Powershell script file parameters non-string

Question

Is there a way to pass an object such as a hashtable to a powershell script file via command line?

This is my code:

Param(
    [hashtable]$lookupTable = @{}
)

I tried this:

powershell.exe -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File D:\script.ps1  @{APIKey="Uz9tkNhB9KJJnOB-LUuVIA"}

@{APIKey="Uz9tkNhB9KJJnOB-LUuVIA"} being the hashtable parameter.

Error:

D:\script.ps1 : Cannot process argument transformation on parameter 'lookupTable'.
Cannot convert the "@{APIKey=Uz9tkNhB9KJJnOB-LUuVIA}" value of type "System.String" to type "System.Collections.Hashtable". 
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [script.ps1], ParentContainsErrorRecordException 
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentTransformationError,script.ps1

Based on the error, its interpreting the parameter as a string. I am also passing this parameter through teamcity, which only accepts parameters directly and passes it to a command line shown above.

Is there anything I can do to the parameter to tell powershell that it is an object of type hashtable?

PS.

The inputs allowed by teamcity are:

1. Script File
2. Script execution mode ["Put script into PowerShell stdin with "-Command -" arguments" and "Execute .ps1 script with "-File" argument"].
3. Additional command line parameters.
4. Script arguments (enabled if "Execute .ps1 with -File argument" is selected)

This is the format teamcity is using to execute the script in -Command mode:

powershell.exe -NonInteractive [commandline params] -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -Command - < [script file]

hence:

powershell.exe -NonInteractive @{ APIKey = 'Uz9tkNhB9KJJnOB-LUuVIA'} -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -Command - < D:\BuildAgent-02\work\2204bf4ff5f01dd3\scripts\script.ps1

This is the format teamcity is using to execute the script in -File mode:

powershell.exe -NonInteractive [commandline params] -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File [script file] [script arguments]

hence when i use script params:

powershell.exe -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File D:\BuildAgent-02\work\2204bf4ff5f01dd3\scripts\script.ps1 @{ APIKey = 'Uz9tkNhB9KJJnOB-LUuVIA'}

Is there anyway to work around this format that teamcity is using? For eg. under script arguments, could I do -Command there to serialize the params?

Answer 1

The TeamCity PowerShell build step allows you to either execute a script file directly or to execute PowerShell source code entered into the build step definition editor.

When executing a script from a file a hash table parameter is not passed correctly, but when executing PowerShell source code everything works as expected.

However, if the script you want to run is actually in a file, you can execute the script file via PowerShell source code entered into the build step definition:

1. In the Script field, choose Source

2. Enter a minimal PowerShell script to execute the script file into the Script source field, for example:

   &'%system.teamcity.build.checkoutDir%\BuildScripts\SomeScript.ps1' -MyArrayOfHashTablesParameter @{SomeParam1='val1';SomeParam2='val2'},@{SomeParam1='val1';SomeParam2='val2'}
   

The PowerShell snippet above executes the script from a script file checked out from version control during the build. To achieve this the TeamCity variable system.teamcity.build.checkoutDir is used to construct a path relative to the checkout directory.

The &' and ' surrounding the script is used to make sure the snippet works even if the path to the script file contains spaces.

Answer 2

One option might be to modify the script to take that argument as [string[]], giving it key-value pairs in the arguments and then turn that into a hash table using ConvertFrom-StringData in the script:

$script = {
param ( [string[]]$lookuplist )
$lookupTable = ConvertFrom-StringData ($lookuplist | out-string)
$lookupTable
}

&$script 'APIKey=Uz9tkNhB9KJJnOB-LUuVIA','APIKey2=Uz9tkNhB9KJJnOB-LUuVIA'


Name                           Value                                                         
----                           -----                                                         
APIKey                         Uz9tkNhB9KJJnOB-LUuVIA                                        
APIKey2                        Uz9tkNhB9KJJnOB-LUuVIA