Question

I am having a xml file similar to below.

<Parameters>
  <Parameter IsEncrypted="False">
    <ParameterName>pRdGpInstallOptions</ParameterName>
    <ParameterValue>Custom</ParameterValue>
  </Parameter>
  <Parameter IsEncrypted="False">
    <ParameterName>pRdAccept</ParameterName>
    <ParameterValue>true</ParameterValue>
  </Parameter>
  <Parameter IsEncrypted="False">
    <ParameterName>pCboEditSQLServer</ParameterName>
    <ParameterValue>MachineName\SQLEXPRESS</ParameterValue>
  </Parameter>
</Parameters>

I have copied only few nodes here. Actually the real file may be having hundreds of Parameter nodes.

We can’t hard code the index as it may appear in any order. I am trying to retrieve SQLinstance name parameter value which is associated with Parameter Name "pCboEditSQLServer".

I would like to retrieve this value using powershell. How to parse this dynamic xml files?

Answer 1

$sql = $xml.Parameters.Parameter | Where-Object {$_.ParameterName -eq 'pCboEditSQLServer'}
$sql.ParameterValue

MachineName\SQLEXPRESS  

Here’s another option (should be faster) using xpath:

$path = "/Parameters/Parameter[ParameterName='pCboEditSQLServer']/ParameterValue"
$xml.SelectSingleNode($path).'#text'

And there’s the Select-Xml cmdlet:

$sql = $xml | Select-Xml -XPath $path 
$sql.Node.'#text'