Add-Member

Syntax

Add-Member
   -InputObject <PSObject>
   -TypeName <String>
   [-PassThru]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Add-Member
   -InputObject <PSObject>
   [-TypeName <String>]
   [-Force]
   [-PassThru]
   [-NotePropertyMembers] <IDictionary>
   [<CommonParameters>]

Add-Member
   -InputObject <PSObject>
   [-TypeName <String>]
   [-Force]
   [-PassThru]
   [-NotePropertyName] <String>
   [-NotePropertyValue] <Object>
   [<CommonParameters>]

Add-Member
   -InputObject <PSObject>
   [-MemberType] <PSMemberTypes>
   [-Name] <String>
   [[-Value] <Object>]
   [[-SecondValue] <Object>]
   [-TypeName <String>]
   [-Force]
   [-PassThru]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Add-Member cmdlet lets you add members (properties and methods) to an instance of a PowerShell object. For instance, you can add a NoteProperty member that contains a description of the object or a ScriptMethod member that runs a script to change the object.

To use Add-Member, pipe the object to Add-Member, or use the InputObject parameter to specify the object.

The MemberType parameter indicates the type of member that you want to add. The Name parameter assigns a name to the new member, and the Value parameter sets the value of the member.

The properties and methods that you add are added only to the particular instance of the object that you specify. Add-Member doesn't change the object type. To create a new object type, use the Add-Type cmdlet.

You can also use the Export-Clixml cmdlet to save the instance of the object, including the additional members, in a file. Then you can use the Import-Clixml cmdlet to re-create the instance of the object from the information that's stored in the exported file.

Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, Add-Member has new features that make it easier to add note properties to objects. You can use the NotePropertyName and NotePropertyValue parameters to define a note property or use the NotePropertyMembers parameter, which takes a hash table of note property names and values.

Also, beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, the PassThru parameter, which generates an output object, is needed less frequently. Add-Member now adds the new members directly to the input object of more types. For more information, see the PassThru parameter description.

Examples

Example 1: Add a note property to a PSObject

The following example adds a Status note property with a value of "Done" to the FileInfo object that represents the Test.txt file.

The first command uses the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to get a FileInfo object representing the Test.txt file. It saves it in the $a variable.

The second command adds the note property to the object in $a.

The third command uses dot notation to get the value of the Status property of the object in $a. As the output shows, the value is Done.

$A = Get-ChildItem c:\ps-test\test.txt
$A | Add-Member -NotePropertyName Status -NotePropertyValue Done
$A.Status

Done

Example 2: Add an alias property to a PSObject

The following example adds a Size alias property to the object that represents the Test.txt file. The new property is an alias for the Length property.

The first command uses the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to get the Test.txt FileInfo object.

The second command adds the Size alias property. The third command uses dot notation to get the value of the new Size property.

$A = Get-ChildItem C:\Temp\test.txt
$A | Add-Member -MemberType AliasProperty -Name Size -Value Length
$A.Size

2394

Example 3: Add a StringUse note property to a string

This example adds the StringUse note property to a string. Because Add-Member can't add types to String input objects, you can specify the PassThru parameter to generate an output object. The last command in the example displays the new property.

This example uses the NotePropertyMembers parameter. The value of the NotePropertyMembers parameter is a hash table. The key is the note property name, StringUse, and the value is the note property value, Display.

$A = "A string"
$A = $A | Add-Member -NotePropertyMembers @{StringUse="Display"} -PassThru
$A.StringUse

Display

Example 4: Add a script method to a FileInfo object

This example adds the SizeInMB script method to a FileInfo object that calculates the file size to the nearest MegaByte. The second command creates a ScriptBlock that uses the Round static method from the [math] type to round the file size to the second decimal place.

The Value parameter also uses the $This automatic variable, which represents the current object. The $This variable is valid only in script blocks that define new properties and methods.

The last command uses dot notation to call the new SizeInMB script method on the object in the $A variable.

$A = Get-ChildItem C:\Temp\test.txt
$S = {[math]::Round(($this.Length / 1MB), 2)}
$A | Add-Member -MemberType ScriptMethod -Name "SizeInMB" -Value $S
$A.SizeInMB()

0.43

Example 5: Create a custom object

This example creates an Asset custom object.

The New-Object cmdlet creates a PSObject that's saved in the $Asset variable. The [ordered] type accelerator creates an ordered dictionary that's stored in the $d variable. Piping $Asset to Add-Member adds the key-value pairs in the dictionary to the object as NoteProperty members. TypeName parameter assigns the type Asset to the PSObject. The Get-Member cmdlet shows the type and properties of the object. However, the properties are listed in alphabetical order, not in the order that they were added.

