New-Object
Creates an instance of a Microsoft .NET Framework or COM object.
Syntax
New-Object
[-TypeName] <String>
[[-ArgumentList] <Object[]>]
[-Property <IDictionary>]
[<CommonParameters>]New-Object
[-ComObject] <String>
[-Strict]
[-Property <IDictionary>]
[<CommonParameters>]Description
The New-Object cmdlet creates an instance of a .NET Framework or COM object.
You can specify either the type of a .NET Framework class or a ProgID of a COM object. By default, you type the fully qualified name of a .NET Framework class and the cmdlet returns a reference to an instance of that class. To create an instance of a COM object, use the ComObject parameter and specify the ProgID of the object as its value.
Examples
Example 1: Create a System.Version object
This example creates a System.Version object using the "1.2.3.4" string as the constructor.
New-Object -TypeName System.Version -ArgumentList "1.2.3.4"
Major Minor Build Revision
----- ----- ----- --------
1 2 3 4Example 2: Create an Internet Explorer COM object
This example creates two instances of the COM object that represents the Internet Explorer
application. The first instance uses the Property parameter hash table to call the Navigate2
method and set the Visible property of the object to $True to make the application visible.
The second instance gets the same results with individual commands.
$IE1 = New-Object -COMObject InternetExplorer.Application -Property @{Navigate2="www.microsoft.com"; Visible = $True}
# The following command gets the same results as the example above.
$IE2 = New-Object -COMObject InternetExplorer.Application`
$IE2.Navigate2("www.microsoft.com")`
$IE2.Visible = $True`Example 3: Use the Strict parameter to generate a non-terminating error
This example demonstrates that adding the Strict parameter causes the New-Object cmdlet to
generate a non-terminating error when the COM object uses an interop assembly.
$A = New-Object -COMObject Word.Application -Strict -Property @{Visible = $True}
New-Object : The object written to the pipeline is an instance of the type
"Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass" from the component's primary interop assembly. If
this type exposes different members than the IDispatch members, scripts written to work with this
object might not work if the primary interop assembly is not installed.
At line:1 char:14
+ $A = New-Object <<<< -COM Word.Application -Strict; $a.visible=$trueExample 4: Create a COM object to manage Windows desktop
This example shows how to create and use a COM object to manage your Windows desktop.
The first command uses the ComObject parameter of the New-Object cmdlet to create a COM object
with the Shell.Application ProgID. It stores the resulting object in the $ObjShell variable. The
second command pipes the $ObjShell variable to the Get-Member cmdlet, which displays the
properties and methods of the COM object. Among the methods is the ToggleDesktop method. The
third command calls the ToggleDesktop method of the object to minimize the open windows on your
desktop.
$Objshell = New-Object -COMObject "Shell.Application"
$objshell | Get-Member
$objshell.ToggleDesktop()
TypeName: System.__ComObject#{866738b9-6cf2-4de8-8767-f794ebe74f4e}
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
AddToRecent Method void AddToRecent (Variant, string)
BrowseForFolder Method Folder BrowseForFolder (int, string, int, Variant)
CanStartStopService Method Variant CanStartStopService (string)
CascadeWindows Method void CascadeWindows ()
ControlPanelItem Method void ControlPanelItem (string)
EjectPC Method void EjectPC ()
Explore Method void Explore (Variant)
ExplorerPolicy Method Variant ExplorerPolicy (string)
FileRun Method void FileRun ()
FindComputer Method void FindComputer ()
FindFiles Method void FindFiles ()
FindPrinter Method void FindPrinter (string, string, string)
GetSetting Method bool GetSetting (int)
GetSystemInformation Method Variant GetSystemInformation (string)
Help Method void Help ()
IsRestricted Method int IsRestricted (string, string)
IsServiceRunning Method Variant IsServiceRunning (string)
MinimizeAll Method void MinimizeAll ()
NameSpace Method Folder NameSpace (Variant)
Open Method void Open (Variant)
RefreshMenu Method void RefreshMenu ()
ServiceStart Method Variant ServiceStart (string, Variant)
ServiceStop Method Variant ServiceStop (string, Variant)
SetTime Method void SetTime ()
ShellExecute Method void ShellExecute (string, Variant, Variant, Variant, Variant)
ShowBrowserBar Method Variant ShowBrowserBar (string, Variant)
ShutdownWindows Method void ShutdownWindows ()
Suspend Method void Suspend ()
TileHorizontally Method void TileHorizontally ()
TileVertically Method void TileVertically ()
ToggleDesktop Method void ToggleDesktop ()
TrayProperties Method void TrayProperties ()
UndoMinimizeALL Method void UndoMinimizeALL ()
Windows Method IDispatch Windows ()
WindowsSecurity Method void WindowsSecurity ()
WindowSwitcher Method void WindowSwitcher ()
Application Property IDispatch Application () {get}
Parent Property IDispatch Parent () {get}Example 5: Pass multiple arguments to a constructor
This example shows how to create an object with a constructor that takes multiple parameters. The parameters must be put in an array when using ArgumentList parameter.
