Passing multiple variables from csv file to invoke-sqlcmd

Question

I'm trying to read values from a CSV file, embed them into a INSERT T-SQL statement and run that statement using Invoke-Sqlcmd.

Here's my code:

Push-Location; Import-Module SQLPS -DisableNameChecking; Pop-Location

$InsertQry = "insert into $ImportTable VALUES ('`$(Col1)','`$(Col2)','`$(Col3)','`$(Col4)') "

Import-CSV $ImportFile | ForEach-Object { `
$RowData = "Col1=$($_.{My Ref})","Col2=$($_.{General satisfaction})","Col3=$($_.Helpfulness)","Col4=$($_.Effort)"
    Invoke-Sqlcmd `
    -Database $DBName -ServerInstance $SQLServer `
    -Query $InsertQry `
    -Variable $RowData
  }

The script works fine for rows in the CSV file that contain values for each column. Unfortunately for me, some of the rows in the CSV file contain empty values (so perhaps only the first two columns contain values). These rows fail to be inserted into the table, and generate the following error:

Invoke-Sqlcmd : The format used to define the new variable for Invoke-Sqlcmd cmdlet is invalid. Please use the 'var=value' format for defining a new variable.

The potentially empty columns are all columns that are either empty or contain a single digit number 1 to 5.

I've tried various ways to escape the value, cast it to a different data type, add zero or an empty string to it, null coalesce it, but I cannot get a solution that works.

I have control over the destination table, so I'd be happy to pass zero, empty string, null or any other value as a placeholder for the empty values.

Answer 1

As per the documentation you are to pass variables in a string array where each element has a "key=value" format. You are building that correctly. Invoke-SQLCMD seems to take offence to null values being passed. The nulls of course are coming from blank entries in your CSV. Assuming you allow nulls in those columns then perhaps you could just adjust the query as each loop pass instead.

Push-Location; Import-Module SQLPS -DisableNameChecking; Pop-Location

$InsertQry = "insert into $ImportTable VALUES ('{0}','{1}','{2}','{3}')"
$propertiesToSplat = @{
    Database = $DBName 
    ServerInstance = $SQLServer
}

Import-CSV $ImportFile | ForEach-Object {
    $propertiesToSplat.Query = $InsertQry -f $_."My Ref", $_."General satisfaction", $_.Helpfulness, $_.Effort
    Invoke-Sqlcmd @propertiesToSplat
}

So at each loop pass we use the format operator to insert the column values into your insert statement. Using curly braces in property names is useful when your properties contain special characters. Since you just have to deal with a space; quotes work just as well.

I also wanted to show you splatting which is a method to pass properties as a hashtable to a cmdlet. This lets you edit props on the fly and keep your lines shorter without having to worry about backticks everywhere.