Using Colors in PowerShell Forms

Article
04/10/2017
I have been playing around with PowerShell forms lately and wanted to use colors for buttons and backgrounds. There are a bunch of predefined colors that you can use, but the names are not associated with a color chart to help you decide. With that in mind I wrote this little form with a dropdown menu of the predefined colors that will display the color in an output box. You can scroll through the dropdown menu until you find the color you want. Copy and paste the name into your form and Robert is your fathers brother. Happy PowerShelling!
 [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing") 
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms") 

$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form 
$Form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(370,470)
$Form.Text = "Color Form"
$Icon = [system.drawing.icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon("C:\Windows\System32\mspaint.exe")
$Form.Icon = $Icon

#region Colors
$Colors = @()
$Colors += "AliceBlue"
$Colors += "AntiqueWhite"
$Colors += "Aqua"
$Colors += "Aquamarine"
$Colors += "Azure"
$Colors += "Beige"
$Colors += "Bisque"
$Colors += "Black"
$Colors += "BlanchedAlmond"
$Colors += "Blue"
$Colors += "BlueViolet"
$Colors += "Brown"
$Colors += "BurlyWood"
$Colors += "CadetBlue"
$Colors += "Chartreuse"
$Colors += "Chocolate"
$Colors += "Coral"
$Colors += "CornflowerBlue"
$Colors += "Cornsilk"
$Colors += "Crimson"
$Colors += "Cyan"
$Colors += "DarkBlue"
$Colors += "DarkCyan"
$Colors += "DarkGoldenrod"
$Colors += "DarkGray"
$Colors += "DarkGreen"
$Colors += "DarkKhaki"
$Colors += "DarkMagenta"
$Colors += "DarkOliveGreen"
$Colors += "DarkOrange"
$Colors += "DarkOrchid"
$Colors += "DarkRed"
$Colors += "DarkSalmon"
$Colors += "DarkSeaGreen"
$Colors += "DarkSlateBlue"
$Colors += "DarkSlateGray"
$Colors += "DarkTurquoise"
$Colors += "DarkViolet"
$Colors += "DeepPink"
$Colors += "DeepSkyBlue"
$Colors += "DimGray"
$Colors += "DodgerBlue"
$Colors += "Firebrick"
$Colors += "FloralWhite"
$Colors += "ForestGreen"
$Colors += "Fuchsia"
$Colors += "Gainsboro"
$Colors += "GhostWhite"
$Colors += "Gold"
$Colors += "Goldenrod"
$Colors += "Gray"
$Colors += "Green"
$Colors += "GreenYellow"
$Colors += "Honeydew"
$Colors += "HotPink"
$Colors += "IndianRed"
$Colors += "Indigo"
$Colors += "Ivory"
$Colors += "Khaki"
$Colors += "Lavender"
$Colors += "LavenderBlush"
$Colors += "LawnGreen"
$Colors += "LemonChiffon"
$Colors += "LightBlue"
$Colors += "LightCoral"
$Colors += "LightCyan"
$Colors += "LightGoldenrodYellow"
$Colors += "LightGray"
$Colors += "LightGreen"
$Colors += "LightPink"
$Colors += "LightSalmon"
$Colors += "LightSeaGreen"
$Colors += "LightSkyBlue"
$Colors += "LightSlateGray"
$Colors += "LightSteelBlue"
$Colors += "LightYellow"
$Colors += "Lime"
$Colors += "LimeGreen"
$Colors += "Linen"
$Colors += "Magenta"
$Colors += "Maroon"
$Colors += "MediumAquamarine"
$Colors += "MediumBlue"
$Colors += "MediumOrchid"
$Colors += "MediumPurple"
$Colors += "MediumSeaGreen"
$Colors += "MediumSlateBlue"
$Colors += "MediumSpringGreen"
$Colors += "MediumTurquoise"
$Colors += "MediumVioletRed"
$Colors += "MidnightBlue"
$Colors += "MintCream"
$Colors += "MistyRose"
$Colors += "Moccasin"
$Colors += "NavajoWhite"
$Colors += "Navy"
$Colors += "OldLace"
$Colors += "Olive"
$Colors += "OliveDrab"
$Colors += "Orange"
$Colors += "OrangeRed"
$Colors += "Orchid"
$Colors += "PaleGoldenrod"
$Colors += "PaleGreen"
$Colors += "PaleTurquoise"
$Colors += "PaleVioletRed"
$Colors += "PapayaWhip"
$Colors += "PeachPuff"
$Colors += "Peru"
$Colors += "Pink"
$Colors += "Plum"
$Colors += "PowderBlue"
$Colors += "Purple"
$Colors += "Red"
$Colors += "RosyBrown"
$Colors += "RoyalBlue"
$Colors += "SaddleBrown"
$Colors += "Salmon"
$Colors += "SandyBrown"
$Colors += "SeaGreen"
$Colors += "SeaShell"
$Colors += "Sienna"
$Colors += "Silver"
$Colors += "SkyBlue"
$Colors += "SlateBlue"
$Colors += "SlateGray"
$Colors += "Snow"
$Colors += "SpringGreen"
$Colors += "SteelBlue"
$Colors += "Tan"
$Colors += "Teal"
$Colors += "Thistle"
$Colors += "Tomato"
$Colors += "Turquoise"
$Colors += "Violet"
$Colors += "Wheat"
$Colors += "White"
$Colors += "WhiteSmoke"
$Colors += "Yellow"
$Colors += "YellowGreen"
#endregion Colors

