So - I've been using the Windows Powershell for the odd bit of Tridion work. You knew that.

And you probably also knew that very often the Tridion API hands you back a string representing an XML document, and that it's very convenient to "cast" this to a .NET XmlDocument using the [xml] operator. Just search on this blog for "powershell" and you'll find enough examples. But still - there's a missing piece in the puzzle. So today I wanted to look at the output from the .GetTridionWebSchemaXMl() method on a Tridion Object Model Schema object. (Don't worry - I am weaning myself off the TOM; I wanted to compare this API with the ReadSchemaFields() method on the core service client API.)

Anyway - for what it's worth, here's what the raw string looks like:

> $tdse.GetObject("tcm:21-509-8",1).GetTridionWebSchemaXML(1919,$true)
<tcm:TridionWebSchema ID="tcm:21-509-8" IsEditable="false" xmlns:tcm="http://www.tridion.com/ContentManager/5.0"><tcm:C
ontext xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:transform-e
xt="urn:tridion:transform-ext"><tcm:Publication xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="Synchroniser tests" xlink:href="tcm:0-
21-1" /><tcm:OrganizationalItem xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="TestSchemaOne" xlink:href="tcm:21-50-2" /></tcm:Contex
t><tcm:Info xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:transf
orm-ext="urn:tridion:transform-ext"><tcm:LocationInfo><tcm:WebDAVURL>/webdav/Synchroniser%20tests/Building%20Blocks/Tes
tSchemaOne/TestSchemaCategories.xsd</tcm:WebDAVURL><tcm:Path>\Synchroniser tests\Building Blocks\TestSchemaOne</tcm:Pat
h></tcm:LocationInfo><tcm:BluePrintInfo><tcm:OwningPublication xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="Synchroniser tests" xli
nk:href="tcm:0-21-1" /><tcm:IsShared>false</tcm:IsShared><tcm:IsLocalized>false</tcm:IsLocalized></tcm:BluePrintInfo><t
cm:VersionInfo><tcm:Version>3</tcm:Version><tcm:Revision>0</tcm:Revision><tcm:CreationDate>2012-07-07T18:28:23</tcm:Cre
ationDate><tcm:RevisionDate>2012-07-09T20:18:21</tcm:RevisionDate><tcm:Creator xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="TRIDION
DEV\Administrator" xlink:href="tcm:0-11-65552" /><tcm:Revisor xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="TRIDIONDEV\Administrator
" xlink:href="tcm:0-11-65552" /><tcm:ItemLock Title="No lock" Type="0" /><tcm:IsNew>false</tcm:IsNew></tcm:VersionInfo>
<tcm:AllowedActions><tcm:Actions Allow="1173513" Deny="102" Managed="0" /></tcm:AllowedActions></tcm:Info><tcm:Data xml
ns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:transform-ext="urn:tr
idion:transform-ext"><tcm:Title>TestSchemaCategories</tcm:Title><tcm:Description>TestSchemaCategories</tcm:Description>
<tcm:Purpose>Component</tcm:Purpose><tcm:NamespaceURI>uuid:f14d60ed-0f7c-4d1f-a2e3-97d1dfeb1a1f</tcm:NamespaceURI><tcm:
RootElementName>Content</tcm:RootElementName><tcm:Fields><tcm:KeywordField><tcm:Name>ColoursOne</tcm:Name><tcm:Descript
ion>ColoursOne</tcm:Description><tcm:MinOccurs>1</tcm:MinOccurs><tcm:MaxOccurs>unbounded</tcm:MaxOccurs><tcm:Category x
link:type="simple" xlink:title="Colours" xlink:href="tcm:21-59-512" /><tcm:Size>1</tcm:Size><tcm:List Type="tree" /><tc
m:ExtensionXml xmlns="http://www.sdltridion.com/ContentManager/R6" /></tcm:KeywordField><tcm:SingleLineTextField><tcm:N
ame>Animals</tcm:Name><tcm:Description>Test field with locally declared list</tcm:Description><tcm:MinOccurs>1</tcm:Min
Occurs><tcm:MaxOccurs>1</tcm:MaxOccurs><tcm:Size>1</tcm:Size><tcm:List Type="select"><tcm:Entry>Horse</tcm:Entry><tcm:E
ntry>Haddock</tcm:Entry><tcm:Entry>Weasel</tcm:Entry></tcm:List><tcm:ExtensionXml xmlns="http://www.sdltridion.com/Cont
entManager/R6" /></tcm:SingleLineTextField></tcm:Fields><tcm:MetadataFields /><tcm:AllowedMultimediaTypes /><tcm:Compon
entProcess xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="" xlink:href="tcm:0-0-0" /></tcm:Data></tcm:TridionWebSchema>

Yeah - erm ... Okaayyyy. Great.

OK - so how about we do the cast?

> [xml]$tdse.GetObject("tcm:21-509-8",1).GetTridionWebSchemaXML(1919,$true)
TridionWebSchema
----------------
TridionWebSchema

Well - at least you can read it.. but seriously - also not super helpful if you just want to scan the XML with good-old-fashioned human eyeballs.

