Prompt for user input in PowerShell

Question

I want to prompt the user for a series of inputs, including a password and a filename.

I have an example of using host.ui.prompt, which seems sensible,

Answer 1

Read-Host is a simple option for getting string input from a user.

$name = Read-Host 'What is your username?'

To hide passwords you can use:

$pass = Read-Host 'What is your password?' -AsSecureString

To convert the password to plain text:

[Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto(
    [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($pass))

As for the type returned by $host.UI.Prompt(), if you run the code at the link posted in @Christian's comment, you can find out the return type by piping it to Get-Member (for example, $results | gm). The result is a Dictionary where the key is the name of a FieldDescription object used in the prompt. To access the result for the first prompt in the linked example you would type: $results['String Field'].

To access information without invoking a method, leave the parentheses off:

PS> $Host.UI.Prompt

MemberType          : Method
OverloadDefinitions : {System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[string,psobject] Pr
                    ompt(string caption, string message, System.Collections.Ob
                    jectModel.Collection[System.Management.Automation.Host.Fie
                    ldDescription] descriptions)}
TypeNameOfValue     : System.Management.Automation.PSMethod
Value               : System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[string,psobject] Pro
                    mpt(string caption, string message, System.Collections.Obj
                    ectModel.Collection[System.Management.Automation.Host.Fiel
                    dDescription] descriptions)
Name                : Prompt
IsInstance          : True

$Host.UI.Prompt.OverloadDefinitions will give you the definition(s) of the method. Each definition displays as ().