on the grid computer as needed by some Continuous Integration build automation

# http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/816113/Console-Monitor
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
// "
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
public class WindowHelper
{
    private int _count = 0;
    public int Count
    {
        get { return _count; }
        set { _count = value; }
    }
   public String TakeScreenshot()
    {
        Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width, Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height);
        Graphics gr = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);
        gr.CopyFromScreen(0, 0, 0, 0, bmp.Size);
        string str = string.Format(@"C:\temp\Snap[{0}].jpeg", _count);
        bmp.Save(str, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
        bmp.Dispose();
        gr.Dispose();
        return str;
    }
    public WindowHelper()
    {
    }

}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll','System.Drawing.dll','System.Data.dll'

$timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer

[int32]$max_iterations = 20
[int32]$iteration = 0

$action = {

  Write-Host "Iteration # ${iteration}"
  Write-Host "Timer Elapse Event: $(get-date -Format 'HH:mm:ss')"
  $owner = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  $owner.count = $iteration
  $owner.Screenshot()
  $iteration++
  if ($iteration -ge $max_iterations)
  {
    Write-Host 'Stopping'
    $timer.stop()
    Unregister-Event thetimer -Force 
    Write-Host 'Completed'   
  }
}

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName elapsed -SourceIdentifier thetimer -Action $action

Note that one ca not pass the data by reference to the script function called from the timer event and hence one can not execute the Add-Type remotely

 $action = {

  param(
   [System.Management.Automation.PSReference] $ref_screen_grabber 
)
  [Win32Window]$screen_grabber = $ref_screen_grabber.Value

followed by

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName elapsed -SourceIdentifier thetimer -Action $action -MessageData  ([ref]$owner )

will break. Debugging this further is Work in progress

To toggle the Powershell console window minimize when the form is displayed, one can use the following code:

Add-Type -Name Window -Namespace Console -MemberDefinition @"
// "
[DllImport("Kernel32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();
 
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 nCmdShow);
"@

Screenshots

One can port the Console Monitor from c# to Powershell to periodically collect desktop screen shots on the grid computer as needed by some Continuous Integration build automation

# http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/816113/Console-Monitor
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
// "
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
public class WindowHelper
{
    private int _count = 0;
    public int Count
    {
        get { return _count; }
        set { _count = value; }
    }
   public String TakeScreenshot()
    {
        Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width, Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height);
        Graphics gr = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);
        gr.CopyFromScreen(0, 0, 0, 0, bmp.Size);
        string str = string.Format(@"C:\temp\Snap[{0}].jpeg", _count);
        bmp.Save(str, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
        bmp.Dispose();
        gr.Dispose();
        return str;
    }
    public WindowHelper()
    {
    }

}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll','System.Drawing.dll','System.Data.dll'

$timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer

[int32]$max_iterations = 20
[int32]$iteration = 0

$action = {

  Write-Host "Iteration # ${iteration}"
  Write-Host "Timer Elapse Event: $(get-date -Format 'HH:mm:ss')"
  $owner = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
  $owner.count = $iteration
  $owner.Screenshot()
  $iteration++
  if ($iteration -ge $max_iterations)
  {
    Write-Host 'Stopping'
    $timer.stop()
    Unregister-Event thetimer -Force 
    Write-Host 'Completed'   
  }
}

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName elapsed -SourceIdentifier thetimer -Action $action

Note that one ca not pass the data by reference to the script function called from the timer event and hence one can not execute the Add-Type remotely

 $action = {

  param(
   [System.Management.Automation.PSReference] $ref_screen_grabber 
)
  [Win32Window]$screen_grabber = $ref_screen_grabber.Value

followed by

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName elapsed -SourceIdentifier thetimer -Action $action -MessageData  ([ref]$owner )

will break. Debugging this further is Work in progress

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
 
$showButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$showButton.Text = 'ShowConsole'
$showButton.Top = 10
$showButton.Left = 10
$showButton.Width = 100
$showButton.add_Click({Show-Console})
$form.controls.Add($showButton)
 
$hideButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$hideButton.Text = 'HideConsole'
$hideButton.Top = 60
$hideButton.Left = 10
$hideButton.Width = 100
$hideButton.add_Click({hide-Console})
$form.controls.Add($hideButton)
 
$Form.ShowDialog()

IpBox

The functions operate constants from winuser.h

function Show-Console {
   $consolePtr = [Console.Window]::GetConsoleWindow()
  #5 show
 [Console.Window]::ShowWindow($consolePtr, 5)
}
 
function Hide-Console {
    $consolePtr = [Console.Window]::GetConsoleWindow()
  #0 hide
 [Console.Window]::ShowWindow($consolePtr, 0)
}

IpBox

Crafting Selenium Scripts in Powershell ISE<</a>

One can find it convenient to use Poweshell ISE together with Firebug or other Browser-hosted Developer tool to craft the actual scrtipt:

param(
  [string]$hub_host = '127.0.0.1',
  [string]$browser,
  [string]$version,
  [string]$profile = 'Selenium',
  [switch]$pause = $true
)

function set_timeouts {
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$selenium_ref,
    [int]$explicit = 120,
    [int]$page_load = 600,
    [int]$script = 3000
  )

  [void]($selenium_ref.Value.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitlyWait([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds($explicit)))
  [void]($selenium_ref.Value.Manage().Timeouts().SetPageLoadTimeout([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds($pageload)))
  [void]($selenium_ref.Value.Manage().Timeouts().SetScriptTimeout([System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds($script)))

}

# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8343767/how-to-get-the-current-directory-of-the-cmdlet-being-executed
function Get-ScriptDirectory
{
  $Invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation -Scope 1).Value
  if ($Invocation.PSScriptRoot) {
    $Invocation.PSScriptRoot
  }
  elseif ($Invocation.MyCommand.Path) {
    Split-Path $Invocation.MyCommand.Path
  } else {
    $Invocation.InvocationName.Substring(0,$Invocation.InvocationName.LastIndexOf(""))
  }
}

function cleanup
{
  param(
    [System.Management.Automation.PSReference]$selenium_ref
  )
  try {
    $selenium_ref.Value.Quit()
  } catch [exception]{
    # Ignore errors if unable to close the browser
    Write-Output (($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0]

  }
}

$shared_assemblies = @{
  'WebDriver.dll' = 2.44;
  'WebDriver.Support.dll' = '2.44';
  'nunit.core.dll' = $null;
  'nunit.framework.dll' = '2.6.3';

}

$shared_assemblies_path = 'c:\developer\sergueik\csharp\SharedAssemblies'

if (($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne $null) -and ($env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH -ne '')) {
  $shared_assemblies_path = $env:SHARED_ASSEMBLIES_PATH
}

pushd $shared_assemblies_path
$shared_assemblies.Keys | ForEach-Object {
  # http://all-things-pure.blogspot.com/2009/09/assembly-version-file-version-product.html
  $assembly = $_
  $assembly_path = [System.IO.Path]::Combine($shared_assemblies_path,$assembly)
  $assembly_version = [Reflection.AssemblyName]::GetAssemblyName($assembly_path).Version
  $assembly_version_string = ('{0}.{1}' -f $assembly_version.Major,$assembly_version.Minor)
  if ($shared_assemblies[$assembly] -ne $null) {
    # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26999510/selenium-webdriver-2-44-firefox-33
    if (-not ($shared_assemblies[$assembly] -match $assembly_version_string)) {
      Write-Output ('Need {0} {1}, got {2}' -f $assembly,$shared_assemblies[$assembly],$assembly_path)
      Write-Output $assembly_version
      throw ('invalid version :{0}' -f $assembly)
    }
  }

  if ($host.Version.Major -gt 2) {
    Unblock-File -Path $_;
  }
  Write-Debug $_
  Add-Type -Path $_
}
popd