So what can we do? Well I got to the point where I actually typed the following into Google:

powershell pretty print xml

and the first hit was on Keith Hill's blog.  Keith had written a nice little function that looks like this:

function XmlPrettyPrint([string]$xml) {
    $tr = new-object System.IO.StringReader($xml)
    $settings = new-object System.Xml.XmlReaderSettings
    $settings.CloseInput = $true
    $settings.IgnoreWhitespace = $true
    $reader = [System.Xml.XmlReader]::Create($tr, $settings)
    $sw = new-object System.IO.StringWriter
    $settings = new-object System.Xml.XmlWriterSettings
    $settings.CloseOutput = $true
    $settings.Indent = $true
    $writer = [System.Xml.XmlWriter]::Create($sw, $settings)
    
    while (!$reader.EOF) {
        $writer.WriteNode($reader, $false)
    }
    $writer.Flush()
    
    $result = $sw.ToString()
    $reader.Close()
    $writer.Close()
    $result
}

A minute later, this function was in my Powershell profile (and I slightly altered the name and added an alias) so now I can do the following:

> ppx ([xml]$tdse.GetObject("tcm:21-509-8",1).GetTridionWebSchemaXML(1919,$true)).OuterXml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<tcm:TridionWebSchema ID="tcm:21-509-8" IsEditable="false" xmlns:tcm="http://www.tridion.com/ContentManager/5.0">
  <tcm:Context xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:transform-ext="urn:tridion:transform-ext">
    <tcm:Publication xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="Synchroniser tests" xlink:href="tcm:0-21-1" />
    <tcm:OrganizationalItem xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="TestSchemaOne" xlink:href="tcm:21-50-2" />
  </tcm:Context>
  <tcm:Info xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:transform-ext="urn:tridion:transform-ext">
    <tcm:LocationInfo>
      <tcm:WebDAVURL>/webdav/Synchroniser%20tests/Building%20Blocks/TestSchemaOne/TestSchemaCategories.xsd</tcm:WebDAVURL>
      <tcm:Path>\Synchroniser tests\Building Blocks\TestSchemaOne</tcm:Path>
    </tcm:LocationInfo>
    <tcm:BluePrintInfo>
      <tcm:OwningPublication xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="Synchroniser tests" xlink:href="tcm:0-21-1" />
      <tcm:IsShared>false</tcm:IsShared>
      <tcm:IsLocalized>false</tcm:IsLocalized>
    </tcm:BluePrintInfo>
    <tcm:VersionInfo>
      <tcm:Version>3</tcm:Version>
      <tcm:Revision>0</tcm:Revision>
      <tcm:CreationDate>2012-07-07T18:28:23</tcm:CreationDate>
      <tcm:RevisionDate>2012-07-09T20:18:21</tcm:RevisionDate>
      <tcm:Creator xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="TRIDIONDEV\Administrator" xlink:href="tcm:0-11-65552" />
      <tcm:Revisor xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="TRIDIONDEV\Administrator" xlink:href="tcm:0-11-65552" />
      <tcm:ItemLock Title="No lock" Type="0" />
      <tcm:IsNew>false</tcm:IsNew>
    </tcm:VersionInfo>
    <tcm:AllowedActions>
      <tcm:Actions Allow="1173513" Deny="102" Managed="0" />
    </tcm:AllowedActions>
  </tcm:Info>
  <tcm:Data xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:transform-ext="urn:tridion:transform-ext">    <tcm:Title>TestSchemaCategories</tcm:Title>
    <tcm:Description>TestSchemaCategories</tcm:Description>
    <tcm:Purpose>Component</tcm:Purpose>
    <tcm:NamespaceURI>uuid:f14d60ed-0f7c-4d1f-a2e3-97d1dfeb1a1f</tcm:NamespaceURI>
    <tcm:RootElementName>Content</tcm:RootElementName>
    <tcm:Fields>
      <tcm:KeywordField>
        <tcm:Name>ColoursOne</tcm:Name>
        <tcm:Description>ColoursOne</tcm:Description>
        <tcm:MinOccurs>1</tcm:MinOccurs>
        <tcm:MaxOccurs>unbounded</tcm:MaxOccurs>
        <tcm:Category xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="Colours" xlink:href="tcm:21-59-512" />
        <tcm:Size>1</tcm:Size>
        <tcm:List Type="tree" />
        <tcm:ExtensionXml xmlns="http://www.sdltridion.com/ContentManager/R6" />
      </tcm:KeywordField>
      <tcm:SingleLineTextField>
        <tcm:Name>Animals</tcm:Name>
        <tcm:Description>Test field with locally declared list</tcm:Description>
        <tcm:MinOccurs>1</tcm:MinOccurs>
        <tcm:MaxOccurs>1</tcm:MaxOccurs>
        <tcm:Size>1</tcm:Size>
        <tcm:List Type="select">
          <tcm:Entry>Horse</tcm:Entry>
          <tcm:Entry>Haddock</tcm:Entry>
          <tcm:Entry>Weasel</tcm:Entry>
        </tcm:List>
        <tcm:ExtensionXml xmlns="http://www.sdltridion.com/ContentManager/R6" />
      </tcm:SingleLineTextField>
    </tcm:Fields>
    <tcm:MetadataFields />
    <tcm:AllowedMultimediaTypes />
    <tcm:ComponentProcess xlink:type="simple" xlink:title="" xlink:href="tcm:0-0-0" />
  </tcm:Data>
</tcm:TridionWebSchema>

So what's my point? Well I have a couple:

1. The Internet is great (by which I mean, the people of the Internet are great.). I could have written that function myself in about half an hour. But in practice I might not have had the energy to do so at 10pm on a working Monday. Thanks to Keith's willingness to share, I had my solution inside a minute - working and tested. How cool is that?
2. Somehow, this has just taken a little bit of the friction out of my working day, not to mention my so-called free time. I can now pull data straight out of a method that returns string, and get human-readable XML. This stuff makes a difference.

Thanks Keith - and all the other Keith's out there.

P.S. Maybe even nicely formatted XML will never be a thing of beauty, so apologies to Keats.