Powershell Object not being piped through to Functions - powershell

Question

I have two functions one creates a custom object which once done is piped to the next function. The problem is that the second function is not receiving my object correctly. Instead of using the pipeline I have tried setting a variable and then piping that variable to the function. Below are the two functions with the output of get member on the returned object. All the string param are being processed correctly. But the objects simply wont work. In the begin block of the New-BaseGuest I am not able to assign the results to the variables.
Basically I want to end up with:
Get-ServerFromXML -XMLFile File -GuestName Name | New-BaseGuest
The New-BaseGuest function is incomplete as I cannot get the parameters working.
TypeName: System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetType Method type GetType()
ToString Method string ToString()
CDROM_Connected NoteProperty object CDROM_Connected=null
CDROM_ISO NoteProperty object CDROM_ISO=null
Floppy_Connected NoteProperty object Floppy_Connected=null
Floppy_ISO NoteProperty object Floppy_ISO=null
GuestType NoteProperty string GuestType=vmkernel6Guest
IPAddress NoteProperty string IPAddress=192.168.199.40
ServerName NoteProperty string ServerName=ESX-VSAN3
vCPU NoteProperty string vCPU=2
vHDD NoteProperty Object[] vHDD=System.Object[]
vNIC NoteProperty Object[] vNIC=System.Object[]
vRAM NoteProperty string vRAM=5120
function Get-ServerFromXML
{
<##>
[CmdletBinding()]
param
(
[String]
$XMLFile,
[String]
$GuestName
)
$xml = New-Object -TypeName XML
$xml.Load($XMLFile)
$Server = Select-Xml -Xml $xml -XPath ('/Servers/Server[#Name = "' + $GuestName + '" ]')
$vNicObjs = #()
$vHddobjs = #()
If ($Server.Node.Hardware.vnic.Count -ne $null)
{
$Server.Node.Hardware.vnic | %{
$NicProps = #{
NIC_ID = $_.ID;
NIC_Type = $_.Type;
NIC_StartConnected = $_.StartConnected;
NIC_MACAddress = $_.MACAddress;
NIC_WakeOnLan = $_.WakeOnLan;
NIC_PortGroup = $_.PortGroup
}
$vNicObj = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSObject -Property $NicProps
$vNicObjs += $vNicObj
}
}
Else
{
$NicProps = #{
NIC_ID = $Server.Node.Hardware.vnic.ID;
NIC_Type = $Server.Node.Hardware.vnic.Type;
NIC_StartConnected = $Server.Node.Hardware.vnic.StartConnected;
NIC_MACAddress = $Server.Node.Hardware.vnic.MACAddress;
NIC_WakeOnLan = $Server.Node.Hardware.vnic.WakeOnLan;
NIC_PortGroup = $Server.Node.Hardware.vnic.PortGroup
}
$vNivObj = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSObject -Property $NicProps
$vNicObjs += $vNivObj
}
If ($Server.Node.Hardware.vHDD.Count -ne $null)
{
$Server.Node.Hardware.vHDD | %{
$HDDProps = #{
HDD_ID = $_.ID;
HDD_Type = $_.Type;
HDD_Size = $Server.Node.Hardware.vHDD.Size;
HDD_Datastore = $_.Datastore;
HDD_StorageFormate = $_.StorageFormat
}
$vHDDObj = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSObject -Property $HDDProps
$vHDDObjs += $vHDDObj
}
}
Else
{
$HDDProps = #{
HDD_ID = $Server.Node.Hardware.vHDD.ID;
HDD_Type = $Server.Node.Hardware.vHDD.Type;
HDD_Size = $Server.Node.Hardware.vHDD.Size;
HDD_DataStore = $Server.Node.Hardware.vHDD.Datastore;
HDD_StorageFormat = $Server.Node.Hardware.vHDD.StorageFormat
}
$vHDDObj = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSObject -Property $HDDProps
$vHDDObjs += $vHDDObj
}
$ServerProps =[Ordered]#{
ServerName = $Server.Node.Description.Name;
GuestType = $Server.Node.Description.GuestType;
IPAddress = $Server.Node.Description.PrimaryIP;
vCPU = $Server.Node.Hardware.vCPU;
vRAM = $Server.Node.Hardware.vRAM;
vHDD = $vHddobjs;
vNIC = $vNicObjs;
CDROM_ISO = $Server.Node.Hardware.CDROM.ISOPath
CDROM_Connected = $Server.Node.Hardware.CDROM.StartConnected
Floppy_ISO = $Server.Node.Hardware.Floppy.ISOPath
Floppy_Connected = $Server.Node.Hardware.Floppy.StartConnected
}
$ServerObj = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSObject -Property $ServerProps
$ServerObj
}
function New-BaseGuest
{
<##>
[CmdletBinding(PositionalBinding = $true,
SupportsShouldProcess = $true)]
param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true,
ValueFromPipeline = $false,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 1)]
[string]
$ServerName,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true,
ValueFromPipeline = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 2)]
[string]
$GuestType,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true,
ValueFromPipeline = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 3)]
[string]
$vCPU,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true,
ValueFromPipeline = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 4)]
[string]
$vRAM,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 5)]
[system.object]
$vHDD,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 6)]
[system.object]
$vNIC,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $false,
ValueFromPipeline = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 7)]
[string]
$CDROM_ISO = $Null,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $false,
ValueFromPipeline = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 8)]
[string]
$FLOPPY_ISO = $Null,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $false,
ValueFromPipeline = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 9)]
[string]
$CDROM_Connected = $Null,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true,
ValueFromPipeline = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true,
Position = 10)]
[string]
$Floppy_Connected = $Null
)
BEGIN
{
$Datastore = ($vHDD | Where-Object { $_.HDD_ID -eq 1 } | Select-Object -Property HDD_DataStore).HDD_DataStore
$PortGroup = ($vNIC | Where-Object { $_.NIC_ID -eq 1 } | Select-Object -Property NIC_PortGroup).NIC_PortGroup
$DiskSize = ($vHDD | Where-Object { $_.HDD_ID -eq 1 } | Select-Object -Property HDD_Size).HDD_Size
$DiskFormat = ($vHDD | Where-Object { $_.HDD_ID -eq 1 } | Select-Object -Property HDD_StorageFormat).HDD_StorageFormat
}
PROCESS
{
New-VM -Name $ServerName `
-Datastore $Datastore `
-NumCPU $vCPU `
-MemoryGB $vRAM`
-DiskGB $DiskSize `
-NetworkName $PortGroup `
-DiskStorageFormat $CDROM_ISO `
-GuestID $GuestType | Out-Null
}
END
{
}
}

Answer 1

This is expected behavior. The begin {} block runs before any pipeline objects are encountered, so you have no access to any parameters that come in through the pipeline in your begin block.
The process {} block is run once for each item, so the code you have in the begin block really needs to be put there (because it's specific to a single VM).