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POHow can I change how PowerShell displays a property of my custom type?
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copied!<p>In PowerShell when I view my custom <code>MyStuff.Document</code> type in a table (or list) its <code>Content</code> property is not displayed using my <code>ToString()</code> function. Instead PowerShell iterates the collection and shows the items in it. I want it to use my <code>ToString()</code> function.</p> <p>Example:</p> <pre><code>$doc = New-Object MyStuff.Document $doc.Content.Add("Segment 1") $doc.Content.Add("Segment 2") $doc | select Content </code></pre> <p>It currently shows:</p> <pre><code>Content ------- {Segment 1, Segment 2} </code></pre> <p>When I want it to show:</p> <pre><code>Content ------- something custom </code></pre> <p>Where "something custom" is the output of my <code>ToString()</code> function.</p> <p>I've dug into <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh847831.aspx" rel="nofollow"><code>*.format.ps1xml</code></a> files which I think are what I need use but I can't figure out how to do what I want. <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849908.aspx" rel="nofollow"><code>Update-TypeData</code></a> also looked promising but I haven't had luck with that either yet.</p> <p>Any help would be much appreciated.</p> <p>These are the custom types I'm working with:</p> <pre><code>namespace MyStuff { public class Document { public string Name { get; set; } public FormattedTextBlock Content { get; set; } } public class FormattedTextBlock : ICollection<FormattedTextSegment> { public void Add(string text) { this.Add(new FormattedTextSegment() { Text = text }); } // ... ICollection implementation clipped public override string ToString() { // ... reality is more complex return "something custom"; } } public class FormattedTextSegment { public string Text { get; set; } public override string ToString() { return Text; } } } </code></pre> <h2>Update</h2> <p>To be clear, I'm aware of strategies like <code>$doc | select @{ Expression = { $_.Content.ToString() }; Label = "Content" }</code>. I'm looking for away to tell PowerShell how to format my property by default.</p>

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