PowerShell v3 Function Get ObjectInformation

After working with a lot of .NET type issues lately I wanted to encapsulate the functionality I have worked on recently into a function...and, so, here we go. The great thing about this function is that it returns A LOT (yes, I mean A LOT) of information about the objects passed to the function. I put tips on how to work with it in the comment-based help, but, be sure to play around with it a bit and try using sort and select to get more meaningful output on large collections. Also, try piping output to Select -First 1 * a few times to see what properties are exposed. Feel free to provide suggestions on how to improve this one. I am sure there are lots of things that can be added, its just a matter of knowing what to put in and not overload folks.

function Get-ObjectInformation

{

      <#

     

            .SYNOPSIS

                  A function used to explore object type information.

                 

            .DESCRIPTION

                  The Get-ObjectInformation function provides access to otherwise

                  buried .NET reflection functionality. There is a large collection of

                  switch parameters to help give a large sample of the members for

                  an object passed to the function.

                 

            .NOTES

                  Author: Will Steele (wlsteele@gmail.com)

                  Last edited date: 7/19/2012

                  Version 1.0

                 

                  Some of these will return large collections, depending on the assembly

                  being referenced, so, it is sometimes a good idea to write to a variable

                  first, examine the object size (using .Count) and select -first 5. Once

                  you have a small sample set you can then determine which fields you need

                  for the specific investigation you are using. The key to realize here

                  is that many of these are in depth .NET objects and they have very

                  large property collections.

                 

            .PARAMETER Object

                  A mandatory parameter indicating the object to examine.

                 

            .PARAMETER GetConstructors

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the constructor

              information or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetCustomAttributes

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Custom

                  Attributes or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetCustomAttributesData

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the

                  Custom Attributes Data or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetExportedTypes

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Exported

                  Types or not. Default is False. NOTE: These are exported types of

                  the assembly as a whole, not just for the referenced type.

            .PARAMETER GetGenericArguments

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Generic

                  Arguments or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetHashCode

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Hash

                  Code or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetLoadedModules

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Loaded

                  Modules or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetManifestResourceNames

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the

                  Manifest Resource Names or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetMembers

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Members

              or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetMethods

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Methods

              or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetModules

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Modules

              or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetName

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Name

              or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetReferencedAssemblies

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Referenced

                  Assemblies or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER GetType

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the Type

              information or not. Default is False.

            .PARAMETER Summary

              A switch parameter indicating whether it should return the function

                  summary of which switches are $true. Default is False.     

                 

            .INPUTS

                  Object

                 

            .OUTPUTS

                  Returns a variety of output pertaining to the input objects type

                  data.

                       

            .EXAMPLE 1

                  $string = "string"

                  Get-ObjectInformation -Object $string -GetType

                  System.String

                 

            .EXAMPLE 2

                  $psobject = New-Object -TypeName PSObject

                  Get-ObjectInformation -Object $psobject -GetExportedTypes | sort name

                 

                  IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType

                  -------- -------- ----                                     --------

                  True     True     ActionPreference                         System.Enum

                  True     True     ActionPreferenceStopException            System.Management.Automation.RuntimeException

                  True     False    AdapterCodeMethods                       System.Object

                  .

                  .

                  .

                  True     False    WSManConfigurationOption                 System.Management.Automation.PSTransportOption

                  True     False    WSManConnectionInfo                      System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.RunspaceConnection...

                  True     False    WSManServerChannelEvents                 System.Object

           

            .EXAMPLE 3

                  $contentservice = New-WebServiceProxy -Uri http://services.msdn.microsoft.com/ContentServices/ContentService.asmx -Namespace contentservice

                  Get-ObjectInformation -Object $contentservice -GetReferencedAssemblies -Summary

                  Version        Name

                  -------        ----

                  4.0.0.0        mscorlib

                  4.0.0.0        System.Web.Services

                  4.0.0.0        System

                  4.0.0.0        System.Xml

                 

                  --- Information Summary ---

                 

Related Post: