Automation

I am trying to export the custom Annotation fields to a csv file with foreach and having trouble get it to work where I want.

1.     Is it possiible to export them with foreach or do I have to use foreach-object?

$vms = get-vm pt*
foreach ($vm in $vms){
    $vm = Get-View $vm.ID
    $nm = $vm.name
    $hn = $vm.guest.hostname
    $ip = $vm.guest.ipaddress
    $contact = get-vm $vms | Get-Annotation -CustomAttribute "System Contact"|select Value
    $vm | select `
    @{Name = "Name"; E={$nm}},`
    @{Name = "Contact"; E={$contact}},`
    @{Name = "Hostname"; E={$hn}},`
    @{Name = "IP"; E={$ip}}
}format-table -AutoSize -Wrap

2.     How can I get rid of the "{@{Value=" in the output??

Name                          Contact                       Hostname                      IP
----                          -------                       --------                      --
PT1                      {@{Value=abcd.Serverteam...     pt1.abcd.com              10.0.1.5
PT2                      {@{Value=abcd.Serverteam...     pt2.abcd.com              10.0.1.33

The problem is that foreach is a statement, not a cmdlet.

So you need a little trick to put the objects coming from the Select cmdlet in the pipeline.

$vms = get-vm pt*
&{foreach ($vm in $vms){
    $vm = Get-View $vm.ID
    $nm = $vm.name
    $hn = $vm.guest.hostname
    $ip = $vm.guest.ipaddress
    $contact = get-vm $vms | Get-Annotation -CustomAttribute "System Contact"|
    Select Value $vm | select `
    @{Name = "Name"; E={$nm}},
    @{Name = "Contact"; E={$contact}},
    @{Name = "Hostname"; E={$hn}},
    @{Name = "IP"; E={$ip}}
}} | Export-Csv c:\report.csv -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture

And concerning your question about foreach and ForEach-Object, Brandon did a good post on that subject.

See hist Why use foreach vs foreach-object.

I see. The export works but the annotation is fielding is missing. Any clue?

The better, more PowerShell, way of doing this would be to use the pipeline.

Something like this

Get-VM tp* | Select Name,
  @{N="Hostname";E={$_.Guest.Hostname}},
  @{N="IP address";E={$_.Guest.IpAddress}},
  @{N="Contact";E={
    Get-Annotation -Entity $_ -CustomAttribute "System Contact" | 
    Select -ExpandProperty Value}} | 
Export-Csv c:\report.csv -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture 

tyvm.