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1.26 Program: Interactively View and Explore Objects

When working with unfamiliar objects in PowerShell, much of your time is spent with the Get-Member and Format-List commands—navigating through properties, reviewing members, and more.

For ad hoc investigation, a graphical interface is often useful.

To solve this problem, Example 1-18 provides an interactive tree view that you can use to explore and navigate objects. For example, to examine the structure of a script as PowerShell sees it (its abstract syntax tree):

$ps = { Get-Process -ID $pid }.Ast
Show-Object $ps

For more information about parsing and analyzing the structure of PowerShell scripts, see Recipe 10.10.

Example 1-18. Show-Object.ps1
#############################################################################
##
## Show-Object
##
## From PowerShell Cookbook (O'Reilly)
## by Lee Holmes (http://www.leeholmes.com/guide)
##
##############################################################################

<#

.SYNOPSIS

Provides a graphical interface to let you explore and navigate an object.


.EXAMPLE

PS > $ps = { Get-Process -ID $pid }.Ast
PS > Show-Object $ps

#>

param(
    ## The object to examine
    [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true)]
    $InputObject
)

Set-StrictMode -Version 3

Add-Type -Assembly System.Windows.Forms

## Figure out the variable name to use when displaying the
## object navigation syntax. To do this, we look through all
## of the variables for the one with the same object identifier.
$rootVariableName = dir variable:\* -Exclude InputObject,Args |
    Where-Object {
        $_.Value -and
        ($_.Value.GetType() -eq $InputObject.GetType()) -and
        ($_.Value.GetHashCode() -eq $InputObject.GetHashCode())
}

## If we got multiple, pick the first
$rootVariableName = $rootVariableName| % Name | Select -First 1

## If we didn't find one, use a default name
if(-not $rootVariableName)
{
    $rootVariableName = "InputObject"
}

## A function to add an object to the display tree
function PopulateNode($node, $object)
{
    ## If we've been asked to add a NULL object, just return
    if(-not $object) { return }

    ## If the object is a collection, then we need to add multiple
    ## children to the node
    if([System.Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives]::GetEnumerator($object))
    {
        ## Some very rare collections don't support indexing (i.e.: $foo[0]).
        ## In this situation, PowerShell returns the parent object back when you
        ## try to access the [0] property.
        $isOnlyEnumerable = $object.GetHashCode() -eq $object[0].GetHashCode()

        ## Go through all the items
        $count = 0
        foreach($childObjectValue in $object)
        {
            ## Create the new node to add, with the node text of the item and
            ## value, along with its type
            $newChildNode = New-Object Windows.Forms.TreeNode
            $newChildNode.Text = "$($node.Name)[$count] = $childObjectValue"
            $newChildNode.ToolTipText = $childObjectValue.GetType()

            ## Use the node name to keep track of the actual property name
            ## and syntax to access that property.
            ## If we can't use the index operator to access children, add
            ## a special tag that we'll handle specially when displaying
            ## the node names.
            if($isOnlyEnumerable)
            {
                $newChildNode.Name = "@"
            }

            $newChildNode.Name += "[$count]"
            $null = $node.Nodes.Add($newChildNode)

            ## If this node has children or properties, add a placeholder
            ## node underneath so that the node shows a '+' sign to be
            ## expanded.
            AddPlaceholderIfRequired $newChildNode $childObjectValue

            $count++
        }
    }
    else
    {
        ## If the item was not a collection, then go through its
        ## properties
        foreach($child in $object.PSObject.Properties)
        {
            ## Figure out the value of the property, along with
            ## its type.
            $childObject = $child.Value
            $childObjectType = $null
            if($childObject)
            {
                $childObjectType = $childObject.GetType()
            }

            ## Create the new node to add, with the node text of the item and
            ## value, along with its type
            $childNode = New-Object Windows.Forms.TreeNode
            $childNode.Text = $child.Name + " = $childObject"
            $childNode.ToolTipText = $childObjectType
            if([Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives]::GetEnumerator($childObject))
            {
                $childNode.ToolTipText += "[]"
            }

            $childNode.Name = $child.Name
            $null = $node.Nodes.Add($childNode)

            ## If this node has children or properties, add a placeholder
            ## node underneath so that the node shows a '+' sign to be
            ## expanded.
            AddPlaceholderIfRequired $childNode $childObject
        }
    }
}

