How to fix System Object value in PowerShell - powershell

Question

I'm Importing a CSV file and reading a column that look like this
Exchange Mailboxes
Include:[john.doe#outlook.com]
Include:[david.smith#outlook.com]
Include:[kevin.love#outlook.com]
I use Get-EXOMailbox to get their DisplayName and Id. After that I'm trying to pass it in my New-Object like below so that I can export it. The problem I have is when I look at my Excel file, it showing System.Object[] on every row instead of showing each actual DisplayName and Id.
Any help on how to display it correctly would be really appreciated.
$result = Import-Csv "C:\AuditLogSearch\Dis\Modified-Audit-Log-Records.csv" |
Where-Object { -join $_.psobject.Properties.Value } |
ForEach-Object {
$exoMailbox = ($_.'Exchange Mailboxes' -split '[][]')[1]
$exoUser = Get-EXOMailbox -Filter "PrimarySmtpAddress -eq '$exoMailbox'"
# Construct and output a custom object with the properties of interest.
[pscustomobject] #{
UserName = $exoUser.DisplayName
UserId = $exoUser.Identity
}
}
New-Object PsObject -Property #{
'Searched User' = $result.UserName //I'm trying to pass here
'SharePoint URL' = $spUrl
'Searched User GMID' = $result.UserId //and here
'Site Owner' = $spositeOwner
User = $u.User
"Result Status" = $u."Result Status"
"Date & Time" = $u."Date & Time"
"Search Conditions" = $u."Search Conditions"
"SharePoint Sites" = $u."SharePoint Sites"
"Exchange Public Folders" = $u."Exchange Public Folders"
"Exchange Mailboxes" = $u."Exchange Mailboxes".Split([char[]]#('[', ']'))[1]
"Case Name" = $u."Case Name"
"Search Criteria" = $u."Search Criteria"
"Record Type" = $u."Record Type"
"Hold Name" = $u."Hold Name".Split(('\'))[1]
"Activity" = if ($null -ne ($importData | where-object { $_.Name -eq $u."Activity" }).Value) { ($importData | where-object { $_.Name -eq $u."Activity" }).Value }
else { $u."Activity" }
} | Select-object -Property User, "Date & Time", "Case Name", "Hold Name", "Record Type", "Activity" , "Searched User", "Searched User GMID", "SharePoint URL", "Exchange Mailboxes", "Exchange Public Folders" , "Search Criteria", "Result Status"
}
$xlsx = $result | Export-Excel #params
$ws = $xlsx.Workbook.Worksheets[$params.Worksheetname]
$ws.Dimension.Columns
$ws.Column(1).Width = 20
$ws.Column(2).Width = 20
$ws.Column(3).Width = 15
$ws.Column(4).Width = 15
$ws.Column(5).Width = 15
$ws.Column(6).Width = 160
$ws.View.ShowGridLines = $false
Close-ExcelPackage $xlsx

Answer 1

$result is an array of objects, containing an object for each non-empty row in your input CSV; thus, adding values such as $result.UserName to the properties of the object you're creating with New-Object will be arrays too, which explains your symptom (it seems that Export-Excel, like Export-Csv doesn't meaningfully support array-valued properties and simply uses their type name, System.Object[] during export).
It sounds like the easiest solution is to add the additional properties directly in the ForEach-Object call, to the individual objects being constructed and output via the existing [pscustomobject] literal ([pscustomobject] #{ ... }):
$result =
Import-Csv "C:\AuditLogSearch\Dis\Modified-Audit-Log-Records.csv" |
Where-Object { -join $_.psobject.Properties.Value } | # only non-empty rows
ForEach-Object {
$exoMailbox = ($_.'Exchange Mailboxes' -split '[][]')[1]
$exoUser = Get-EXOMailbox -Filter "PrimarySmtpAddress -eq '$exoMailbox'"
# Construct and output a custom object with the properties of interest.
[pscustomobject] #{
UserName = $exoUser.DisplayName
UserId = $exoUser.Identity
# === Add the additional properties here:
'Searched User' = $exoUser.UserName
'SharePoint URL' = $spUrl
'Searched User GMID' = $exoUser.UserId
'Site Owner' = $spositeOwner
# ...
}
}
Note:
The above shows only some of the properties from your question; add as needed (it is unclear where $u comes from in some of them.
Using a custom-object literal ([pscustomobject] #{ ... }) is not only easier and more efficient than a New-Object PSObject -Property #{ ... }[1] call, unlike the latter it implicitly preserves the definition order of the properties, so that there's no need for an additional Select-Object call that ensures the desired ordering of the properties.
[1] Perhaps surprisingly, PSObject ([psobject]) and PSCustomObject ([pscustomobject]) refer to the same type, namely System.Management.Automation.PSObject, despite the existence of a separate System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject, which custom-objects instances self-report as (([pscustomobject] #{}).GetType().FullName) - see GitHub issue #4344 for background information.