CSV to Excel with pivot table - excel

Question

So I am trying to write a easy code to convert a csv to excel, insert a pivot table and then save it. the below code runs fine but the excel file is being saved with the name $name instead of the content of $name... and also can I use VBA code in powershell script ? I want to insert a pivot table and I can only find vba code for it....
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
$FileBrowser = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog -Property #{
InitialDirectory = [Environment]::GetFolderPath('Desktop')
Filter = 'SpreadSheet (*.csv)|*.csv'
}
$FileBrowser.ShowDialog()
$file = $FileBrowser.FileName
$name= $FileBrowser.SafeFileName
Write-Host $name
$excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$excel.Visible = $true
$excel.DisplayAlerts = $false
$excel.Workbooks.Open($file)
$excel.Workbooks.item(1).SaveAs('C:\Users\User\Desktop\$name.xlsx',51)
$excel.Quit()
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($excel)
so after fixing the code here is the end product....
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
$FileBrowser = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog -Property #{
InitialDirectory = [Environment]::GetFolderPath('Desktop')
Filter = 'SpreadSheet (*.csv)|*.csv'
}
$FileBrowser.ShowDialog()
$file = $FileBrowser.FileName
$name = $FileBrowser.SafeFileName -replace ".{4}$"
$excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$excel.Visible = $true
$excel.DisplayAlerts = $false
$excel.Workbooks.Open($file)
#$excel.Workbooks.Item(1).activate()
#$excel.ActiveSheet.Cells.Select()
$excel.Workbooks.item(1).SaveAs("C:\Users\User\Desktop\$name.xlsx",51)
$excel.Quit()
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($excel)
Now I want to add a Pivot table to this. I added the lines to activate the workbook and select all the cells... now I have the VBA code but can someone help me translate it to the powershell ?
Sheets.Add
ActiveWorkbook.PivotCaches.Create(SourceType:=xlDatabase, SourceData:= _
"2!R1C1:R1048576C27", Version:=6).CreatePivotTable TableDestination:= _
"Sheet1!R3C1", TableName:="PivotTable3", DefaultVersion:=6
Sheets("Sheet1").Select
Cells(3, 1).Select
With ActiveSheet.PivotTables("PivotTable3").PivotFields("Domain")
.Orientation = xlRowField
.Position = 1
The above VBA is a macro that I recorded that gives us the steps... now we just have to translate it to power shell... I am lost as figuring the code till now itself was hours of tinkering...

Answer 1

It is because this is exactly what you told it to do.
$excel.Workbooks.item(1).SaveAs('C:\Users\User\Desktop\$name.xlsx',51)
Quotes are important. Single quotes mean to pass the string exactly as-is.
As defined in the help files.
about_Quoting_Rules - PowerShell | Microsoft Docs
Variables must be expanded, and in a string, you must use double-quotes.
$excel.Workbooks.item(1).SaveAs("C:\Users\User\Desktop\$name.xlsx",51)
Here are a couple of good articles for your edification on the topic as well:
A Story of PowerShell Quoting Rules
Windows PowerShell Quotes
Point of note:
That Write-Host is not needed if all you are doing is outputting text to the screen. In Powe3rShell output to the screen is the default. Also, depending on what version of PowerShell you are on, Write-Host empties the buffer, and anything after that is not usable elsewhere. Later versions of PowerShell does not have this issue, but it's still best to avoid Write-Host, unless you are sending a colorized text to the screen, or other custom formatting scenarios.
Additional reading:
Write-Host Considered Harmful
... Jeffrey Snover changes his stance on this as of May 2016.
With PowerShell v5 Write-Host no longer "kills puppies". data is
captured into info stream ...
https://twitter.com/jsnover/status/727902887183966208 ...
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility/Write-Information?view=powershell-5.1
Lastly, you are no completely cleaning up behind yourself. Though you are quitting Excel, you are not exiting the Excel process, thus releasing those resources and the COM stuff. So, stopping that process and garbage collection is warranted.
For example:
Get-Process -Name 'EXCEL' | Stop-Process
Function Clear-ResourceEnvironment
{
# Clear any PowerShell sessions created
Get-PSSession | Remove-PSSession
# Release any COM object created
$null = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject([System.__ComObject]$Shell)
# Perform garbage collection on session resources
[System.GC]::Collect()
[GC]::Collect()
[GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
<#
Remove any custom variables created
some list of your variable, or a wildcard when prefix was used.
#>
Get-Variable -Name MyShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Remove-Variable
}