Inputting JSON data in Powershell - json

Question

Currently, I'm attempting to call upon an API to run a POST, with JSON data as the body. So I was wondering if anyone would be able to tell me how I need to format the text below inside the variable $postParams. I'm pretty new at working with JSON so I'm having so trouble with this.
Currently, I only have the following and don't know what to do about the second line on.
$postParams = #{name='Example'}
Here's is the entire data I was hoping to add to $postParams. So if you could help me with the 2nd, 4th, and 8th that'd be awesome. Thanks!
{
"name":"Example",
"template":{"name":"Template"},
"url":"http://localhost",
"page":{"name":"Landing Page"},
"smtp":{"name":"Sending Profile"},
"launch_date":"2019-10-08T17:20:00+00:00",
"send_by_date":null,
"groups":[{"name":"test group"}]
}

Answer 1

You'll need a here-string and ConvertFrom-Json.
here-string:
Quotation marks are also used to create a here-string. A here-string is a single-quoted or double-quoted string in which quotation marks are interpreted literally. A here-string can span multiple lines. All the lines in a here-string are interpreted as strings, even though they are not enclosed in quotation marks.
The resulting code:
# Use a PowerShell here string to take JSON as it is
$jsonString = #"
{
"name":"Example",
"template":{"name":"Template"},
"url":"http://localhost",
"page":{"name":"Landing Page"},
"smtp":{"name":"Sending Profile"},
"launch_date":"2019-10-08T17:20:00+00:00",
"send_by_date":null,
"groups":[{"name":"test group"}]
}
"#
# Pipe the string to create a new JSON object
$jsonObject = $jsonString | ConvertFrom-Json
# The resulting JSON object has properties matching the properties in the orig. JSON
$jsonObject.name
$jsonObject.url
# Nested property
$jsonObject.template.name
# Nested property in array
$jsonObject.groups[0].name
I've posted an online version of the above code at tio.run, so you can play around with it.
If you want to update several properties of the $jsonObject you can do the following:
$jsonObject.name = "NEW NAME"
$jsonObject.url = "NEW URL"
$jsonObject | ConvertTo-Json
ConvertTo-Json will take your object and create an appropriate JSON string:
{
"name": "NEW NAME",
"template": {
"name": "Template"
},
"url": "NEW URL",
"page": {
"name": "Landing Page"
},
"smtp": {
"name": "Sending Profile"
},
"launch_date": "2019-10-08T17:20:00+00:00",
"send_by_date": null,
"groups": [
{
"name": "test group"
}
]
}
If you $jsonObject has more than two levels of depth, use the -Depth parameter, otherwise not all object information will be included in the JSON string.
ConvertTo-Json:
-Depth
Specifies how many levels of contained objects are included in the JSON representation. The default value is 2.
Here is a tio.run link to a ConvertTo-Json example.
Hope that helps.

Answer 2

I can't test it currently, but try this.
$postParams = #'
{
"name":"Example",
"template":{"name":"Template"},
"url":"http://localhost",
"page":{"name":"Landing Page"},
"smtp":{"name":"Sending Profile"},
"launch_date":"2019-10-08T17:20:00+00:00",
"send_by_date":null,
"groups":[{"name":"test group"}]
}
'#

Answer 3

Make a hashtable, then convert to JSON:
$Hashtable = #{
Key1 = "Value1"
Key2 = "Value2"
}
$Json = $Hashtable | ConvertTo-Json