Translate curl commands into PowerShell

Question

Does anyone have experience with using the Websense API through PowerShell? I need to translate the curl commands (which I have working) into Powershell so they can be scripted. Anyone have any resources that would be useful? Examples of curl commands that I need to translate are below:

Start a new transaction:

curl -k -u <username>:<password> -X POST https://<ps_ip_address>:<port>/api/web/v1/categories/start

Add an API-managed category (all data in the HTTPS request):

curl -k -u <username>:<password> -X POST https://<ps_ip_address>:<port>/api/web/v1/categories -d "{\"Transaction ID\":\"<transaction_ID_string>\",\"Categories\": [ {\"Category Name\": \"<name_string>\",\"Category Description\":\"<description_string>\",\"Parent\": <numeric_category_ID>}]}"

Add a URL (all data in the HTTPS request):

curl -k -u <username>:<password> -X POST https://<ps_ip_address>:<port>/api/web/v1/categories/urls -d "{\"Transaction ID\": \"<transaction_ID_string>\",\"Category ID\": <numeric_ID>,\"URLs\":[\"https://www.new_url.com/\"]}" --cacert PolApiServer.crt

Commit the transaction:

curl -k -u <username>:<password> -X POST https://<ps_ip_address>:<port>/api/web/v1/categories/commit?TransactionID="<id_string>"

Solution 1

Here are a few ways to do so. 1. download curl.exe and point a variable to it then pass the command to it

$curlExe = "C:\download\curl-7.59.0\src\curl.exe"
& $curlExe -i -k -X POST -d '"{\"groupId\": xxxx}"' "https://site/site?access_token=zzzzzz" -s 

Another would be

 Invoke-RestMethod -uri https://site Get -Headers @{"x-api-key" = "mykey"} -ContentType "application/vnd.api+json" -Credential $adminCredential 

I hope this help

Solution 2

I am not going to write the interpreter for you but it is most certainly possible...or you could just run curl.exe from PowerShell (obviously, you'll need to install curl.exe on the machine you are using to run the curl commands from PowerShell)..

Look into Invoke-WebRequest or Invoke-RestMethod - both of those functions exhibit curl-like-behavior.

Edit:

So, the curl command in PowerShell is nothing more than an alias for Invoke-WebRequest .. run this: Get-Alias -Definition Invoke-WebRequest and review the output. Each parameter in Invoke-WebRequest matches up to a curl switch. All you have to do is review the curl documentation, and match their params up to Invoke-WebRequest params. A lot of what you're asking depends upon the API/site you are sending your HTTP request to (both curl and Invoke-WebRequest send HTTP requests).. For example, authenticating to an API/site.. if the site uses Basic Auth you would do something like this in PowerShell:

Invoke-WebRequest -Method Post -Uri "https://<ps_ip_address>:<port>/api/web/v1/categories/start" -Headers @{"Authorization" = "Basic %your_encoded_credentials_here%" }

.. The curl -X switch represents the HTTP method.. the Invoke-WebRequest -Method parameter serves the same purpose.. It sounds like you really just need to read up on Invoke-WebRequest or Invoke-RestMethod - the only difference in the two is the return they give you.

I think your confusion on how to differentiate, and ultimately interpret, curl to Invoke-WebRequest, has to do with the fact that you seem to be fresh into HTTP requests. Both of those commands send HTTP Requests - they just use different switches - if you learn how each command handles HTTP requests, you can interpret from curl to Invoke-WebRequest..

More here: Invoke-WebRequest and Invoke-RestMethod

There are also a TON of examples on how to interpret curl to Invoke-WebRequest/Powershell on this site alone.. you just need to brush up on HTTP requests and how curl handles them and the differences in how Invoke-WebRequest handles them.

Comments

[Aaron Martin]

This is helpful. Translating the commands successfully into that format is my stumbling block presently. I may need to update my question with current approach using the Invoke-RestMethod. I am doing more testing and will either mark as answer or update my question with more detail. Thanks.

[Bacon Bits]

The JSON in your second example doesn't have correctly escaped double quotes for Powershell.