PowerShell: How to only return an [PSCustomObject] not an array with other things in it?

Question

I have a cmdlet that returns an [PSCustomObject] . This is done 2 cmdlets deep. At every return it adds another things and then instead of returning the [PSCustomObject] it returns an array of 3 items. This object has string properties and at every level it adds another leading space to them.

I just want to return the [PSCustomObject] no array. How to do this ?

The object return from the last cmdlet

$ident
LocalTime           UtcTime              Data                             
---------           -------              ----                             
5/6/2021 3:43:35 PM 5/6/2021 10:43:35 PM New-NodeIdentifier  "4"          
5/6/2021 3:43:35 PM 5/6/2021 10:43:35 PM New-NodeGenerationIdentifier  "4"

$ident.Count
3

2 method deap , 2 leading spaces 
"$($ident.String)"
"  4"

"$($ident[2].String)"
"4"

The functions

Function New-NodeIdentifier{
 [CmdletBinding()]
    Param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [String]$Identifier,
        [Switch]$NoCmdletEntryOutput
    )
    Begin{}
    
        Process{


        Start-CmdletEntry "New-NodeIdentifier  `"$($Identifier)`"" -NoCmdletEntryOutput:$NoCmdletEntryOutput

        #determin identifyer type 


        $l = $Identifier.split(".")

        [double]$OutNumber = $null
        $IsGen = $true
        foreach( $c in $l ) {
            Write-Host $c
            if(-not [double]::TryParse($c,[ref]$OutNumber)) {
                $IsGen = $false
            }
        }

        # create the indentifier 

        if($IsGen) {

            $ni =  New-NodeGenerationIdentifier -Generation $Identifier

            write-host "nni `"$($ni.String)`" type $($ni.GetType())"

            return $ni

        } else {

            $ni  =  New-NodeHwSkuIdentifier -HwSku $Identifier

            write-host "nni `"$($ni.String)`" type $($ni.GetType())"

            return $ni
        }

      
     }
   
   End{}
}

Function New-NodeGenerationIdentifier{
 [CmdletBinding()]
    Param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [String]$Generation,
        [Switch]$NoCmdletEntryOutput
    )
    Begin{}

       
    Process{

         Start-CmdletEntry "New-NodeGenerationIdentifier  `"$($Generation)`"" -NoCmdletEntryOutput:$NoCmdletEntryOutput

         $vmi = [PSCustomObject]@{
                Generation   ="$($Generation)"
                Type         ='Generation'
                String       ="$($Generation)"
                }
         
         write-host "nngi `"$($vmi.String)`" type $($vmi.GetType())"

         return $vmi 

     }
   
   End{}
}

Perhaps [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/55066394/45375) helps. — mklement0, May 06 '21 at 23:12

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 07 '21 at 12:19

0

With the link from mklement0 , I figured this out. So yes this was a victim of PowerShell's implicit output behavior. My Start-CmdletEntry returned something which then become part of the return payload.

answered May 07 '21 at 12:19

deetle

197
8

PowerShell: How to only return an [PSCustomObject] not an array with other things in it?

1 Answers1