How to Pass User Input to a JSON File using powershell - powershell

Question

I am creating a PowerShell script using Convert To-JSON cmd and i achieved that using below
$body = #{
devices = #(
#{
credentials = #(
#{
label = 'username'
value = 'myname'
sensitive = 'false'
},
#{
label = 'Password'
value = 'Password#!'
sensitive = 'true'
}
)
services = #(
#{
name = 'RDP'
url = "https://$inputIpAddress/?pauth=[proxy_token]&data=[connection:$inputUsername]"
instructor = 'false'
},
#{
name = 'HTTPS'
url = "https://$inputIpAddress/?pauth=[proxy_token]&data=[connection:$inputUsername]"
instructor = 'false'
},
#{
name = 'SSH'
url = "https://$inputIpAddress/?pauth=[proxy_token]&data=[connection:$inputUsername]"
instructor = 'false'
}
connections = #(
#{
id = 'myname-rdp'
protocol = 'rdp'
hostname = "192.168.1.6"
port ='3389'
}
)
Parameters = #(
#{
name = 'username'
value = 'myname'
},
#{
name = 'password'
value = 'Password#!'
}
)
}
)
}
i am converting the above powershell to JSON File($body | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 4) and i would like to replace pass the arguments for the Username and IP Address and store it with the username.json every time while converting to JSON.
i have tried the Read-host to get the input from the user but i am facing difficulty to pass that input before printing the output.

Answer 1

For the IP address, you can set the new value by defining the parameter using standard dot-notation.
In the case of username, because Parameters is an array with duplicate object names, doing $body.devices.Parameters.name would return both the username and password objects, so you can filter the array to only select the object where the name is username
$inputUsername = Read-Host "Input Username"
$inputIpAddress = Read-Host "Input IP address"
( $body.devices.Parameters | Where-Object { $_.name -eq 'username' } ).value = $inputUsername
$body.devices.connections.hostname = $inputIpAddress
$body | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 4

Answer 2

As an interpreted language, PowerShell allows you to construct literals based on values that are determined at runtime.
Therefore, simply place your hashtable literal (#{ ... }) after your Read-Host calls, and reference the variables in which you store the Read-Host responses in that literal.
A simplified example:
# Simulate two Read-Host calls (hard-code sample values).
$foo = 42
$bar = 'hi'
# Now define the hashtable literal and reference the variables assigned to above.
# Note: An [ordered] hashtable is used in order to retain the entries
# in definition order.
[ordered] #{
devices = #{
foo = $foo
bar = $bar
}
}
Piping the above to ConvertTo-Json -Depth 4 yields:
{
"devices": {
"foo": 42,
"bar": "hi"
}
}
Note how the values of $foo and $bar were incorporated. You could even use the same technique in a loop, provided the hashtable literal is also in the loop body (after setting the variables it references).