Powershell - Add a key in a specific manner to a JSON object - arrays

Question

i have an array converted to a json ($user_data_JSON = $user_data | ConvertTo-Json) in powershell which looks like this
$user_data_JSON
{
[
{
"targetId": "5007Y00000K5nkjQAB",
"login": "login1",
"password": "scRHDztkKbO"
},
{
"targetId": "5007Y00000MNbDvQAL",
"login": "login2",
"password": "scRHDztkKbO"
}
]
}
But i need to modify it like this with a KEY value on top:
$user_data_JSON
{
"logins":[
{
"targetId": "5007Y00000K5nkjQAB",
"login": "login1",
"password": "scRHDztkKbO"
},
{
"targetId": "5007Y00000MNbDvQAL",
"login": "login2",
"password": "scRHDztkKbO"
}
]
}
How can I manage to achieve this?
I've already tried to create a new array object, add the key and convert it to a json file like this:
$jsonBase = #{}
$list = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
$list.Add("Foo")
$list.Add("Bar")
$jsonBase.Add("Data",$list)
$jsonBase | ConvertTo-Json
To get something like this:
{
"Data": [
"Foo",
"Bar"
]
}
but when I convert my array to a json again, it looks kind of trunkated:
$jsonBase | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10
{
"logins": [
"[\r\n {\r\n \"targetId\": \"5007Y00000K5nkjQAB\",\r\n \"login\": \"login1\",\r\n \"password\": \"scRHDztkKbO\"\r\n },\r\n {\r\n
\"targetId\": \"5007Y00000MNbDvQAL\",\r\n \"login\": \"login2\",\r\n \"password\": \"scRHDztkKbO\"\r\n },"
]
}
How can I get a propoer JSON object?
Thanks

Answer 1

Don't use the JSON (text) representation of your array ($user_data_JSON), use its original, object form ($user_data) to construct a wrapper object with the desired top-level property:
[pscustomobject] #{ logins = $user_data } | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10
As for what you tried:
If you use a preexisting JSON string as the value of property to be converted to JSON with ConvertTo-Json, it is treated like any other string value, resulting in the representation you saw, with " characters escaped as \" and (CRLF) newlines as \r\n
A simple example:
[pscustomobject] #{
foo = '{ "bar":
"baz" }'
} | ConvertTo-Json
Output (note how the foo property value became a single-line string with " and newlines escaped):
{
"foo": "{ \"bar\": \n \"baz\" }"
}