PowerShell recursive object properties

Question

I need a method that gives me all the properties of an object (recursively). It is not known how many sub-objects the transferred object has.

Example object:

$Car = [PSCustomObject] @{
    Tire          = [PSCustomObject] @{
        Color = "Black"
        Count = 4
    }

    SteeringWheel = [PSCustomObject]@{
        Color   = "Blue"
        Buttons = 15
    }
}

Thank you so much!

Answer 1

Use the hidden psobject member set to enumerate the properties, then recurse:

function Resolve-Properties 
{
  param([Parameter(ValueFromPipeline)][object]$InputObject)

  process {
    foreach($prop in $InputObject.psobject.Properties){
      [pscustomobject]@{
        Name = $prop.Name
        Value = $prop.Value
      }
      Resolve-Properties $prop.Value
    }
  }
}

Output (with your sample object hierarchy):

PS C:\> Resolve-Properties $Car

Name          Value
----          -----
Tire          @{Color=Black; Count=4}
Color         Black
Length        5
Count         4
SteeringWheel @{Color=Blue; Buttons=15}
Color         Blue
Length        4
Buttons       15

Be careful, the function shown above makes no effort to protect against infinitely looping recursive references, so:

$a = [pscustomobject]@{b = [pscustomobject]@{a = $null}}
$a.b.a = $a
Resolve-Properties $a

Will send your CPU spinning