parsing xml using powershell

Hi Experts,

I am parsing an xml file and I'm trying to get some values from it remotely.

Attached is the xml.

I can get the url from context file as follows:

$tchome = c:\app\location
$pointr = someuser2

$output = Invoke-Command -ComputerName appserver -ArgumentList ($tchome,$pointr) -ScriptBlock {Param($tchome, $pointr); $xmldata = [xml](Get-Content $tchome\conf\context.xml); ($xmldata.SelectSingleNode("//Resource[@username='$pointr']")).url}

Is there a way by which I can get $output as databasename - db2

I would also like to get the database name after // in this case DBServer2. Is it possible?

Thanks
DevSupport
context.xml

DevSupportAsked: 2017-03-23

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LVL 92

oBdACommented: 2017-03-23

For example like this:

$tchome = 'c:\app\location'
$pointr = 'someuser2'
$output = Invoke-Command -ComputerName appserver -ArgumentList ($tchome,$pointr) -ScriptBlock {
	Param($tchome, $pointr)
	$xmldata = [xml](Get-Content $tchome\conf\context.xml)
	($xmldata.SelectSingleNode("//Resource[@username='$pointr']")).url
}
$Connection = $output.Split(';')
$DBServer = ($Connection | Where-Object {$_ -like '*:sqlserver:*'}).Split('/')[-1]
$DBName = (($Connection | Where-Object {$_.Contains('=')}) -join "`r`n" | ConvertFrom-StringData)['databaseName']
Write-Host "DBServer: $($DBServer), DBName: $($DBName)"

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LVL 44

footechCommented: 2017-03-23

You're pretty much down to just parsing out the string (nothing real programmatic about it). So, taking the string
jdbc:sqlserver://DBServer2;databaseName=db2;SelectMethod=cursor;SendStringParametersAsUnicode=false
Say it's assigned to a variable

$urlValue = "jdbc:sqlserver://DBServer2;databaseName=db2;SelectMethod=cursor;SendStringParametersAsUnicode=false"
$urlValuesplit = $urlValue -split ";"
$DBServer = ($urlValuesplit[0] -split "//")[-1]
$DBName = $urlValuesplit[1]     # or maybe  $DBName = ($urlValuesplit[1] -split "=")[-1]

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More sophisticated regex could be utilized to try to parse/match the entire string into it's components, but that could be overkill for your needs.

Edit: I see oBdA posted while I was typing. My approach is pretty similar, but I'll leave the post just so you can examine differences. No need for any points.

LVL 92

oBdACommented: 2017-03-23

On a side note: why go through all the trouble invoking remote PS, instead of just pulling the file directly?

$xmldata = [xml](Get-Content -Path "\\appserver\$($tchome.Replace(':', '$'))\conf\context.xml")
$output = ($xmldata.SelectSingleNode("//Resource[@username='$pointr']")).url

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footech,
there's no specific order for the elements of a connection string, so relying on the order in this particular xml might break the script as soon as the configuration is changed.
That's why I chose the approach with the ConvertFrom-StringData (feeling too lazy for a regex ...).

LVL 44

footechCommented: 2017-03-23

I'm glad you used the ConvertFrom-StringData method. I considered it, but didn't pursue it when I saw the first element in the string didn't fit the format (which you worked around by using the Where-Object filter). Not knowing how the elements could change is also the reason I didn't pursue a regex.