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Get-TypeData

  • Reference
Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility

Gets the extended type data in the current session.

Syntax

Get-TypeData
   [[-TypeName] <String[]>]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Get-TypeData cmdlet gets the extended type data in the current session. This includes type data that was added to the session by Types.ps1xml file and dynamic type data that was added by using the parameter of the Update-TypeData cmdlet.

You can use the extended type data that Get-TypeData returns to examine the type data in the session and send it to the Update-TypeData and Remove-TypeData cmdlets.

Extended type data adds properties and methods to objects in PowerShell. You can use the added properties and methods in the same ways that you would use the properties and methods that are defined in the object type. However, when writing scripts, be aware that the added properties and methods might not be present in every PowerShell session.

For more information about Types.ps1xml files, see about_Types.ps1xml. For more information about dynamic type data that the Update-TypeData cmdlet adds, see Update-TypeData.

This cmdlet was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Examples

Example 1: Get all extended type data

This example gets all extended type data in the current session.

Get-TypeData

Example 2: Get type data by name

This example gets all type data in the current session whose name is qualified with "System.IO".

Get-TypeData -TypeName System.IO.*

TypeName                Members
--------                -------
System.IO.DirectoryInfo {[Mode, System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.CodePropert…
System.IO.FileInfo      {[Mode, System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.CodePropert…

Example 3: Get the script block that creates a property value

This example gets the script block that creates the value of the EventID property of EventLogEntry objects.

(Get-TypeData *EventLogEntry*).Members.EventID

GetScriptBlock                     SetScriptBlock     IsHidden Name
--------------                     --------------     -------- ----
$this.get_EventID() -band 0xFFFF                         False EventID

Example 4: Get the script block that defines a property for a specified object

This example gets the script block that defines the DateTime property of System.DateTime objects in PowerShell.

(Get-TypeData -TypeName System.DateTime).Members["DateTime"].GetScriptBlock
if ((& { Set-StrictMode -Version 1; $this.DisplayHint }) -ieq  "Date") {
    "{0}" -f $this.ToLongDateString()
}
elseif ((& { Set-StrictMode -Version 1; $this.DisplayHint }) -ieq "Time") {
    "{0}" -f  $this.ToLongTimeString()
}
else {
    "{0} {1}" -f $this.ToLongDateString(), $this.ToLongTimeString()
}

The command uses the Get-TypeData cmdlet to get the extended type data for the System.DataTime type. The command gets the Members property of the TypeData object.

The Members property contains a hash table of properties and methods that are defined by extended type data. Each key in the Members hash table is a property or method name and each value is the definition of the property or method value.

The command gets the DateTime key in Members and its GetScriptBlock property value.

The output shows the script block that creates the value of the DateTime property of every System.DateTime object in PowerShell.

Parameters

-TypeName

Specifies type data as an array only for the types with the specified names. By default, Get-TypeData gets all types in the session.

Enter type names or a name patterns. Full names, or name patterns with wildcard characters are required, even for types in the System namespace. Wildcards are supported and the parameter name TypeName is optional. You can also pipe type names to Get-TypeData.

Type:String[]
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:True

Inputs

String

You can pipe strings containing type names to this cmdlet.

Outputs

TypeData

Notes

Get-TypeData gets only the extended type data in the current session. It does not get extended type data that is on the computer, but has not been added to the current session, such as extended types that are defined in modules that have not been imported into the current session.