#region Funcitons
Function Change-ButtonColor{
$n = $UserNameBox.Text
$ColorOutputBox.BackColor = $Colors[$n]
$outputBox.text = $Colors[$n]

}

Function Set-Color{
 If ($ColorDropDownBox.SelectedItem -lt 0){
 $ColorSelected = "No color was selected"
 Write-host $ColorSelected -ForegroundColor Red
 }
 Else {
 $ColorSelected = $ColorDropDownBox.SelectedItem.ToString()
 $ColorOutputBox.BackColor = $ColorSelected
 Write-host "Color Selected: $ColorSelected" -ForegroundColor Green
 }
}
#endregion Funcitons

#region Color Selection
#region Color Selection Dropdown Box Label
$ColorDropdownBoxLabel = New-Object system.windows.Forms.Label
$ColorDropdownBoxLabel.Text = "Color Choices"
$ColorDropdownBoxLabel.AutoSize = $true
$ColorDropdownBoxLabel.Width = 25
$ColorDropdownBoxLabel.Height = 10
$ColorDropdownBoxLabel.location = new-object system.drawing.point(20,10)
$ColorDropdownBoxLabel.Font = "Microsoft Sans Serif,10"
$Form.controls.Add($ColorDropdownBoxLabel)
#endregion Color Selection Dropdown Box Label
#region Color Selection Dropdown Box
$ColorDropDownBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox
$ColorDropDownBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(20,30) 
$ColorDropDownBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(180,20) 
$ColorDropDownBox.DropDownHeight = 200 

foreach($Color in $Colors)
{
 $ColorDropDownBox.Items.add($Color)
}
$ColorDropDownBox.Add_SelectedValueChanged({Set-Color})
$Form.Controls.Add($ColorDropDownBox)
#endregion Color Selection Dropdown Box
#endregion Color Selection Selection

#region Color Output Box
#region Color Output Box Label
$ColorOutputBoxLabel = New-Object system.windows.Forms.Label
$ColorOutputBoxLabel.Text = "Color Output"
$ColorOutputBoxLabel.AutoSize = $true
$ColorOutputBoxLabel.Width = 25
$ColorOutputBoxLabel.Height = 10
$ColorOutputBoxLabel.location = new-object system.drawing.point(20,70)
$ColorOutputBoxLabel.Font = "Microsoft Sans Serif,10"
$Form.controls.Add($ColorOutputBoxLabel)
#endregion Color Output Box Label
$ColorOutputBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox 
$ColorOutputBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(20,90) 
$ColorOutputBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(320,320) 
$ColorOutputBox.MultiLine = $true 
$ColorOutputBox.ScrollBars = "Vertical" 
$Form.Controls.Add($ColorOutputBox) 
#endregion Color Output Box 


$Form.Add_Shown({$Form.Activate()})
Clear-Host
[void] $Form.ShowDialog()
Using Colors in PowerShell Forms

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