Using expressions in pipeline parameters

Often times you need the second cmdlet in a pipeline to not only accept the collection from the first one but also re-use some of the properties of the members. For example:

• Renaming objects so the new name is the old one plus some prefix, or
• Move objects to an OU based on some of objects’ attributes, or
• Set password for a user to something containing his/her username.

I guess you got the idea. The problem with that is that in PowerShell if you just try to add this as an expression this will not work.

With AD cmdlets 1.0.5 the problem finally got a solution. Although PowerShell still does not allow to use expressions in the parameters you can use scriptblocks and AD cmdlets will handle the rest.

Just remember to use {} brackets instead of ():

[Update] This scriptblock approach works for Move/Rename but not for Set cmdlets:

# Add prefix to a set of user accounts:

Get-QADUser -SearchRoot ps64.local/test | Rename-QADObject -NewName {"Test_" + $_.Name}

# Restructure AD:

Get-QADUser -SearchRoot ps64.local/employees | Move-QADObject -to {"ps64.local/employees/" + $_.City}


For other cases you still need to use ForEach:

# Set password to username (note that your AD password restrictions might prevent you from setting passwords containing usernames)

Get-QADUser Test* | ForEach { Set-QADObject $_ -UserPassword {$_.sAMAccountName} }

#Set description including user properties

Get-QADUser | ForEach { Set-QADObject $_ -Description {$_.Title + " from " + $_.City + " " + $_.Department}}


Good luck with your bulk changes!

Tags: AD, AD cmdlets, Active Directory, Examples, one-liner, oneliner, PowerShell
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