No one likes hard coded lists in script, especially long scripts that might be under change control. Add a new Internet Domain, Server, Mail Database, User Location and you have to go through the whole release test cycle..
However if you just have a Comma Separated Value (CSV) string you would like to present as an menu, perhaps loaded from an external text or XML file, this single function does just that. It takes a CSV string and presents the user with a list of choices and returns their selection for later use.
[Note: This script assumes you already have an understanding of functions in PowerShell]
Lets assume you want to select your favourite mail provider’s domain from the string below
$xCSVList = "gmail.com,hotmail.com,yahoo.com,mail.com,outlook.com"
Split the CSV string (xCSVList) into a Hash Table stored as xPickListValues
$xPickListValues = $xCSVList.split(",")
Convert the hash table to a multi-dimensional array, this is an array whose entry’s have two values in an sub-array of their own. Each Domain is stored with a number, except the first entry as it is 0 it is null.
foreach($entry in $xPickListValues){ #... foreach entry add to the array and increment the counter $array += (,($i,$entry)) $i=$i+1 }
This can be represented in the table below
| array | [0] | [1] |
| [0] | gmail.com | |
| [1] | 1 | hotmail.com |
| [2] | 2 | yahoo.com |
| [3] | 3 | mail.com |
| [4] | 4 | outlook.com |
Next we output the actual pick list using write-host and tabs to format the menu.
foreach ($arrayentry in $array){ Write-Host $("`t`t`t"+$arrayentry[0]+".`t"+$arrayentry[1]) }
After we have presented the choices to the user we retrieve their chosen value
$xPickListSelection = Read-Host "`n`t`tEnter Option Number"
This can then be returned out of the function back to the calling code using the integer the user has entered retrieving the value from the Multi-Dimensional array..
return $array[$xPickListSelection][1]
This method allows us to create a re-usable pick list menu in PowerShell.
The entire script can be found HERE and includes two examples of required and optional pick list selections.
