If I write this small function :

function Foo {
    Get-Process | % { $_ } 
} 

And if I run

Foo

It displays only a small subset of properties:

PS C:\Users\Administrator> foo

Handles  NPM(K)    PM(K)      WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)     Id ProcessName
-------  ------    -----      ----- -----   ------     -- -----------
     86      10     1680        412    31     0,02   5916 alg
    136      10     2772       2356    78     0,06   3684 atieclxx
    123       7     1780       1040    33     0,03    668 atiesrxx
...
...

But even if only 8 columns are shown, there are plenty of other properties (as foo | gm is showing).

What is causing this function to show only this 8 properties?

I'm actually trying to build a similar function that is returning complex objects from a 3rd party .Net library. The library is flatting a 2 level hierarchy of objects :

function Actual {

    $someDotnetObject.ACollectionProperty.ASecondLevelCollection | % { $_ }

}

This method is dumping the objects in a list form (one line per property).

How can I control what is displayed, keeping the actual object available?

I have tried this :

function Actual {

    $someDotnetObject.ACollectionProperty.ASecondLevelCollection | % { $_ } | format-table Property1, Property2

}

It shows in a console the expected table :

Property1  Property2
---------  ---------
     ValA       ValD
     ValB       ValE
     ValC       ValF

But I lost my objects. Running Get-Member on the result shows :

   TypeName: Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatStartData

Name                                    MemberType Definition                                                                              
----                                    ---------- ----------                                                                              
Equals                                  Method     bool Equals(System.Object obj)                                                          
GetHashCode                             Method     int GetHashCode()                                                                       
GetType                                 Method     type GetType()                                                                          
ToString                                Method     string ToString()                                                                       
autosizeInfo                            Property   Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.AutosizeInfo autosizeInfo {get;set;}      
ClassId2e4f51ef21dd47e99d3c952918aff9cd Property   System.String ClassId2e4f51ef21dd47e99d3c952918aff9cd {get;}                            
groupingEntry                           Property   Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.GroupingEntry groupingEntry {get;set;}    
pageFooterEntry                         Property   Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.PageFooterEntry pageFooterEntry {get;set;}
pageHeaderEntry                         Property   Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.PageHeaderEntry pageHeaderEntry {get;set;}
shapeInfo                               Property   Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.ShapeInfo shapeInfo {get;set;}            


   TypeName: Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.GroupStartData

Name                                    MemberType Definition                                                                          
----                                    ---------- ----------                                                                          
Equals                                  Method     bool Equals(System.Object obj)                                                      
GetHashCode                             Method     int GetHashCode()                                                                   
GetType                                 Method     type GetType()                                                                      
ToString                                Method     string ToString()                                                                   
ClassId2e4f51ef21dd47e99d3c952918aff9cd Property   System.String ClassId2e4f51ef21dd47e99d3c952918aff9cd {get;}                        
groupingEntry                           Property   Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.GroupingEntry groupingEntry {get;set;}
shapeInfo                               Property   Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.ShapeInfo shapeInfo {get;set;}        

Instead of showing the 2nd level child object members. In this case, I can't pipe the result to functions waiting for this type of argument.

How does Powershell is supposed to handle such scenario?