Defining Parameters

PowerShell Help
#1

I am working on a script for which I have written a GUI. The user fills out the fields and then the GUI passes those by way of parameters to the underlying script. Below is a reproducer of what I am trying:

Param (
   [string]$sVM,
   [string]$iCPU,
   [string]$iRAM,
   [string]$sIP,
   [string]$sSubnet,
   [string]$sGateway,
   [string]$sDNS,
   [string]$sDescription,
   [string]$sSite,
   [string]$sHost,
   [string]$sDStore,
   [string]$sTemplate,
   [string]$sSpec,
   [string]$sFolder,
   [string]$sOU
)

Write-Host $args.Count "args"

    ForEach ($sArg in $args) {
        Write-Host $sArg
    }

I am relatively new to PowerShell, having come from other languages, but was under the impression the parameters had to be at the top of the script, which is why I formatted this way. When I run the script with something like this (quotes around those fields with spaces):

Args.ps1 SPERA-SCCM01 4 16 10.10.120.115 255.255.255.0 10.10.115.254 10.10.1.120 "SCCM 2016 Server" ERA ER-vms33.mycompany.com Dev-ERA-App01 "ER 2016 Template 02" ScriptERADomain ScriptDeploy "OU=Patch Reboot,OU=ERA,OU=Servers,DC=mycompany,DC=com"

The issue I am having is, if I run the script just as written above, I get the following output which seems to indicate it found none of the parameters:

./Args.ps1 SPERA-SCCM01 4 16 10.10.120.115 255.255.255.0 10.10.115.254 10.10.1.120 "SCCM 2016 Server" ERA ER-vms33.mycompany.com Dev-ERA-App01 "ER 2016 Template 02" ScriptERADomain ScriptDeploy "OU=Patch Reboot,OU=ERA,OU=Servers,DC=mycompany,DC=com" 0 args

If I add something to the first line, even just a simple Write-Host “Beginning” or a cls, I get an error on Param (which I would expect, it not being the first line), but the output is what I would expect:

Param : The term 'Param' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again. At desktop\Args.ps1:3 char:1 + Param ( + ~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Param:String) [], CommandNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

15 args
SPERA-SCCM01
4
16
10.10.120.115
255.255.255.0
10.10.115.254
10.10.1.120
SCCM 2016 Server
ERA
ER-vms33.mycompany.com
Dev-ERA-App01
ER 2016 Template 02
ScriptERADomain
ScriptDeploy
OU=Patch Reboot,OU=ERA,OU=Servers,DC=mycompany,DC=com

I have to believe whatever I am doing wrong is simple stupid, but if someone could clue me in that would be much appreciated.

#2

When you define parameters the $args automatic variable takes the OVERFLOW

Using this simple script

param (
  [string]$param1,
  [string]$param2
)

Write-Host "`$param1 = $param1"
Write-Host "`$param2 = $param2"
Write-Host "`$args = $args"

Test it like this

PS> .\paramtest.ps1 “one”
$param1 = one
$param2 =
$args =
PS> .\paramtest.ps1 “one” “two”
$param1 = one
$param2 = two
$args =
PS> .\paramtest.ps1 “one” “two” “three”
$param1 = one
$param2 = two
$args = three
PS> .\paramtest.ps1 “one” “two” “three” “four”
$param1 = one
$param2 = two
$args = three four

You’ll see that the values are given to the defined parameters first and only after they have been filled does $args get the leftovers.

#3

Lightbulb moment, I was unaware of that. I guess I thought $args took the full list of params you input. Thanks for this.