Functions 101, Tracking Microsoft Entra Application Operations Using PowerShell
Hello, fellow PowerShell Engineers! Here’s to another great week of PowerShell content.
PowerShell Tip
Here's another handy PowerShell tip: Use Select-Object -ExpandProperty to extract values from objects instead of getting property containers.
When you run commands like Get-Process, you often get objects with nested properties. Instead of seeing the actual values, you might see something like @{Name=chrome; CPU=45.2}.
# This gives you property objects (not very useful)
Get-Process | Select-Object Name
# This gives you just the actual names as strings
Get-Process | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
# Works great for getting clean lists
Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq "Running" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
# Perfect for piping to other commands
Get-ChildItem *.txt | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName | ForEach-Object { Copy-Item $_ "C:\Backup\" }
The -ExpandProperty parameter "unwraps" the property and gives you the raw values, making them much easier to work with in scripts or when piping to other commands. It's the difference between getting usable data versus getting PowerShell object wrappers.
Videos
In this beginner-friendly session of PowerShell Wednesday, Fred will break down how to turn your everyday scripts into powerful, reusable tools.
Chander Mani Pandey demonstrates how to upgrade Windows 11 with a PowerShell script and Intune.
Andrew Pla sits down with Mateus Pimentel to talk about game hacking.
Community News & Projects
Tony Redmond goes over how to list hidden group memberships with Graph on Office 365 IT Pros.
Lokesh has a great read on Tracking Microsoft Entra Application Operations Using PowerShell. Microsoft Entra applications are granted extensive privileges that can evolve over time through admin changes, creating security risks when performed without proper oversight. Auditing Entra app operations is crucial for tracking who made changes, when they occurred, and preventing misuse of critical applications in your Microsoft 365 environment.
Harm Veentsra is requesting YOUR feedback on what kinds of blog posts you would like to see from him. I know I love reading his content - give him some feedback here!
https://powershellisfun.com/2025/05/30/powershell-blog-post-requests/
Jeff Hicks has a great post on a “PowerShell Potluck” where he talks about Microsoft Edit, WinUI Shell, Edit-ScriptFile, and more.
https://buttondown.com/behind-the-powershell-pipeline/archive/powershell-potluck-may-2025/
PSConfEU is this month in Malmö, Sweden from June 23rd-25th. There are still tickets available at https://psconf.eu