Hello, so I'm trying to write a simple script for one of our users to restart a computer that's running a display in the lobby. The display sometimes freezes up and all we have to do is restart the compute and it loads the display on startup. So I got a simple script here:

param(
     [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
     [ValidateSet("localhost,Computer1,Computer2")]
     [String]
     $ComputerName
     )

Restart-Computer -ComputerName $ComputerName -Force -Verbose

It works just fine, but it looks like this when it's ran:

cmdlet Restart Computer.ps1 at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
ComputerName[0]:

I'd like to get rid of the top two lines and replace it with some instructions like:

"Type the NETBIOS name, IP address, or fully-qualified domain name of one or more computers in a comma-separated list.

I'm still pretty new to PowerShell, so I don't know if this is even possible.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

You can redesign your script to be interactive. Here is an example:

You can include a HelpMessage argument like so:

param(
     [Parameter(Mandatory=$True,HelpMessage='Type the NETBIOS name, IP address, or fully-qualified domain name of one of more computers in a comma-separated list.')]
     [ValidateSet("localhost,Computer1,Computer2")]
     [String]
     $ComputerName
     )

Try this out yourself and see if it'll suffice.

Edit: What this ends up doing is adding a line (see below) that will give the user an option to view a help message by entering !?.

cmdlet Restart Computer.ps1 at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
(Type !? for Help.)
ComputerName[0]: !?
Type the NETBIOS name, IP address, or fully-qualified domain name of one of more computers in a comma-separated list.
ComputerName[0]: 

• Edited by tommymaynard 9 hours 25 minutes ago
• Marked as answer by Alex.Franco 9 hours 24 minutes ago

Both of those are the coolest things I've ever seen! They both work perfectly so I'll be using both examples and studying them for future use. 

Thanks a ton, guys!

You can include a HelpMessage argument like so:

param(
     [Parameter(Mandatory=$True,HelpMessage='Type the NETBIOS name, IP address, or fully-qualified domain name of one of more computers in a comma-separated list.')]
     [ValidateSet("localhost,Computer1,Computer2")]
     [String]
     $ComputerName
     )

Try this out yourself and see if it'll suffice.

Edit: What this ends up doing is adding a line (see below) that will give the user an option to view a help message by entering !?.

cmdlet Restart Computer.ps1 at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
(Type !? for Help.)
ComputerName[0]: !?
Type the NETBIOS name, IP address, or fully-qualified domain name of one of more computers in a comma-separated list.
ComputerName[0]: 

• Edited by tommymaynard Friday, July 31, 2015 9:44 PM
• Marked as answer by Alex.Franco Friday, July 31, 2015 9:45 PM