PowershellMenu

Console menu system for Powershell, works in Windows and Linux. Does not work in ISE.

I had need for a robust menu system in Powershell, and after many searches decided to write my own. I wanted to be able to select using up and down arrows, as well as the ability to simply select by pressing a key.

I'm a programmer with many years of experience, but a bit of novice with Powershell, and I'm certain there are many ways in which this can be improved.

Additionaly I wanted to have some help about the highlighted item show up on the screen, so I dedicated a help area that is defined as a starting column, starting row, width, and max rows. Max rows is only used for clearing the area, so currently the help text could overflow and not be erased. This was not a concern for me, but feel free to add the check in the Write-Help function.

Features:

• Cursor Up / Down to select
• Optionally add a character to the menu item for selection
• Optionally add help text that word-wrap displays in a defined help area on the screen
• Separate color settings for title, headers, menu items, and selected menu items
• Tests console width and height to make sure menu and optional help will fit

Here is a sample menu.

$Menu = [Menu]::new("================= Select option ==================")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("", "", "", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem(".Information", "", "", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Information item 1.", "i1", "0", "This is the first item that is selectable in the menu.  This help text should wrap on to a couple of lines.")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Information Item 2.", "i2", "1", "Help for Item 2.")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Information Item 3.", "i3", "2", "Help for Item 3.")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("", "", "", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem(".Setup", "", "", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Setup somthing.", "s1", "3", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Setup something else.", "s2", "4", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("", "", "", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem(".Backup and restore", "", "", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Backup some configuration.", "b1", "5", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Backup something else.", "b2", "6", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("", "", "", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem(".Other", "", "", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Do some other thing.", "o1", "7", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Do this and that.", "o2", "8", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Test something.", "o3", "9", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("", "", "", "")
$Menu.AddMenuItem("Quit.", "q", "q", "")

And to render it.

$val = New-Menu $Menu

The new constructor for the menu takes a string as a menu title.

Each AddMenuItem has the following format:

  String $Prompt - Menu item prompt that is displayed on the screen.  
                  If blank, leaves a blank non-selectable line.
                  If the prompt starts with a period, it is considered a header and non-selectable.
  String $Value - The value that is returned if that item is selected.
  String $Key   - The optional character used to select the item without moving the "cursor" and selecting with enter.
  String $Help  - Optional text that will display in the defined help area if an item is highlighted by cursor (up/down) keys.

The return value can be used in a switch statment to call the selected function.