<#
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Script: ConvertTo-Hashtable.ps1
 Version: 1.0
 Author: Jeffery Hicks
    http://jdhitsolutions.com/blog
    http://twitter.com/JeffHicks
    http://www.ScriptingGeek.com
 Date: 10/21/2011
 Keywords:
 Comments:
 Convert an object to a hash table.
 Use -NoEmpty to not export properties with no values

 "Those who forget to script are doomed to repeat their work."

  ****************************************************************
  * DO NOT USE IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT UNTIL YOU HAVE TESTED *
  * THOROUGHLY IN A LAB ENVIRONMENT. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  IF   *
  * YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SCRIPT DOES OR HOW IT WORKS, *
  * DO NOT USE IT OUTSIDE OF A SECURE, TEST SETTING.             *
  ****************************************************************
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #>
 

Function ConvertTo-HashTable {

[cmdletbinding()]

Param(
[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory=$True,HelpMessage="Please specify an object",
ValueFromPipeline=$True)]
[object]$InputObject,
[switch]$NoEmpty
)

Process {
    Write-Verbose "Converting an object of type $($_.GetType().Name)"
    #get propery names
    $names=$InputObject | get-member -MemberType properties | select-object -expandproperty name 
    #define an empty hash table
    $hash=@{}
    #go through the list of names and add each property and value to the hash table
    $names | foreach-object {
       Write-Verbose "Adding property $_"
       $hash.Add($_,$inputobject.$_)
   } #foreach
     if ($noEmpty) {
        Write-Verbose "Parsing out empty values"
        #define a new hash
        $defined=@{}
        #get items from $hash that have values and add to $defined
        $hash.keys | foreach-object {
          if ($hash.item($_)) {
            $defined.add($_,$hash.item($_))
          }
         }
        Write-Verbose "Writing the result to the pipeline"
        Write-Output $defined
     }
     else {
        Write-Verbose "Writing the result to the pipeline"
        Write-Output $hash
     } #If $noempty
 }#close process
}#end function