2017-11-20, Completely rewrote function to improve performance and add features as -ArrayBase and support for PSStandardMembers and grouped objects.
Flatten-Object
Recursively flattens objects containing arrays, hash tables and (custom) objects. All added properties of the supplied objects will be aligned with the rest of the objects.
Requires PowerShell version 2 or higher.
Cmdlet
Function Flatten-Object { # Version 00.02.12, by iRon
[CmdletBinding()]Param (
[Parameter(ValueFromPipeLine = $True)][Object[]]$Objects,
[String]$Separator = ".", [ValidateSet("", 0, 1)]$Base = 1, [Int]$Depth = 5, [Int]$Uncut = 1,
[String[]]$ToString = ([String], [DateTime], [TimeSpan]), [String[]]$Path = @()
)
$PipeLine = $Input | ForEach {$_}; If ($PipeLine) {$Objects = $PipeLine}
If (@(Get-PSCallStack)[1].Command -eq $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name -or @(Get-PSCallStack)[1].Command -eq "<position>") {
$Object = @($Objects)[0]; $Iterate = New-Object System.Collections.Specialized.OrderedDictionary
If ($ToString | Where {$Object -is $_}) {$Object = $Object.ToString()}
ElseIf ($Depth) {$Depth--
If ($Object.GetEnumerator.OverloadDefinitions -match "[W]IDictionaryEnumerator[W]") {
$Iterate = $Object
} ElseIf ($Object.GetEnumerator.OverloadDefinitions -match "[W]IEnumerator[W]") {
$Object.GetEnumerator() | ForEach -Begin {$i = $Base} {$Iterate.($i) = $_; $i += 1}
} Else {
$Names = If ($Uncut) {$Uncut--} Else {$Object.PSStandardMembers.DefaultDisplayPropertySet.ReferencedPropertyNames}
If (!$Names) {$Names = $Object.PSObject.Properties | Where {$_.IsGettable} | Select -Expand Name}
If ($Names) {$Names | ForEach {$Iterate.$_ = $Object.$_}}
}
}
If (@($Iterate.Keys).Count) {
$Iterate.Keys | ForEach {
Flatten-Object @(,$Iterate.$_) $Separator $Base $Depth $Uncut $ToString ($Path + $_)
}
} Else {$Property.(($Path | Where {$_}) -Join $Separator) = $Object}
} ElseIf ($Objects -ne $Null) {
@($Objects) | ForEach -Begin {$Output = @(); $Names = @()} {
New-Variable -Force -Option AllScope -Name Property -Value (New-Object System.Collections.Specialized.OrderedDictionary)
Flatten-Object @(,$_) $Separator $Base $Depth $Uncut $ToString $Path
$Output += New-Object PSObject -Property $Property
$Names += $Output[-1].PSObject.Properties | Select -Expand Name
}
$Output | Select ([String[]]($Names | Select -Unique))
}
}; Set-Alias Flatten Flatten-Object
Syntax
<Object[]> Flatten-Object [-Separator <String>] [-Base "" | 0 | 1] [-Depth <Int>] [-Uncut<Int>] [ToString <Type[]>]
or:
Flatten-Object <Object[]> [[-Separator] <String>] [[-Base] "" | 0 | 1] [[-Depth] <Int>] [[-Uncut] <Int>] [[ToString] <Type[]>]
Parameters
-Object[] <Object[]>
The object (or objects) to be flatten.
-Separator <String> (Default: .)
The separator used between the recursive property names. .
-Depth <Int> (Default: 5)
The maximal depth of flattening a recursive property. Any negative value will result in an unlimited depth and could cause a infinitive loop.
-Uncut <Int> (Default: 1)
The number of object iterations that will left uncut further object properties will be limited to just the DefaultDisplayPropertySet. Any negative value will reveal all properties of all objects.
-Base "" | 0 | 1 (Default: 1)
The first index name of an embedded array:
1, arrays will be 1 based: <Parent>.1, <Parent>.2, <Parent>.3, ...0, arrays will be 0 based: <Parent>.0, <Parent>.1, <Parent>.2, ..."", the first item in an array will be unnamed and than followed with 1: <Parent>, <Parent>.1, <Parent>.2, ...
-ToString <Type[]= [String], [DateTime], [TimeSpan]>
A list of value types (default [String], [DateTime], [TimeSpan]) that will be converted to string rather the further flattened. E.g. a [DateTime] could be flattened with additional properties like Date, Day, DayOfWeek etc. but will be converted to a single (String) property instead.
Note:
The parameter -Path is for internal use but could but used to prefix property names.
Examples
Answering the specific question:
(Get-Content "PATH_TOest.json" -Raw | ConvertFrom-Json) | Flatten-Object | Convertto-CSV -NoTypeInformation | Set-Content "PATH_TOest.csv"
Result:
{
"url": "http://test.test",
"slug": "slug",
"id": 10011,
"link": "http://test.er",
"level": 1,
"areas.2": "area_b",
"areas.1": "area_a",
"disciplines.3": "discipline_c",
"disciplines.2": "discipline_b",
"disciplines.1": "discipline_a",
"subject": "testing",
"title": "Test procedure",
"email": "test@test.com"
}
Stress testing a more complex custom object:
New-Object PSObject @{
String = [String]"Text"
Char = [Char]65
Byte = [Byte]66
Int = [Int]67
Long = [Long]68
Null = $Null
Booleans = $False, $True
Decimal = [Decimal]69
Single = [Single]70
Double = [Double]71
Array = @("One", "Two", @("Three", "Four"), "Five")
HashTable = @{city="New York"; currency="Dollar"; postalCode=10021; Etc = @("Three", "Four", "Five")}
Object = New-Object PSObject -Property @{Name = "One"; Value = 1; Text = @("First", "1st")}
} | Flatten
Result:
Double : 71
Decimal : 69
Long : 68
Array.1 : One
Array.2 : Two
Array.3.1 : Three
Array.3.2 : Four
Array.4 : Five
Object.Name : One
Object.Value : 1
Object.Text.1 : First
Object.Text.2 : 1st
Int : 67
Byte : 66
HashTable.postalCode : 10021
HashTable.currency : Dollar
HashTable.Etc.1 : Three
HashTable.Etc.2 : Four
HashTable.Etc.3 : Five
HashTable.city : New York
Booleans.1 : False
Booleans.2 : True
String : Text
Char : A
Single : 70
Null :
Flatting grouped objects:
$csv | Group Name | Flatten | Format-Table # https://stackoverflow.com/a/47409634/1701026
Flatting common objects:
(Get-Process)[0] | Flatten-Object
Or a list (array) of objects:
Get-Service | Flatten-Object -Depth 3 | Export-CSV Service.csv
Note that a command as below takes hours to compute:
Get-Process | Flatten-Object | Export-CSV Process.csv
Why? because it results in a table with a few hundred rows and several thousand columns. So if you if would like to use this for flatting process, you beter limit the number of rows (using the Where-Object cmdlet) or the number of columns (using the Select-Object cmdlet).
For the latest Flatten-Object version, see: https://powersnippets.com/flatten-object/
