How to properly format JSON in Powershell while using aws-cli? - json

Question

Error sending JSON structure using aws-cli in Powershell. Specifically a call to put an item into an existing DynamoDB table.
The problem seems to be that the lack of double quotes around keys and values in the JSON object I'm attempting to send. I've read that Powershell is finicky with outputting double quotes, especially when leveraging external APIs.
Unfortunately, since my org uses okta for authenticating AWS requests, I have to use Powershell.
I've tried everything that I've seen here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/convertto-json?view=powershell-6
...here:
Error parsing parameter '--expression-attribute-values': Invalid JSON: Expecting property name enclosed in double quotes: line 1 column 3 (char 2)
...here:
https://github.com/aws/aws-cli/issues/1326
...and here:
PowerShell: best way to escape double quotes in string passed to an external program? E.g., a JSON string
WHAT I'VE TRIED:
This is the basic first attempt:
okta-aws dh dynamodb put-item --table-name AlexaRoomLookup-dev --item '{"deviceId": {"S":"amzn1.ask.device.AEH2LHYGV7GSPP5THMR
5H56AI2OOMAQ7MF54CZ3E6WR433WGS6QAOCYCKJWRJ3TQY5IE76NWR2IKCANB6TJNKLDEZOO2YN6ACUVT33MKSS4CO6R7GJI6GDFLOBOPUA2IXX7RI732UXJ6PDST5KYC7CSQK
634K4APEBRNVOKVZIDECOCBBIFB4"},"roomNumber": {"N":9110}}' --return-consumed-capacity TOTAL
Then I tried escaping with backslash:
okta-aws dh dynamodb put-item --table-name AlexaRoomLookup-dev --item {\"deviceId\":{\"S\":\"amzn1.ask.device.AEH2LHYGV7GSPP5THMR5H56AI2OOMAQ7MF54CZ3E6WR433WGS6QAOCYCKJWRJ3TQY5IE76NWR2IKCANB6TJNKLDEZOO2YN6ACUVT33MKSS4CO6R7GJI6GDFLOBOPUA2IXX7RI732UXJ6PDST5KYC7CSQK634K4APEBRNVOKVZIDECOCBBIFB4\"},\"roomNumber\": {\"N\":9110}} --return-consumed-capacity TOTAL
Then esacping with backtick (which i've replaced here with an asterisk so SO would read it as code) and backslash:
{*"deviceId*": {*"S*":*"amzn1.ask.device.AEH2LHYGV7GSPP
5THMR5H56AI2OOMAQ7MF54CZ3E6WR433WGS6QAOCYCKJWRJ3TQY5IE76NWR2IKCANB6TJNKLDEZOO2YN6ACUVT33MKSS4CO6R7GJI6GDFLOBOPUA2IXX7RI732UXJ6PDST5KYC
7CSQK634K4APEBRNVOKVZIDECOCBBIFB4*"},*"roomNumber*": {*"N*":9110}}" --return- consumed-capacity TOTAL
I then tried a "here string" to no avail.
EXPECTATIONS and RESULTS:
I would expect a method of escaping that's in the microsoft documentation to work.
Each of the above gave this error with a variation of the problematic "JSON received" based on the escape method, but it never had double quotes around keys and values:
Error parsing parameter '--item': Invalid JSON: Expecting property name enclosed in double quotes: line 1 column 2 (char 1)
JSON received: {deviceId: {S:amzn1.ask.device.AEH2LHYGV7GSPP5THMR5H56AI2OOMAQ7MF54CZ3E6WR433WGS6QAOCYCKJWRJ3TQY5IE76NWR2IKCANB6TJNKLDEZOO2YN6ACUVT33MKSS4CO6R7GJI6GDFLOBOPUA2IXX7RI732UXJ6PDST5KYC7CSQK634K4APEBRNVOKVZIDECOCBBIFB4},roomNumber: {N:9110}}
The only thing that seemed to work was using "file://file.json" as the input to --item, which I couldn't find documented anywhere... I think it was on that github thread I linked. However, I'd rather not have to edit a file every time I want to send JSON with an AWS API call... Here it is:
okta-aws dh dynamodb put-item --table-name AlexaRoomLookup-dev --item file://file.json --return-consumed-capacity TOTAL
Can anyone provide info other than what's listed here as to why the above methods wouldn't work? Have I just implemented them incorrectly?
Thanks.

Answer 1

I was having the same issue while trying to send a message to Amazon SQS with JSON body using PowerShell. After trying different escape characters, the following worked for me.
aws sqs send-message --queue-url "<queue-url>" --message-body '{\""key1\"": \""value1\"",\""key2\"": \""value2\"",\""key3\"": \""value3\"" }'
OS: Windows 10 Pro (Version 1803)
AWS CLI version: 1.16.180
For further information, see the official documentation.
Using quotation marks with strings in the AWS CLI

Answer 2

You could try the PowerShell "stop parsing symbol" (i.e. "--%") at the start of the command. This tells PowerShell to use the rest of the parameters verbatim.
PS> okta-aws --% dh dynamodb put-item --table-name AlexaRoomLookup-dev --item '{"deviceId": {"S":"amzn1.ask.device.AEH...etc...FB4"},"roomNumber": {"N":9110}}' --return-consumed-capacity TOTAL
See about_parsing for more details...
It won't help if your json is in a variable, but if it's hard-coded like your example above it might work.