Output results to a windows form- textbox or lable

Question

I am trying to get my network adapter results to output to a textbox or label in a windows form. The output is perfect when shown in the console, but when it outputs to the form all I get is a bunch Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatStartData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.GroupStartData below is the powershell code I am using

  $NIC_Status=Get-NetAdapter  * | Format-List -Property "Name", "Status"
$TxtBoxOutput.Text=$NIC_Status

Tried different output format. I am expecting the output to show the same as in the console

Answer 1

When displaying the output of your PowerShell command in a Windows Form, you'll need to format it appropriately for the control you're using (such as a TextBox or Label). The issue you're encountering is because the output from Format-List is not suitable for direct display in a form control.

Here's how you can modify your code to achieve the desired result:

1. Using a TextBox:

   • Create a TextBox control on your form (let's assume it's named TxtBoxOutput).

   • Instead of directly assigning the $NIC_Status to the Text property, you should join the properties into a single string and then assign it to the Text property.

   • Here's an example of how you can do this:

     $NIC_Status = Get-NetAdapter * | Select-Object -Property "Name", "Status" | ForEach-Object {
         $_.Name + ": " + $_.Status
     }
     $TxtBoxOutput.Text = $NIC_Status -join "`r`n"  # Join the lines with carriage return and newline
     

2. Using a Label:

   • If you want to display the output in a Label, you can use the Text property directly.

   • However, keep in mind that a Label may not be suitable for displaying multiline content.

   • Example:

     $NIC_Status = Get-NetAdapter * | Select-Object -Property "Name", "Status"
     $LblOutput.Text = $NIC_Status.Name + ": " + $NIC_Status.Status
     

Remember to adjust the control names (TxtBoxOutput or LblOutput) to match the actual names of the controls on your form. Additionally, the -join "rn" part ensures that each network adapter's information is displayed on a separate line.