PowerShell Rookie and getting Powershell to accept input.

PowerShell Help
1

So far, and with much help from a “MonthOfLunches” I am starting to make some progress. I have leaned that I can input questions for PS to answer in couple of different ways. Either by using a variable and read-host to query one machine, or by using a variable and the get-content cmdlet, them pass PS a UNC path. So here is my question that I am stuck on. I want to be able to prompt the admin/user to enter input, using a simple phrase like “Enter the machine name, or UNC path name to the text file” The admin would then either do one or the other. I can get this done right now but I have to use two different scripts, I would love to be able to use only one and have powershell fire up and deliver the info. This might be a little to advance for me right now, but I am at that point where I am getting a little creative, please help push me in the right direction if you can, SALUTE!

2

What you’re describing is technically possible, but then you’re faced with the challenge of parsing the user’s input to tell whether it looks like a valid computer name or a valid UNC path. A more common way of accomplishing this in PowerShell is to define parameter sets, and the user can specify either -ComputerName or -Path when calling your script or function. For example, here’s the skeleton of a script or function that would use that approach:

[CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName = 'ComputerName')]
param (
    [Parameter(Mandatory, ParameterSetName = 'ComputerName', ValueFromPipeline)]
    [string[]]
    $ComputerName,

    [Parameter(Mandatory, ParameterSetName = 'InputFile')]
    [string[]]
    $Path
)

process
{
    if ($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName -eq 'ComputerName')
    {
        foreach ($computer in $ComputerName)
        {
            # Do something with $computer
        }
    }
    else
    {
        foreach ($file in $Path)
        {
            Get-Content -Path $file |
            ForEach-Object {
                $computer = $_

                # Do something with $computer
            }
        }
    }
}

If you want to actually prompt the user to enter input (which means the script has to be run interactively; it can’t be run as a scheduled task, for instalce), use the Read-Host cmdlet:

$userInput = Read-Host -Prompt 'Enter the machine name, or UNC path name to the text file'