Get-Package command includes xml string - Need to convert to PSObject - powershell

Question

Need Windows Update Install Date from Get-Package SwidTagText object. The object is in XML format and everything I have tried to convert doesn't work.
I am trying to switch from WMI because its terribly slow to pull back results.
Tried the ConvertFrom-XML function. Also tried ConvertFrom-String
Get-Package -ProviderName msu | Select-Object *
PropertyOfSoftwareIdentity : PropertyOfSoftwareIdentity
FastPackageReference : Definition Update for Windows Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (Definition 1.297.486.0)
ProviderName : msu
Source :
Status : Installed
SearchKey :
FullPath : ?
PackageFilename : ?
FromTrustedSource : False
Summary : Install this update to revise the definition files that are used to detect viruses, spyware, and other potentially
unwanted software. Once you have installed this item, it cannot be removed.
SwidTags : {Definition Update for Windows Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (Definition 1.297.486.0)}
CanonicalId : msu:Definition Update for Windows Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (Definition 1.297.486.0)
Metadata : {summary,SupportUrl,Date,ResultCode}
SwidTagText : <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" standalone="yes"?>
<SoftwareIdentity
name="Definition Update for Windows Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (Definition 1.297.486.0)"
xmlns="http://standards.iso.org/iso/19770/-2/2015/schema.xsd">
<Meta
summary="Install this update to revise the definition files that are used to detect viruses, spyware, and other
potentially unwanted software. Once you have installed this item, it cannot be removed."
SupportUrl="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=52661"
Date="7/5/2019 6:17:09 PM"
ResultCode="2" />
</SoftwareIdentity>
Dependencies : {}
IsCorpus :
Name : Definition Update for Windows Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (Definition 1.297.486.0)
Version :

Answer 1

If you're trying to get the raw dates out of the XML you could do something like this:
$xml = ((Get-Package -ProviderName msu) | Select-Object *).SwidTagText
foreach ($item in $xml)
{
$(
$(
[xml]$item | Select-Object "InnerXml"
).InnerXml | Select-Xml -XPath "//*[#Date]"
).Node.Date
}
This gives you each entry to work with like so:
PS C:\Users\Skuld> $xml[0]
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" standalone="yes"?>
<SoftwareIdentity
name="Update for Windows Defender Antivirus antimalware platform - KB4052623
(Version 4.18.1906.3)" xmlns="http://standards.iso.org/iso/19770/-2/2015/schema.xsd">
<Meta
summary="This package will update Windows Defender Antivirus antimalware
platform’s components on the user machine."
SupportUrl="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=862339"
Date="09/07/2019 10:46:52"
ResultCode="2" />
</SoftwareIdentity>
You then use Select-XML/XPath to pick out the specific date attribute.
My example will give just a list of all the dates, but you could tweak it if you need extra information along side it.

Answer 2

Your code worked and now I make a function that searches for specific items inside the SwidTagText
Truly, Powershell is magical

Answer 3

#Use as much detail as possible. Can't process Arrays yet....
#Example = Get-Package -name "Application Name" | Where-Object { $_.ProviderName -eq "Programs" } | fl *
#Example = Get-Package -name "Application Name" | Where-Object { $_.ProviderName -eq "msi" } | fl *
#Returns any variable from XML SwidTagText
function SwidTagText-XML-Variable ( [string] $PackageName , [string] $XMLName, [string] $PackageType )
{
$PackageObject = Get-Package -name $PackageName | Where-Object { $_.ProviderName -eq $PackageType }
$xml= $PackageObject.SwidTagText
foreach ($item in $xml)
{
$XMLValue = $(
$(
[xml]$item | Select-Object "InnerXml"
).InnerXml | Select-Xml -XPath "//*[#$XMLName]"
).Node.$XMLName
}
return $XMLValue
}
#Example of Ubisoft Program and check for UninstallString
SwidTagText-XML-Variable "*ubisoft*" "UninstallString" "Programs"
So the function will search for an XML item inside the SwidTagText. Parsing and getting XML items from this is so useful