$verificationErrors = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder

$hub_port = '4444'
$uri = [System.Uri](('http://{0}:{1}/wd/hub' -f $hub_host,$hub_port))

try {
  $connection = (New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient)
  $connection.Connect($hub_host,[int]$hub_port)
  $connection.Close()
} catch {
  Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -ArgumentList "start cmd.exe /c c:\java\selenium\selenium.cmd"

  Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
}
[object]$profile_manager = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfileManager

[OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfile]$selected_profile_object = $profile_manager.GetProfile($profile)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfile]$selected_profile_object = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfile ($profile)
$selected_profile_object.setPreference('general.useragent.override','Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16')

$selenium = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxDriver ($selected_profile_object)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox.FirefoxProfile[]]$profiles = $profile_manager.ExistingProfiles


$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
$base_url = 'http://www.codeproject.com/'

$selenium.Manage().Window.Size = @{ 'Height' = 600; 'Width' = 480; }
$selenium.Manage().Window.Position = @{ 'X' = 0; 'Y' = 0 }

$selenium.Navigate().GoToUrl($base_url)
set_timeouts ([ref]$selenium)

$css_selector = 'span.member-signin'
Write-Debug ('Trying CSS Selector "{0}"' -f $css_selector)
[OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(1))

try {

  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementExists([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector)))

} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception with {0}: {1} ...`n(ignored)" -f $id1,(($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
Write-Debug  ('Found via CSS Selector "{0}"' -f $css_selector )

# highlight the element
[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::CssSelector($css_selector))
[OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('style', arguments[1]);",$element,'border: 2px solid red;')
Start-Sleep 3
[OpenQA.Selenium.IJavaScriptExecutor]$selenium.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('style', arguments[1]);",$element,'')

# Click on the element:
[OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions]$actions = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions.Actions ($selenium)

try {
$actions.MoveToElement([OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element).Click().Build().Perform()

} catch [OpenQA.Selenium.WebDriverTimeoutException]{
  # Ignore
  # 
  # Timed out waiting for async script result  (Firefox)
  # asynchronous script timeout: result was not received (Chrome)
  [NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue($_.Exception.Message -match '(?:Timed out waiting for page load.)')
}

$input_name = 'ctl01$MC$MemberLogOn$CurrentEmail'
  [OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait]$wait = New-Object OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.WebDriverWait ($selenium,[System.TimeSpan]::FromSeconds(1))
  $wait.PollingInterval = 100

  $xpath = ( "//input[@name='{0}']"  -f  $input_name)
  Write-Debug ('Trying XPath "{0}"' -f $xpath)

try {
  [void]$wait.Until([OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI.ExpectedConditions]::ElementIsVisible([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::XPath($xpath)))
} catch [exception]{
  Write-Output ("Exception with {0}: {1} ...`n(ignored)" -f $id1,(($_.Exception.Message) -split "`n")[0])
}
  Write-Debug ('Found XPath "{0}"' -f $xpath)

[OpenQA.Selenium.IWebElement]$element = $selenium.FindElement([OpenQA.Selenium.By]::XPath($xpath))
[NUnit.Framework.Assert]::IsTrue($element.GetAttribute('type') -match 'email')
$email_str = 'kouzmine_serguei@yahoo.com'
$element.SendKeys($email_str)



# Do not close Browser / Selenium when run from Powershell ISE
if (-not ($host.name -match 'ISE') ) {

if ($PSBoundParameters['pause']) {
  try {
    [void]$host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey('NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown')
  } catch [exception]{}

} else {
  Start-Sleep -Millisecond 1000
}

# Cleanup
 cleanup ([ref]$selenium)
}

Lets dissect this script. The following screenshot illustrates the proces.

Extreme Case

For an example of relatively big syntax difference between C# and Powershell consider converting the custom input element handler responsible for processing the ipv4 address input fields from IpBox in C# for beginners article by Mervick.

