Powershell: Add user to groups from array - arrays

Question

I am trying to write a PowerShell script that will create a user based off of Department and Position and add them to the AD groups specific to that position. I have a function that creates the new user and attempts to join the user to a list of groups in an array.
function CreateUser{
$sam = "$first.$last";...;$pwd = ConvertTo-SecureString "password" -AsPlainText -Force
New-ADUser -Company "MyCompany" -Department $dept -Description $desc -DisplayName $dname -EmailAddress $email -GivenName $first -Office $office -Path $path -SamAccountName $sam -Surname $last -UserPrincipalName $email
foreach ($group in $groups) { if (Get-ADGroup $group) { Add-ADGroupMember $group $sam } }
}
I have another bit of code that creates the $groups array
$positions = #()
if ($dept -eq "CSR") { $positions += "CSR Rep","CSR Lead","CSR Manager" }
if ($dept -eq "IT") { $positions += "Sysadmin","Netadmin","Sqladmin" }
...
$groups = #()
if ($position -eq "CSR Rep") { $groups += "group1","group2","group3",...,"groupN" }
if ($position -eq "CSR Lead") { $groups += "group1","group2","group3","group4",...,"groupN" }
if ($position -eq "CSR Manager") { $groups += "group1","group2","group3","group4","group5",...,"groupN" }
if ($position -eq "Sysadmin") { $groups += "group6","group7",...,"groupN" }
if ($position -eq "Netadmin") { $groups += "group7","group8","group9",...,"groupN" }
if ($position -eq "Sqladmin") { $groups += "group10","group11","group12",...,"groupN" }
After I've specified which department and position the groups array is created and I call the CreateUsers function but I get errors back like it is an empty array.
Is there something I am missing with trying to pass the parameters to the function or is there a better way to accomplish this task?
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Since your code does not show the function call and your function does not have any parameters defined i assume you are not passing anything to it.
Here is how to use parameters with three example parameters, one of them a String[]:
function CreateUser{
param(
[parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[string[]] $groups,
[parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[hashtable] $userInfo,
[parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[securestring] $pwd
)
New-ADUser -Company "MyCompany" -Department $userInfo.dept -Description $userInfo.desc -DisplayName $userInfo.dname -EmailAddress $userInfo.email -GivenName $userInfo.first -Office $userInfo.office -Path $userInfo.path -SamAccountName $userInfo.sam -Surname $userInfo.last -UserPrincipalName $userInfo.email
foreach ($group in $groups) { if (Get-ADGroup $group) { Add-ADGroupMember $group $userInfo.sam } }
}
To keep the number of parameters low i have consolidated the user info into a hashtable. Hashtables are key-value sets and can be created like this:
$userInfo = #{sam="sam"; dept="department"; desc="description"; ...}
To call your function correctly do something like this:
CreateUser -groups $groups -userInfo $userInfo -pwd $pwd
You can of course add more parameters. For documentation on possible definitions and validationmethods see Technet

Answer 2

If you're going to create functions that are going to be more than simple things that take parameters I would strongly suggest including parameters with them. Such as:
function CreateUser{
Param([Parameter(Position=0)][string]$First = $(throw "You must specify a first name"),
[Parameter(Position=1)][string]$Last = $(throw "You must specify a last name"),
[Parameter(Position=2)][string]$Desc = $(throw "You must specify a description"),
[Parameter(Position=3)][string]$Dept = $(throw "You must specify a department"),
[Parameter(Position=4)][string]$Office = $(throw "You must specify an office"),
[Parameter(Position=5)][string]$Password = $(throw "You must specify a password"),
[string[]]$Groups
)
$sam = "$first.$last"
$pwd = ConvertTo-SecureString $Password -AsPlainText -Force
$email = "$first.$last#company.com"
$dname = "$First $Last"
$Path = "ou=$office,ou=Users,DN=company,DN=local"
New-ADUser -Company "MyCompany" -Department $dept -Description $desc -DisplayName $dname -EmailAddress $email -GivenName $first -Office $office -Path $path -SamAccountName $sam -Surname $last -UserPrincipalName $email
foreach ($group in $groups) { if (Get-ADGroup $group) { Add-ADGroupMember $group $sam } }
}
Then when you call the function you do it as such:
CreateUser "Jim" "Kirk" "Captain Extraordinaire" "Space" "$uper$ecret123" #("ExploreNewWorlds","WhereNoManHasGone")
Or you can specify arguments by name:
CreateUser -First "Jim" -Last "Kirk" -Desc "Captain Extraordinaire" -Dept "Space" -Password "$uper$ecret123" -Groups #("ExploreNewWorlds","WhereNoManHasGone")
...and while I got caught up in work trying to post this Paul beat me to it. Nice work Paul!
Edit: On a side note, I would like to introduce you to the Switch cmdlet. I think you would benefit greatly from it. While your several If statements probably do work, consider this:
Switch($position){
"CSR Rep" { $groups += "group1","group2","group3",...,"groupN";continue }
"CSR Lead" { $groups += "group1","group2","group3","group4",...,"groupN";continue }
"CSR Manager" { $groups += "group1","group2","group3","group4","group5",...,"groupN";continue }
"Sysadmin" { $groups += "group6","group7",...,"groupN";continue }
"Netadmin" { $groups += "group7","group8","group9",...,"groupN";continue }
"Sqladmin" { $groups += "group10","group11","group12",...,"groupN" }
}
That's simplistic, and in your case may not offer too much in performance improvement, but Switch offers a cleaner solution, and improved performance over several If statements. It also allows for more logic such as:
Switch($position){
{$_ -match "CSR" } { $groups += "group1", "group2" }
{$_ -match "CSR" -and -not $_ -match "Rep"} { $groups += "group3","Group4" }
}
That would add groups 1 and 2 for all CSR, and only Leads and Managers get groups 3 and 4. Anyway, just something to consider.