trouble parsing json in powershell - json

Question

I have the below JSON which is just a bit of the file but illustrates it.
I am not that experienced with JSON and I have tried a lot of the examples that I could find but they only seem to show JSON that is just key/value pairs. I've seen a few to target arrays but I cant translate them to my particular JSON
for example I'm trying to get that the 'SavedPlayerDataVersion' is equal to 8 into a variable and I've put it into an object but I cant figure out how to target that particular item within the array and object
could anyone point me in the right direction please?
Thank you
{
"profileVersion": 1,
"profile": {
"id": 0,
"class": "PrimalPlayerDataBP_C",
"names": ["PrimalPlayerDataBP_C_29", "ArkGameMode", "PersistentLevel", "Aberration_P", "/Game/Maps/Aberration/Aberration_P"],
"properties": [{
"name": "SavedPlayerDataVersion",
"type": "IntProperty",
"value": 8
}, {
"name": "HexagonCount",
"type": "IntProperty",
"value": 106860
}, {
"name": "MyPersistentBuffDatas",
"type": "ArrayProperty",
"arrayType": "ObjectProperty",
"value": [1, 2, 3, 4]
}],
"extra": null
}
}
"type": "IntProperty",
"value": 8
}, {
"name": "HexagonCount",
"type": "IntProperty",
"value": 6800
}, {
"name": "NumChibiLevelUpsData",
"type": "IntProperty",
"value": 2
}, {
"name": "MyData",
"type": "StructProperty",
"structType": "PrimalPlayerDataStruct",
"value": [{
"name": "PlayerDataID",
"type": "UInt64Property",
"value": 656195017
}, {
"name": "UniqueID",
"type": "StructProperty",
"structType": "UniqueNetIdRepl",
"value": {
"unk": 8,
"netId": "76561198046328344"
}
}
I have edited the question after the original answers as I realised that what I also needed to access was a 'level' deeper. so it would be getting at "PlayerDataID"
I tried $value = ($jsonobj.profile.properties.mydata | Where-Object { $_.name -eq "PlayerDataID" }).value but that isnt getting it for me

Answer 1

JSON is exactly key-value pairs, so handling it like an object in PowerShell is the way to go. Start with ConvertFrom-Json and put the result in a variable, let's say $myJson.
$myJson.profile.class would net you PrimalPlayerDataBP_C. That's how you access nested properties. As for the arrays, you can iterate through them with foreach, get specific values with where or select, depends on what you need actually.
# This one returns the version number
$version = ($myJson.profile.properties | Where {$_.name -eq "SavedPlayerDataVersion"}).value
# This one checks whether version is 8
$isVersion8 = $NULL -ne `
($myJson.profile.properties | Where {$_.name -eq "SavedPlayerDataVersion" -and $_.value -eq 8})
Be careful when accessing array items using their index, as you never can be sure that the item with a specific index is the one you're looking for.
As I'm writing this answer, #Theo beat me to it, so kudos to him for the one-liner.
EDIT:
Including a step-by-step example for clarity's sake. You can do the same with fewer lines.
# Get an array of properties
$properties = $myJson.profile.properties
# Select the property with the required name from the array
$myData = $properties | Where {$_.name -eq "MyData"}
# MyData is multivalued, so need to use 'Where' again
$playerDataId = $myData.value | Where {$_.name -eq "PlayerDataID"}
# Value you are looking for
$playerDataId.value

Answer 2

You can get the value you seek with a one-liner.
For demo I'm using a Here-String for your json data, but probably you would read that from file with $data = Get-Content -Path 'thefile.json' -Raw | ConvertFrom-Json
$data = #'
{
"profileVersion": 1,
"profile": {
"id": 0,
"class": "PrimalPlayerDataBP_C",
"names": ["PrimalPlayerDataBP_C_29", "ArkGameMode", "PersistentLevel", "Aberration_P", "/Game/Maps/Aberration/Aberration_P"],
"properties": [{
"name": "SavedPlayerDataVersion",
"type": "IntProperty",
"value": 8
}, {
"name": "HexagonCount",
"type": "IntProperty",
"value": 106860
}, {
"name": "MyPersistentBuffDatas",
"type": "ArrayProperty",
"arrayType": "ObjectProperty",
"value": [1, 2, 3, 4]
}],
"extra": null
}
}
'# | ConvertFrom-Json
Then, to get the value from property with name "SavedPlayerDataVersion" you simply do:
$value = ($data.profile.properties | Where-Object { $_.name -eq "SavedPlayerDataVersion" }).value
Variable $value will now contain 8

Answer 3

Simple example:
$json = '{ "one": 1, "two": 2 }'
$data = $json | ConvertFrom-Json | Select one
$myVal = $data.one
$myVal
The printed output will be 1
In your case:
$json = '{
"profileVersion": 1,
"profile": {
"id": 0,
"class": "PrimalPlayerDataBP_C",
"names": ["PrimalPlayerDataBP_C_29", "ArkGameMode", "PersistentLevel", "Aberration_P", "/Game/Maps/Aberration/Aberration_P"],
"properties": [{
"name": "SavedPlayerDataVersion",
"type": "IntProperty",
"value": 8
}, {
"name": "HexagonCount",
"type": "IntProperty",
"value": 106860
}, {
"name": "MyPersistentBuffDatas",
"type": "ArrayProperty",
"arrayType": "ObjectProperty",
"value": [1, 2, 3, 4]
}],
"extra": null
}}'
$data = $json | ConvertFrom-Json | Select -expand profile | Select -expand properties | Select name, type, value
$myVal = $data[0].value
$myVal