Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile returns invalid [System.IO.DirectoryInfo]

[danubie]

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What error did you receive?

Read-DbaXEFile returns "The Path [...] has an unsupported file type of [System.IO.DirectoryInfo]." when receiving pipeline input from Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile
(Remark: but the problem is in Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile)

Steps to Reproduce

$SessionName = 'system_health'
$inst = Connect-DbaInstance -SqlInstance 'INSTANCENAME'
$xSess = Get-DbaXESession -SqlInstance $inst -Session $SessionName
$xsess | Get-DbaXESessionTarget | Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile | Read-DbaXEFile

Please confirm that you are running the most recent version of dbatools

ModuleType Version    PreRelease Name                                ExportedCommands
---------- -------    ---------- ----                                ----------------
Script     2.7.1                 dbatools                            {Select-DbaObject, Set-DbatoolsConfig, Add-DbaAgDatabase, Add-DbaAgListener…}
Script     2025.8.17             dbatools.library                    Get-DbatoolsLibraryPath

Other details or mentions

Some more details

$SessionName = 'system_health'
$inst = Connect-DbaInstance -SqlInstance 'INSTANCENAME'
$xSess = Get-DbaXESession -SqlInstance $inst -Session $SessionName

# works fine, returning 2 targets
$xsess | Get-DbaXESessionTarget

# DbaXESessionTargetFile fails
$xsess | Get-DbaXESessionTarget | Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile -Verbose
# returns
# VERBOSE: [13:11:49][Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile] Getting \\SERVERNAME\...\Log\system_health.xel
# VERBOSE: [13:11:49][Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile] Getting - followed by local Get-Childitem -recurse result

consequently Read-DbaXEFile fails

$xsess | Get-DbaXESessionTarget | Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile | Read-DbaXEFile
# returns
#WARNING: [13:13:09][Read-DbaXEFile] The Path ...\somedir] has an unsupported file type of [System.IO.DirectoryInfo].

On the other hand, Read-DbaXEFile itself works

$xsess | Read-DbaXEFile | select -first 1
#returned correct results

Read-DbaXEFile works, because

• it uses a smart way to detect the input object
• filters correctly for targets having a file target (and skipping the ring buffer)
• replaces a '.xel' by '*.xel' to find all filesnames which could be created by this session

My idea was to use the similar logic for detecting and selecting the input object inside Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile.
A locally fixed version then worked (PR could follow if you want)

$xsess | Get-DbaXESessionTarget | Get-DbaXESessionTargetFile | Read-DbaXEFile 

What PowerShell host was used when producing this error

PowerShell Core (pwsh.exe), Windows PowerShell (powershell.exe)

PowerShell Host Version

5.1.20348.3932 local on server
7.4.11 when trying from remote (Win 11)

SQL Server Edition and Build number

Microsoft SQL Server 2022 (RTM-CU20-GDR) (KB5063814) - 16.0.4210.1 (X64) Jul 11 2025 13:04:02 Copyright (C) 2022 Microsoft Corporation Standard Edition (64-bit) on Windows Server 2022 Standard 10.0 (Build 20348: ) (Hypervisor)

.NET Framework Version

PSChildName Version
----------- -------
Client      4.8.04161
Full        4.8.04161
Client      4.0.0.0