The C# version (fragment):

		private void OnTextChange(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
		{
			int box_type = 0;

			CultureInfo MyCultureInfo = new CultureInfo("en-GB");

			double d;

			if( sender.Equals( ip1 ) )
				box_type = 1;
			if( sender.Equals( ip2 ) )
				box_type = 2;
			if( sender.Equals( ip3 ) )
				box_type = 3;
			if( sender.Equals( ip4 ) )
				box_type = 4;

			switch( box_type )
			{
				case 1:

					if( this.ip1.Text.Length > 0 && this.ip1.Text.ToCharArray()[this.ip1.Text.Length - 1] == '.' )
					{
						this.ip1.Text = this.ip1.Text.TrimEnd( '.' );
						ip1.Text = (this.ip1.Text.Length > 0 ) ? int.Parse( this.ip1.Text ).ToString() : "0" ;
						ip2.Focus();
						return;
					}

					// integer validation
					if( double.TryParse(
						this.ip1.Text,
						System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Integer,
						MyCultureInfo,
						out d ) == false
						)
					{
						this.ip1.Text = this.ip1.Text.Remove( 0, this.ip1.Text.Length );
						return;
					}

					// change focus to the next textbox if fully inserted
					if( this.ip1.Text.Length == 3 )
					{
						if( int.Parse( this.ip1.Text ) >= 255 )
							this.ip1.Text = "255";
						else
							ip1.Text = int.Parse( ip1.Text ).ToString();
						ip2.Focus();
					}
					break;
				case 2:
...

The equivalent Powershell version:

function text_changed () {
param(
[object]$sender,
[System.EventArgs]$eventargs
)
[int]$box_type = 0
[System.Globalization.CultureInfo]$ci = New-Object System.Globalization.CultureInfo ("en-GB")
[double]$d = 0
if ($sender -eq $ip1) {
$box_type = 1 }
if ($sender -eq $ip2) {
$box_type = 2 }
if ($sender -eq $ip3) {
$box_type = 3 }
if ($sender -eq $ip4) {
$box_type = 4 }
switch ($box_type)
{
1 {
if (($ip1.Text.Length -gt 0) -and ($ip1.Text.ToCharArray()[$ip1.Text.Length - 1] -eq '.'))
{
$ip1.Text = $ip1.Text.TrimEnd('.')
if ($ip1.Text.Length -gt 0) {
$ip1.Text = [int]::Parse($ip1.Text).ToString()
} else {
$ip1.Text = '0'
}
$ip2.Focus()
return
}
# integer validation
if ([double]::TryParse(
$ip1.Text,
[System.Globalization.NumberStyles]::Integer,
$ci,
([ref]$d)) -eq $false
)
{
$ip1.Text = $ip1.Text.Remove(0,$ip1.Text.Length)
return
}
# change focus to the next textbox if fully inserted
if ($ip1.Text.Length -eq 3) {
if ([int]::Parse($ip1.Text) -ge 255) {
$ip1.Text = '255'
} else {
$ip1.Text = [int]::Parse($ip1.Text).ToString()
}
$ip2.Focus()
}
}
2 {
...

IpBox

In this example, conversion should probably be avoided. The full script source is available in the source zip file.

Dissecting the Process

Preliminary Discussion

In this section, we convert C# to a runnable Powershell script one step at a time, in 3 steps followed by 2 more steps.

Download the code from http://www.java2s.com/Code/CSharp/GUI-Windows-Form/MyClockForm.htm, save is in a text file timer.cs. Compile and ensure it runs in console:
```
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\csc.exe timer.cs

invoke-expression -command './timer.exe'
```

Create a blank text file timer_iter1.ps1, put the following boilerplate code there:

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
// -- about to paste the c# code below. Any class would do
"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll', 'System.Drawing.dll', 'System.Data.dll', 'System.ComponentModel.dll'

$clock = New-Object MyClock.MyClockForm
$clock.ShowDialog()
$clock.Dispose()

Inspect the namespace and class name of the class being converted, make sure Powershell is creating the instance of the same class.

namespace MyClock
{
public class MyClockForm : System.Windows.Forms.Form {
/// implementation
} }

hence New-Object MyClock.MyClockForm.

