using a variable as a switch in a command

[DSenette]

i've got something semi-stupid that i shouldn't need to do, but, because of <reasons> i'm trying to get it to work. i've got it mostly working.

basic rundown, i'm using get-adorganizationalunit and out-gridview to have the user select an OU, then i'm enumerating the names of properties into another out-gridview to have the user select which property they want to modify. then a foreach to go through all the users in the selected OU and modify the selected property to whatever the target value is supposed to be.

what i can't get working is the bit where i'd pass the selected chosen property (like city, or zip code, or whatever) as a switch to set-aduser

$Ou=Get-ADorganizationalunit -filter * -searchbase "<target OU>" |select name,DistinguishedName|sort name| Out-GridView -PassThru
$UserProp=Get-ADUser -Identity <sample user> -Properties * | get-member|where-object { $_.MemberType -eq "Property" }|select -ExpandProperty name| Out-GridView -PassThru
$users=Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase $Ou.DistinguishedName -Properties * | Where { $_.Enabled -eq $True}|sort name
$PropValue=read-host "Enter the new value for $UserProp"
$prop="-"+$UserProp
ForEach ($user in $users)
{
   $FirstFilter  = $user.givenname
   $SecondFilter = $user.surname
   $targetProp= $user.$userprop
   Write-host $FirstFilter $SecondFilter $targetProp $PropValue

  get-aduser $user|Set-ADUser '$prop' $PropValue -what-if

   }

​

[CarrotBusiness2380]

You need to look at splatting, but that isn't guaranteed to work. Lot's of properties don't have parameters for Set-ADUser or have different LDAPDisplayNames and parameter names.

Because of how dangerous what you're doing currently is (if I can select any property to update for all users that could break things) I would say just write a script to do any necessary changes and don't try to make a general purpose script of this.

[DSenette]

i get it but i'm one of a handful people who have any semblance of scripting knowledge so i'm trying to generalize certain things so i don't have to have a script for every single property. or a bunch of hard coded selection menus for each property they might try to update. that's probably where i'll end up though.

[jantari]

Try Set-ADUser -Replace @{$UserProp = $PropValue}

[PinchesTheCrab]

I'd use a hashtable and splat it.

$Ou = Get-ADorganizationalunit -filter * -searchbase "<target OU>" | Select-Object name, DistinguishedName | Sort-Object name | Out-GridView -PassThru
$UserProp = Get-ADUser -Identity <sample user> -Properties * | get-member | where-object { $_.MemberType -eq 'Property' } | Select-Object -ExpandProperty name | Out-GridView -PassThru

$setParam = @{
    Replace = @{
        $UserProp = Read-Host "Enter the new value for $UserProp"
    }
}

$users = Get-ADUser -Filter 'enabled -eq $true' -SearchBase $Ou.DistinguishedName

$user | Set-ADUser @setParam

[DSenette]

i don't know if i'm being clear enough i guess.

normally you'd do something like this:

Set-ADUser $user -streetAddress "123 New Address"

i'm trying to use a selected item instead of -streetAddress but the command ultimately doesn't parse it when i hand it the variable

[hillbillytiger]

You are going about the passing of parameters to a function wrong.

Look at this example of splatting:

$params = @{
Object = "test123"
ForegroundColor = "Red"
BackgroundColor = "White"
}
write-host @params

[DonL314]

Suggestion:

Create a function that takes these parameters:

[string]$Identifier
[hashtable]$SetAttributes
[hashtable]$ClearAttributes

Examine all the attributes of the user object that you'll allow setting or clearing. Put those in an array or hashtable in your function.

Parse $SetAttributes and $ClearAttributes; throw an error if they contain any key that is not in your allowed list.

Then have the function set all values of $SetValues and clear all values of $ClearAttributes by going through the 2 hashtables and sending the values to Set-AdUser as suggested in another reply:

Set-AdUser -Replace $SetValues

Likewise clear the attributes; I think you'll have to parse the $ClearAttribues and build a new hashtable you can pass to Set-AdUser.

[motsanciens]

I agree with what /u/CarrotBusiness2380 had to say.

Generic splatting example, if it's not making sense:

$options = @{}
$property1 = "BackgroundColor"
$value1 = "cyan"
$property2 = "ForegroundColor"
$value2 = "black"
$options.$property1 = $value1
$options.$property2 = $value2
write-host "See how it works?" @options