How to modify/create values in XML files using PowerShell?

Question

I would like to know if is it possible to modify/create values in XML files using PowerShell. Basically I'm interested in:

• Modify values in the XML file or create them if they don't exist (i.e. I need to search the item, create if not exists and modify the value)
• Deal with different XML syntax in the same XML file like those ones:

Syntax 1:

<settings>
  <setting id="Location2" value="Barcelona, Spain"/>
  <setting id="Location2id" value="zmw:00000.1.08181"/>
</settings>

Syntax 2:

<settings>
    <musicplayer>
        <crossfade>0</crossfade>
        <queuebydefault>false</queuebydefault>
    </musicplayer>
</settings>

Syntax 3:

<settings>
    <skinsettings>
        <setting type="bool" name="skin.confluence.HomepageHideRecentlyAddedVideo">false</setting>
    </skinsettings>
</settings>

Any help would be very appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

PowerShell fully supports dealing with XML files.

For example, if we take the first blurb you supplied and just paste it into an XML file named settings.xml in folder "C:\blah", you could get the ID of each setting as such:

[xml]$myXML = Get-Content C:\blah\settings.xml
$myXML.settings.setting.id

Which returns:

Location2
Location2id

And

$myXML.settings.setting.value

returns:

Barcelona, Spain
zmw:00000.1.08181

If we replace the XML file contents with the blurb you provided in Syntax #2:

[xml]$myXML = Get-Content C:\blah\settings.xml
$myXML.settings.musicplayer.crossfade

returns:

0

To read crossfade, change it (to 2), and save back:

[xml]$myXML = Get-Content C:\blah\settings.xml
$myXML.settings.musicplayer.crossfade = 2
$myXML.Save("C:\blah\settings.xml")

Edit after comments:

To change the XML elements themselves (as in the Barcelona example) is a little trickier, because you're editing the XML structure itself, not the data it contains.

[xml]$myXML = Get-Content C:\blah\settings.xml
$myXML.settings.ChildNodes.Item(0).value = "New York, USA"
$myXML.Save("C:\blah\settings.xml")

For the Skinsettings example, try something like:

$myXML.settings.skinsettings.setting."#text" = "true"

Check out these resources:

• The Scripting Wife Learns to Use PowerShell to Work with XML
• Use PowerShell to Parse an XML File and Sort the Data
• How to update an Xml Element value using PowerShell