Forum Discussion
PromptForChoice menu not working in vertical mode.
Hello, i seek the wisdom of the community again.
I have a script with few options in a menu and it works fine this way:
$option1 = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Status", "Show the current Status"
$option2 = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Disable", "Disabled actions."
$option3 = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "S&tart", "Start actios."
$option4 = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Enable", "Enable actions."
$option5 = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Clean", "Cleanup actions ."
$option6 = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "E&xit","Exit the script."
$options = [System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription[]]($option1, $option2, $option3, $option4, $option5, $option6)
$decision = $Host.UI.PromptForChoice($title, $question, $options, 0)
I have now more options with longer choice names and it is becoming unclear, as it is stretching the choices on two (or more) lines.
So, after some searching, i have found a solution to display the choices menu vertically:
$decision = $Host.UI.PromptForChoice($title, $question, $options, [int[]](0))
However, i have a strange issue with it. Using Enter for default choice and typing "?" with Enter is executing correctly.
Other options are not executing after typing the letter + Enter, but waiting for another choice input, until Enter is pressed without a letter.
$decision = $Host.UI.PromptForChoice($title, $question, $options, [int[]](0))
[S] Status
[D] Disable
[T] Start
[E] Enable
[C] Clean
[X] Exit
[?] Help
(default is "S")
Choice[0]: ?
S - Show the current Status
D - Disabled actions.
T - Start actios.
E - Enable actions.
C - Cleanup actions .
X - Exit the script.
Choice[0]: D
Choice[1]:
PS C:\temp> $decision
1
Can someone please tell me why does it behave like that?
Thanks in advance.
There's two different overloads for PromptForChoice:
- The single return value definition:
PSHostUserInterface.PromptForChoice Method (System.Management.Automation.Host) | Microsoft Learn - The multiple choice return values definition:
IHostUISupportsMultipleChoiceSelection.PromptForChoice Method (System.Management.Automation.Host) | Microsoft Learn
You're using the multiple choice definition, where while that does indeed display vertically, it requires two consecutive <Enter> to confirm no further input, as a single enter simply accepts one value before letting you specify the next value on the next line.
See the example below:
I'm not aware of any way to make the single return value iteration of PromptForChoice to display vertically. That doesn't mean there isn't one, just that I'm unaware of one.
Cheers,
Lain
- The single return value definition:
- $decision = $Host.UI.PromptForChoice($title, $question, $options, [int[]]@())
Maybe it helps 🙂Hello, NikolinoDE
Unfortunately it did not help.$decision = $Host.UI.PromptForChoice($title, $question, $options, [int[]]@()) [S] Status [D] Disable [T] Start [E] Enable [C] Clean [X] Exit [?] Help Choice[0]: D Choice[1]:since "@" is used as array operator - how would it influence the action?
There's two different overloads for PromptForChoice:
- The single return value definition:
PSHostUserInterface.PromptForChoice Method (System.Management.Automation.Host) | Microsoft Learn - The multiple choice return values definition:
IHostUISupportsMultipleChoiceSelection.PromptForChoice Method (System.Management.Automation.Host) | Microsoft Learn
You're using the multiple choice definition, where while that does indeed display vertically, it requires two consecutive <Enter> to confirm no further input, as a single enter simply accepts one value before letting you specify the next value on the next line.
See the example below:
I'm not aware of any way to make the single return value iteration of PromptForChoice to display vertically. That doesn't mean there isn't one, just that I'm unaware of one.
Cheers,
Lain
- The single return value definition:
