[Discussion] Format objects sent to Log Streams with "out-string" by default

Since Output/Verbose/Debug/etc. streams are considered log channels for the powershell worker, it should by default format objects in the same way a powershell console host would.

For instance: get-childitem | fl returns

Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData

whereas the expected output to a typical powershell developer would be the equivalent of get-childitem | fl | out-string

Since these are only log entries, I wouldn’t consider this a breaking change for a preview item (unless someone is parsing result logs already programatically)

[AnatoliB]

@JustinGrote Please note though that logging of Output objects in the regular PowerShell console is special. Out-String is automatically applied to the objects written to Output, but not to other streams. For example:

get-childitem | fl | Write-Verbose -Verbose

will print:

VERBOSE: Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatStartData
VERBOSE: Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.GroupStartData
VERBOSE: Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData
VERBOSE: Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData
...

[AnatoliB]

I was going to make the change we agreed on, but it looks like this is already the current behavior. When running on Azure and locally (using the PS Worker from dev and master branches), get-childitem | fl produces the following traces:

2019-07-10T19:47:27.050 [Information] OUTPUT:     Directory: D:\home\site\wwwroot
2019-07-10T19:47:27.060 [Information] OUTPUT:
2019-07-10T19:47:27.089 [Information] OUTPUT: Name           : HttpTrigger
2019-07-10T19:47:27.091 [Information] OUTPUT: CreationTime   : 5/31/2019 10:36:38 PM
2019-07-10T19:47:27.102 [Information] OUTPUT: LastWriteTime  : 5/31/2019 10:36:38 PM
2019-07-10T19:47:27.169 [Information] OUTPUT: LastAccessTime : 5/31/2019 10:36:38 PM
2019-07-10T19:47:27.169 [Information] OUTPUT: Mode           : d-----
2019-07-10T19:47:27.170 [Information] OUTPUT: LinkType       :
2019-07-10T19:47:27.170 [Information] OUTPUT: Target         :
2019-07-10T19:47:27.170 [Information] OUTPUT:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.128 [Information] OUTPUT: Name           : .funcignore
2019-07-10T19:47:28.710 [Information] OUTPUT: Length         : 41
2019-07-10T19:47:28.711 [Information] OUTPUT: CreationTime   : 5/16/2019 9:48:36 PM
2019-07-10T19:47:28.711 [Information] OUTPUT: LastWriteTime  : 5/16/2019 9:48:36 PM
2019-07-10T19:47:28.711 [Information] OUTPUT: LastAccessTime : 5/16/2019 9:48:36 PM
2019-07-10T19:47:28.711 [Information] OUTPUT: Mode           : ------
2019-07-10T19:47:28.712 [Information] OUTPUT: LinkType       :
2019-07-10T19:47:28.712 [Information] OUTPUT: Target         :
2019-07-10T19:47:28.712 [Information] OUTPUT: VersionInfo    : File:             D:\home\site\wwwroot\.funcignore
2019-07-10T19:47:28.712 [Information] OUTPUT:                  InternalName:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.713 [Information] OUTPUT:                  OriginalFilename:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.713 [Information] OUTPUT:                  FileVersion:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.713 [Information] OUTPUT:                  FileDescription:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.713 [Information] OUTPUT:                  Product:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.714 [Information] OUTPUT:                  ProductVersion:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.714 [Information] OUTPUT:                  Debug:            False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.714 [Information] OUTPUT:                  Patched:          False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.720 [Information] OUTPUT:                  PreRelease:       False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.720 [Information] OUTPUT:                  PrivateBuild:     False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.720 [Information] OUTPUT:                  SpecialBuild:     False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.721 [Information] OUTPUT:                  Language:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.721 [Information] OUTPUT:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.721 [Information] OUTPUT:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.722 [Information] OUTPUT: Name           : extensions.csproj
2019-07-10T19:47:28.722 [Information] OUTPUT: Length         : 369
2019-07-10T19:47:28.722 [Information] OUTPUT: CreationTime   : 5/16/2019 9:42:36 PM
2019-07-10T19:47:28.722 [Information] OUTPUT: LastWriteTime  : 5/16/2019 9:42:36 PM
2019-07-10T19:47:28.722 [Information] OUTPUT: LastAccessTime : 5/16/2019 9:42:36 PM
2019-07-10T19:47:28.723 [Information] OUTPUT: Mode           : ------
2019-07-10T19:47:28.723 [Information] OUTPUT: LinkType       :
2019-07-10T19:47:28.723 [Information] OUTPUT: Target         :
2019-07-10T19:47:28.723 [Information] OUTPUT: VersionInfo    : File:             D:\home\site\wwwroot\extensions.csproj
2019-07-10T19:47:28.723 [Information] OUTPUT:                  InternalName:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.724 [Information] OUTPUT:                  OriginalFilename:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.724 [Information] OUTPUT:                  FileVersion:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.730 [Information] OUTPUT:                  FileDescription:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.730 [Information] OUTPUT:                  Product:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.730 [Information] OUTPUT:                  ProductVersion:
2019-07-10T19:47:28.731 [Information] OUTPUT:                  Debug:            False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.731 [Information] OUTPUT:                  Patched:          False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.731 [Information] OUTPUT:                  PreRelease:       False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.732 [Information] OUTPUT:                  PrivateBuild:     False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.732 [Information] OUTPUT:                  SpecialBuild:     False
2019-07-10T19:47:28.732 [Information] OUTPUT:                  Language:
...

Please note that I’m looking specifically at the Output stream, as this is the only stream where we wanted to apply Out-String automatically.

I’m closing this issue, unless someone can still repro it.