Figure out which are the needed assemblies from the 'using' area of the C# class:

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data;

Paste the code of the class into the Powershell script Add-Type cmdlet TypeDefinition's text argument and ensure it is runnable.

. ./timer_iter1.ps1

If receiving the error:
```
Add-Type : Cannot add type. The type name 'Win32Window' already exists.
```
the Powershell window needs to be recycled. Of course if one receives:
```
Add-Type : Cannot add type. Compilation errors occurred.
FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,
```
you will need to fix the code.

The Powershell version of the class should look and feel the same as compiled executable but clearly there is no obvious way to share the data between script and dialog yet.
Now turn the script process into the caller of the dialog explicitly.

Note that http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.form.showdialog(v=vs.90).aspx describes two alternative signatures of the ShowDialog method every Windows Form responds to. The latter of the two is accepting the owner object.

ShowDialog(IWin32Window) Shows the form as a modal dialog box with the specified caller.

Any class implementing IWin32Window can become the owner of the windows modal dialog with an arbitrary Window Forms inside.

So we repeat the earlier Add-Type code blend exercise with a plain C# object code source passed in:
```
Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

// "
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
public class Win32Window : IWin32Window
{
    private IntPtr _hWnd;
    private int _data;
    private string _message;

    public int Data
    {
        get { return _data; }
        set { _data = value; }
    }
    public string Message
    {
        get { return _message; }
        set { _message = value; }
    }

    public Win32Window(IntPtr handle)
    {
        _hWnd = handle;
    }

    public IntPtr Handle
    {
        get { return _hWnd; }
    }
}

"@ -ReferencedAssemblies 'System.Windows.Forms.dll'
```
The code above is implemented the single method required for the interfact IWin32Window - constructor with a handle to the window. The other properties in the code above Data and Message properties are not required by the interface but are essential to tie the parts together.
Finally, change the code to deal with the caller.
- Pass the argument to Windows.Forms:
```
$process_window = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle )

  $timer.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($process_window) ) | out-null

write-output $process_window.GetHashCode()
```
- Access the object from within the form:
  You need to add a member variable to the class and modify the following two methods. Note this is not required when implementing the PowerShell version. There must be a better way to illustrate this. For now, the goal is to move to Powershell version, and eventually discard the modified class. This sort of 'justifies' the hack.
```
private void OnTimerElapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
        {
            // The interval has elapsed and this timer function is called after 1 second
            // Update the time now.
            label1.Text = DateTime.Now.ToString();

            label1.Text = String.Format("My Clock {0} {1}", caller.ToString(), caller.GetHashCode() );
        }

    public new DialogResult ShowDialog(IWin32Window caller){
        this.caller = caller ;
        return base.ShowDialog(caller);
    }
```
  On the other hand, when the code being ported is a more complex form than in this example, it would be helpful to exchange all domain specific data the same object $caller regardless of the complexity. One can test either side of the pipeline in Visual Studio or in Powershell ISE and mock the opposite side without worrying much about details.
Save the code as timer_iter2.ps1 and confirm it still runs.

Running the script yields the same object available to both script and form.

Actual Conversion to Powershell

The next step is to selectively re-write the methods and elements of the form in Powershell and get rid of 'chimera' code. It would not be easy to make the C# compiler accept the fact that the $caller responds to many additional data messages . Another option, to use reflection, does not lead to compact or pretty code.

The required code edits are all semantic.

