Vista - preventing PS from Casting object to an array

Hi,

I have a function that returns a Generic collection (List<T> or whatever).

PS insist on casting the object into an array (if it contains items), a single object or an array.
I don't what this cast to occur as I want to use the object as is (for instance a List<Sting> should not be casted into a $null, string or string[]).

Worse a DataSqlReader that contains rows gets cast as null upon function return:

function GetDataReader($sqlConnection, $storedProcedureName)
{
# no check, no dispose, ... testing script only
$sqlCommand = new-object "System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand" $storedProcedureName
$sqlCommand.Connection = $sqlConnection
$sqlCommand.CommandType = [System.Data.CommandType]::StoredProcedure
$retVal = $sqlCommand.ExecuteReader()
# The following display the expected type.
Write-Warning $retVal.GetType().Name
#also tried to return by explicitely using the "return" keyword, without it (as below), explicit casting, ... no luck.
$retVal
}

$dataSqlData = GetDataReader $sqlConn $storeProcName
if( $dataSqlData -eq $null)
{
Write-Warning "Why this Lame cast ?"
}

I probably miss something ...
Is there a way to prevent PS from doing this ?
(Haven't tried [ref] yet, may work but I rather have a return value)

The arry get's enumerated by the pipeline you can prevent this by wrapping
the retrun value in another array :

Return @(,$retVal)

Greetings /\/\o\/\/

"Marclown" wrote:

Weird that you have to get out of your way to trick PS but - hey - that works
Thx !

Marclown wrote:just be aware that every place it gets pushed into a filter or a
pipeline its going to be stripped.

,,,(1..5) | % { $_ }
,,,(1..5) | % { $_ } | % { $_ }
,,,(1..5) | % { $_ } | % { $_ } | % { $_ }

to see how the wrapping the array within an array within an array etc
gets stripped one lever at each pipeline boundary..

If there is risk of such thing, maybe its best to instead wrap your
generic collection in a hashtable , or custom object.