Get-View of ClusterComputeResource vs. StoragePod

[zik]

I found the following example of looping through cluster/host/vm at PowerCLI LinkedView – A Simple Example | The Handsome Hippo

$VMArray = @()

$ClusterArray = Get-View -ViewType ClusterComputeResource

$ClusterArray | % {

     $_.UpdateViewData("Host.Name","Host.VM.Name")

     $ClusterName = $_.Name

     $_.LinkedView.Host | % {

          $HostName = $_.Name

          $_.LinkedView.VM | % {

               $VMName = $_.Name

               $VMArray += New-Object –TypeName PSObject –Prop (

                    @{'Cluster'=$ClusterName;

                      'Host'=$HostName;

                      'Name'=$VMName

                     }

               )

          }

     }

}

I tried the equivalent code for storage cluster/datastore/vm

$DSVMArray = @()

$DSClusterArray = Get-View -ViewType StoragePod

$DSClusterArray | % {

    $_.UpdateViewData("ChildEntity.Name","ChildEntity.VM.Name")

    $DSClusterName = $_.Name

    $_.LinkedView.ChildEntity | % {

        $DSName = $_.Name

        $_.LinkedView.VM | % {

           $VMName = $_.Name

           $DSVMArray += New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Prop (

                @{'DSCluster'=$DSClusterName;

                  'Datastore'=$DSName;

                  'VM'=$VMName;

                }

            )

        }

    }

}

But this errors out with

Exception calling "UpdateViewData" with "2" argument(s): "The specified path

is not correct. Element 'vM' doesn't exist."

At line:4 char:5

+     $_.UpdateViewData("ChildEntity.Name","ChildEntity.VM.Name")

+     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentException

The data structures look the same to me.  Would someone please explain the error?

[jasonrobinson]

I had an issue similar to this when trying to use UpdateViewData on the Parent object. The work around I used was drilling down to the next level and issuing the UpdateViewData. Here is the code I just tested and worked in my environment.

$DSVMArray = @()

$DSClusterArray = Get-View -ViewType StoragePod

$DSClusterArray | % {

    $_.UpdateViewData("ChildEntity.Name")

    $DSClusterName = $_.Name

    $_.LinkedView.ChildEntity.UpdateViewData("VM.Name")

  $_.LinkedView.ChildEntity | % {

        $DSName = $_.Name

        $_.LinkedView.VM | % {

           $VMName = $_.Name

           $DSVMArray += New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Prop (

                @{'DSCluster'=$DSClusterName;

                  'Datastore'=$DSName;

                  'VM'=$VMName;

                }

            )

        }

    }

}

[zik · Accepted solution]

Cannot use UpdateViewData when properties may be null.  In my case I have datastores with no VMs so I can't UpdateViewData("ChildEntity.VM.Name").

$DSVMArray = @()

$DSClusterArray = Get-View -ViewType StoragePod

$DSClusterArray | % {

    $DSCluster = $_

    $DSCluster.UpdateViewData("ChildEntity.Name")

    $DSClusterName = $DSCluster.Name

    if ($DSCluster.LinkedView.ChildEntity.VM.Count -gt 0) {

        $DSCluster.LinkedView.ChildEntity.UpdateViewData("VM.Name")

    }

    $DSCluster.LinkedView.ChildEntity | %{

        $DSName = $_.Name

        $_.LinkedView.VM | %{

           $VMName = $_.Name

           $DSVMArray += New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Prop (

                @{'DSCluster'=$DSClusterName;

                  'Datastore'=$DSName;

                  'VM'=$VMName;

                }

            )

        }

    }

}