Where-Object not finding match but it should - powershell

Question

I have Code that imports and excel spreadsheet like this, and I've used this for other excel files fine:
$importedExcel = Import-Excel -Path $errorCodeListFilePath -StartRow $startRow
return $importedExcel
The returned map is stored like this:
[Object[178]]
...
[2]:
Contents:"some string"
ErrorCode Upper: 12
ErrorCode Lower: "3A"
Error Item: "some more info"
Recovery: "important recovery info"
Recovery Method Info: "A12"
...
Where sometimes ErrorCode Upper is a string and sometimes it's a number, and same for Lower.
$deviceErrDescMap = Process_ErrorDescMap -errorCodeListFilePath $errorCodeListFile
And the data looks as expected, shown above (excel returned in code snippet above).
For this excel file, I think it's confused because some data is an int and some is a string, so I think my where-object is missing the match. For this one, I had to split a hex number into the first two and second two digits, because the spreadsheet splits them across two columns.
$sdkNum = "0x123A"
$sdkNumArr = #($sdkNum -split 'x')
$sdkNumArr1 = $sdkNumArr[1] -split ''
$sdkNumUpper = "$($sdkNumArr1[1])$($sdkNumArr1[2])" #12 ..naming is counter-intuitive
$sdkNumLower = "$($sdkNumArr1[3])$($sdkNumArr1[4])" #3A
$deviceErrDescRow = $deviceErrDescMap | Where-Object {([string]'ErrorCode Upper' -eq $sdkNumUpper)} #returns no results
When I hover over $sdkNumUpper" I see "12", so it looks like a string. Can't I cast the spreadsheet/map content to string like I'm showing? I'm having trouble finding this info with an internet search. But something must be wrong with my Where-Object, because even though I see the row is there, it's returning null for $deviceErrDescRow.

Answer 1

The problem is the syntax of your Where-Object call:
... | Where-Object {([string]'ErrorCode Upper' -eq $sdkNumUpper)}
You're comparing the string literal 'ErrorCode Upper' to $sdkNumUpper, not the value of the .ErrorCode Upper property.
If you're using Where-Object with a script block ({ ... }), you need to refer to the input object at hand via the automatic $_ variable
... | Where-Object { $sdkNumUpper -eq $_.'ErrorCode Upper' }
Note that by placing the string-valued $sdkNumUpper on the LHS, the property value on the RHS is implicitly converted to a string too, if needed.
By contrast, when you use the syntactically easier simplified syntax, the property access is always the LHS, and only the property name must be specified, which is implicitly applied to the input object object at hand (in other words: application to $_ is implied).
# Note: 'ErrorCode Upper' binds to parameter -Property, $sdkNumUpper to -Value
# Equivalent to:
# ... | Where-Object { $_.'ErrorCode Upper' -eq $sdkNumUpper }
... | Where-Object 'ErrorCode Upper' -eq $sdkNumUpper