Handling PowerShell ValueFromPipeline easily

Did you ever want your Cmdlets tp support pipeline input but never took the time to correctly implement it? There is an easy way of handling input either from pipeline or as a parameter (regardless it being a sigle object or an array of objects). You just have to decorate a generic input parameter with the “ValueFromPipeline” attribute and iterate over it in the “PROCESS” block of your Cmdlet. Just make sure you do not define a datatype on the parameter as you might get a conversion error (or at least define it as an array so a single object will be converted to an array implicitly). Pre- and Post-Processing can still be done in the “BEGIN” and “END” block respectively:

function Test-ValueFromPipeline {
  [CmdletBinding(
    SupportsShouldProcess=$true,
    ConfirmImpact="Low"
  )]
Param(
  [Parameter(Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true, Position = 0)]
  $InputObject
  )

BEGIN {
  
} # BEGIN
PROCESS {

try {
  foreach($Object in $InputObject) {
    if($PSCmdlet.ShouldProcess($Object)) {
      Write-Host $Object
    } # if
  } # foreach
} # try
catch {}
finally {}
} # PROCESS

END {
} # END

} # Test-ValueFromPipeline

You now can call the Cmdlet with a string from the pipeline or as a named (or even positional) parameter. When the InputObject is only a single object foreach just iterates over it once.

PS > Test-ValueFromPipeline @("Peter","Paul","Mary")
Peter
Paul
Mary
PS > Test-ValueFromPipeline "Peter"
Peter
PS > "Peter" | Test-ValueFromPipeline
Peter
PS > @("Peter","Paul","Mary") | Test-ValueFromPipeline
Peter
Paul
Mary

As you noticed the Cmdlet declared it supports “ShouldProcess”. That logic placed inside the “foreach” loop lets the user choose to process each object separately:

PS > @("Peter","Paul","Mary","Tom") | Test-ValueFromPipeline -Confirm

Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Peter".
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "Y"): Y
Peter

Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Paul".
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "Y"): N

Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Mary".
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "Y"): A
Mary
Tom

Of course this works with any input, not just arrays of strings:

PS > Get-ChildItem | Test-ValueFromPipeline -WhatIf
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Contacts".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Desktop".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Documents".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Downloads".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Favorites".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Links".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Music".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Pictures".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Roaming".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Saved Games".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Searches".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Videos".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "Credential.xml".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "history.txt".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "hto.xml".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "readme.txt".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "uri.xml".
What if: Performing operation "Test-ValueFromPipeline" on Target "users.csv".