Making Reports in PowerShell (Part 2 of 3): Simple Text Reports

In Part 1 of this short series, I showed you how many admins approach text-based report creation in PowerShell. The emphasis there is on "text-based:" While PowerShell can do a decent job of manipulating text, that isn't where its true power lies. If you're going to use a tool, it's best to use it properly: Your job will be easier, and the results will be better and more flexible.

My sample report has two scenarios. The first is when I need to display some data that comes from two different places, such as two WMI classes, and want to do so in a single element like a table or list. The second is when the information I need in a particular section can be obtained from a single place, like just one WMI class.

[CmdletBinding()]param (    [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]    [string]$computername)function CSInfo {    param($computername)    $cs = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem -computername $computername    $bios = Get-WmiObject -class Win32_BIOS -computername $computername    $props = @{'Computer'=$cs.name;               'Manufacturer'=$cs.manufacturer;               'Model'=$cs.model;               'BIOSSerial'=$bios.serialnumber}    $obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property $props    Write-Output $obj}Write-Output "----- COMPUTERSYSTEM"CSInfo -computername $computername | Format-ListWrite-Output "------ OPERATING SYSTEM"Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem -computername $computername | Select-Object -Property Version,BuildNumber,ServicePackMajorVersion,OSArchitecture |Format-ListWrite-Output "------ PROCESSORS"Get-WmiObject -class Win32_Processor  -computername $computername |Select-Object -Property AddressWidth,MaxClockSpeed -First 1 |Format-ListWrite-Output "------ DISKS"Get-WmiObject -class Win32_LogicalDisk -filter "drivetype=3" -computername $computername |Select-Object -Property DeviceID,Size,FreeSpace |Format-List

That makes me clench my teeth marginally less than the original version. This can now be piped to Out-File successfully. There are three main changes:

This is still far from ideal, and in the final part of this short series, I'm going to really make this look awesome.