write output two dimensional array as Format-Table

Question

My goal is to write a function that supports writing any array as a table, where the args given are the array, and the number of columns wanted in the table.

I have the following code...

Function PrintArrayAsTable
{
    Param ([String[]]$array ,[Int]$numOfItemsPerRow)

    $elementCounter = 1
    [String[]]$row = @()
    [String[]]$tableArray = @()

    ForEach ($element in $array)
    {
        $row += $element
        if ($elementCounter % $numOfItemsPerRow -eq 0)
        {
            $tableArray += ,($row)
            [String[]]$row = @()
        }
        $elementCounter++
    }

    if ($row)
    {
        $tableArray += ,($row)
        [String[]]$row = @()
    }

    $tableArray | Format-Table
}

[String[]]$array = @('SamAccountName', 'msRTCSIP-UserEnabled', 'msRTCSIP-OptionFlags', 'msRTCSIP-PrimaryUserAddress', 'msRTCSIP-PrimaryHomeServer', 
                     'mail', 'msExchMasterAccountSid', 'homeMDB', 'proxyaddresses', 'legacyExchangeDN', 
                     'lastLogonTimestamp', 'logonCount', 'lastLogoff', 'lastLogon', 'pwdLastSet', 'userAccountControl', 'whenCreated', 'whenChanged', 'accountExpires', 
                     'sn', 'givenName', 'displayName', 'distinguishedName', 'initials', 'l', 'st', 'street', 'title', 'description', 'postalCode', 'physicalDeliveryOfficeName', 'telephoneNumber', 'facsimileTelephoneNumber', 'info', 'memberOf', 'co', 'department', 'company', 'streetAddress', 'employeeNumber', 'employeeType', 'objectGUID', 'employeeID', 'homeDirectory', 'homeDrive', 'scriptPath', 'objectSid', 'userPrincipalName', 'url', 'msDS-SourceObjectDN', 'manager', 'extensionattribute8')

PrintArrayAsTable $array 5

This will print the following output...

SamAccountName msRTCSIP-UserEnabled msRTCSIP-OptionFlags msRTCSIP-PrimaryUserAddress msRTCSIP-PrimaryHomeServer
mail msExchMasterAccountSid homeMDB proxyaddresses legacyExchangeDN
lastLogonTimestamp logonCount lastLogoff lastLogon pwdLastSet
userAccountControl whenCreated whenChanged accountExpires sn
givenName displayName distinguishedName initials l
st street title description postalCode
physicalDeliveryOfficeName telephoneNumber facsimileTelephoneNumber info memberOf
co department company streetAddress employeeNumber
employeeType objectGUID employeeID homeDirectory homeDrive
scriptPath objectSid userPrincipalName url msDS-SourceObjectDN
manager extensionattribute8

Instead, I want the format printout to be like the following...

SamAccountName             msRTCSIP-UserEnabled   msRTCSIP-OptionFlags     msRTCSIP-PrimaryUserAddress msRTCSIP-PrimaryHomeServer
mail                       msExchMasterAccountSid homeMDB                  proxyaddresses              legacyExchangeDN
lastLogonTimestamp         logonCount             lastLogoff               lastLogon                   pwdLastSet
userAccountControl         whenCreated            whenChanged              accountExpires              sn
givenName                  displayName            distinguishedName        initials                    l
st                         street                 title                    description                 postalCode
physicalDeliveryOfficeName telephoneNumber        facsimileTelephoneNumber info                        memberOf
co                         department             company                  streetAddress               employeeNumber
employeeType               objectGUID             employeeID               homeDirectory               homeDrive
scriptPath                 objectSid              userPrincipalName        url                         msDS-SourceObjectDN
manager                    extensionattribute8

Any idea how to do this?

Just to be clear, you're trying to render the array in X equal-width columns, not arrange a 2-dimensional array into a table with named columns? — MisterSeajay
– MisterSeajay, Commented Feb 26, 2016 at 23:02
well the input arg is just an array. I separate it into a two dimensional array, so each array in the two dimensional array will be printed as a row of the table. The amount of columns will be based on the input arg of the function. In this example, we use 5, so there will be 5 columns. The width should equal the longest string in that column. — Fiddle Freak
– Fiddle Freak, Commented Feb 26, 2016 at 23:30

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-27 00:09:19Z

4

Format-Wide does basically what you describe already.

