syntax error when installing the DXA 1.7 Audience Manager module

Question

I'm installing the DXA 1.7 Audience Manager module to a .NET web application on my local laptop (Windows 10) as per below doc link. Install of module to Web 8.5 Content Manager was successful. https://docs.sdl.com/LiveContent/content/en-US/SDL%20DXA-v7/GUID-4DECD33D-C723-4C37-8B83-7FADFEED1024

From the modules\AudienceManager\web folder, I have a PowerShell window open and am running script with below output

'.\web-install.ps1' -distDestination 
"C:\Users\tkim\source\repos\DXAWebapp\Site"
At line:1 char:21
+ '.\web-install.ps1' -distDestination "C:\Users\tkim\source\repos\DXAW ...
+                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unexpected token '-distDestination' in expression or statement.
At line:1 char:38
+ ... all.ps1' -distDestination "C:\Users\tkim\source\repos\DXAWebapp\Site"
+                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unexpected token '"C:\Users\tkim\source\repos\DXAWebapp\Site"' in expression or statement.
+ CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken

I've tried several variations of the PS script including no apostrophes before and after web-install.ps1, single quotes for the distDestination path, etc. Any suggestions as to what I am doing incorrectly?

Answer 1

It seems you problem is in understanding how to use PowerShell exactly, and the documentation isn't overly clear on that I agree, since it uses the single quotes (they are single quotes rather than apostrophes I learned here https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/36046/apostrophe-vs-single-quote ;o) in an example where they don't need to be used.

In a PowerShell Command Prompt you can execute a script by starting the line with a . (which indicates the current directory). Then you proceed with the path to the script, and since you are in the directory of the script, you write .\script-name.ps1. Now if you want to execute a script in a different location, you can supply the full path of the script, i.e. .\directory\script-name.ps1. When the path to the script contains any spaces, then you have to use single quotes around the path, since PowerShell thinks the space would be a separator in the command. Then to indicate you are executing a script you have to add an & (ampersand) character in front of your line in the Command Prompt (that is the call operator). So it would then look like this:

& '.\path with spaces\script-name.ps1'

As for the distDestination parameter, also there you can use single or double quotes if your value contains a space. For example the following are all correct:

& '.\path with spaces\script-name.ps1' -parameter 'c:\program files\'

& ".\path with spaces\script-name.ps1" -parameter "c:\program files\"

& '.\path with spaces\script-name.ps1' -parameter "c:\program files\"

& ".\path with spaces\script-name.ps1" -parameter 'c:\program files\'

So that concludes that in your case you can use any of the following to execute your script in a PowerShell Command Prompt

.\web-install.ps1 -distDestination C:\Users\tkim\source\repos\DXAWebapp\Site

& '.\web-install.ps1' -distDestination 'C:\Users\tkim\source\repos\DXAWebapp\Site'

& ".\web-install.ps1" -distDestination "C:\Users\tkim\source\repos\DXAWebapp\Site"

& '.\web-install.ps1' -distDestination "C:\Users\tkim\source\repos\DXAWebapp\Site"

& ".\web-install.ps1" -distDestination 'C:\Users\tkim\source\repos\DXAWebapp\Site'

And probably a few more with and without quotes, just make sure than when you are using quotes around the script, you start with an ampersand (&). It actually never hurts to start with an ampersand (&) in PowerShell when you are wanting to execute a script, see https://ss64.com/ps/call.html