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Placing data into a CSV from multiple objects with PowerShell

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I recently answered a question on PowerShell.org in which a user was sending data to a CSV file.  This data contain objects with multiple properties.  The problem with sending an object that contains objects to a CSV file with the Export-CSV is that a CSV file cannot store hieratical data.  This is what you get.  Take note of the data in the property “LogicalDisks”.

#TYPE System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject
"Server_Name","MFG","LogicalDisks"
"LocalHost","JASON-PC","System.Object[]"

 

If you need to save and object that contains an object, send it to an XML file using Export-Clixml.  Here is the same data set as an XML file.

image

 

Notice the hierarchy is preserved.  When you use Import-Clixml, you can import this data into a variable and all the objects properties are restored.

 

In case this is not an option, below is the code that I sent to the individual who posted the question.  This is a combination of the code that they presented and my changes.  This code is an example of how to take an object that has multiple properties and add those properties to your output object in a way that prevents property name conflicts.

Function Get-Details
{
Param (
    $ComputerName = "LocalHost"
)

    ForEach ($Srv in $ComputerName)
    {
        $CompSys = Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem -computerName $Srv
        $Proc = get-wmiobject Win32_Processor -ComputerName $Srv
        $OS = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -computerName $Srv

        $LDisk = Get-WmiObject win32_LogicalDisk -Filter "DriveType = 3" -ComputerName $Srv
       
        
        # Create a blank object.
        $Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
        
        # Add the objects properties.
        $Obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty `
                -Name "Server_Name" `
                -Value $Srv
        
        $Obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty `
                -Name "MFG" `
                -Value $CompSys.Name
        # Continue to fill in your property data here
        
        # The $Index will prevent the creation of Property names of the
        # same type.  Since the designed output is to a CSV, we need
        # to not save an object inside of an object or the CSV will not
        # have the designed data.

        $Index = 0
        
        # Create a property for each property of the logical disk that
        # needs to be in the output.  Take note of how the $Index value
        # is used in the -Name parameter.
        ForEach ($Disk in $LDisk)
        {
            $Obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty `
                    -Name "DeviceID_$Index" `
                    -Value $Disk.DeviceID
 
            $Obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty `
                    -Name "FreeSpace(GB)_$Index" `
                    -Value ($Disk.FreeSpace/1GB).ToString("0.00")  
            
            $Index++
        }



        # Write the object to the pipeline.
        Write-Output $Obj
        
    }


    
}


Get-Details | Export-csv c:\users\jason\documents\temp\test1.csv

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