Im not sure who the original author is of the following script but, I cant take credit for it.  It returns the value from the input box to $x when running in PowerShell 2.0 on Windows 2008 R2 but, returns null in PowerShell 3.0 on Windows 2012. Any ideas? thanks for your help.

[Void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
[Void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")

$objForm = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$objForm.Text = "Data Entry Form"
$objForm.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(300,200)
$objForm.StartPosition = "CenterScreen"

$objForm.KeyPreview = $True
$objForm.Add_KeyDown({if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Enter")
    {$x=$objTextBox.Text;$objForm.Close()}})
$objForm.Add_KeyDown({if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Escape")
    {$objForm.Close()}})

$OKButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$OKButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,120)
$OKButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$OKButton.Text = "OK"
$OKButton.Add_Click({$x=$objTextBox.Text;$objForm.Close()})
$objForm.Controls.Add($OKButton)

$CancelButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$CancelButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,120)
$CancelButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$CancelButton.Text = "Cancel"
$CancelButton.Add_Click({$objForm.Close()})
$objForm.Controls.Add($CancelButton)

$objLabel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$objLabel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)
$objLabel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(280,20)
$objLabel.Text = "Please enter the information in the space below:"
$objForm.Controls.Add($objLabel)

$objTextBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$objTextBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,40)
$objTextBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(260,20)
$objForm.Controls.Add($objTextBox)

$objForm.Topmost = $True

$objForm.Add_Shown({$objForm.Activate()})
[Void] $objForm.ShowDialog()

i think i saw this before, there is a bug with $x you need to replace it with another variable

give that a try

Thanks so much for the quick reply! - I replace $x with $steve - still null.  I tested this on ps2 and it worked fine.

anyother thoughts?  Thanks again.

[Void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
[Void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")

$objForm = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$objForm.Text = "Data Entry Form"
$objForm.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(300,200)
$objForm.StartPosition = "CenterScreen"

$objForm.KeyPreview = $True
$objForm.Add_KeyDown({if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Enter")
    {$steve=$objTextBox.Text;$objForm.Close()}})
$objForm.Add_KeyDown({if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Escape")
    {$objForm.Close()}})

$OKButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$OKButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,120)
$OKButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$OKButton.Text = "OK"
$OKButton.Add_Click({$steve=$objTextBox.Text;$objForm.Close()})
$objForm.Controls.Add($OKButton)

$CancelButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$CancelButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,120)
$CancelButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$CancelButton.Text = "Cancel"
$CancelButton.Add_Click({$objForm.Close()})
$objForm.Controls.Add($CancelButton)

$objLabel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$objLabel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)
$objLabel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(280,20)
$objLabel.Text = "Please enter the information in the space below:"
$objForm.Controls.Add($objLabel)

$objTextBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$objTextBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,40)
$objTextBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(260,20)
$objForm.Controls.Add($objTextBox)

$objForm.Topmost = $True

$objForm.Add_Shown({$objForm.Activate()})
[Void] $objForm.ShowDialog()

$steve

This is clearly scoping issue.

To make sure that variable x will be created in parent scope, rather than in child (script block's) scope:

$objForm.Add_KeyDown({
    if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Enter") {
        New-Variable -Scope 1 -Name x -Value $objTextBox.Text -Force 
        $objForm.Close()
    }
})

• Marked as answer by steve-peterson Tuesday, April 23, 2013 5:09 PM

This is clearly scoping issue.

To make sure that variable x will be created in parent scope, rather than in child (script block's) scope:

$objForm.Add_KeyDown({
    if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Enter") {
        New-Variable -Scope 1 -Name x -Value $objTextBox.Text -Force 
        $objForm.Close()
    }
})

• Marked as answer by steve-peterson Tuesday, April 23, 2013 5:09 PM

Bartek - Thank you!  that worked. I havent worked with Scopes before. Something new for me to learn.

Here is the completed code - I use it as a function and use it in many of my scripts for input.  Thanks again. Thanks to the original author too!

Function InputBox($description) {

[Void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
[Void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")

$objForm = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$objForm.Text = "Data Entry Form"
$objForm.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(300,200)
$objForm.StartPosition = "CenterScreen"

$objForm.KeyPreview = $True
$objForm.Add_KeyDown({
 if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Enter") {
    New-Variable -Scope 1 -Name x -Value $objTextBox.Text -Force
$objForm.Close()
 }
})
$objForm.Add_KeyDown({if ($_.KeyCode -eq "Escape")
    {$objForm.Close()}})

$OKButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$OKButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,120)
$OKButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$OKButton.Text = "OK"
$OKButton.Add_Click({$x=$objTextBox.Text;$objForm.Close()})
$objForm.Controls.Add($OKButton)

$CancelButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$CancelButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,120)
$CancelButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$CancelButton.Text = "Cancel"
$CancelButton.Add_Click({$objForm.Close()})
$objForm.Controls.Add($CancelButton)

$objLabel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$objLabel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)
$objLabel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(280,20)
$objLabel.Text = $description
$objForm.Controls.Add($objLabel)

$objTextBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$objTextBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,40)
$objTextBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(260,20)
$objForm.Controls.Add($objTextBox)

$objForm.Topmost = $True

$objForm.Add_Shown({$objForm.Activate()})
[Void]$objForm.ShowDialog()

return $x
}

Thank you. This was very useful for me at the correct time!