Get rid of instance references (this) and the class decorations, constructors, namespaces and such. The member this.timer1 becomes $timer1 and so on. The this becomes simply the $f - the form object.
Amend the semantics of method calls: new System.Timers.Timer(); becomes new-object System.Timers.Timer, etc. When found class instantiation inside the method call argument, it appears safe to separate the nested method calls.
Change the semantics of constant resolutions:System.Drawing.ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter becomes [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleCenter etc. Always provide fully resolved class names: ImageList il = new ImageList(); would have to become $il = new-object System.Windows.Forms.ImageList etc. If uncertain, check through MSDN.
Watch for minor semantic difference like -eq instead of ==, -bor instead of | and the like
Initially run the visual layout, but comment the event propagation. Once the form begins to show, deal with events.

Make sure that event handler(s) is defined before using those with events: for example moving the first lines in the following code to the top
```
$button1_Click = {
   param(
    [Object] $sender,
    [System.EventArgs] $eventargs
    )
    [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show('hello');
}
$button1.Add_Click($button1_Click)
```
would lead to the form to cease showing the blank messagebox when $button1 is clicked.

Create a wrapping PowerShell function, add the code to make the form visible.

$f.ResumeLayout($false)
$f.Topmost = $true
$f.Activate()
$f.Displose()

Move the $caller and showDialog(...) inside the Powershell function.

$caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
[void] $f.ShowDialog([Win32Window ] ($caller) )

The result would look like the following:

function exampleTimer(
    [Object] $caller= $null
    )
{
$f = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$f.Text = $title

$timer1 = new-object System.Timers.Timer
$label1 = new-object System.Windows.Forms.Label


$f.SuspendLayout()
$components = new-object System.ComponentModel.Container
$label1.Font = new-object System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 14.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold, [System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit]::Point, [System.Byte]0);
$label1.ForeColor = [System.Drawing.SystemColors]::Highlight
$label1.Location = new-object System.Drawing.Point(24, 8)
$label1.Name = "label1"
$label1.Size = new-object System.Drawing.Size(224, 48)
$label1.TabIndex = 0;
$label1.Text = [System.DateTime]::Now.ToString()
$label1.TextAlign = [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment]::MiddleCenter

$f.AutoScaleBaseSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
$f.ClientSize = new-object System.Drawing.Size(292, 69)
$f.Controls.AddRange(@( $label1))
$f.Name = 'MyClockForm';
$f.Text = 'My Clock';

# This was added - it does not belong to the original Form
$eventMethod=$label1.add_click
$eventMethod.Invoke({$f.Text="You clicked my label $((Get-Date).ToString('G'))"})

# This silently ceases to work
$f.Add_Load({
  param ([Object] $sender, [System.EventArgs] $eventArgs )
    $timer1.Interval = 1000
    $timer1.Start()
    $timer1.Enabled = $true

})

$timer1.Add_Elapsed({
     $label1.Text = [System.DateTime]::Now.ToString()
})

# This loudly ceases to start the timer "theTimer"
$global:timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer
$global:timer.Interval = 1000
Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $global:timer -EventName Elapsed -SourceIdentifier theTimer -Action {AddToLog('') }
$global:timer.Start()
$global:timer.Enabled = $true

function AddToLog()
{
param ([string] $text )

     $label1.Text = [System.DateTime]::Now.ToString()
}

$f.ResumeLayout($false)
$f.Topmost = $True

if ($caller -eq $null ){
  $caller = New-Object Win32Window -ArgumentList ([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle)
}

$f.Add_Shown( { $f.Activate() } )
$f.ShowDialog([Win32Window] ($caller) )

}

This will have almost everything in place except for the event handler that does not seem to be triggered - the time stamp is not updating. This code apparently needs to be fixed.

Debugging the Timer Problem

After some debugging, it appears that the script is not properly dealing with the timer object that was owned by the Windows.Form class instance but no longer is. This constitutes a separate issue to fix, and work is underway. To prove that most of the event handlers can be converted to run Powershell code with nearly zero effort, the click handler was added to the label

$eventMethod=$label1.add_click
$eventMethod.Invoke({$f.Text="You clicked my label $((Get-Date).ToString('G'))"})

PromptForChoice

and clicked. The result looks as expected.

