# Invoke-SqlCmd variable not defined, even though it is?

**URL:** <https://forums.powershell.org/t/invoke-sqlcmd-variable-not-defined-even-though-it-is/25275>\
**Category:** PowerShell Help\
**Created:** [January 6, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/invoke-sqlcmd-variable-not-defined-even-though-it-is/25275 "2025-01-06T16:52:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Coffee](https://forums.powershell.org/u/Coffee)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/invoke-sqlcmd-variable-not-defined-even-though-it-is/25275/1 "2025-01-06T16:52:54Z")

</div>

Hello everyone, new user here, and (somewhat) new-ish to PowerShell. I have an issue that I’m hoping to get help with: I’m trying to insert a record into a database using Invoke-SqlCmd, but it’s giving me the following error:

> Invoke-Sqlcmd : Variable UserId is not defined.  
> At C:\Scripts\ImportFileRecord.ps1:86 char:4

I’m not sure why it’s saying it’s not defined. I’ve specifically defined it below, and I’ve even just tried passing in a number in the query itself. If I remove the UserId from the query, it then fails on the next bit, UploadedBy.

I’m unsure of what’s going on here. All the data is there when I output it in the code block below.

Can someone assist me with understanding what I’m missing?

```auto

			$UserId = 025;
			$UploadedBy = "Admin";
			$FileViews = 1;
			$DateTime = Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
			$FileName = $file.Name;

			$FileLocation = "\\server\appFolder"
			$FileExtension = $file.Extension.Substring(1, 3);
			$FileSize = $file.Length;
			$FileHash = Get-FileHash -Path $file.FullName -Algorithm SHA256;

			# Connection string for Invoke-Sqlcmd
			$invokeConnectionString = "Data Source=server;Integrated Security=True;Initial Catalog=database"; 

			Write-Output "UserId: $($UserId)"
			Write-Output "UploadedBy: $($UploadedBy)"
			Write-Output "FileViews: $($FileViews)"
			Write-Output "DateTime: $($DateTime)"
			Write-Output "FileName: $($FileName)"
			Write-Output "FileLocation: $($FileLocation)"
			Write-Output "FileExtension: $($FileExtension)"
			Write-Output "FileSize: $($FileSize)"
			Write-Output "FileHash: $($FileHash)"
			Write-Host "QUERY: ($($UserId), $($UploadedBy), $($FileViews), '$($DateTime)', '$($FileName)', '$($FileLocation)', '$($FileExtension)', $($FileSize), '$($FileHash)')`n`n"
			
			Invoke-Sqlcmd -ConnectionString $invokeConnectionString -Query "INSERT INTO [DATABASE].[TABLE] (UserId, UploadedBy, FileViews, DateTime, FileName, FileLocation, FileExtension, FileSize, FileHash) VALUES (`$(UserId)`, '`$(UploadedBy)`', `$(FileViews)`, '`$(DateTime)`', '`$(FileName)`', '`$(FileLocation)`', '`$(FileExtension)`', `$(FileSize)`, '`$(FileHash)`')"

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![matt-bloomfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dec6dc/32.png) [@matt-bloomfield](https://forums.powershell.org/u/matt-bloomfield)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/invoke-sqlcmd-variable-not-defined-even-though-it-is/25275/2 "2025-01-06T18:23:21Z")

</div>

Hi, welcome to the forum 👋

I can’t test this, but the way you’re specifying the values looks wrong to me. The backtick in PowerShell ``` is the escape character so the value ``$(UserId)`` is being passed literally as `$(UserId)` the string.

If you needed to use the sub-expression operator `$()` which I don’t think you do in this case, then the variable name should be preceded by a `$`: `$($UserId)`.

Try specifying your values as:

```auto
('$UserId', '$UploadedBy', '$FileViews', '$DateTime', '$FileName', '$FileLocation', '$FileExtension', '$FileSize', '$FileHash')

```

For readability, you may consider crafting your queries as a here-string:

```auto
$Query = @"
INSERT INTO [DATABASE].[TABLE] (
UserId,
UploadedBy,
FileViews,
DateTime,
FileName,
FileLocation,
FileExtension,
FileSize,
FileHash
)
VALUES (
'$UserId',
'$UploadedBy',
'$FileViews',
'$DateTime',
'$FileName',
'$FileLocation',
'$FileExtension',
'$FileSize',
'$FileHash'
)
"@

Invoke-Sqlcmd -ConnectionString $invokeConnectionString -Query $Query

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Coffee](https://forums.powershell.org/u/Coffee)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/invoke-sqlcmd-variable-not-defined-even-though-it-is/25275/3 "2025-01-06T20:28:39Z")

</div>

Thank you very much for the reply! I wasn’t aware of here-strings, but after reading up on them, that’ll definitely make things a little easier when reading 😉

It definitely helped with troubleshooting. I had to use the sub-expression operator and put all string values in single quotes.

```auto
VALUES (
'$($UserId)',
'$($UploadedBy)',
$($FileViews),
'$($DateTime)',
'$($FileName)',
'$($FileLocation)',
'$($FileExtension)',
$($FileSize),
'$($FileHash)'
)

```

Thank you very much for your help!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/powershell/original/1X/385e4f9fe133561ad30a814262fe0e0ae6bc3ef0.png) [@system](https://forums.powershell.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/invoke-sqlcmd-variable-not-defined-even-though-it-is/25275/4 "2025-02-05T20:28:56Z")

</div>

Closed on February 5, 2025, 8:28pm UTC

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