Today I had a fun little challenge come-up: how do I go about adding Auto-completion records to my forms?
Turns out it is pretty easy! Let’s start very simply. The following will draw out a small box with an OK button, a textbox, and…thats it. Hitting OK will pass along the output of the box.
#Load the assemblies needed for drawing forms with PowerShell
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
#region to draw the background form
$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$Form.Text = "Autocompletion Tool"
$Form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(300,140)
$Form.StartPosition = "CenterScreen"
$Form.KeyPreview = $True
$Form.MaximumSize = $Form.Size
$Form.MinimumSize = $Form.Size
#begin to draw text box
$textbox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$textbox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,40)
$textbox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(200,20)
$textbox.Height = 80
$textbox.Name = 'TextBox_UserName'
$Form.Controls.Add($textbox)
#begin to draw an OK button
$OKButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$OKButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(220,38)
$OKButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(40,25)
$OKButton.Text = "OK"
$OKButton.Add_Click({$xdept=$ListBox.SelectedItem;$xname=$TextBox.Text;$xfname=$TextBoxfName.Text;$Form.Close()})
$Form.Controls.Add($OKButton)
#Make our form topmost, then show it
$Form.Topmost = $True
$Form.Add_Shown({$Form.Activate()})
[void] $Form.ShowDialog()
#Return the value
$textbox.Text
There we go, basic-basic.
The difference is simply adding the following lines starting on line 20:
$textbox.AutoCompleteSource = 'CustomSource' $textbox.AutoCompleteMode='SuggestAppend' $textbox.AutoCompleteCustomSource=$autocomplete
And with that, you can now directly add entries to the AutoCompleteCustomSource using it’s method .AddRange()
You could Import from a file
#Importing from a file
Get-content 'C:\TEMP\User Records.txt' | % {$textbox.AutoCompleteCustomSource.AddRange($_) }
Or you could add individual entries, or the output of a script
#Adding single entries to the inherited AutoCompleteSource object of the textbox
"1","blam","foxdeploy","stephen.owen" | % {$textbox.AutoCompleteCustomSource.AddRange($_) }
As always, feel free to modify for your own purposes, and I hope that this helps you in the future.
Hi i have tryed your code but don’t seems to work… this is the error that show up
Error
Specified cast is not valid.
See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.
************** Exception Text **************
System.InvalidCastException: Specified cast is not valid.
at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.CoCreateInstance(Guid& clsid, Object punkOuter, Int32 context, Guid& iid)
at System.Windows.Forms.StringSource..ctor(String[] strings)
at System.Windows.Forms.TextBox.SetAutoComplete(Boolean reset)
at System.Windows.Forms.TextBox.OnHandleCreated(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmCreate(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework64/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
—————————————-
Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 6.1.7600.16385
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost.dll
—————————————-
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
—————————————-
System.Management.Automation
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 6.1.7601.17514
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Management.Automation/1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35/System.Management.Automation.dll
—————————————-
Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Diagnostics
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 6.1.7601.17514
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Diagnostics/1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35/Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Diagnostics.dll
—————————————-
System.Core
Assembly Version: 3.5.0.0
Win32 Version: 3.5.30729.5420 built by: Win7SP1
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Core/3.5.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Core.dll
—————————————-
System.Configuration.Install
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration.Install/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.Install.dll
—————————————-
Microsoft.WSMan.Management
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 6.1.7601.17514
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.WSMan.Management/1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35/Microsoft.WSMan.Management.dll
—————————————-
System.Transactions
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_64/System.Transactions/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Transactions.dll
—————————————-
Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Utility
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 6.1.7601.17514
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Utility/1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35/Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Utility.dll
—————————————-
Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Management
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 6.1.7601.17514
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Management/1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35/Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Management.dll
—————————————-
Microsoft.PowerShell.Security
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 6.1.7601.17514
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.PowerShell.Security/1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35/Microsoft.PowerShell.Security.dll
—————————————-
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
—————————————-
System.Management
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Management/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Management.dll
—————————————-
System.DirectoryServices
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.DirectoryServices/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.DirectoryServices.dll
—————————————-
System.Data
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_64/System.Data/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Data.dll
—————————————-
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
—————————————-
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
—————————————-
Accessibility
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Accessibility/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Accessibility.dll
—————————————-
************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.
For example:
When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.
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Please post the line in question with the cast that threw this error.
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The above error is caused by Powershell running in Multi-threaded Apartment mode (Powershell 2.0 default). So, all Powershell 2.0 users will get this error message; unless they start Powershell with -sta parameter.
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Works great! Thank you!
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Hi, my code shows an error that AutoCompleteSource, AutoCompleteMode and AutoCompleteCustomSource are not recognized methods but ” $WPFtextbox.Text = ‘One’ ” works ok.
$xaml.SelectNodes(“//*[@Name]”) | %{Set-Variable -Name “WPF$($_.Name)” -Value $Form.FindName($_.Name)}
$WPFtextbox.AutoCompleteSource = ‘CustomSource’
$WPFtextbox.AutoCompleteMode=’SuggestAppend’
$WPFtextbox.AutoCompleteCustomSource.AddRange(‘One’ ‘Two’, ‘Three’)
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This is it. I don’t know How I didn’t stumble accross this! Would be perfect if I could query directly from the database. I don’t really understand how to input this into the XAML of my gui script.
$adOpenStatic = 3
$adLockOptimistic = 3
$objConnection = New-Object -comobject ADODB.Connection
$objRecordset = New-Object -comobject ADODB.Recordset
$objConnection.Open(“Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0; Data Source = c:\Database\Gen3Data.mdb”)
$objRecordset.Open(“Select Truck_ID from Trucks”, $objConnection,$adOpenStatic,$adLockOptimistic)
$Mytrucks = $objRecordset.GetRows()
$objRecordset.Close()
$objConnection.Close()
$comboitems = @()
foreach($trck in $Mytrucks){$comboitems += $trck}
$comboitems | Out-File C:\Database\trucks.txt
It would be perfect if I could go direct to the DB instead of the text file. And obviously I have no idea, ( start to toy with it now) on how to put that box into my GUI script I already Built. Dude your a genius!
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I’m not a genius just stubborn.
You don’t add this to your xaml. Put this at the bottom third of your script into the ‘make the functions work section’ as it’s called in the template.
Then, in the line where you do an out-file, instead use the command to add that to the autocomplete dictionary.
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I am not able to build the auto complete box.
You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At C:\Users\office1\Documents\GitHub\JWallCreations\AsphaultQueue\Gui.ps1:127 char:44
+ Get-content ‘C:\Database\trucks.txt’ | % {$textbox.AutoCompleteCustomSource.Add …
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull
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