## A function to add a placeholder if required to a node.
## If there are any properties or children for this object, make a temporary
## node with the text "..." so that the node shows a '+' sign to be
## expanded.
function AddPlaceholderIfRequired($node, $object)
{
    if(-not $object) { return }

    if([System.Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives]::GetEnumerator($object) -or
        @($object.PSObject.Properties))
    {
        $null = $node.Nodes.Add( (New-Object Windows.Forms.TreeNode "...") )
    }
}

## A function invoked when a node is selected.
function OnAfterSelect
{
    param($Sender, $TreeViewEventArgs)

    ## Determine the selected node
    $nodeSelected = $Sender.SelectedNode

    ## Walk through its parents, creating the virtual
    ## PowerShell syntax to access this property.
    $nodePath = GetPathForNode $nodeSelected

    ## Now, invoke that PowerShell syntax to retrieve
    ## the value of the property.
    $resultObject = Invoke-Expression $nodePath
    $outputPane.Text = $nodePath

    ## If we got some output, put the object's member
    ## information in the text box.
    if($resultObject)
    {
        $members = Get-Member -InputObject $resultObject | Out-String
        $outputPane.Text += "`n" + $members
    }
}

## A function invoked when the user is about to expand a node
function OnBeforeExpand
{
    param($Sender, $TreeViewCancelEventArgs)

    ## Determine the selected node
    $selectedNode = $TreeViewCancelEventArgs.Node

    ## If it has a child node that is the placeholder, clear
    ## the placeholder node.
    if($selectedNode.FirstNode -and
        ($selectedNode.FirstNode.Text -eq "..."))
    {
        $selectedNode.Nodes.Clear()
    }
    else
    {
        return
    }

    ## Walk through its parents, creating the virtual
    ## PowerShell syntax to access this property.
    $nodePath = GetPathForNode $selectedNode

    ## Now, invoke that PowerShell syntax to retrieve
    ## the value of the property.
    Invoke-Expression "`$resultObject = $nodePath"

    ## And populate the node with the result object.
    PopulateNode $selectedNode $resultObject
}

## A function to handle key presses on the tree view.
## In this case, we capture ^C to copy the path of
## the object property that we're currently viewing.
function OnTreeViewKeyPress
{
    param($Sender, $KeyPressEventArgs)

    ## [Char] 3 = Control-C
    if($KeyPressEventArgs.KeyChar -eq 3)
    {
        $KeyPressEventArgs.Handled = $true

        ## Get the object path, and set it on the clipboard
        $node = $Sender.SelectedNode
        $nodePath = GetPathForNode $node
        [System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard]::SetText($nodePath)

        $form.Close()
    }
    elseif([System.Windows.Forms.Control]::ModifierKeys -eq "Control")
    {
        if($KeyPressEventArgs.KeyChar -eq '+')
        {
            $SCRIPT:currentFontSize++
            UpdateFonts $SCRIPT:currentFontSize

            $KeyPressEventArgs.Handled = $true
        }
        elseif($KeyPressEventArgs.KeyChar -eq '-')
        {
            $SCRIPT:currentFontSize--
            if($SCRIPT:currentFontSize -lt 1) { $SCRIPT:currentFontSize = 1 }
            UpdateFonts $SCRIPT:currentFontSize

            $KeyPressEventArgs.Handled = $true
        }
    }
}

## A function to handle key presses on the form.
## In this case, we handle Ctrl-Plus and Ctrl-Minus
## to adjust font size.
function OnKeyUp
{
    param($Sender, $KeyUpEventArgs)

    if([System.Windows.Forms.Control]::ModifierKeys -eq "Control")
    {
        if($KeyUpEventArgs.KeyCode -in 'Add','OemPlus')
        {
            $SCRIPT:currentFontSize++
            UpdateFonts $SCRIPT:currentFontSize

            $KeyUpEventArgs.Handled = $true
        }
        elseif($KeyUpEventArgs.KeyCode -in 'Subtract','OemMinus')
        {
            $SCRIPT:currentFontSize--
            if($SCRIPT:currentFontSize -lt 1) { $SCRIPT:currentFontSize = 1 }
            UpdateFonts $SCRIPT:currentFontSize

