Sort a PSCustomObject by date in powershell - json

Question

I have a pscustomobject I created:
$data = [pscustomobject]#{
CatWeeklyFiles = #()
}
I used a custom function to generate dates for items I am appending to it.
The following is the appending code I run in a for loop.
#Append to the data object
$data.CatWeeklyFiles += #{
FileName = $item.ToString()
Exists = 1
Date = $CatDate.ToString("MM-dd-yyyy")
}
I export this at the end as JSON and this is an example of the first few lines.
How can I sort this in powershell before exporting to JSON so that I can have the date ascending or descending? (Note: it already is in order ascending but I need to know how to change it).
{
"CatWeeklyFiles": [
{
"Date": "04-13-2015",
"FileName": "Week1615CatUpdate.exe",
"Exists": 1
},
{
"Date": "04-20-2015",
"FileName": "Week1715CatUpdate.exe",
"Exists": 1
},
{
"Date": "04-27-2015",
"FileName": "Week1815CatUpdate.exe",
"Exists": 1
},
{
"Date": "05-04-2015",
"FileName": "Week1915CatUpdate.exe",
"Exists": 1
}
]
}
Edit - Adding full code
####Setup
$curDir = Get-Location
$filename = "files.txt"
$pathtocheck = "C:\path\In\Cat_Weekly"
#Create array from the files.txt file
$array = Get-Content $filename
##Function to get date from week/year
Function FirstDateOfWeek
{
param([int]$year, [int]$weekOfYear)
$jan1 = [DateTime]"$year-01-01"
$daysOffset = ([DayOfWeek]::Thursday - $jan1.DayOfWeek)
$firstThursday = $jan1.AddDays($daysOffset)
$calendar = ([CultureInfo]::CurrentCulture).Calendar;
$firstWeek = $calendar.GetWeekOfYear($firstThursday, [System.Globalization.CalendarWeekRule]::FirstFourDayWeek, [DayOfWeek]::Monday)
$weekNum = $weekOfYear
if($firstweek -le 1) { $weekNum -= 1 }
$result = $firstThursday.AddDays($weekNum * 7)
return $result.AddDays(-3)
}
##Create data structure for making JSON
$data = [pscustomobject]#{
CatWeeklyFiles = #()
}
#TEST
#Main Loop
for($i=0; $i -lt $array.Length; $i++){
$item = $array[$i]
#This is for cat weekly files that DO exist.
if((Test-Path -Path $pathtocheck\$item -PathType Leaf) -eq $True){
write-host $i " Update: " $item "exists"
#Extract Week and Year Values
$extWeek = $item.Substring(4,2)
$extYear = "20"+$item.Substring(6,2)
#This handles a bug where the year appears as '99 when it should be '19
if ($extYear -eq 2099){
$extYear = 2019
}
#Run Function
$CatDate= FirstDateOfWeek -year $extYear -weekOfYear $extWeek
#Append to the data object
$data.CatWeeklyFiles += #{
FileName = $item.ToString()
Exists = 1
Date = $CatDate.ToString("MM-dd-yyyy")
}
}
#This is for cat weekly files that DON'T exist.
elseif((Test-Path -Path $pathtocheck\$item -PathType Leaf) -eq $False){
write-host $i " Update: " $item "is missing!"
#Extract Week and Year Values
$extWeek = $item.Substring(4,2)
$extYear = "20"+$item.Substring(6,2)
#This handles a bug where the year appears as '99 when it should be '19
if ($extYear -eq 2099){
$extYear = 2019
}
#Run Function
$CatDate= FirstDateOfWeek -year $extYear -weekOfYear $extWeek
#Append to the data object
$data.CatWeeklyFiles += #{
FileName = $item.ToString()
Exists = 0
Date = $CatDate.ToString("MM-dd-yyyy")
}
}
}
#Output data object as json
$json = $data | ConvertTo-Json | Out-File $curDir\tracking.json

Answer 1

Our comment talk has gotten a little confusing I guess. ;-) Here to show what I meant ... If you have unsorted data input like this:
$InputData = #'
{
"CatWeeklyFiles": [
{
"Date": "2015-04-27",
"FileName": "Week1815CatUpdate.exe",
"Exists": 1
},
{
"Date": "2015-05-04",
"FileName": "Week1915CatUpdate.exe",
"Exists": 1
},
{
"Date": "2015-04-13",
"FileName": "Week1615CatUpdate.exe",
"Exists": 1
},
{
"Date": "2015-04-20",
"FileName": "Week1715CatUpdate.exe",
"Exists": 1
}
]
}
'# |
ConvertFrom-Json
And you output it like this ...
$InputData.CatWeeklyFiles
it looks like this:
Date FileName Exists
---- -------- ------
2015-04-27 Week1815CatUpdate.exe 1
2015-05-04 Week1915CatUpdate.exe 1
2015-04-13 Week1615CatUpdate.exe 1
2015-04-20 Week1715CatUpdate.exe 1
Now you can use Sort-Object to sort it the way you want and safe it to a new vairable...
$NewData =
[pscustomobject]#{
CatWeeklyFiles =
$InputData.CatWeeklyFiles |
Sort-Object -Property Date -Descending
}
When you output it now
$NewData.CatWeeklyFiles
It looks like this
Date FileName Exists
---- -------- ------
2015-05-04 Week1915CatUpdate.exe 1
2015-04-27 Week1815CatUpdate.exe 1
2015-04-20 Week1715CatUpdate.exe 1
2015-04-13 Week1615CatUpdate.exe 1
Now you can convert it to JSON and export it
$NewData |
ConvertTo-Json |
Out-File $curDir\tracking.json
And all of that just because we choose the proper format for the date. ;-)