How do I add names to objects in JSON using PowerShell? - json

Question

I have the following situation below. I'd like to add a name to each item in the array.
First item needs to have a name instead of being an anonymous object. How do I do this?
Items need to have an name derived from the Technical Name, so 988 instead of N988AB1.
Structure of array is changed to an object in the result.
Current situation:
{
"Category": [{
"TechnicalName": "N988AB1",
"Name": "House"
},
{
"TechnicalName": "H181AG3",
"Name": "Apartment"
},
{
"TechnicalName": "X123XY5",
"Name": "Villa"
}
]
}
Desired situation:
{
"Data": {
"988": {
"TechnicalName": "N988AB1",
"Name": "House"
},
"181": {
"TechnicalName": "H181AG3",
"Name": "Apartment"
},
"0123": {
"TechnicalName": "X0123XY5",
"Name": "Villa"
}
}
}

Answer 1

One way of tackling this: (You can copy and paste the full contents of the code box to try it out. I've commented what various steps are doing)
$ExistingJson = #"
{
"Category": [{
"TechnicalName": "N988AB1",
"Name": "House"
},
{
"TechnicalName": "H181AG3",
"Name": "Apartment"
},
{
"TechnicalName": "X123XY5",
"Name": "Villa"
}
]
}
"#
# Convert the json string to an object we can manipulate.
$ExistingObj = $ExistingJson | ConvertFrom-Json
# Create an empty hashtable for the new items we are creating.
$HT = #{}
foreach ($Category in $ExistingObj.Category) {
# Match any digits, grouped as "name", after any character [A-Za-z] which are followed by [A-Za-z] - this is pretty basic and may need to be changed if your TechnicalName string changes, or you want different information from it.
[System.Void]($Category.TechnicalName -match "(?<=[A-Za-z])(?<name>\d+)(?=[A-Za-z])")
$NewItem = [PSCustomObject]#{
TechnicalName = $Category.TechnicalName
Name = $Category.Name
}
# Add a new entry to the hashtable with the discovered digits by it's group name "name" and the object created above with the existing information as it's value.
$HT.Add($Matches["name"], $NewItem)
}
# Create a new object with a Data property with the value as the hashtable.
$NewObj = [PSCustomObject]#{
Data = $HT
}
# Convert it back to Json
$NewObj | ConvertTo-Json
Results in:
{
"Data": {
"988": {
"TechnicalName": "N988AB1",
"Name": "House"
},
"181": {
"TechnicalName": "H181AG3",
"Name": "Apartment"
},
"123": {
"TechnicalName": "X123XY5",
"Name": "Villa"
}
}
}