$array = @('One', 'Two', 'Three')
$parameters = @{
TypeName = 'System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[string]'
ArgumentList = ([string[]]$array, [System.StringComparer]::OrdinalIgnoreCase)
}
$set = New-Object @parametersPowerShell binds each member of the array to a parameter of the constructor.
Note
This example uses parameter splatting for readability. For more information, see about_Splatting.
Example 6: Calling a constructor that takes an array as a single parameter
This example shows how to create an object with a constructor that takes a parameter that is an array or collection. The array parameter must be put in wrapped inside another array.
$array = @('One', 'Two', 'Three')
# This command throws an exception.
$set = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[string]' -ArgumentList $array
# This command succeeds.
$set = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[string]' -ArgumentList (,[string[]]$array)
$set
New-Object : Cannot find an overload for "HashSet`1" and the argument count: "3".
At line:1 char:8
+ $set = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[strin ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [New-Object], MethodException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ConstructorInvokedThrowException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewObjectCommand
One
Two
ThreeThe first attempt to create the object in this example fails. PowerShell attempted to bind the three
members of $array to parameters of the constructor but the constructor does not take three
parameter. Wrapping $array in another array prevents PowerShell from attempting to bind the three
members of $array to parameters of the constructor.
Parameters
-ArgumentList
Specifies an array of arguments to pass to the constructor of the .NET Framework class. If the constructor takes a single parameter that is an array, you must wrap that parameter inside another array. For example:
$cert = New-Object System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate -ArgumentList (,$bytes)
For more information about the behavior of ArgumentList, see about_Splatting.
The alias for ArgumentList is Args.
| Type: | Object[] |
| Aliases: | Args |
| Position: | 1 |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-ComObject
Specifies the programmatic identifier (ProgID) of the COM object.
| Type: | String |
| Position: | 0 |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | True |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Property
Sets property values and invokes methods of the new object.
Enter a hash table in which the keys are the names of properties or methods and the values are
property values or method arguments. New-Object creates the object and sets each property value
and invokes each method in the order that they appear in the hash table.
If the new object is derived from the PSObject class, and you specify a property that does not
exist on the object, New-Object adds the specified property to the object as a NoteProperty. If
the object is not a PSObject, the command generates a non-terminating error.
| Type: | IDictionary |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Strict
Indicates that the cmdlet generates a non-terminating error when a COM object that you attempt to create uses an interop assembly. This feature distinguishes actual COM objects from .NET Framework objects with COM-callable wrappers.
| Type: | SwitchParameter |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-TypeName
Specifies the fully qualified name of the .NET Framework class. You cannot specify both the TypeName parameter and the ComObject parameter.
| Type: | String |
| Position: | 0 |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | True |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
None
You can't pipe objects to this cmdlet.
Outputs
This cmdlet returns the object that it creates.
Notes
New-Objectprovides the most commonly-used functionality of the VBScript CreateObject function. A statement likeSet objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")in VBScript can be translated to$objShell = New-Object -COMObject "Shell.Application"in PowerShell.New-Objectexpands upon the functionality available in the Windows Script Host environment by making it easy to work with .NET Framework objects from the command line and within scripts.
