a few helper functions

Author: RamblingCookieMonster

Add-ObjectDetail.ps1

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+function Add-ObjectDetail
+{
+    <#
+    .SYNOPSIS
+        Decorate an object with
+            - A TypeName
+            - New properties
+            - Default parameters
+
+    .DESCRIPTION
+        Helper function to decorate an object with
+            - A TypeName
+            - New properties
+            - Default parameters 
+
+    .PARAMETER InputObject
+        Object to decorate. Accepts pipeline input.
+
+    .PARAMETER TypeName
+        Typename to insert.
+        
+        This will show up when you use Get-Member against the resulting object.
+        
+    .PARAMETER PropertyToAdd
+        Add these noteproperties.
+        
+        Format is a hashtable with Key (Property Name) = Value (Property Value).
+
+        Example to add a One and Date property:
+
+            -PropertyToAdd @{
+                One = 1
+                Date = (Get-Date)
+            }
+
+    .PARAMETER DefaultProperties
+        Change the default properties that show up
+
+    .PARAMETER Passthru
+        Whether to pass the resulting object on. Defaults to true
+
+    .EXAMPLE
+        #
+        # Create an object to work with
+        $Object = [PSCustomObject]@{
+            First = 'Cookie'
+            Last = 'Monster'
+            Account = 'CMonster'
+        }
+
+        #Add a type name and a random property
+        Add-ObjectDetail -InputObject $Object -TypeName 'ApplicationX.Account' -PropertyToAdd @{ AnotherProperty = 5 }
+
+            # First  Last    Account  AnotherProperty
+            # -----  ----    -------  ---------------
+            # Cookie Monster CMonster               5
+
+        #Verify that get-member shows us the right type
+        $Object | Get-Member
+
+            # TypeName: ApplicationX.Account ...
+
+    .EXAMPLE
+        #
+        # Create an object to work with
+        $Object = [PSCustomObject]@{
+            First = 'Cookie'
+            Last = 'Monster'
+            Account = 'CMonster'
+        }
+
+        #Add a random property, set a default property set so we only see two props by default
+        Add-ObjectDetail -InputObject $Object -PropertyToAdd @{ AnotherProperty = 5 } -DefaultProperties Account, AnotherProperty
+
+            # Account  AnotherProperty
+            # -------  ---------------
+            # CMonster               5
+
+        #Verify that the other properties are around
+        $Object | Select -Property *
+
+            # First  Last    Account  AnotherProperty
+            # -----  ----    -------  ---------------
+            # Cookie Monster CMonster               5
+
+    .NOTES
+        This breaks the 'do one thing' rule from certain perspectives...
+        The goal is to decorate an object all in one shot
+   
+        This abstraction simplifies decorating an object, with a slight trade-off in performance. For example:
+
+        10,000 objects, add a property and typename:
+            Add-ObjectDetail:                        ~4.6 seconds
+            Add-Member + PSObject.TypeNames.Insert:  ~3 seconds
+
+        Initial code borrowed from Shay Levy:
+        http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/scriptfanatic/2012/04/13/custom-objects-default-display-in-powershell-30/
+        
+    .LINK
+        http://ramblingcookiemonster.github.io/Decorating-Objects/
+
+    .FUNCTIONALITY
+        PowerShell Language
+    #>
+    [CmdletBinding()] 
+    param(
+           [Parameter( Mandatory = $true,
+                       Position=0,
+                       ValueFromPipeline=$true )]
+           [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
+           [psobject[]]$InputObject,
+
+           [Parameter( Mandatory = $false,
+                       Position=1)]
+           [string]$TypeName,
+
+           [Parameter( Mandatory = $false,
+                       Position=2)]    
+           [System.Collections.Hashtable]$PropertyToAdd,
+
+           [Parameter( Mandatory = $false,
+                       Position=3)]
+           [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
+           [Alias('dp')]
+           [System.String[]]$DefaultProperties,
+
+           [boolean]$Passthru = $True
+    )
+    
+    Begin
+    {
+        if($PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('DefaultProperties'))
+        {
+            # define a subset of properties
+            $ddps = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSPropertySet DefaultDisplayPropertySet,$DefaultProperties
+            $PSStandardMembers = [System.Management.Automation.PSMemberInfo[]]$ddps
+        }
+    }
+    Process
+    {
+        foreach($Object in $InputObject)
+        {
+            switch ($PSBoundParameters.Keys)
+            {
+                'PropertyToAdd'
+                {
+                    foreach($Key in $PropertyToAdd.Keys)
+                    {
+                        #Add some noteproperties. Slightly faster than Add-Member.
+                        $Object.PSObject.Properties.Add( ( New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSNoteProperty($Key, $PropertyToAdd[$Key]) ) )  
+                    }
+                }
+                'TypeName'
+                {
+                    #Add specified type
+                    [void]$Object.PSObject.TypeNames.Insert(0,$TypeName)
+                }
+                'DefaultProperties'
+                {
+                    # Attach default display property set
+                    Add-Member -InputObject $Object -MemberType MemberSet -Name PSStandardMembers -Value $PSStandardMembers
+                }
+            }
+            if($Passthru)
+            {
+                $Object
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}

Join-Parts.ps1

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+function Join-Parts
+{
+    <#
+    .SYNOPSIS
+        Join strings with a specified separator.
+
+    .DESCRIPTION
+        Join strings with a specified separator.
+
+        This strips out null values and any duplicate separator characters.
+
+        See examples for clarification.
+
+    .PARAMETER Separator
+        Separator to join with
+
+    .PARAMETER Parts
+        Strings to join
+
+    .EXAMPLE
+        Join-Parts -Separator "/" this //should $Null /work/ /well
+
+        # Output: this/should/work/well
+
+    .EXAMPLE
+        Join-Parts -Parts http://this.com, should, /work/, /wel
+
+        # Output: http://this.com/should/work/wel
+
+    .EXAMPLE
+        Join-Parts -Separator "?" this ?should work ???well
+
+        # Output: this?should?work?well
+
+    .EXAMPLE
+
+        $CouldBeOneOrMore = @( "JustOne" )
+        Join-Parts -Separator ? -Parts CouldBeOneOrMore
+
+        # Output JustOne
+
+        # If you have an arbitrary count of parts coming in,
+        # Unnecessary separators will not be added
+
+    .NOTES
+        Credit to Rob C. and Michael S. from this post:
+        http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9593535/best-way-to-join-parts-with-a-separator-in-powershell
+    
+    #>
+    [cmdletbinding()]
+    param
+    (
+    [string]$Separator = "/",
+
+    [parameter(ValueFromRemainingArguments=$true)]
+    [string[]]$Parts = $null
+        
+    )
+
+    ( $Parts |
+        Where { $_ } |
+        Foreach { ( [string]$_ ).trim($Separator) } |
+        Where { $_ }
+    ) -join $Separator
+}