All you need to do is construct an object with a single property for each string, and then refer to that property name with Format-Wide -Property:

function Print-Grid
{
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory,ValueFromPipeline,Position=0)]
        [string[]]$Array,

        [Parameter(Position=1)]
        [ValidateRange(1,24)]
        [int]$ColumnCount
    )
    $GridSplat = @{
        InputObject = $Array|ForEach-Object {
            New-Object psobject -Property @{'Value' = $_}
        }
        Property    = 'Value'
    }

    if(-not $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('ColumnCount'))
    {
        $GridSplat['AutoSize'] = $true
    }
    else
    {
        $GridSplat['Column'] = $ColumnCount
    }

    Format-Wide @GridSplat
}

edited Feb 27, 2016 at 0:09

answered Feb 26, 2016 at 23:16

Mathias R. Jessen

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5 Comments

Fiddle Freak Over a year ago

Hi Mathias, thanks for the response. PowerGUI is showing a squiggly line under the V in '[Parameter(Mandatory,ValueFromPipeline,Position=0)]'. It says Parsing Error: The "=" operator is missing after a named argument. Any idea why this is? NOTE: the code does work with powershell.exe, but errors out when compiled with PowerGUI Script Editor version 1.9.5.966.

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

@FiddleFreak Because PowerGUI expects you to explicitly mark each named Parameter attribute either $true or $false (maybe for version 2.0 compliance, just a guess)

Fiddle Freak Over a year ago

ah your right, after a little googling I found this... github.com/smurawski/PowerShellGuard/issues/4. All I did was remove lines [Parameter(Mandatory,ValueFromPipeline,Position=0)] and [Parameter(Position=1)]. Runs fine now for both Powershell and PowerGUI. Thanks :D

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

Don't remove them (they serve a purpose), just give them a value (ie. [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,ValueFromPipeline=$true,Position=0)])

user4003407 Over a year ago

Why construct objects when you can use calculated properties $GridSplat = {InputObject = $Array; Property = {$_}; Force = $true}?

MisterSeajay · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-26 23:20:23Z

0

It looks like the bit that is missing is getting your rows of data into neat, equal-width columns...

I'd try to work out the maximum width you'd need a column to be (say, the length of the longest string in the array plus 1). You could do this using:

$width = ($array | %{$_.Length} | Measure-Object -Maximum).Maximum + 1

And then you could pad out each element to this width:

$row += $element.PadRight($width)

answered Feb 26, 2016 at 23:20

MisterSeajay

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2 Comments

MisterSeajay Over a year ago

Actually, this isn't quite what you wanted, as every element is padded to the width of the longest one in the whole array. What you needed was each to be padded to the width of the widest, per column. Looks like @Mathias has a better answer!

Fiddle Freak Over a year ago

Thanks, this is an option, but your right. However, it's good to know this method exists as well.

nsaint · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-25 15:53:26Z

0

I found this post while trying to do something similar and seem to find a different way of doing this;

$arrayName | select-object -Property @{Name = 'Col1 name'; Expression = { $_[1]}},
                                     @{Name = 'Col2 name'; Expression = { $_[2]}},
                                     @{Name = 'Col3 name'; Expression = { $_[3]}},
                                     @{Name = 'Col4 name'; Expression = { $_[4]}}

answered Apr 25, 2021 at 15:53

nsaint

1

Comments

nsaint · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-25 16:42:06Z

And if you want to control the column format, here is the full answer;

$s1errorcode_list | select-object -Property @{Name = 'Col1 name'; Expression = { $_[1]}},
                                        @{Name = 'Col2 name'; Expression = { $_[2]}},
                                        @{Name = 'Col3 name'; Expression = { $_[3]}},
                                        @{Name = 'Col4 name'; Expression = { $_[4]}} | 
                       format-table -Property @{ Expression = 'Col1 name'; width=6 },
                                              @{ Expression = 'Col2 name'; width=84 },
                                              @{ Expression = 'Col3 name'; width=80 },
                                              @{ Expression = 'Col4 name'}

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