Support [ordered] in both directions

[Brar]

While it is possible to deserialize yaml via ConvertFrom-Yaml -Ordered, serializing any of the ordered or sorted dictionary types does not seem to keep the key order of the dictionary in the YAML file.
Supporting this would help to roundtrip documents or modify them in a consistent way so that the original and the result can be compared with diff.

[gabriel-samfira]

Hi @Brar !

Would you mind posting an example? Ordered hashtables should be serialized the same way they are ordered in.

[Brar]

Hi @gabriel-samfira,
I just double-checked and it seems to be inconsistent across different ordered/sorted dictionary types, with the types from the System.Collections.Generic namespace not being supported.

Script:

foreach($dict in @(
    [System.Collections.Specialized.OrderedDictionary]::new()
    [System.Management.Automation.OrderedHashtable]::new()
    [System.Collections.Generic.OrderedDictionary[string,int]]::new()
    [System.Collections.Generic.SortedDictionary[string,int]]::new()
)) {
    $dict.def = 123
    $dict.abc = 456
    $dict.xyz = 987
    $dict.uvw = 42
    $dict | Write-Host
    Write-Host "Write-Host: " -NoNewline
    Write-Host $dict
    Write-Host
    Write-Host "Iterating keys with foreach:"
    foreach ($key in $dict.Keys) {
         Write-Host "$($key): $($dict[$key])"
    }
    Write-Host
    Write-Host "ConvertTo-Yaml:"
    $dict | ConvertTo-Yaml | Write-Host
    Write-Host

}

Results (on my computer - might be inconsistent):

System.Collections.Specialized.OrderedDictionary      
Write-Host: [def, 123] [abc, 456] [xyz, 987] [uvw, 42]

Iterating keys with foreach:
def: 123
abc: 456
xyz: 987
uvw: 42

ConvertTo-Yaml:
def: 123
abc: 456
xyz: 987
uvw: 42


System.Management.Automation.OrderedHashtable
Write-Host: [def, 123] [abc, 456] [xyz, 987] [uvw, 42]

Iterating keys with foreach:
def: 123
abc: 456
xyz: 987
uvw: 42

ConvertTo-Yaml:
def: 123
abc: 456
xyz: 987
uvw: 42


System.Collections.Generic.OrderedDictionary`2[System.String,System.Int32]
Write-Host: [def, 123] [abc, 456] [xyz, 987] [uvw, 42]

Iterating keys with foreach:
def: 123
abc: 456
xyz: 987
uvw: 42

ConvertTo-Yaml:
xyz: 987
def: 123
uvw: 42
abc: 456


System.Collections.Generic.SortedDictionary`2[System.String,System.Int32]
Write-Host: [abc, 456] [def, 123] [uvw, 42] [xyz, 987]

Iterating keys with foreach:
abc: 456
def: 123
uvw: 42
xyz: 987

ConvertTo-Yaml:
def: 123
abc: 456
xyz: 987
uvw: 42