Return Value from Get-NAVAppInfo powershell

jimmyf

Is it possible to wrap Get-NAVAppInfo powershell command in a function to return certain values. For example the Synch state and the installation status?

Thanks you

DenSter

So... Jimmy... Sorry for the ruckus in here, that kind of took over your question. I was actually trying to figure out how to make it work when Mr Nice Guy here started his 'process'. I'm not very good with PowerShell so it was a good way to see if I could make this work. My first instinct was to use Json. I found plenty of examples, but there was always a conversion to and from Json, and the real work is always done with this thing called a PSObject. I'm sure Json is easy enough once you figure out how that works in PowerShell, but as it turns out, using a PSObject is easier anyway, so here it goes...

You can load the output of a Cmdlet into a PSObject like this:

$AppInfoRaw = Get-BCContainerAppInfo -containerName MyContainer -tenantSpecificProperties $true

To see the content of the object just select the object in your editor and hit F8. Try with and without the tenantSpecificProperties switch, that is what gets the sync state and installation status of the app.

From this point on, you can access the object members straight from the editor. All you have to do is load it once, and then intellisense will show you the members, even its sub-members:

Here's an example of how to read the app information from MyContainer into an object, loop through the object and display the content in a list:

$AppInfoRaw = Get-BCContainerAppInfo -containerName MyContainer -tenantSpecificProperties $true

$MyObjectList = @()

foreach($AppInfo in $AppInfoRaw)
{
    $obj = New-Object psobject -Property @{
        ItsName = $AppInfo.Name
        ItsPublisher = $AppInfo.Publisher
        ItsInstalled = $AppInfo.IsInstalled
        ItsPublished = $AppInfo.IsPublished
        ItsSyncState = $AppInfo.SyncState
    }
    $MyObjectList += $obj    
}

$MyObjectList | Format-Table

This gives the following output:

This is not all of it, because there are many more apps, but that's the content of the object
I'm going to write a blog post about this with more details, but I thought you'd be interested in seeing this right away. Let me know if this is what you were looking for

TallyHo

Yes, I created powershel script once to get the content of the Version tag:

[xml]$xmlFile = Get-NAVAppInfo -Name 'MyApp' -ServerInstance 'BC140' | ConvertTo-Xml
$SelectedNode = [xml]$xmlFile | Select-XML -XPath "//Property[@Name='Version']" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty "node"
$TheVersion = $SelectedNode.InnerText

DenSter

You can also load a JSON object and access its members directly.

$MySettings = (Get-Content '.\PowerShell\MySettings.json') | ConvertFrom-Json
$AppJSON = (Get-Content (Join-Path $MySettings.AppFolder '\app.json')) | ConvertFrom-Json

First this loads a JSON object that includes a member 'AppFolder', and in the second line I load app.json from my app folder. From there I can then access for instance the publisher by using $AppJSON.publisher.

Not sure if Get-NAVAppInfo loads the app information directly but you'd have to play around with it to make that happen

TallyHo

@DenSter:
So please provide a working solution for Get-NAVAppInfo result processing this way.
I know how to convert a json file to powershell object, but using it this way
could make you end up with a complex type json.. that's what I remember encountering
trying to tackle this problem. So I choose the xml option as the best way to go.

DenSter

DenSter wrote: »

Not sure if Get-NAVAppInfo loads the app information directly but you'd have to play around with it to make that happen

You must have missed the last sentence in my reply there.

TallyHo

No, got it all the first time.
Just hoped you could show us the playing around part. At least that would have contributed something.

DenSter

TallyHo wrote: »

At least that would have contributed something.

Are you still mad at me?

I posted that for Jimmy, not you. I know you already know everything

TallyHo

Been trying to get it done in json, but this doesn't work. So I was hoping you'd shed some more light here to spare Jimmy my fate. Sincere disappointment.. still.

DenSter

You know, instead of insulting me, you might want to try asking in a friendly way next time, you get way more done that way. I put this together for Jimmy, because I think it may help him, instead of slogging through XML

You actually don't need a Json object. You can just read the output into a psobject and browse through them

TallyHo

I was asking nicely, you replied arrogantly.
As it was last time.

Good one! Spared Jimmy a lot of json hussle.

DenSter

TallyHo wrote: »

At least that would have contributed something.

That's not asking nicely, that is meant to insult me

And you're welcome by the way, I know you meant to say thank you because you are such a nice guy

TallyHo

You're right. At that point I had stopped asking friendly. But hey screw the process, it's the results that count.

DenSter

The way people treat me is not what motivates me though, so your 'process' is not what got the results

DenSter

So... Jimmy... Sorry for the ruckus in here, that kind of took over your question. I was actually trying to figure out how to make it work when Mr Nice Guy here started his 'process'. I'm not very good with PowerShell so it was a good way to see if I could make this work. My first instinct was to use Json. I found plenty of examples, but there was always a conversion to and from Json, and the real work is always done with this thing called a PSObject. I'm sure Json is easy enough once you figure out how that works in PowerShell, but as it turns out, using a PSObject is easier anyway, so here it goes...

You can load the output of a Cmdlet into a PSObject like this:

$AppInfoRaw = Get-BCContainerAppInfo -containerName MyContainer -tenantSpecificProperties $true

To see the content of the object just select the object in your editor and hit F8. Try with and without the tenantSpecificProperties switch, that is what gets the sync state and installation status of the app.

From this point on, you can access the object members straight from the editor. All you have to do is load it once, and then intellisense will show you the members, even its sub-members:

Here's an example of how to read the app information from MyContainer into an object, loop through the object and display the content in a list:

$AppInfoRaw = Get-BCContainerAppInfo -containerName MyContainer -tenantSpecificProperties $true

$MyObjectList = @()

foreach($AppInfo in $AppInfoRaw)
{
    $obj = New-Object psobject -Property @{
        ItsName = $AppInfo.Name
        ItsPublisher = $AppInfo.Publisher
        ItsInstalled = $AppInfo.IsInstalled
        ItsPublished = $AppInfo.IsPublished
        ItsSyncState = $AppInfo.SyncState
    }
    $MyObjectList += $obj    
}

$MyObjectList | Format-Table

This gives the following output:

This is not all of it, because there are many more apps, but that's the content of the object
I'm going to write a blog post about this with more details, but I thought you'd be interested in seeing this right away. Let me know if this is what you were looking for