Method inside PowerShell class

Question

I wanted to define class in PowerShell. Inside that class I wanted to use function defined elsewhere, so that when one asks for that value it is automatically run when needed. Following is an example of this.

class ActiveDirectoryUser {
    $DisplayName
    $LastName
    $FirstName
    $FirstNameNonLatin =  Remove-StringLatinCharacters -String $FirstName 
}

However this doesn't really work. It works in C# so what is the equivalent for this in PowerShell?

I am using this code in a way:

 $user = New-Object ActiveDirectoryUser   
 $user.DisplayName = $u.DisplayName
 $user.LastName = $u.LastName
 $user.FirstName = $u.FirstName

 $user | ft *  # should show all fields including FirstNameNonLatin

Frode F. · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-27 17:30:00Z

2

You need a constructor to set the default value using another property. Ex:

function Remove-StringLatinCharacters ([string]$String) { $string.Substring(0,1) }

class ActiveDirectoryUser {
    [string]$DisplayName
    [string]$LastName
    [string]$FirstName
    [string]$FirstNameNonLatin

    ActiveDirectoryUser ([string]$DisplayName, [string]$LastName, [string]$FirstName) {
        $this.DisplayName = $DisplayName
        $this.LastName = $LastName
        $this.FirstName = $FirstName
        $this.FirstNameNonLatin =  (Remove-StringLatinCharacters -String $FirstName)
    }
}

[ActiveDirectoryUser]::new("Disp","Last","First")

DisplayName LastName FirstName FirstNameNonLatin
----------- -------- --------- -----------------
Disp        Last     First     F

answered Apr 27, 2017 at 17:30

Frode F.

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2 Comments

MadBoy Over a year ago

Is there a way without constructor? I am using new-object and than adding what is nessecary one by one? I tried to use ( ) as i thought it would solve it but it doesn't do anything (empty string is returned).

Frode F. Over a year ago

There are no getters and setters in classes and you need something to trigger the expression which is what I used a constructor for. Without it, you would have to use a scriptproperty as @gvee shows below (added with add-member) or you could create a hidden property and a public method to retrieve it, but you would have to call $myobj.FirstNameNonLatin() to access it.

gvee · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-28 07:02:45Z

Give this a whirl

function Get-FormattedFullName {
    Param (
        [string]
        $FirstName
        ,
        [string]
        $LastName
    )

    Process {
        return "{0} {1}" -f $FirstName, $LastName
    }

}

$ActiveDirectoryUser = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
$ActiveDirectoryUser | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty   -Name "FirstName" -Value "John"
$ActiveDirectoryUser | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty   -Name "LastName"  -Value "Smith"
$ActiveDirectoryUser | Add-Member -MemberType ScriptProperty -Name "FullName"  -Value `
    { #Get
        return Get-FormattedFullName -FirstName $this.FirstName -LastName $this.LastName
    }
`

$ActiveDirectoryUser

Results:

FirstName LastName FullName    
--------- -------- --------    
John      Smith    John Smith

If we then update the LastName property of the object, the FullName reflects this change too:

$ActiveDirectoryUser.LastName = "CHANGED"

$ActiveDirectoryUser

Results:

FirstName LastName FullName    
--------- -------- --------    
John      CHANGED  John CHANGED

Don't think this is what I need. You are running the method at the assigning phase. Which is not what I need.
@MadBoy it might look like that, but it isn't.... I have updated the code with an example illustrating this.
He adds a property that is calculated every time you call it. That's the difference between a NoteProperty and a ScriptProperty (like @gvee has used)

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