what is the right syntax for Splatting on powershell? - powershell

Question

OK guys, i've edited my script for user creation and now it's almost perfect except one thing that i cant figure out
how to make the hash table read the Variable for the "$GivenName $Surname"
and make the Name of the user, because now it's creating users without the Name parameter
or I need to creat a header for $GivenName and $surname in the csv file
cls
#get the csv file
$filepath = import-csv "C:\users.csv"
#set the variable for the uers
$newusers = $filepath
#set Passwords for new users
$securepassword = ConvertTo-SecureString "BlahBlah" -AsPlainText -Force
foreach ($user in $newusers) {
#get user information
$User_Creation_Settings = #{
Name = "$GivenName $Surnam"
GivenName = $user.GivenName
Surname = $user.Surnam
UserPrincipalName = $user.UserPrincipalName
SamAccountName = $user.SamAccountName
Path = $user.Path
ScriptPath = $user.ScriptPath
ChangePasswordAtLogon = $false
Department = $user.Department
DisplayName = $user.DisplayName
Description = $user.Description
Title = $user.'Job Title'
AccountPassword = $securepassword
Enabled = $true
}
New-ADUser #User_Creation_Settings
#Get Groups information
$group1 = $user.Group1
$group2 = $user.Group2
$group3 = $user.Group3
$group4 = $user.Group4
#Add the users in to Groups
Add-ADPrincipalGroupMembership -Identity $user.SamAccountName -MemberOf $user.group1
Add-ADPrincipalGroupMembership -Identity $user.SamAccountName -MemberOf $user.group2
Add-ADPrincipalGroupMembership -Identity $user.SamAccountName -MemberOf $user.group3
Add-ADPrincipalGroupMembership -Identity $user.SamAccountName -MemberOf $user.group4
Write-Host "`n"
Write-Host "The account for $GivenName $Surnam created in $OuPath successfully "
}
pause
so i've figured it out and i'm posting the solution
for the solution of the issue that i've described, i had to make Powershell think that "First name" and "Last Name" are one whole variable which is split in the middle, that's why i've used the parentheses with a "$" sign before them, Power Shell will think that you are using the $user from the loop, and will "Popup" the headers from the CSV file.
here is the whole script
cls
#get the csv file
$filepath = import-csv "C:\users.csv"
#set the variable for the uers
$newusers = $filepath
#set Passwords for new users
$securepassword = "BlahBlah"
foreach ($user in $newusers) {
#get user information
$User_Creation_Settings = #{
Name = "$($user.'First Name') $($user.Lastname)"
GivenName = $user.'First Name'
Surname = $user.Lastname
UserPrincipalName = $user.UserPrincipalName
SamAccountName = $user.SamAccountName
Path = $user.Path
ScriptPath = $user.ScriptPath
ChangePasswordAtLogon = $false
Department = $user.Department
DisplayName = $user.DisplayName
Description = $user.Description
Title = $user.'Job Title'
AccountPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $securepassword -AsPlainText -Force
Enabled = $true
}
New-ADUser #User_Creation_Settings
#Get Groups information
$group1 = $user.Group1
$group2 = $user.Group2
$group3 = $user.Group3
$group4 = $user.Group4
#Add the users in to Groups
Add-ADPrincipalGroupMembership -Identity $user.SamAccountName -MemberOf $user.group1
Add-ADPrincipalGroupMembership -Identity $user.SamAccountName -MemberOf $user.group2
add-ADPrincipalGroupMembership -Identity $user.SamAccountName -MemberOf $user.group3
Add-ADPrincipalGroupMembership -Identity $user.SamAccountName -MemberOf $user.group4
Write-Host "`n"
Write-Host "The account for $($user.'First Name') $($user.Lastname) created in $($user.Path) successfully "
}
pause
So in that case:"$($user.'First Name') $($user.Lastname)"
powershell will behave like you entered one whole variable.

Answer 1

The short answer is that both are fine, because both are valid ways of creating hashtables in PowerShell. For more information, check out about_Splatting.
Personally, I use single quotes around strings across the board and leave variables alone so that PowerShell doesn't think I'm trying to call a function. As mentioned, this is not required here and frankly can make your code look messier than it needs to be.
A few things to watch out for:
Name = $firstname $lastname # invalid because of the space
'class' = win32_logicaldisk # invalid: PowerShell will look for the function win32_logicaldisk
GivenName = '$firstname' # because single quotes are used, PowerShell will not replace the variable; GivenName will literally be $firstname

Answer 2

Both the above splatting are fine and the reason for the color change is in the first Hashtable "$firstname $lastname" is a string as you have mentioned it in quotes, Editor represents Strings in Brown color and variables in black color.
In the second Hashtable you used single quotes for all the Keys and values and again those are understood and represented as Strings by the editor.
No harm either way.