In judging the Scripting Games, I’ve found a good number of scripts that are trying to use the Parameter attribute to take pipeline input, but there are several key mistakes.
Why Doesn’t This Work?
The Problem
When you specify a parameter as taking a value from the pipeline, that parameter name is the variable name that you refer to below.
function Write-SampleData (){ param( [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true,Position=0)] [string] $SampleData )
Write-Host $SampleData
} ‘TestData’, ‘TestData2’, ‘TestData3’ | Write-SampleData
When you run the above, you only see the output from the last item in.
### Compensating
So, to compensate for that, I've seen a few approaches, but the most common correction I've seen is to use the $input variable.
In doing so, you defeat the purpose of the parameter attribution.  You can also overwrite any values that would have been assigned to $SampleData.
## How Can I Fix This And Still Get Pipeline Input?
The fix comes down to understanding what is happening when scripts and functions get pipeline input.
When you specify that a parameter takes pipeline input, that input is evaluated for every run of the "Process" block (see the <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347712.aspx" target="_blank">about_Functions help</a> for further details on the Begin, Process, and End blocks).
Changing the script to put the action in the Process block will give us the desired effect.