Powershell: How to create custom object and pass it to function in powershell?

Question

I want to create a custom object with properties in PowerShell and then pass that object to a function. I found the online example to create custom object, but its using HashTable. However, I have single object with properties, not an array of objects.

If possible, I would like to create single object instead of HashTable.
If HashTables are the way to go, how do I retrieve the object and pass it to a function?

Below is a sample of my code:

function CreateObject()
{       
  $properties = @{      
    'TargetServer' = “ServerName”;
    'ScriptPath' = “SomePath”;
    'ServiceName' = "ServiceName"
 }

   $obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property $properties    

   Write-Output $obj.TargetServer
   Write-Output $obj.ScriptPath
   Write-Output $obj.ServiceName

   return $obj
}

 function Function2([PSObject] $obj)
{   
   Do something here with $obj
}


$myObj = CreateObject

Function2 $myObj

EDIT 1
Thanks @Frode and @Matt. I didn't know that 'return' statement would return other results also. Will the following work?

function CreateObject()
{      
    return New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{     
       'TargetServer' = "ServerName"
       'ScriptPath' = "SomePath"
       'ServiceName' = "ServiceName"
      }
}

function Init()
{
   // Do something here

   $myObject = CreateObject()

  // Do something here with $myObject

  return $myObject
}

function Funcntion2([PSObject] $obj)
{
  //Do somthing with $obj
}

$obj = Init

Function2 $obj

You could also use just do this return [PSCustomObject]$obj = @{ 'TargetServer' = “ServerName”; 'ScriptPath' = “SomePath”; 'ServiceName' = "ServiceName" } — Robert Kozak
– Robert Kozak, Commented Mar 10, 2016 at 0:23
Powershell: Everything you wanted to know about PSCustomObject — KyleMit
– KyleMit ♦, Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 21:34

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:09:52Z

From about_return Its important to know that

In Windows PowerShell, the results of each statement are returned as output, even without a statement that contains the Return keyword.

So as Frode said you are going to be getting a string array. You want to be returning your object as a whole and not its parts. If the purpose of your function is just to return that custom object then you can reduce that statement to a single line.

function CreateObject()
{      
    return New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{     
        'TargetServer' = "ServerName"
        'ScriptPath' = "SomePath"
        'ServiceName' = "ServiceName"
    }
}

If you have at least PowerShell 3.0 then you can use the [pscustomobject] type cast to accomplish the same thing.

function CreateObject()
{      
    return [pscustomobject] @{     
        'TargetServer' = "ServerName"
        'ScriptPath' = "SomePath"
        'ServiceName' = "ServiceName"
    }
}

Note that in both cases the return keyword is optional but know that it does still serve a purpose as a logical exit of a function (all output until that point is still returned).

If you don't need to save the results of the function in a variable you can also just chain that into your next function.

Function2 (CreateObject)

Frode F. · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-09 23:49:16Z

5

You are creating an object. The hash table is just placeholder used to define all properties before turning them into an object.

Remove the three lines starting with write-output and you should be good. They are unnecessary and makes your function return an array and not just the object like you wanted. Use write-host if you only want to display the values to the screen while testing.

answered Mar 9, 2016 at 23:49

Frode F.

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