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Using Text Based Logs with Windows PowerShell (6 of 8)


Day 6: The Property List.
 
Today we will complete step 2: Identify a rule to separate property names from property values
 
Yesterday we defined where our records begin and end.  Today we will develop the list of properties for our log object.  We do this so we can maintain a consistent member set for each of our objects (records) that we will be creating.  In this process we will send our function, Get-PropertyList, the $RecordIndex objects and the Log file.  In return, we will get back an object containing the property list.  We send the start and stop index numbers of the records so we do not count the start as a potential property in itself (unless you want it to be a property also).  We will add on a Slot property to hold the start of record’s information on which slot the blade is in.
 
First off we need to take a look at a function that will support not only the gathering of the property names, but also tomorrow’s code when it comes to creating the actual final object.
 
    Function Format-PropertyName
    {
    Param ($Name)
    # Used to get the proper name format for the list of properties and also
    # While creating the actual data for the final objects.
 
        $Value = $Name.Trim()
        $Pos = $Value.IndexOf(":")
        Write-Output $Value.Substring(0,$Pos).Replace(" ","")
               
    } # End: Function Format-PropertyName
 
 
Function Format-PropertyName will extract the property from the log file and separate it from its data.  It will also remove any spaces inside of the property value.  We will call this function again tomorrow.
 
    Function Get-PropertyList
    {
    Param($RecordIndex, $Log)
    # To help build a more flexible object, we need to identify possible
    # property names.  This function will cycle through each record and use
    # a rule to identify the name of a property.  Our rule is any string
    # other than the string that starts the record that starts with blank
    # characters, has text, and the it will end at the first ":".  All spaces
    # in the property names will also be removed.
       
        # Array to hold all of the objects.
        $Object = @()
 
        ForEach ($R in $RecordIndex)
        {
            For ($X=$R.Start+1;$X -lt $R.End;$X++)
            {
 
                # Examine only lines from the record that are not blank.
                If (($Log[$X].length -gt 0) -and ($Log[$X] -like "*:*"))
                {
                    $Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
                    $Obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty `
                                      -Name "Prop" `
                                      -Value (Format-PropertyName -Name $Log[$X])
                   $Object += $Obj                
                }
            } # End: For ($X=$R.Start;$X -lt $R.End;$X++)
        } # End: ForEach ($R in $RecordIndex)
 
        # Add the "Slot" property to record the slot number.
        $Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
        $Obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty `
                            -Name "Prop" `
                            -Value "Slot"
        $Object += $Obj
        # Filter the list of potential properties to make sure that they
        # are all unique.
        $Object = $Object | Select-Object -Property Prop -Unique
 
        # Return the object to the calling statement.
        Write-Output $Object
 
    } # End: Function Get-PropertyList
 
This may look a little complex.  We start off by cycling through each record by using the index number after a records Start value and ending at the records End value.  The ForEach block provides us with the index values to start and stop at.  The For loop allows us to isolate each record.  Inside of the For loop we make sure that the line we are looking at meet two criteria.   The line must have a length greater than zero and it must match the patter “*:*”.  If it does, we consider this to string to contain a property name.  We then create a new object with one property called Prop.  The value of this property is provided to us through the Format-PropertyName function.  Once we have cycled through the entire log, we add another property called Slot and then filter the list of property names to make sure that they are all unique.
 
Here is our current code:
 
Function Import-MyLog2
{
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Function Get-Log
    {
    # Reads the log file into memory.  Will display an error if the
    # file cannot be found.
 
        Try
        {
            Get-Content -path "\\Server1\Data2.txt" `
                        -ErrorAction Stop |
            Write-Output
        }
        Catch
        {
            Write-Error "The data file is not present"
            BREAK
        }
    } # End: Function Get-Log
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Function Get-RecordIndex
    {
    Param ($Log)
    # Determines the index number of where each record starts and ends.
    # Returns an opbject with the start and end index number of
    # each record.
 
        # Array to hold all of the objects.
        $Object = @()
       
        # Find the start of each record.
        For($X=0;$X -lt $Log.Count; $X++)
        {
            If($Log[$X] -like "Server Blade #* Information:")
            {
 
                $Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
                $Obj | Add-Member -NotePropertyName "Start" `
                                  -NotePropertyValue $X
                $Obj | Add-Member -NotePropertyName "End" `
                                  -NotePropertyValue $Null
                $Object += $Obj
            }
        } # End: For($X=0;$X -lt $Log.Count; $X++)
 
        # Derive the end of each record.
        For ($X = 0; $X -lt $Object.Count - 1; $X++)
        {
            $Object[$X].End = $Object[$X+1].Start -1
        } # End: For ($X = 0; $X -lt $Object.Count; $X++)
 
        # Add the final End value as the end of the log file.
        $Object[$Object.count-1].End = $Log.count
 
        # Return the object to the calling statement.
        Write-Output $Object
       
    } # End: Function Get-RecordIndex
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Function Format-PropertyName
    {
    Param ($Name)
    # Used to get the proper name format for the list of properties and also
    # While creating the actual data for the final objects.
 
