PowerShell - API data into XML - powershell

Question

I am new to powershell and trying to write my first script.I am using PowerShell v2.0. I have the following script that makes an API call and gets data into $data variable.
$FullURL = $url1+$url2+$Url3
$client = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$data = $client.DownloadString($FullURL)
Set-Content -Value $data -Path 'c:\API.txt'
$data outputs the below (example). Note - gettype() results are string. -
<attribute name="Business Unit">Platform</attribute>
<attribute name="Department">Channels Technology</attribute>
<attribute name="Team">Stackexchange</attribute>
<attribute name="Environment">World</attribute>
<attribute name="ServerModel">Synology</attribute>
<attribute name="datacentre">New York</attribute>
<attribute name="Application">PowerShell Teacher</attribute>
<attribute name="Description">Learn How To Use PowerShell</attribute>
I need to get the above into the below sample of the XML file, in between the attributes tags -
<selfAnnounce>
<enabled>true</enabled>
<retryInterval>60</retryInterval>
<requireReverseConnection>false</requireReverseConnection>
<probeName>
<hostname/>
<data>_</data>
<port/>
<data>-SA</data>
</probeName>
<managedEntity>
<name></name>
<attributes>
</attributes>
I am not sure where to begin with this one. I thought it would be something like the below but the results are all in one tag, maybe because they are not pscustom objects -
[xml]$XML = Get-Content $SelfannounceXMLEdit
$data | ForEach-Object {
$tempchild = $XML.CreateElement("Attributename")
$tempchild.set_InnerText($_)
$newType = $XML.netprobe.selfAnnounce.managedEntity.attributes.AppendChild($tempchild)
}
$XML.Save($SelfannounceXMLEdit)
This gives the following results which is obviously wrong for an XML file-
<attributes>
<Attributename><attribute name="Business Unit">Platform</attribute> <attribute name="Department">Channels Technology</attribute> <attribute name="Team">Stackexchange</attribute> <attribute name="Environment">World</attribute> <attribute name="ServerModel">Synology</attribute> <attribute name="datacentre">New York</attribute> <attribute name="Application">PowerShell Teacher</attribute> <attribute name="Description">Learn How To User PowerShell</attribute></Attributename>
</attributes>
Results should look like the following -
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<netprobe compatibility="1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://google.com/netprobe.xsd">
<selfAnnounce>
<enabled>true</enabled>
<retryInterval>10</retryInterval>
<requireReverseConnection>false</requireReverseConnection>
<probeName>
<hostname />
<data>_</data>
<port />
<data>-SA</data>
</probeName>
<managedEntity>
<name></name>
<attributes>
<attribute name="Business Unit">Platform</attribute>
<attribute name="Department">Channels Technology</attribute>
<attribute name="Team">Stackexchange</attribute>
</attributes>
<types>
<type>Core</type>
<type>Core Windows</type>
<!--Autogenerated types-->
<!--End of Autogenerated types-->
</types>
</managedEntity>
<gateways>
<gateway>
<hostname>MFT556</hostname>
<port>1234</port>
</gateway>
</gateways>
</selfAnnounce>
</netprobe>
Please help me resolve this issue. I have tried converting $data into xml but keep getting errors. I have tried exporting the API as XML but get errors. any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

You can't modify an element type AFAIK, so the AttributeName-node is useless.
...managedEntity.attributes is empty, which means dot-accesing it will return an empty string which doesn't have a AppendChild()
I would create an xml-document for each string from the API and import the attribute node to the "real" xml-file and append it. Remember to use ex SelectSingleNode() to actually get the attributes-node, especially the first time when it's empty. Try:
[xml]$XML = Get-Content $SelfannounceXMLEdit
($data -split "`n") | Where-Object { $_.Trim() } | ForEach-Object {
#Create XMLdocument for <attribute name="foo">bar</attribute>
$tempchild = [xml]$_.Trim()
#Import the attribute-node in the temp xmldocument to the "real" document context
$attribute = $xml.ImportNode($tempchild.attribute, $true)
#Append attribute-node
$newType = $XML.netprobe.selfAnnounce.managedEntity.selectsinglenode("attributes").AppendChild($attribute)
}
$XML.Save($SelfannounceXMLEdit)