Editing a .json file using powershell

Question

I have a .json file that needs to be edited in User Data, so I will have to use powershell to accomplish this. The json looks something like this:

{
"EngineConfiguration": {
    "PollInterval": "00:00:15",
    "Components": [
        {
            "Id": "CustomLogs",
            "FullName": "AWS.EC2.Windows.CloudWatch.CustomLog.CustomLogInputComponent,AWS.EC2.Windows.CloudWatch",
            "Parameters": {
                "LogDirectoryPath": "C:\\CustomLogs\\",
                "TimestampFormat": "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss",
                "Encoding": "UTF-8",
                "Filter": "",
                "CultureName": "en-US",
                "TimeZoneKind": "Local"
            }
        }
    ],
    "Flows": {
        "Flows": 
        [
            "(ApplicationEventLog,SystemEventLog),CloudWatchLogs"
            ]
        }
    } 
}

I would like it to look like this --

{
"EngineConfiguration": {
    "PollInterval": "00:00:15",
    "Components": [
        {
            "Id": "CustomLogs",
            "FullName": "AWS.EC2.Windows.CloudWatch.CustomLog.CustomLogInputComponent,AWS.EC2.Windows.CloudWatch",
            "Parameters": {
                "LogDirectoryPath": "C:\\ProgramData\\Amazon\\CodeDeploy\\deployment-logs",
                "TimestampFormat": "[yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff]",
                "Encoding": "UTF-8",
                "Filter": "",
                "CultureName": "en-US",
                "TimeZoneKind": "Local"
            }
        }
    ],
    "Flows": {
        "Flows": 
        [
            "(ApplicationEventLog,SystemEventLog, CustomLogs),CloudWatchLogs"
            ]
        }
    } 
}

In the Custom Logs Parameters, the LogDirectoryPath and TimestampFormat have both changed. Also, in the Flows section, I have added the 'CustomLogs' to the CloudWatch Group.

I tried making it work with code like this:

$a = Get-Content 'C:\PATH\TO\file.json' -raw | ConvertFrom-Json
$a.EngineConfiguration.Components[0].Parameters = '{"LogDirectoryPath": "","TimestampFormat": "[yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff]","Encoding": "UTF-8","Filter": "","CultureName": "en-US","TimeZoneKind": "Local"}'
$a | ConvertTo-Json | set-content 'C:\PATH\TO\output.json'

But that produces a very ugly output

{
"EngineConfiguration":  {
                            "PollInterval":  "00:00:15",
                            "Components":  [
                                               "@{Id=CustomLogs; FullName=AWS.EC2.Windows.CloudWatch.CustomLog.CustomLogInputComponent,AWS.EC2.Windows.CloudWatch; Parameters={\"LogDirectoryPath\": \"\",\"TimestampFormat\": \"[yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff]\",\"Encoding\": \"UTF-8\",\"Filter\": \"\",\"CultureName\": \"en-US\",\"TimeZoneKind\": \"Local\"}}",
                                               "@{Id=CloudWatchLogs; FullName=AWS.EC2.Windows.CloudWatch.CloudWatchLogsOutput,AWS.EC2.Windows.CloudWatch; Parameters=}"
                                           ],
                            "Flows":  {
                                          "Flows":  "(ApplicationEventLog,SystemEventLog),CloudWatchLogs"
                                      }
                        }
}

Is there a more elegant way to do this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

MisterSeajay · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-26 16:22:35Z

2

Try using the -Depth switch for ConvertTo-Json. By default this compresses any child elements beyond a depth of 2 to the string representations of the object you have seen:

"@{Id=CustomLogs; etc."

By specifying a deeper depth you get a format more like the one you want. Combine this with something that compresses the excessive whitespace as so:

((ConvertFrom-Json $a) | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 4) -replace ((" "*4)," ")

answered Apr 26, 2017 at 16:22

MisterSeajay

4,7891 gold badge28 silver badges53 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

lit · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-26 16:05:22Z

0

It would be possible to reduce the leading whitespace with a regex. However, that does not really produce the reformatting, pretty-print that you say you want.

$a | ConvertTo-Json | % {$_ -replace "        ","  "} | set-content 'output.json'

answered Apr 26, 2017 at 16:05

lit

16.5k11 gold badges80 silver badges146 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Editing a .json file using powershell

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related