To recap writing the equivalent code in Powershell based on C# blueprint for the form layout and handling the events were the two remaining steps promised earlier in this chapter.

The visual design replication step is clearly a no brainer, a typing exercise at best. With Windows Presentation Foundation it is even unnecessary: one is able to load the same XAML.

Event management on the contrary may consume some effort to tame.

In the PowerShell samples through this article, a slightly different semantics for event handling code had been attempted every time. This diversity was introduced intentionally - all the variants are equivalent - the .NET Framework generates a lot of code behind the scenes to support MulticastDelegate.

To recap, replicating the visual design in Powershell based on C# blueprint and handling events are two remaining steps promised earlier in this chapter. The visual design step is a no-brainer, a typing exercise at best. On the contrary, the event management may take some effort to tame. In the Powershell samples though this article, a slightly different semantics of event handling code had been chosen every time. The Diversity was introduced intentionally - all the variants are equivalent. Under the hood, MS .NET generates a lot of code behind the scenes to subclass the MulticastDelegate.

PromptForChoice

The prompting mechanism built into PowerShell is intended primarily to control destructive actions . Its exact presentation depends on the host in which Powershell script is run. The endless loop solution suggested in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff730939.aspx for a basic multi-choice select Yes? No? Maybe is barely an acceptable one. It sends a clear message: "Forget about multi-select prompts".

$heads = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Heads", "Select Heads."
    $tails = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Tails", "Select Tails."
    $cancel = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Cancel", "Skip to the next step."
    $options = [System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription[]]($heads, $tails, $cancel)
    $host.ui.PromptForChoice("Call it","----", $options,2 )

PromptForChoice

It renders differently based on the host capabilities in ConsoleHost vs. Windows PowerShell ISE Host

PromptForChoice

and returns the index - 0,1,2 in the selected option.

Platform Compatibility

The Powershell Scripts presented in this article have been verified to work on the following platforms:

Windows Server 2012 - Desktop-Experience	Yes
Windows Server 2012 - Minimal Server Interface, Windows Server 2012 - Windows Server Core	Most of examples work, except one: `toggle_display.ps1` manages to show the form, and hide, but never shows Powershell console back.
Windows Server 2008 R2	Yes
Windows Server 2008	Yes
Windows Server 2003	Yes
Windows 8	?
Windows 7	Yes
Windows Vista	Yes
Windows XP	Yes
Windows 2000	No

History

The work started with automating the daily dev ops routine configuring vanilla UAT environments full of Microsoft Software, hosted in private cloud. One particularly cumbersome step was with selectively cloning SQL configurations via SQL Server Client Network Utility. The latter being remarkably user un-friendly.

cliconfg.exe

Under the hood, all information is stored in a single registry key. This makes loading this information from remote host a good candidate for automation, but the operator's role is still vital for as long as the subtle difference between the environments landscapes: which IIS applications is hosted on which computer. This would not be a problem had the settings been converted to the Puppet-style node definitions.

Source Code on GitHub

For most examples, complete source is provided in the article and in the attached zip. One can also clone the completed source from Github:

