pspath not neccisarly unique

i would presume for a different location that pspath would be different
(i.e unique).. basically i am making a tree of providers and their
children and was using the pspath as the unique key, it works with all
providers other than the cert one..

both of these return the same pspaths..

dir cert:\CurrentUser |Select-Object pspath
dir cert:\LocalMachine | select-Object pspath

is this by design (then its also by design that we can't assume the
uniqueness of the pspath), or an oversight?

i understand probably the flexibility you'd want with get-childitem,
i.e virtual directories, unique sort of behaviours etc,different views
of the same underlying data so its probably by design.


Karl

I believe that this is the underlying resource identifier, so there's no
uniqueness guarantee it's all about how the resource sees the data - here's
an example in the filesystem.

PS> new-psdrive -psp filesystem -root "C:\documents and settings\jimtru"
home

Name Provider Root
CurrentLocation
---- -------- ---- ---------------
home FileSystem C:\documents and settings\jimtru


PS> ls home:|select pspath

PSPath
------
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\documents and
settings\jimtru\Cookies
....

PS> ls "c:\documents and settings\jimtru" |select pspath

PSPath
------
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\documents and
settings\jimtru\Cookies
....


in the cert: case, I assume that it's just different views of the same data
--
--
James Truher [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell Development
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

<klumsy@xtra.co.nz> wrote in message
news:1160349475.750344.285160@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
>i would presume for a different location that pspath would be different
> (i.e unique).. basically i am making a tree of providers and their
> children and was using the pspath as the unique key, it works with all
> providers other than the cert one..
>
> both of these return the same pspaths..
>
> dir cert:\CurrentUser |Select-Object pspath
> dir cert:\LocalMachine | select-Object pspath
>
> is this by design (then its also by design that we can't assume the
> uniqueness of the pspath), or an oversight?
>
> i understand probably the flexibility you'd want with get-childitem,
> i.e virtual directories, unique sort of behaviours etc,different views
> of the same underlying data so its probably by design.
>
>
> Karl
>

thanks jim, that is a good usage case other than the certs. i saw you
this morning down ath the ISV conf, but i don't know if you recognised
me without my long hair.

Karl

The PsPath should be unique:

A Windows PowerShell path is designated with the string "PSPath". It is the
common mechanism for uniquely identifying an item obtainable through a
virtual drive supported by a Windows PowerShell provider.
http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com.../ms714658.aspx

The fact that the Certificate Provider outputs non-unique PSPaths is a
problem in its output -- please file a bug.

[C:\temp]
PS:19 > dir Microsoft.PowerShell.Security\Certificate::AuthRoot
Get-ChildItem : Cannot find path 'AuthRoot' because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:4
+ dir <<<< Microsoft.PowerShell.Security\Certificate::AuthRoot

[C:\temp]
PS:20 > dir Microsoft.PowerShell.Security\Certificate::LocalMachine\AuthRoot


Directory:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Security\Certificate::LocalMachine\AuthRoot


Thumbprint Subject
---------- -------
F88015D3F98479E1DA553D24FD42BA3F43886AEF O=C&W HKT SecureNet CA SGC Root,
C=hk
F44095C238AC73FC4F77BF8F98DF70F8F091BC52 CN=Class 3TS Primary CA,
O=Certplus, C=
EF2DACCBEABB682D32CE4ABD6CB90025236C07BC O="Colegio Nacional de Correduria
Publi
EC0C3716EA9EDFADD35DFBD55608E60A05D3CBF3 E=ca@digsigtrust.com, CN=DST (UPS)
Root
E5DF743CB601C49B9843DCAB8CE86A81109FE48E E=info@valicert.com,
CN=http://www.vali

--
Lee Holmes [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell Development
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.



<klumsy@xtra.co.nz> wrote in message
news:1160349475.750344.285160@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
>i would presume for a different location that pspath would be different
> (i.e unique).. basically i am making a tree of providers and their
> children and was using the pspath as the unique key, it works with all
> providers other than the cert one..
>
> both of these return the same pspaths..
>
> dir cert:\CurrentUser |Select-Object pspath
> dir cert:\LocalMachine | select-Object pspath
>
> is this by design (then its also by design that we can't assume the
> uniqueness of the pspath), or an oversight?
>
> i understand probably the flexibility you'd want with get-childitem,
> i.e virtual directories, unique sort of behaviours etc,different views
> of the same underlying data so its probably by design.
>
>
> Karl
>