Accessing unknown levels of PSCustomObject nested object - excel

Question

I'm getting a response from an API with unknown nested levels of properties, this is an example:
affects_rating : True
assets : {#{asset=xxxxxxxxxxxxx; identifier=; category=low; importance=0.0; is_ip=True}}
details : #{check_pass=; diligence_annotations=; geo_ip_location=NL; grade=GOOD; remediations=System.Object[]; vulnerabilities=System.Object[]; dest_port=443; rollup_end_date=2021-06-06;
rollup_start_date=2020-03-18}
evidence_key : xxxxxxxxx:xxxx
first_seen : 2020-03-18
last_seen : 2021-06-06
related_findings : {}
risk_category : Diligence
risk_vector : open_ports
risk_vector_label : Open Ports
rolledup_observation_id : xxxx-xxxx==
severity : 1.0
severity_category : minor
tags : {}
asset_overrides : {}
duration :
comments :
remaining_decay : 59
temporary_id : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
affects_rating : True
assets : {#{asset=xxxx.xxxx.com; identifier=; category=low; importance=0.0002340946; is_ip=False}, #{asset=xxxx.xxxx.com; identifier=; category=critical; importance=0.45131093; is_ip=False},
So far I've tried to access each value with a table, but sometimes the records contains an object, which outputs System.Object[] to the CSV file.
foreach ($item in $findings.results) {
$tabledata = [ordered]#{
temporary_id = $item.temporary_id
affects_rating = $item.affects_rating
asset = $item.assets.asset
asset_identifier = $item.assets.identifier
asset_category = $item.assets.category
asset_importance = $item.assets.importance
asset_is_ip = $item.assets.is_ip
modal_data = $item.details.diligence_annotations.modal_data
modal_tags = $item.details.diligence_annotations.modal_tags
server = $item.details.diligence_annotations.server
}
}
The type of the variable $findings is a PSCustomObject
PS C:\Users\bryanar> $findings.GetType()
IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType
-------- -------- ---- --------
True False PSCustomObject System.Object
Any recommendations?

Answer 1

Let's say I have an object $result full of properties, lists, or other objects:
$result = [pscustomobject]#{Name='Foo';Level='1'
Object= [pscustomobject]#{Name='Bar';Level='2'
List= #(
[pscustomobject]#{User='John Smith';Dept='Accounting'},
[pscustomobject]#{User='Bob Smith';Dept='Accounting'}
)}}
$result | fl
Name : Foo
Level : 1
Object : #{Name=Bar; Level=2; List=System.Object[]}
If you just want to see the whole object for troubleshooting/exploring purposes, I find the easiest way is to convert it to json or xml:
$result | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10
{
"Name": "Foo",
"Level": "1",
"Object": {
"Name": "Bar",
"Level": "2",
"List": [
{
"User": "John Smith",
"Dept": "Accounting"
},
{
"User": "Bob Smith",
"Dept": "Accounting"
}
]
}
}
If you want to save an object like this, use Export-CLIXML instead of CSV. It's very verbose, but great for when you need to re-use an object since it keeps the type information.