# Show-Input

Shows prompt message box asking user to provide a text string.

## Syntax

Show-Input \[-Prompt] \<String> \[-DefaultValue \<String>] \[-Validation \<String>] \[-ErrorMessage \<String>] \[-MaxLength \<Int32>]

## Detailed Description

Shows prompt message box asking user to provide a text string.

© 2010-2019 Adam Najmanowicz, Michael West. All rights reserved. Sitecore PowerShell Extensions

## Parameters

### -Prompt \<String>

Prompt message to show in the message box shown to a user.

| Aliases                     |       |
| --------------------------- | ----- |
| Required?                   | true  |
| Position?                   | 1     |
| Default Value               |       |
| Accept Pipeline Input?      | false |
| Accept Wildcard Characters? | false |

### -DefaultValue \<String>

Default value to be provided for the text box.

| Aliases                     |       |
| --------------------------- | ----- |
| Required?                   | false |
| Position?                   | named |
| Default Value               |       |
| Accept Pipeline Input?      | false |
| Accept Wildcard Characters? | false |

### -Validation \<String>

Regex for value validation. If user enters a value that does not validate - en error message defined with the "ErrorMessage" parameter will be shown and user will be asked to enter the value again.

| Aliases                     |       |
| --------------------------- | ----- |
| Required?                   | false |
| Position?                   | named |
| Default Value               |       |
| Accept Pipeline Input?      | false |
| Accept Wildcard Characters? | false |

### -ErrorMessage \<String>

Error message to show when regex validation fails.

| Aliases                     |       |
| --------------------------- | ----- |
| Required?                   | false |
| Position?                   | named |
| Default Value               |       |
| Accept Pipeline Input?      | false |
| Accept Wildcard Characters? | false |

### -MaxLength \<Int32>

Maximum length of the string returned. If user enters a longer value - en error message will be shown and user will be asked to enter the value again.

| Aliases                     |       |
| --------------------------- | ----- |
| Required?                   | false |
| Position?                   | named |
| Default Value               |       |
| Accept Pipeline Input?      | false |
| Accept Wildcard Characters? | false |

## Outputs

The output type is the type of the objects that the cmdlet emits.

* System.String

## Notes

Help Author: Adam Najmanowicz, Michael West

## Examples

### EXAMPLE 1

Requests that the user provides an email, validates it against a regular expression snd whows an allert if the format is not valid

```powershell
PS master:\> Show-Input "Please provide your email" -DefaultValue "my@email.com"  -Validation "^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+(?:\.[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)*@(?:[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]*[a-zA-Z0-9])?\.)+[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]*[a-zA-Z0-9])?$" -ErrorMessage "Not a proper email!"
```

### EXAMPLE 2

Uses Show-Input command to request user a new name for the content item validating the proper characters are used and assigns the result to $newName variable (nothing gets changed)

```powershell
PS master:\> $contentItem = get-item master:\content
PS master:\> $newName = Show-Input "Please provide the new name for the '$($contentItem.Name)' Item" -DefaultValue $contentItem.Name  -Validation "^[\w\*\$][\w\s\-\$]*(\(\d{1,}\)){0,1}$" -ErrorMessage "Invalid characters in the name"

#print new name
PS master:\> Write-Host "The new name you've chosen is '$($newName)'"
```

### EXAMPLE 3

Requests that the user provides a string of at most 5 characters

```powershell
Show-Input "Please provide 5 characters at most" -MaxLength 5
```

## Related Topics

* [Read-Variable](/appendix/common/read-variable.md)
* [Show-Alert](/appendix/common/show-alert.md)
* [Show-Application](/appendix/common/show-application.md)
* [Show-Confirm](/appendix/common/show-confirm.md)
* [Show-FieldEditor](/appendix/common/show-fieldeditor.md)
* [Show-ListView](/appendix/common/show-listview.md)
* [Show-ModalDialog](/appendix/common/show-modaldialog.md)
* [Show-Result](/appendix/common/show-result.md)
* [Show-YesNoCancel](/appendix/common/show-yesnocancel.md)
* <https://github.com/SitecorePowerShell/Console/>


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