New-Object

Syntax

New-Object
   [-TypeName] <String>
   [[-ArgumentList] <Object[]>]
   [-Property <IDictionary>]
   [<CommonParameters>]

New-Object
   [-ComObject] <String>
   [-Strict]
   [-Property <IDictionary>]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The New-Object cmdlet creates an instance of a .NET Framework or COM object.

You can specify either the type of a .NET Framework class or a ProgID of a COM object. By default, you type the fully qualified name of a .NET Framework class and the cmdlet returns a reference to an instance of that class. To create an instance of a COM object, use the ComObject parameter and specify the ProgID of the object as its value.

Examples

Example 1: Create a System.Version object

This example creates a System.Version object using the "1.2.3.4" string as the constructor.

New-Object -TypeName System.Version -ArgumentList "1.2.3.4"

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
1      2      3      4

Example 2: Create an Internet Explorer COM object

This example creates two instances of the COM object that represents the Internet Explorer application. The first instance uses the Property parameter hash table to call the Navigate2 method and set the Visible property of the object to $True to make the application visible. The second instance gets the same results with individual commands.

$IE1 = New-Object -COMObject InternetExplorer.Application -Property @{Navigate2="www.microsoft.com"; Visible = $True}

# The following command gets the same results as the example above.
$IE2 = New-Object -COMObject InternetExplorer.Application`
$IE2.Navigate2("www.microsoft.com")`
$IE2.Visible = $True`

Example 3: Use the Strict parameter to generate a non-terminating error

This example demonstrates that adding the Strict parameter causes the New-Object cmdlet to generate a non-terminating error when the COM object uses an interop assembly.

$A = New-Object -COMObject Word.Application -Strict -Property @{Visible = $True}

New-Object : The object written to the pipeline is an instance of the type
"Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass" from the component's primary interop assembly. If
this type exposes different members than the IDispatch members, scripts written to work with this
object might not work if the primary interop assembly is not installed.

At line:1 char:14
+ $A = New-Object  <<<< -COM Word.Application -Strict; $a.visible=$true

Example 4: Create a COM object to manage Windows desktop

This example shows how to create and use a COM object to manage your Windows desktop.

The first command uses the ComObject parameter of the New-Object cmdlet to create a COM object with the Shell.Application ProgID. It stores the resulting object in the $ObjShell variable. The second command pipes the $ObjShell variable to the Get-Member cmdlet, which displays the properties and methods of the COM object. Among the methods is the ToggleDesktop method. The third command calls the ToggleDesktop method of the object to minimize the open windows on your desktop.

$Objshell = New-Object -COMObject "Shell.Application"
$objshell | Get-Member
$objshell.ToggleDesktop()

TypeName: System.__ComObject#{866738b9-6cf2-4de8-8767-f794ebe74f4e}

Name                 MemberType Definition
----                 ---------- ----------
AddToRecent          Method     void AddToRecent (Variant, string)
BrowseForFolder      Method     Folder BrowseForFolder (int, string, int, Variant)
CanStartStopService  Method     Variant CanStartStopService (string)
CascadeWindows       Method     void CascadeWindows ()
ControlPanelItem     Method     void ControlPanelItem (string)
EjectPC              Method     void EjectPC ()
Explore              Method     void Explore (Variant)
ExplorerPolicy       Method     Variant ExplorerPolicy (string)
FileRun              Method     void FileRun ()
FindComputer         Method     void FindComputer ()
FindFiles            Method     void FindFiles ()
FindPrinter          Method     void FindPrinter (string, string, string)
GetSetting           Method     bool GetSetting (int)
GetSystemInformation Method     Variant GetSystemInformation (string)
Help                 Method     void Help ()
IsRestricted         Method     int IsRestricted (string, string)
IsServiceRunning     Method     Variant IsServiceRunning (string)
MinimizeAll          Method     void MinimizeAll ()
NameSpace            Method     Folder NameSpace (Variant)
Open                 Method     void Open (Variant)
RefreshMenu          Method     void RefreshMenu ()
ServiceStart         Method     Variant ServiceStart (string, Variant)
ServiceStop          Method     Variant ServiceStop (string, Variant)
SetTime              Method     void SetTime ()
ShellExecute         Method     void ShellExecute (string, Variant, Variant, Variant, Variant)
ShowBrowserBar       Method     Variant ShowBrowserBar (string, Variant)
ShutdownWindows      Method     void ShutdownWindows ()
Suspend              Method     void Suspend ()
TileHorizontally     Method     void TileHorizontally ()
TileVertically       Method     void TileVertically ()
ToggleDesktop        Method     void ToggleDesktop ()
TrayProperties       Method     void TrayProperties ()
UndoMinimizeALL      Method     void UndoMinimizeALL ()
Windows              Method     IDispatch Windows ()
WindowsSecurity      Method     void WindowsSecurity ()
WindowSwitcher       Method     void WindowSwitcher ()
Application          Property   IDispatch Application () {get}
Parent               Property   IDispatch Parent () {get}

Example 5: Pass multiple arguments to a constructor

This example shows how to create an object with a constructor that takes multiple parameters. The parameters must be put in an array when using ArgumentList parameter.

$array = @('One', 'Two', 'Three')
$parameters = @{
    TypeName = 'System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[string]'
    ArgumentList = ([string[]]$array, [System.StringComparer]::OrdinalIgnoreCase)
}
$set = New-Object @parameters

PowerShell binds each member of the array to a parameter of the constructor.

Example 6: Calling a constructor that takes an array as a single parameter

This example shows how to create an object with a constructor that takes a parameter that is an array or collection. The array parameter must be put in wrapped inside another array.

$array = @('One', 'Two', 'Three')
# This command throws an exception.
$set = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[string]' -ArgumentList $array
# This command succeeds.
$set = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[string]' -ArgumentList (,[string[]]$array)
$set

New-Object : Cannot find an overload for "HashSet`1" and the argument count: "3".
At line:1 char:8
+ $set = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[strin ...
+        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [New-Object], MethodException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ConstructorInvokedThrowException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewObjectCommand

One
Two
Three

The first attempt to create the object in this example fails. PowerShell attempted to bind the three members of $array to parameters of the constructor but the constructor does not take three parameter. Wrapping $array in another array prevents PowerShell from attempting to bind the three members of $array to parameters of the constructor.

Parameters

-ArgumentList

-ComObject

-Property

-Strict

-TypeName

Inputs

None

You can't pipe objects to this cmdlet.

Outputs

Object

This cmdlet returns the object that it creates.

Notes

• New-Object provides the most commonly-used functionality of the VBScript CreateObject function. A statement like Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application") in VBScript can be translated to $objShell = New-Object -COMObject "Shell.Application" in PowerShell.
• New-Object expands upon the functionality available in the Windows Script Host environment by making it easy to work with .NET Framework objects from the command line and within scripts.

Related Links

• about_Object_Creation
• Compare-Object
• Group-Object
• Measure-Object
• Select-Object
• Sort-Object
• Tee-Object