CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershell
user4243325
user4243325

Reputation:

Powershell - RegEx matching form elements by fullname via Get-Variable

How can you use Get-Variable pipe to operate on specific WinForm objects that match a RegEx to the Fullname property? Attempts to use Where-Object {($_).GetType().FullName -match '^System\.Windows\.Forms'} fail.

In the example below ($TestButton).GetType().FullName does return System.Windows.Forms.Button. But referencing with ($_).GetType().FullName returns System.Management.Automation.PSVariable.

Why does this not work, does a near or equivalent exist?

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
[System.Windows.Forms.Application]::EnableVisualStyles()
Remove-Variable * -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
$form                            = New-Object system.Windows.Forms.Form;
$form.ClientSize                 = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(100,100);
$form.text                       = "Form";
$TestButton                         = New-Object system.Windows.Forms.Button
$TestButton.text                    = "Test"
$TestButton.width                   = 85
$TestButton.height                  = 30
$TestButton.location                = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(0,0)
$TestButton.Font                    = New-Object System.Drawing.Font('Microsoft Sans Serif',12)

($TestButton).GetType().FullName # This gives output
Get-Variable |
#Where-Object {($_).GetType().FullName -match '^System\.Windows\.Forms'} | # Line disabled for debugging only.
Foreach-Object{
                    $form.controls.Add($_) # Not working - obvious why due to output below - nothing matches...
                    ($_).GetType().FullName# due to System.Management.Automation.PSVariable
}
$form.controls.AddRange(@($TestButton)) # Works as expected. 
[void]$form.ShowDialog()

Upvotes: 0

Views: 134

Answers (2)

Doug Maurer
Doug Maurer

Reputation: 8868

You could use

Get-Variable | where {$_.Value -is [system.windows.forms.button]}

or

Get-Variable | where {$_.Value.gettype().fullname -match 'system\.windows\.forms'}

Upvotes: 1

PowerShellGuy
PowerShellGuy

Reputation: 801

It does work, just as intended. You're just working with different object types.

$TestButton is an object of type System.Windows.Forms.Button

When you run Get-Variable, it returns objects of type System.Management.Automation.PSVariable

if you run Get-Variable -Name TestButton You'll see that by default, it returns Name and a value field. This is the name of the variable, and the value of said variable.

What I assume you're looking to do, is extract the value of that variable, and get the type of the actual value. You would do this like this

(Get-Variable -Name TestButton | % Value).GetType().Fullname

So for your Get-Variable pipe

Get-Variable |
  Where-Object {$_.value -is [System.Windows.Forms.Button]} | 
  Foreach-Object{
    $form.controls.Add($_.value) 
  }

Upvotes: 0

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