Powershell VB Inputbox Validation

Question

I seem to be a bit stuck on this and it seems like it should be really simple. I have been googling and trying various things for 3 hrs now and just can't get it.

Just a small caveat: the below code is not really my own (well the poorly coded bits probably are). I have gathered information from about 30 different sources to get it working and I didn't keep a bibliography so if some of it looks like your work, then thank you and sorry for not being able to give you credit.

What this script does is monitor a folder for jpg files which are generated by a tethered camera, when a new file arrives an input box pops up and asks for a new file name, then renames the new file, creates a copy in a subdirectory and calls an external exe which resizes the copied file to 500x500px.

As mentioned, it works, but I know it is messy and I can't seem to figure out how to validate that the user inputed information into the inputbox AND selected OK (as opposed to cancel, or no info inputed). I also can't seem to figure out how to declare some of those repeated addresses as $variables. The script failed with everything I tried.

Here's the script, any help you can provide will be great.

#   DECLARE GLOBAL VARIABLES
$global:directory = "C:\Users\JoeBlogs\Desktop\Folder"
$filter = "*.jpg"

#   SET FOLDER TO WATCH + FILES TO WATCH + NO SUBFOLDERS
    $watcher = New-Object System.IO.FileSystemWatcher
    $watcher.Path = $global:directory
    $watcher.Filter = $filter
    $watcher.IncludeSubdirectories = $false
    $watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = $true

#   DEFINE ACTIONS AFTER AN EVENT IS DETECTED
    $action = { $latest = dir $global:directory | Sort CreationTime -Descending | Select name -First 1
        $name = $latest.name
        $basename = $name.ToUpper().replace(".JPG","")
        Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic
        $newname = [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::InputBox('New file name', 'Rename File', $basename)
        Rename-Item $global:directory\$name $newname".jpg"
        if (!(Test-Path -path $global:directory\"Resized")) {New-Item $global:directory\"Resized" -Type Directory}
        Copy-Item -path $global:directory\$newname".jpg" -destination $global:directory\"Resized"\$newname".jpg"
        &"C:\Users\JoeBlogs\Desktop\PhotoResize500x500IOQ100.exe" $global:directory"\Resized\"$newname".jpg"
              }    
#   DECIDE WHICH EVENTS SHOULD BE WATCHED 
    Register-ObjectEvent $watcher "Created" -Action $action
    while ($true) {sleep 3}

Aedvald Tseh · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-07 17:53:56Z

1

Validate that the user inputed information into the inputbox AND selected OK

If user presses cancel or leaves input field empty, then $newname is empty. This can be used in an if statement to make sure the renaming only takes place if input is OK:

$newname = [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::InputBox('New file name', 'Rename File', 'ddd')
if ($newname) {
  Rename-Item $global:directory\$name $newname".jpg"
...
}

Additional Improvents

Declare additional variable resized_directory as it used several times later:

$global:resized_directory = "C:\Users\JoeBlogs\Desktop\Folder\Resized"

This line should be moved to the top, because this needs to be done only once:

if (!(Test-Path -path $resized_directory)) {New-Item $resized_directory -Type Directory}

answered Jan 7, 2018 at 17:53

Aedvald Tseh

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1 Comment

onefish Over a year ago

Thanks so much Aedvald, I implemented all your suggestions and everything works perfectly. One minor annoyance is that the InputBox doesn't have focus and I have to manually click into it in order to edit. I might try Ryant's solution: stackoverflow.com/questions/9978727/…

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