CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershellpowershell-2.0
Rudy
Rudy

Reputation: 7044

How can I stop ConvertTo-HTML from creating an empty table?

I am trying to create a report using PowerShell ConvertTo-HTML

if($FileLine){
    $frag1 = $FileLine | Sort-Object Name  | ConvertTo-Html -Fragment -Property Name,Action -PreContent “<h3>Group Sync : $gcount change(s)</h3>” | Out-String
}else{
    $frag1 = "<h3>Group Sync : $gcount change(s)</h3>There is no change on any group."
}
if($FileLine2){
    $frag2 = $FileLine2 | Sort-Object Name | ConvertTo-Html -Fragment -Property Name,Action,AddedGroups,DeletedGroups -PreContent “<h3>User Sync : $ucount change(s)</h3>” |Out-String
}else{
    $frag2 = "<h3>User Sync : $ucount change(s)</h3>There is no change on any user."
}

#1st try
ConvertTo-Html -head $head -PostContent $frag1,$frag2 -PreContent "<!--empty-->" -body "<BR>" | Out-File $emailfile
#2nd try
#ConvertTo-HTML -body "$frag1 $frag2" -PostContent "<BR>nothing" -head $head | Out-File $emailfile

However this code resulting an empty table in my HTML.

Image showing empty table tags

Any idea why this issue happens? I have tried multiple ways to remove this(sample "2nd try") but it will create the empty table in other place.

Or is there a way to remove this empty table after ConvertTo-HTML being called? Any help is appreciated.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2736

Answers (1)

Matt
Matt

Reputation: 46730

I know what your main issue is but the solution might be something you need to figure out for yourself. Reading the description of ConvertTo-HTML on TechNet

The ConvertTo-Html cmdlet converts .NET Framework objects into HTML that can be displayed in a Web browser. You can use this cmdlet to display the output of a command in a Web page.

In your final call (in both trys) you are not specifying an -InputObject which is what would typically be used as the content for your empty table. Seeing as it is optional this is not an error but the cmdlet created the placeholder table anyway. You don't see this with you $frags because you provided objects via the pipeline.

I tried adding in some dummy/empty data for testing but it obviously did not accomplish anything since I was always adding something.

If you are willing to use some regex you can scrub out the empty table. 

(ConvertTo-Html | Out-String) -replace "(?sm)<table>\s+</table>"

Beyond that, short of building your own HTML content, I do not know how to avoid this.

Upvotes: 4

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