In my previous blog post I blogged about how to get the possible values of an attribute or property like by example the service starttype using enumerators.
For future use I’ve created this function called Get-EnumValue. The function (and any updated future versions) can be found on ScriptCenter: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Determine-possible-values-eaf48782
But for those that don’t want to click and just want to see the current version, here it is:
Function Get-EnumValue
{
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Determine possible values of a property / attribute of the [system.enum] type
By example the possible values of startup type of a service.
.DESCRIPTION
Determine possible values of a property / attribute of the [system.enum] type
By example the possible values of startup type of a service
In some cases this can easily be determined if there is a “set-” version of the cmdlet.
By example with Get-Service, there is also a Set-Service where the StartUpType values can be determined using “Get-Help Set-Service -Full” or by simply typing: Set-Service -StartupType and using auto completion.
In some cases this is however not possible and this function can be used.
.PARAMETER EnumProperty
Input a property of the [System.enum] type. By example: (Get-Date)[0].DayOfWeek or (Get-Service)[0].StartType’)
.EXAMPLE
$FormatEnumerationLimit=-1
$Property1 = (Get-Date)[0].DayOfWeek
$Property2 = (Get-Service)[0].StartType
Get-EnumValue -EnumProperty $Property1,$Property2
Description
———–
Set $FormatEnumerationLimit to -1 to prevent cutoff of the results.
Store 2 properties in variables and use the Get-EnumValue function with the named parameter -EnumProperty to enumerate their values.
.EXAMPLE
$FormatEnumerationLimit=-1
Get-EnumValue -EnumProperty (Get-Date)[0].DayOfWeek,(Get-Service)[0].StartType
Description
———–
Set $FormatEnumerationLimit to -1 to prevent cutoff of the results.
Use the Get-EnumValue function with the named parameter -EnumProperty to enumerate their values without first storing them in variables.
.EXAMPLE
$FormatEnumerationLimit=-1
$Properties = @((Get-Date)[0].DayOfWeek,(Get-Service)[0].StartType)
Get-EnumValue -EnumProperty $Properties
Description
———–
Set $FormatEnumerationLimit to -1 to prevent cutoff of the results.
Store 2 properties in a single array and use the Get-EnumValue function with the named parameter -EnumProperty to enumerate the values of the properties in the array.
.EXAMPLE
$FormatEnumerationLimit=-1
(Get-Date)[0].DayOfWeek,(Get-Service)[0].StartType | Get-EnumValue | Format-Table
Description
———–
Set $FormatEnumerationLimit to -1 to prevent cutoff of the results.
Put 2 properties in the pipeline and pipe them to Get-EnumValue to get their values.
.NOTES
1) By default, the EnumValues are truncated like this for format-list, format-table, etc:
For Format-List:
TypeName : System.DayOfWeek
EnumValues : {Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…}
TypeName : System.ServiceProcess.ServiceStartMode
EnumValues : {Boot, System, Automatic, Manual…}
For Format-Table:
TypeName EnumValues
——– ———-
System.DayOfWeek {Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…}
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceStartMode {Boot, System, Automatic, Manual…}
By setting $FormatEnumerationLimit to -1 all values will be shown (https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/heyscriptingguy/2011/11/20/change-a-powershell-preference-variable-to-reveal-hidden-data/):
$FormatEnumerationLimit=-1
2) This example uses [Enum]::GetValues but it can easily be modified to use [Enum]::GetNames
3) Additional information and resources:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/26436.how-to-create-and-use-enums-in-powershell.aspx#UsingEnumsWiithFunction
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.enum.getnames(v=vs.110).aspx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.enum.getvalues(v=vs.110).aspx
#>
[CmdletBinding()] #Provides advanced functionality. For more details see “What does PowerShell’s [CmdletBinding()] Do?” : http://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/powershell-with-a-purpose-blog-36/windows-powershell/powershells-%5Bcmdletbinding%5D-142114
Param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true, #Parameter is mandatory.
ValueFromPipeline=$True, #Allows pipeline input.
Position=0, #Allows function to be called without explicitly specifying parameters, but instead using positional parameters in the correct order
HelpMessage=‘Input an object of the [System.enum] type. By example: (Get-Date)[0].DayOfWeek or (Get-Service)[0].StartType’)] #Enter a help message to be shown when no parameter value is provided.
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()] #Validate the input is not NULL or empty
[ValidateScript({$_ -is [System.Enum]})] #Validate whether or not the input is actually of the [System.enum] type.
[System.enum[]]$EnumProperty
)
BEGIN
{
}
PROCESS
{
$Output = @()
Foreach($object in $EnumProperty)
{
TRY
{
$TypeName = ($object | Get-Member)[0].TypeName
$EnumValues = [Enum]::GetValues($TypeName) #Pre-PowerShell 3.0
$ObjectEnumResult = New-Object PSCustomObject -Property @{
‘TypeName’ = $TypeName
‘EnumValues’ = $EnumValues
}
$Output += $ObjectEnumResult
}
CATCH
{
Write-Verbose “Error occurred processing $object“
}
FINALLY
{
}
}
#Send output to the pipeline
$Output
}
END
{
}
}
blog.bjornhouben.com 