Convert nodes in xml from array to list Powershell - arrays

Question

I am trying to display nodes of an xml file into a table my issue is that each column shows as an array instead of list. I am not sure how to convert the nodes into a list..
My results should be :
CCI, Description
CCI-000001, BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
CCI-000002, BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
CCI-003391, BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
Instead its:
CCI Description
{CCI-000001, CCI-000002, CCI-003391} {BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH ...}
My xml file is
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl' href='cci2html.xsl'?>
<cci_list xmlns="http://iase.disa.mil/cci">
<metadata>
<version>2013-10-08</version>
<publishdate>2013-10-08</publishdate>
</metadata>
<cci_items>
<cci_item id="CCI-000001">
<status>draft</status>
<publishdate>2013-01-01</publishdate>
<contributor>DISA FSO</contributor>
<definition>BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH</definition>
<type>policy</type>
<references>
<reference creator="NIST" title="NIST SP 800-53" version="3" location="NIST" index="AC-1 a" />
<reference creator="NIST" title="NIST SP 800-53A" version="1" location="NIST" index="AC-1.1 (i&ii)" />
<reference creator="NIST" title="NIST SP 800-53 Revision 4" version="4" location="NIST" index="AC-1 a 1" />
</references>
</cci_item>
<cci_item id="CCI-000002">
<status>draft</status>
<publishdate>2013-01-01</publishdate>
<contributor>DISA FSO</contributor>
<definition>BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH </definition>
<type>policy</type>
<references>
<reference creator="NIST" title="NIST SP 800-53" version="3" location="NIST" index="AC-1 a" />
<reference creator="NIST" title="NIST SP 800-53A" version="1" location="NIST" index="AC-1.1 (iii)" />
<reference creator="NIST" title="NIST SP 800-53 Revision 4" version="4" location="NIST" index="AC-1 a 1" />
</references>
</cci_item>
<cci_item id="CCI-003391">
<status>draft</status>
<publishdate>2013-01-01</publishdate>
<contributor>DISA FSO</contributor>
<definition>BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH</definition>
<type>policy</type>
<references>
<reference creator="NIST" title="NIST SP 800-53 Revision 4" version="4" location="NIST" index="SA-19 (3)" />
</references>
</cci_item>
</cci_items>
</cci_list>
My code is
[xml]$data = GC "file.xml"
$CCInum = $data.cci_list.cci_items.cci_item.id
$CCIdescription = $data.cci_list.cci_items.cci_item.definition
$CCItable = New-Object PSobject -Property #{
CCI = $CCInum
Description = $CCIdescription
}
$CCItable | select CCI, Description
I am doing it this way because I will eventually export my results to a csv file.

Answer 1

Currently you're creating two separate arrays. Instead, extract one array from the xml so that each element has both fields, then extract them as properties via Select-Object:
$xml = [xml](gc 'file.xml')
$table = $xml.cci_list.cci_items.cci_item |
Select #{N='CCI'; E={$_.id}}, #{N='Description'; E={$_.definition}}
$table | Export-Csv file.csv -NoTypeInformation