Release History

2014-07-21 - Initial version
2014-07-21 - Added more samples
2014-07-22 - Added comment on code conversion
2014-07-22 - Added XAML example
2014-07-23 - Added TreeView example
2014-07-24 - Added Dissect Conversion example
2014-07-25 - Added Custom Icons with Treeview
2014-07-25 - Added remark regarding Get-Credential cmdlet
2014-07-26 - Added TabControl and Focus sample
2014-07-26 - Added TOC
2014-07-26 - Added Tabbed Treeviews
2014-07-26 - Refactored example code snippets
2014-07-27 - Added WebBrowser1 sample
2014-07-27 - Added Platform compatibility matrix
2014-07-28 - Added generation of XAML dialog on the fly example
2014-07-29 - Added script parameter prompt DataGridView example
2014-07-29 - Added Fill Color and ZIndex manipulation example
2014-07-29 - Added WPF Form Text manipulation example
2014-07-29 - Added bidirectional Form Script Text communication example
2014-08-09 - Added Selenium Script example
2014-08-09 - Modified Selenium Grid Test example to execute on Safari browser
2014-08-09 - Added a note of File Download dialog handling
2014-08-10 - Added TreeView Control with ComboBox example
2014-08-10 - Added Workaround for code formatting defect
2014-08-11 - Added ProgressBar example
2014-08-13 - Added Selenium IE dialog processor example
2014-08-13 - Fixed formatting and separates some inline XAML code for readability
2014-08-16 - Added Selenium IDE Powershell Formatter example
2014-08-16 - Updated links to author's Powershell Selenium IDE Formatter git repository
2014-08-19 - Added Drag and Drop example
2014-08-22 - Added running Javascript through Selenium example
2014-08-22 - Added Microsoft Test Agent DLL discovery example
2014-08-22 - Added overview and build instructions for the xpi
2014-08-23 - Added clicking button on Save Dialog example
2014-08-23 - Added running Powershell from Linux example
2014-08-24 - Updated version of Save Dialog example to accept the specified download file path
2014-09-03 - Added Web Driver Drag and Drop example
2014-09-09 - Added Misc. Web Driver example
2014-09-09 - Added Hide Powershell console window example
2014-09-09 - Added note regarding Powershell UI in Windows Server Core
2014-09-21 - Added Bar Chart (VB.Net) example
2014-09-24 - Added Up Down picker example
2014-09-26 - Added Timing out confirmation dialog example
2014-10-07 - Added Extreme case example, recovered few damaged sections, performed minor HTML formatting cleanup
2014-10-07 - Added Selenium SendKeys example
2014-10-07 - Recovered Selenium IDE Powershell Formatter section
2014-10-07 - Recovered DropDown ComboBox section
2014-11-01 - Added Filesystem Treeview example
2014-11-03 - Updated Source Zip with final Filesystem Treeview and custom MsgBox examples
2014-11-04 - Added Custom MsgBox examples
2014-11-14 - Added Ribbon example
2014-11-14 - Added Selenium Powershell ISE example
2014-12-07 - Added Collapsible List example
2014-12-14 - Added Checked Combo Listbox example
2014-12-20 - Added Pie and Bar Chart Draw example
2014-12-22 - Added Timer example
2015-01-04 - Added Task List Progress example
2015-01-05 - Commented Task List Progress
2015-01-14 - Added Accordion Menu example
2015-01-14 - Added Accordion Menu code refactoring example
2015-01-17 - Added Circle Progress Indicator example
2015-01-19 - Added Circle Progress Indicator W2K3 compatiliblity patch
2015-02-07 - Refactred Ribbon buttons example
2015-02-15 - Added Selenium Debugging messages on Explorer Taskbar example
2015-02-16 - Added Selenium EventFiring WebDriver example *WIP
2015-02-17 - Fixed formatting defects
2015-02-27 - Added TreeTabControl example
2015-02-27 - Continued TreeTabControl example *WIP
2015-03-10 - Added alternative Add-Type syntax example. Trimmed blank lines.
2015-03-22 - Provided alternative $script: syntax example and uploaded a typo fix.
2015-03-23 - Added note regarding System.Management.Automation.TypeAccelerators.
2015-03-25 - Added test configuration display example.
2015-04-04 - Replaced and somewhat simplified Custom Debugging Message Box example.
2015-04-05 - Added OS X Circle Progress Indicator example.
2015-04-10 - Added sortable ListView example.
2015-04-17 - Added filling GridView example.
2015-05-31 - Added Common Dialogs example.
2015-12-26 - Added Real World Data for Charts FiddlerCore and Selenium window.performance.getEntries()example.
2015-12-26 - Added tristate Tree View example.
2016-01-14 - Added tristate Tree View example.
2016-02-02 - Updated tristate Tree View example and downloads.

Dealing with Powershell Inputs via Basic Windows Form