How can I Include brackets in a PowerShell hash table value? - powershell

Question

I can successfully make POST requests in Postman using this body in my call, which uses nested key pair values:
{
"meta": null,
"data": {
"type": "spaces_schema"
"attributes": {
"spaces": ["space1", "space2"]
}
}
}
I am transposing the call into PowerShell, and creating the body using a nested hash table. The call returns an error regarding the body when done in PowerShell:
$Body = #{
"meta" = "null"
"data" = #{
"type" = "spaces_schema"
"attributes" = #{
"spaces" = ["space1", "space2"]
}
}
}
The problem I am running into is the "spaces" attribute. I am not sure how to pass the brackets as literal characters in the hash table without wrapping them in quotes, since doing so puts out an error as well and interferes with the quotes used inside of the brackets.
Here is the error:
Invoke-WebRequest : {"errors":[{"additional_data":null,"detail":"Unhandled exception from route request: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)"}]}
At C:\Users\{user}\Desktop\{Folder}\{Scriptname}.ps1:26 char:1
+ Invoke-WebRequest -URI 'https://{URL} ...

Answer 1

You are trying too hard to make the object look like JSON syntax.
As said, to define an element's value as array, you need to enclose it in #(). In Json syntax that would display inside square brackets.
Writing "meta" = "null" is wrong too, because you then define it as string with a literal value of "null".
What you should do in the object is meta = $null which wil translate to JSON as "meta": null
In your case, the default -Depth setting of the ConvertTo-Json cmdlet is not deep enough, so you need to set that to a value of at least 3 (in the example you gave).
Try
$Body = #{
meta = $null
data = #{
type = "spaces_schema"
attributes = #{
spaces = #("space1", "space2")
}
}
}
$Body | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 3
Since you will be uploading this data using Invoke-WebRequest or Invoke-RestMethod, I would advice to add switch -Compress to the ConvertTo-Json cmdlet as well. This will return a less human readable json, but the payload will be smaller because all extra whitespace will be removed:
{"meta":null,"data":{"type":"spaces_schema","attributes":{"spaces":["space1","space2"]}}}