        $Value = $Name.Trim()
        $Pos = $Value.IndexOf(":")
        Write-Output $Value.Substring(0,$Pos).Replace(" ","")
               
    } # End: Function Format-PropertyName
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Function Get-PropertyList
    {
    Param($RecordIndex, $Log)
    # To help build a more flexible object, we need to identify possible
    # property names.  This function will cycle through each record and use
    # a rule to identify the name of a property.  Our rule is any string
    # other than the string that starts the record that starts with blank
    # characters, has text, and the it will end at the first ":".  All spaces
    # in the property names will also be removed.
        
        # Array to hold all of the objects.
        $Object = @()
 
        ForEach ($R in $RecordIndex)
        {
            For ($X=$R.Start+1;$X -lt $R.End;$X++)
            {
 
                # Examine only lines from the record that are not blank.
                If (($Log[$X].length -gt 0) -and ($Log[$X] -like "*:*"))
                {
                    $Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
                    $Obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty `
                                      -Name "Prop" `
                                      -Value (Format-PropertyName -Name $Log[$X])
                   $Object += $Obj                
                }
            } # End: For ($X=$R.Start;$X -lt $R.End;$X++)
        } # End: ForEach ($R in $RecordIndex)
 
        # Add the "Slot" property to record the slot number.
        $Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
        $Obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty `
                            -Name "Prop" `
                            -Value "Slot"
        $Object += $Obj
        # Filter the list of protential properties to make sure that they
        # are all unique.
        $Object = $Object | Select-Object -Property Prop -Unique
 
        # Return the object to the calling statement.
        Write-Output $Object
 
    } # End: Function Get-PropertyList
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Function Get-Record
    {
    Param ($Log,$RecordIndex)
       
        # Array to hold all of the objects.
        $Object = @()
 
        ForEach($R in $RecordIndex)
        {
            $Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
            $String = $Null
            For($X=$R.Start;$X -lt $R.End; $X++)
            {
                $String += $Log[$X]
            }
            $Object += $String  
        }
       
        # Return the object to the calling statement.
        Write-Output $Object
 
    } # End: Function Get-Record
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    # Load the log into memory
    $Log = Get-Log
 
    # Extract the records
    $RecordIndex = Get-RecordIndex -Log $Log
 
    # Extract the propertyl list.
    Get-PropertyList -RecordIndex $RecordIndex -Log $Log
 
   
} #End: Function Import-MyLog1
 
Here is the current output:
Prop                                                                                                                                                                           
----                                                                                                                                                                            
ServerBladeType                                                                                                                                                                 
Type                                                                                                                                                                           
Manufacturer                                                                                                                                                                    
ProductName                                                                                                                                                                     
PartNumber                                                                                                                                                                     
SystemBoardSparePartNumber                                                                                                                                                      
SerialNumber                                                                                                                                                                    
UUID                                                                                                                                                                           
ServerName                                                                                                                                                                     
AssetTag                                                                                                                                                                        
ROMVersion                                                                                                                                                                      
CPU1                                                                                                                                                                           
CPU2                                                                                                                                                                            
Memory                                                                                                                                                                          
NIC1                                                                                                                                                                           
NIC2                                                                                                                                                                            
NIC3                                                                                                                                                                            
NIC4                                                                                                                                                                           
iSCSI1                                                                                                                                                                          
iSCSI2                                                                                                                                                                          
Mezzanine2                                                                                                                                                                     
Port1                                                                                                                                                                           
Port2                                                                                                                                                                           
ManagementProcessorInformation                                                                                                                                                  
Name                                                                                                                                                                           
FirmwareVersion                                                                                                                                                                 
IPAddress                                                                                                                                                                       
MACAddress                                                                                                                                                                     
PowerManagementControllerVersion                                                                                                                                                
FLBAdapter1                                                                                                                                                                     
EthernetFlexNIC(NIC1)LOM1                                                                                                                                                      
EthernetFlexNIC(NIC3)LOM1                                                                                                                                                       
EthernetFlexNIC(NIC5)LOM1                                                                                                                                                       
EthernetFlexNIC(NIC7)LOM1                                                                                                                                                      
EthernetFlexNIC(NIC2)LOM1                                                                                                                                                      
EthernetFlexNIC(NIC4)LOM1                                                                                                                                                       
EthernetFlexNIC(NIC6)LOM1                                                                                                                                                       
EthernetFlexNIC(NIC8)LOM1                                                                                                                                                      
Slot   
 
 
Tomorrow we will create an empty object to use as our template for the final product.

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