Function is an object?

Hello,

I set up a SQL connection inside a Function. When I run the Function inside a variable, I get the correct query results, plus an additional result of ‘0’. $variable.count also gives me an additional value on top of the query results.

Here is the setup…

Function newStaffSelect() {

$SqlConnection = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection
$SqlConnection.ConnectionString = "my=connection=string"
$SqlCmd = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand
$SqlCmd.CommandType = [System.Data.CommandType]'StoredProcedure'
$SqlCmd.CommandText = "dbo._GetNewHires"
$SqlCmd.Connection = $SqlConnection
$SqlCmd.CommandTimeout = 0
$SqlAdapter = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter
$SqlAdapter.SelectCommand = $SqlCmd
$DataSet = New-Object System.Data.DataSet
$SqlAdapter.Fill($DataSet)
$SqlConnection.Close()
$DataSet.Tables[0]
}


#Put query result into variable called $newStaff

$newStaff = newStaffSelect

If I do $newStaff.count, the value is 1 if the query result is empty. Otherwise $newStaff.count is the number of results, +1.

Is the function itself seen as an object in the variable?

Thank you!

The function is not seen as an object in the variable. I’m not sure what that means, actually.

Your function is outputting $DataSet.Tables[0]. What happens if you just run your function, without assigning it to a variable? If you get nothing, then either:

  1. Your query is wrong and it isn’t producing any results

Or

  1. The data table couldn’t be filled before you closed the connection

Hello, thanks for helping out…

If I run the Function by itself, the first thing it returns is the count of the objects returned.

The first ‘object’ in the results is the value ‘23’… followed by 23 actual results from my query. It is the correct number of results from just running the query in SQL.

When I put it in a variable and do $variable.count…it returns ‘24’.

So you’re probably just going to have to discard the first object, if that’s what’s being output. You’re always getting back one objects with the result count. You could do this in your function by piping your data table to " | Select-Object -skip 1" if you wanted.

I guess it makes sense to me. I will see about skipping the first result. The only bothersome thing about it is that extra result always fails down the pipeline. I guess my question was, ‘What is that extra object?’.

Thank you!

Try this, mostly it works…
I have tried.

...
.
$SqlAdapter.Fill($DataSet) | Out-Null
$SqlTbl = New-Object System.Data.Datatable
$SqlTbl = $DataSet.Tables[0]
$SqlConnection.Close()
return, $sqlTbl
}

Hey @creed-cordonier,
That “extra object” you are seeing is actually the returned value from your $SqlAdapter.Fill($DataSet)

The fill method for the System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter has a return value as follows

Return Value
Type: System.Int32
The number of rows successfully added to or refreshed in the DataSet. This does not include rows affected by statements that do not return rows.

Since you are not capturing that return value in a variable, or outputting it to Null like @its4kiran is in his example, the return value is sent to the default output.

Excellent info, thank you!

How did you get this return value information on the Fill method?

Thank you all for chiming in.

Well, it was like this.

The first and second link get you there. You just have to select the fill method.

Just checking back to thank you for your help. Obviously outputting to null worked.