How do I convert a powershell hashtable to an object?-CodePudding

Some hashtables in PowerShell, such as those imported with Import-PowerShellDataFile, would be much easier to navigate if being a PSCustomObject instead.

@{
    AllNodes = @(
        @{
            NodeName = 'SRV1'
            Role = 'Application'
            RunCentralAdmin = $true
        },
        @{
            NodeName = 'SRV2'
            Role = 'DistributedCache'
            RunCentralAdmin = $true
        },
        @{
            NodeName = 'SRV3'
            Role = 'WebFrontEnd'
            PSDscAllowDomainUser = $true
            PSDscAllowPlainTextPassword = $true
            CertificateFolder = '\\mediasrv\Media'
        },
        @{
            NodeName = 'SRV4'
            Role = 'Search'
        },
        @{
            NodeName = '*'
            DatabaseServer = 'sql1'
            FarmConfigDatabaseName = '__FarmConfig'
            FarmContentDatabaseName = '__FarmContent'
            CentralAdministrationPort = 1234
            RunCentralAdmin = $false
        }
    );
    NonNodeData = @{
        Comment = 'No comment'
    }
}

When imported it will become a hashtable of hashtables

$psdnode = Import-PowerShellDataFile .\nodefile.psd1

$psdnode

Name                           Value
----                           -----
AllNodes                       {System.Collections.Hashtable, System.Collect...
NonNodeData                    {Comment}

$psdnode.GetType()

IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType
-------- -------- ----                                     --------
True     True     Hashtable                                System.Object

and the data structure will be just weird when navigating by property name.

CodePudding user response：

What is the issue/question?

@'
@{
    AllNodes = @(
        @{
            NodeName = 'SRV1'
            Role = 'Application'
            RunCentralAdmin = $true
        },
        @{
            NodeName = 'SRV2'
            Role = 'DistributedCache'
            RunCentralAdmin = $true
        },
        @{
            NodeName = 'SRV3'
            Role = 'WebFrontEnd'
            PSDscAllowDomainUser = $true
            PSDscAllowPlainTextPassword = $true
            CertificateFolder = '\\mediasrv\Media'
        },
        @{
            NodeName = 'SRV4'
            Role = 'Search'
        },
        @{
            NodeName = '*'
            DatabaseServer = 'sql1'
            FarmConfigDatabaseName = '__FarmConfig'
            FarmContentDatabaseName = '__FarmContent'
            CentralAdministrationPort = 1234
            RunCentralAdmin = $false
        }
    );
    NonNodeData = @{
        Comment = 'No comment'
    }
}
'@ |Set-Content .\nodes.psd1

$psdnode = Import-PowerShellDataFile .\nodefile.psd1

$psdnode

Name                           Value
----                           -----
NonNodeData                    {Comment}
AllNodes                       {SRV1, SRV2, SRV3, SRV4…}

$psdnode.AllNodes.where{ $_.NodeName -eq 'SRV3' }.Role
WebFrontEnd

CodePudding user response：

A very simple way, that I discovered just yesterday, is to do a "double-convert" over JSON.

$nodes = Import-PowerShellDataFile .\nodes.psd1 | ConvertTo-Json | ConvertFrom-Json

$nodes

AllNodes
--------
{@{NodeName=SRV1; RunCentralAdmin=True; Role=Application}, @{NodeName=SRV2; RunCentralAdm...}

$nodes.GetType()   

IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType
-------- -------- ----                                     --------
True     False    PSCustomObject                           System.Object