Powershell - Retain Complex objects with ConvertTo-Json - json

Question

Powershell command-let ConvertTo-Json has the following limitations
1) It returns Enum values as Integers instead of their text
2) It doesn't return the date in a readable format
For point #1 see below, Status and VerificationMethod Properties
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-Msoldomain | ConvertTo-Json
{
"ExtensionData": {
},
"Authentication": 0,
"Capabilities": 5,
"IsDefault": true,
"IsInitial": true,
"Name": "myemail.onmicrosoft.com",
"RootDomain": null,
"Status": 1,
"VerificationMethod": 1
}
To handle this, I changed my command as below
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-Msoldomain | ConvertTo-Csv | ConvertFrom-Csv | ConvertTo-Json
{
"ExtensionData": "System.Runtime.Serialization.ExtensionDataObject",
"Authentication": "Managed",
"Capabilities": "Email, OfficeCommunicationsOnline",
"IsDefault": "True",
"IsInitial": "True",
"Name": "curtisjmspartnerhotmail.onmicrosoft.com",
"RootDomain": "",
"Status": "Verified",
"VerificationMethod": "DnsRecord"
}
Now you see, that the enums are being returned with their text values above (Status and VerificationMethod) instead of their integer values.
However, There are a few limitations with this approach:
1) ConvertTo-Csv doesn't retain the Arrays or Complex Objects, and
outputs them as their Class Names (Watch the ExtensionData Properties
in both the outputs). In the second output, we tend to lose the data,
and just get the className
System.Runtime.Serialization.ExtensionDataObject as a string
2) Both ConvertTo-Csv and ConvertFrom-Csv are not the script-level
commandlets, but they are command-level commandlets, which means that
we can't use them at the end of the script , but they will have to be
used with the individual commands like I am doing above. WHEREAS,
ConvertTo-Json need not be applied at the commmandLevel, but just
applied once for the script output.
My question is:
1) How do I still use the convertTo-Json, so that all my enum properties are returned with their texts and not integers, and ALSO the Complex Objects or Arrays are not lost? In the approach I have used, the complex objects are getting lost
2) Also, it should be generic enough so that It can be applied at the end of the script, and not at the command level

Answer 1

ConvertTo-Json and ConvertTo-Csv are both forms of serializing objects in some sort of text representation and both are useful in different use cases.
ConvertTo-Csv is perhaps best used for 2-dimensional data that can be expressed in a table such as a spreadsheet. Hence it is awkward to try to convert "complex" objects, i.e. those with properties that contain other structured data, into a simple table. In such cases PowerShell represents such data as the full name of the data type.
ConvertTo-Json is capable of serializing more complicated objects, since the format allows for nested arrays/data structures, e.g. the ExtensionData property in your example. Note that you may need to use the -Depth parameter to ensure that deeply nested data is serialized correctly.
So the problem really comes down to how the ConvertTo-Json cmdlet serializes enums, which can be demonstrated with:
[PS]> (Get-Date).DayOfWeek
Tuesday
[PS]> (Get-Date).DayOfWeek.GetType()
IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType
-------- -------- ---- --------
True True DayOfWeek System.Enum
[PS]> Get-Date | Select DayOfWeek | ConvertTo-Json
{
"DayOfWeek": 2
}
So before you convert to JSON you need to ensure that the DayOfWeek property (in this example) or Status and VerificationMethod properties (from your example) are converted to their string equivalents first.
You can do this using an expression with Select-Object to convert the data as it passes down the pipe. Note that you do need to include all the properties that you want included in the final JSON:
[PS]> Get-Date |
Select DateTime,#{Label="DayOfWeek";Expression={$_.DayOfWeek.ToString()}} |
ConvertTo-Json
{
"DateTime": "13 June 2017 10:33:51",
"DayOfWeek": "Tuesday"
}
So in your case you'd need something like this:
[PS]> Get-Msoldomain |
Select-Object ExtensionData,IsDefault,IsInitial,Name,RootDomain `
,{Label="Authentication";Expression={$_.Authentication.ToString()}} `
,{Label="Capabilities";Expression={$_.Capabilities.ToString()}} `
,{Label="Status";Expression={$_.Status.ToString()}} `
,{Label="VerificationMethod";Expression={$_.VerificationMethod.ToString()}} |
ConvertTo-Json

Answer 2

#puneet, following your comment on my other answer, here is an example of how you might build up a new object, based on an existing one, with the Enum types converted to strings.
The idea is to create a new "empty" object, then loop through all the properties of the original object and add them to the new one, but if any of the original properties are Enums, then those are converted to strings.
$data = [PSCustomObject]#{}
(Get-Date).PSObject.Properties | Select Name,Value | Foreach-Object {
if($_.Value.GetType().BaseType.FullName -eq "System.Enum"){
$data | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $_.Name -Value $_.Value.ToString()
}
else {
$data | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $_.Name -Value $_.Value
}
}
$data | ConvertTo-Json
You may want to finesse this a little for your own application, but hopefully the idea behind it is clear. Definitely check to see that all the properties are being treated correctly in the JSON output.

Answer 3

to keep enum,array and date when converting psObject to json, you can use newtonsoft. a sample here https://github.com/chavers/powershell-newtonsoft using Nerdy Mishka powershell module.
$obj = New-Object pscustomobject -Property #{Enum = (Get-DAte).DayOfWeek; int = 2; string = "du text"; array = #("un", "deux", "trois"); obj= #{enum = (Get-DAte).DayOfWeek; int = 2; string = "du text"; array = #("un", "deux", "trois")}}
Import-Module Fmg-PrettyJson
$settings = Get-NewtonsoftJsonSettings
$enumconv = "Newtonsoft.Json.Converters.StringEnumConverter"
$e = New-Object $enumconv
$settings.Converters.Add($e)
Set-NewtonsoftJsonSettings $settings
$obj | ConvertTo-NewtonsoftJson
return:
{
"array": [
"un",
"deux",
"trois"
],
"enum": "Thursday",
"int": 2,
"obj": {
"enum": "Thursday",
"array": [
"un",
"deux",
"trois"
],
"int": 2,
"string": "du text"
},
"string": "du text"
}