Displaying Object Standard Properties (Nicely)

by Dec 3, 2012

In a previous tip, we explained how you can add a custom data type to your own custom objects that you might want to return from a function, and then use PowerShell 3.0's new Update-TypeData to define the standard object properties.

This approach works well, but it defines a permanent new type. Here's an example that defines a custom standard object properties "on the fly" without touching the PowerShell type database:

function Get-SomeResult
{
  $resultset = New-Object PSObject |
  Select-Object Name, FirstName, ID, Language, Skill
  $resultset.Name = 'Weltner'
  $resultset.FirstName = 'Tobias'
  $resultset.ID = 123
  $resultset.Language = 'PowerShell'
  $resultset.Skill = '5'

  # this section defines the default properties
  [String[]]$properties = 'Name','ID','Language'
  # the next line is one long line:
  [System.Management.Automation.PSMemberInfo[]]$PSStandardMembers = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSPropertySet DefaultDisplayPropertySet,$properties
  # the next line is one long line: 
  $resultset | Add-Member -MemberType MemberSet -Name PSStandardMembers -Value $PSStandardMembers

  $resultset
}

It works beautifully: in PowerShell 3.0, the function now returns objects that by default only display the properties you want, and in PowerShell 2.0, the solution falls back to standard behavior:

PS> Get-SomeResult

Name                                                     ID Language
----                                                     -- --------
Weltner                                                 123 PowerShell

PS> Get-SomeResult | Select-Object *
Name      : Weltner
FirstName : Tobias
ID        : 123
Language  : PowerShell
Skill     : 5

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