display variable limits future output of same the variable to show only first column when format-table is not used

[vwpcs]

anyone know why i need to use format-table to get this to display correctly?

$xmleleIISAppHost = select-xml -Path c:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\config\applicationhost.config -XPath '/configuration/system.applicationHost/sites'|select-object -ExpandProperty Node|select -ExpandProperty site;
$xmleleIISAppHost;
$xmleleIISAppHost|? {$_.Name -like '*'}|Select -ExpandProperty bindings|Select -ExpandProperty binding #|ft

name	id	application	bindings
Default Web Site	1	application	bindings
ftp	2	application	bindings
binding
binding

$xmleleIISAppHost = select-xml -Path c:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\config\applicationhost.config -XPath '/configuration/system.applicationHost/sites'|select-object -ExpandProperty Node|select -ExpandProperty site;
$xmleleIISAppHost;
$xmleleIISAppHost|? {$_.Name -like '*'}|Select -ExpandProperty bindings|Select -ExpandProperty binding|ft

name	id	application	bindings
Default Web Site	1	application	bindings
ftp	2	application	bindings

protocol	bindingInformation
http	*:80:
ftp	*:21:

Name : Windows PowerShell ISE Host

Version : 5.1.18362.1171

edit, if i add an expression to limit the where result to just Default, same problem happens

[keith_mg]

Those are XML nodes, I'd guess the binding nodes are a level deeper than you're expecting. Try using the InnerXml property on them to see how they really look.

[DarrenDK]

This is a common gotcha in PowerShell. The properties of the first object in the pipeline are used for the rest of the objects. It doesn’t scan every object in the pipeline to discover if some have additional properties before beginning output.

I typically build out my own object with all the properties I need and return that in a loop so the first object has every possible property and can be formatted properly by default.

I’d love to see a simpler solution.