Powershell XML Handling for Empty nodes

Windows Powershell handles xml objects a little inconsistently. If a node is empty, then Powershell treats it as a string. If the node is non-empty, then it treats the node as an XmlNode. You can circumvent this behavior by using the Item() interface.

PS>$x=[xml]"<root/>"
PS>$x.root.GetType()

IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType
-------- -------- ---- --------
True True String System.Object

PS>$x.Item("root").GetType()

IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType
-------- -------- ---- --------
True False XmlElement System.Xml.XmlLinkedNode