            $KeyUpEventArgs.Handled = $true
        }
        elseif($KeyUpEventArgs.KeyCode -eq 'D0')
        {
            $SCRIPT:currentFontSize = 12
            UpdateFonts $SCRIPT:currentFontSize

            $KeyUpEventArgs.Handled = $true
        }
    }
}

## A function to handle mouse wheel scrolling.
## In this case, we translate Ctrl-Wheel to zoom.
function OnMouseWheel
{
    param($Sender, $MouseEventArgs)

    if(
        ([System.Windows.Forms.Control]::ModifierKeys -eq "Control") -and
        ($MouseEventArgs.Delta -ne 0))
    {
        $SCRIPT:currentFontSize += ($MouseEventArgs.Delta / 120)
        if($SCRIPT:currentFontSize -lt 1) { $SCRIPT:currentFontSize = 1 }

        UpdateFonts $SCRIPT:currentFontSize
        $MouseEventArgs.Handled = $true
    }
}

## A function to walk through the parents of a node,
## creating virtual PowerShell syntax to access this property.
function GetPathForNode
{
    param($Node)

    $nodeElements = @()

    ## Go through all the parents, adding them so that
    ## $nodeElements is in order.
    while($Node)
    {
        $nodeElements = ,$Node + $nodeElements
        $Node = $Node.Parent
    }

    ## Now go through the node elements
    $nodePath = ""
    foreach($Node in $nodeElements)
    {
        $nodeName = $Node.Name

        ## If it was a node that PowerShell is able to enumerate
        ## (but not index), wrap it in the array cast operator.
        if($nodeName.StartsWith('@'))
        {
            $nodeName = $nodeName.Substring(1)
            $nodePath = "@(" + $nodePath + ")"
        }
        elseif($nodeName.StartsWith('['))
        {
            ## If it's a child index, we don't need to
            ## add the dot for property access
        }
        elseif($nodePath)
        {
            ## Otherwise, we're accessing a property. Add a dot.
            $nodePath += "."
        }

        ## Append the node name to the path
        $tempNodePath = $nodePath + $nodeName
        if($nodeName -notmatch '^[$\[\]a-zA-Z0-9]+$')
        {
            $nodePath += "'" + $nodeName + "'"
        }
        else
        {
            $nodePath = $tempNodePath
        }
    }

    ## And return the result
    $nodePath
}

function UpdateFonts
{
    param($fontSize)

    $treeView.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font "Consolas",$fontSize
    $outputPane.Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font "Consolas",$fontSize
}

$SCRIPT:currentFontSize = 12

## Create the TreeView, which will hold our object navigation
## area.
$treeView = New-Object Windows.Forms.TreeView
$treeView.Dock = "Top"
$treeView.Height = 500
$treeView.PathSeparator = "."
$treeView.ShowNodeToolTips = $true
$treeView.Add_AfterSelect( { OnAfterSelect @args } )
$treeView.Add_BeforeExpand( { OnBeforeExpand @args } )
$treeView.Add_KeyPress( { OnTreeViewKeyPress @args } )

## Create the output pane, which will hold our object
## member information.
$outputPane = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$outputPane.Multiline = $true
$outputPane.WordWrap = $false
$outputPane.ScrollBars = "Both"
$outputPane.Dock = "Fill"

## Create the root node, which represents the object
## we are trying to show.
$root = New-Object Windows.Forms.TreeNode
$root.ToolTipText = $InputObject.GetType()
$root.Text = $InputObject
$root.Name = '$' + $rootVariableName
$root.Expand()
$null = $treeView.Nodes.Add($root)

UpdateFonts $currentFontSize

## And populate the initial information into the tree
## view.
PopulateNode $root $InputObject

## Finally, create the main form and show it.
$form = New-Object Windows.Forms.Form
$form.Text = "Browsing " + $root.Text
$form.Width = 1000
$form.Height = 800
$form.Controls.Add($outputPane)
$form.Controls.Add($treeView)
$form.Add_MouseWheel( { OnMouseWheel @args } )
$treeView.Add_KeyUp( { OnKeyUp @args } )
$treeView.Select()
$null = $form.ShowDialog()
$form.Dispose()

For more information about running scripts, see Recipe 1.2.

See Also

Recipe 1.2, “Run Programs, Scripts, and Existing Tools”

Recipe 10.10, “Parse and Interpret PowerShell Scripts”