Create a blank object for Test-Connection - object

Question

I recently answered a SO post about Test-Connection Powershell script: create loop for ResponseTime
When a Test-Connection cannot connect it will return a System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingException which is fine but I would like to record that as an empty object in output instead of skipping over it. I am aware that I could just select the properties I want and just create a custom object to output on the command line. That is how I approached the linked question but I feel I could do better.
My desire is to have output like this
Source Destination IPV4Address IPV6Address Bytes Time(ms)
------ ----------- ----------- ----------- ----- --------
WYVERN localhost 127.0.0.1 ::1 32 0
failed host 169.254.158.1
WYVERN localhost 127.0.0.1 ::1 32 0
The two returns are proper from Test-Connection with a dummy line inserted. It has all the properties of a proper return from Test-Connection but, since it failed, only some of the properties have values. The only approach that I tried to accomplish this was to create another object of a similar type. Note (Test-Connection -Count 1 localhost).GetType().FullName returned System.Management.ManagementObject
$servers = "10.50.10.100","169.254.54.1"
$servers | ForEach-Object{
Test-Connection $_ -Count 1 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
If(!$testconnection){
$blank = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.ManagementObject
$blank.Destination = $_
}
}
Test-Connection returns more than just a basic System.Management.ManagementObject. So the problem is that a new-object will not have the same properties and, as a result, $blank.Destination = $_ will fail since "'Destination' cannot be found on this object". I also experimented with Test-Connection -Count 1 127.0.0.1 | gm -MemberType Property to try and create a property collection that I could use to build my blank object but that was not bearing an fruit. Most likely since I am not doing it right.
FYI
I am hoping to apply this logic in other places in my scripts. While test-connection is the cmdlet I am dwelling on in this question I am hunting for a broader solution.
Attempt
I have tried, unsuccessfully, something like this but the object are not being outputted together.
$props = #{}
Test-Connection -Count 1 127.0.0.1 | gm -MemberType Property | %{$props.($_.Name) = ""}
$props.destination = "FailedHostAddress"
New-Object -TypeName PSCustomObject -Property $props

Answer 1

Not sure if this helps or not:
$base = Test-Connection 127.0.0.1 -Count 1
$blank = $base | select *
foreach ($prop in $base.psobject.Properties.Name)
{$blank.$prop = $null}
The select * will keep all of the properties, but convert them to note properties so they will be writeable, and you can set they to whatever you want them to be.

Answer 2

I would probably do something like this:
$servers = '10.50.10.100', '169.254.54.1', 'somehost'
$servers | % {
$dst = $_
try {
Test-Connection $dst -Count 1 -ErrorAction Stop | % {
$props = [ordered]#{
'Source' = $env:COMPUTERNAME
'Destination' = $dst
'IPv4Address' = $_.IPV4Address
'IPv6Address' = $_.IPV6Address
'Available' = $true
}
}
} catch {
try {
$addr = [ipaddress]$dst
$props = [ordered]#{
'Source' = $env:COMPUTERNAME
'Destination' = $dst
'IPv4Address' = $addr.MapToIPv4()
'IPv6Address' = $addr.MapToIPv6()
'Available' = $false
}
} catch {
$props = [ordered]#{
'Source' = $env:COMPUTERNAME
'Destination' = $dst
'IPv4Address' = $null
'IPv6Address' = $null
'Available' = $false
}
}
}
New-Object -Type PSObject -Property $props
}
The [ordered] hashes make the properties appear in the given order.
With PowerShell v3 or newer it can be simplified to this:
$servers | % {
$dst = $_
try {
Test-Connection $dst -Count 1 -ErrorAction Stop | % {
[PSCustomObject]#{
'Source' = $env:COMPUTERNAME
'Destination' = $dst
'IPv4Address' = $_.IPV4Address
'IPv6Address' = $_.IPV6Address
'Available' = $true
}
}
} catch {
try {
$addr = [ipaddress]$dst
[PSCustomObject]#{
'Source' = $env:COMPUTERNAME
'Destination' = $dst
'IPv4Address' = $addr.MapToIPv4()
'IPv6Address' = $addr.MapToIPv6()
'Available' = $false
}
} catch {
[PSCustomObject]#{
'Source' = $env:COMPUTERNAME
'Destination' = $dst
'IPv4Address' = $null
'IPv6Address' = $null
'Available' = $false
}
}
}
}
The output will look somewhat like this:
Source Destination IPv4Address IPv6Address Available
------ ----------- ----------- ----------- ---------
WYVERN 10.50.10.100 10.50.10.100 fe80::3a8f:4854:248d:787f%11 True
WYVERN 169.254.54.1 169.254.54.1 ::ffff:169.254.54.1 False
WYVERN somehost False