Most PowerShell users use hash tables to create objects, and so did we in the previous tip:
$o = [PSCustomObject]@{ Name = "Tobias" Id = 19 Submission = Get-Date Birthday = '1999-02-12 18:33:12' -as [DateTime] } $o
A much better way is to first define a type-safe template class, and whenever you need an object of this type, instantiate one:
class Person { [string]$Name = "Tobias" [int]$Id = 19 [DateTime]$Submission = $(Get-Date) [DateTime]$Birthday = $('1999-02-12 18:33:12' -as [DateTime]) } $p = [Person]::new() $p
The result is the same except this time, your object instance in $o has a distinct type ([Person]) and can be distinguished from other objects whereas the hash table approach always creates [PSCustomObject].
More importantly, the properties of your new object are now type-safe. When a user later submits data, then PowerShell ensures that it matches the desired data type or else complains. Simple PSCustomObjects in contrast accept any data:
PS> $o.Birthday = "Hello"
PS> $p.Birthday = "Hello"
Exception setting "Birthday": "Cannot convert value "Hello" to type "System.DateTime". Error: "The string was not recognized as a valid DateTime.
There is an unknown word starting at index 0.""
