Change order of columns in the object

Question

How can I change the column ordering of the output my code produces:

$apps = Import-CSV apps.csv
$computers = Import-CSV compobj.csv
foreach ($computer in $computers) {    
    $computerLob = $computer.lob
    $lobApps = $apps | ? {$_.lob -eq $computerLob }
    foreach ($app in $lobApps) {
        $computerHostname = $computer.hostname
        $appLocation = $app.location
        $installed=Test-Path "\\$computerHostname\$appLocation"      
        New-Object PSObject -Property @{
            Computer=$computer.hostname
            App=$app.appname
            Installed=$installed
        }
    }

Currently it's producing the columns in the following order: Installed,App,Computer.

I'd like to have it in the following order: Computer,App,Installed.

Answer 1

Powershell V3 added a type accelerator for [PSCustomObject] that creates objects using an ordered hash table, so the properties stay in the order they're declared:

[PSCustomObject] @{
  Computer=$computer.hostname
  App=$app.appname
  Installed=$installed
}

Answer 2

If you want to ensure the output of an object occurs in a certain order i.e. formatted a certain way then use PowerShell's formatting commands.

$obj = [pscustomobject]@{Computer=$computer.hostname;App=$app.appname;Installed=$installed} 
$obj | Format-Table Computer,App,Installed

What's more you can better control the output e.g.:

$obj | Format-Table Computer,App,Installed -AutoSize

Or control field width & alignment:

$obj | Format-Table @{label='Computer';expression={$_.Computer};width=20;alignment='right'},App,Installed

Frankly I think it is a better practice to use the formatting commands to get the output order you want rather than to rely upon the order in which the properties are created.