$Asset = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
$d = [ordered]@{Name="Server30"; System="Server Core"; PSVersion="4.0"}
$Asset | Add-Member -NotePropertyMembers $d -TypeName Asset
$Asset | Get-Member -MemberType Properties

TypeName: Asset

Name        MemberType   Definition
----        ----------   ----------
Name        NoteProperty string Name=Server30
PSVersion   NoteProperty string PSVersion=4.0
System      NoteProperty string System=Server Core

$Asset.PSObject.Properties | Format-Table Name, MemberType, TypeNameOfValue, Value

Name        MemberType TypeNameOfValue Value
----        ---------- --------------- -----
Name      NoteProperty System.String   Server30
System    NoteProperty System.String   Server Core
PSVersion NoteProperty System.String   4.0

Inspecting the raw list of properties shows the properties in the order that they were added to the object. Format-Table is used in this example to create output similar to Get-Member.

Example 6: Add an AliasProperty to an object

In this example we create a custom object that contains two NoteProperty members. The type for a NoteProperty reflects the type of the value stored in the property. In this case, the Age property is a string.

PS> $obj = [pscustomobject]@{
      Name = 'Doris'
      Age = '20'
}
PS> $obj | Add-Member -MemberType AliasProperty -Name 'intAge' -Value age -SecondValue uint32
PS> $obj | Get-Member

   TypeName: System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject

Name        MemberType    Definition
----        ----------    ----------
intAge      AliasProperty intAge = (System.UInt32)age
Equals      Method        bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method        int GetHashCode()
GetType     Method        type GetType()
ToString    Method        string ToString()
Age         NoteProperty  string Age=20
Name        NoteProperty  string Name=Doris

PS> $obj

Name  Age intAge
----  --- ------
Doris 20      20

PS> $obj.Age + 1

201

PS> $obj.intAge + 1

21

The intAge property is an AliasProperty for the Age property, but the type is guaranteed to be uint32.

Example 7: Add get and set methods to a custom object

This examples shows how to define Get and Set methods that access a deeply nested property.

$user = [pscustomobject]@{
    Name      = 'User1'
    Age       = 29
    StartDate = [datetime]'2019-05-05'
    Position  = [pscustomobject]@{
        DepartmentName = 'IT'
        Role = 'Manager'
    }
}
$addMemberSplat = @{
    MemberType = 'ScriptProperty'
    Name = 'Title'
    Value = { $this.Position.Role }                  # getter
    SecondValue = { $this.Position.Role = $args[0] } # setter
}
$user | Add-Member @addMemberSplat
$user | Get-Member

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()
Age         NoteProperty   int Age=29
Name        NoteProperty   string Name=User1
Position    NoteProperty   System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject Position=@{DepartmentName=IT; Role=Manager}
StartDate   NoteProperty   datetime StartDate=5/5/2019 12:00:00 AM
Title       ScriptProperty System.Object Title {get= $this.Position.Role ;set= $this.Position.Role = $args[0] ;}

$user.Title = 'Dev Manager'

Name      : User1
Age       : 29
StartDate : 5/5/2019 12:00:00 AM
Position  : @{DepartmentName=IT; Role=Dev Manager}
Title     : Dev Manager

Notice that the Title property is a ScriptProperty that has a Get and Set method. When we assign a new value to the Title property, the Set method is called and changes the value of the Role property in the Position property.

Parameters

-Force

-InputObject

-MemberType

-Name

-NotePropertyMembers

-NotePropertyName

-NotePropertyValue

-PassThru

-SecondValue

-TypeName

-Value

Inputs

PSObject

You can pipe any object to this cmdlet.

Outputs

None

By default, this cmdlet returns no output.

Object

When you use the PassThru parameter, this cmdlet returns the newly extended object.

Notes

You can add members only to PSObject type objects. To determine whether an object is a PSObject object, use the -is operator. For instance, to test an object stored in the $obj variable, type $obj -is [psobject].

PSObject type objects maintain their list of members in the order that the members were added to the object.

The names of the MemberType, Name, Value, and SecondValue parameters are optional. If you omit the parameter names, the unnamed parameter values must appear in this order: MemberType, Name, Value, and SecondValue.

If you include the parameter names, the parameters can appear in any order.

You can use the $this automatic variable in script blocks that define the values of new properties and methods. The $this variable refers to the instance of the object to which the properties and methods are being added. For more information about the $this variable, see about_Automatic_Variables.

Related Links

• Export-Clixml
• Get-Member
• Import-Clixml
• New-Object
• about_Automatic_Variables
• System.Type.GetMethod()