Is it possible to add a property using variable in variable name?

Question

I want to query for a list of virtual machines within a folder, then create a menu of the host names using forms.  Since the list of machines is subject to change, I want to build the list each time the script is run, rather than build off a static
list. 
For each virtual machine I need to create the list of variables below:
$hostnameX = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.checkbox
$hostnameX.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)
$hostnameX.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(100,20)
$hostnameX.Checked = $true
$hostnameX.Text = "Type"
$hostnameX.Controls.Add($hostnameX)
The location and size values need to be incremented but I think I can figure that part out.
I can use New-Variable to generate the initial variable. But I receive errors using the same method to try to create a new property for the variable.
$VMS = Get-Cluster MyCLUS | Get-vApp "My vApp" | Get-VM | Select Name,PowerState | Sort Name
For ($i=0; $i -lt ($VMS.count); $i++)
$VMS[$i].Name
$VMGUEST = "$($VMS[$i].Name)" -replace("-","")
New-Variable "CB$VMGUEST" "New-Object System.Windows.Forms.checkbox"
New-Variable "CB$VMGUEST.Location" "New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)"
In the above, $CBVMGUEST1 =  New-Object System.Windows.Forms.checkbox which is what I want,  but $CBVMGUEST1.Location is not set.
Is there way to add a property using a variable in the variable name?  Or any other suggestions on how to tackle this issue?

Answer 1

Hi,
maybe another approach is a bit easier.
Use a hash-array like
$CB = @{}
$CB[$VMGUEST] = New-Object System.Windows.Forms....
$CB[$VMGUEST].Location = New-Object System.Drawing....
Mit freundlichen Grüßen Jens Kalski
That's the correct answer.  Anytime you find yourself wanting to create variables named "Widget1", "Widget2", "Widget3", etc... it's a pretty clear indication that what you really need is a collection object of some sort.  That might be an array,
a hashtable, or any other data structure for holding other objects, depending on your specific needs.