Handle parameter escaping internally in cf-create-service.ps1

[Copilot]

The script required users to manually double-escape backslashes in UNC paths (e.g., \\\\localhost\\share instead of \\localhost\share). This was error-prone and the help text explaining this was only visible on request. Additionally, usernames (especially domain accounts like DOMAIN\user) and passwords could contain backslashes and special characters that weren't being escaped.

Changes

• cf-create-service.ps1: Uses PowerShell's built-in ConvertTo-Json for automatic JSON escaping

  • Accepts natural UNC paths, usernames, and passwords from users
  • Automatically escapes all special characters (backslashes, quotes, etc.) in all three parameters
  • Added #Requires -Version 7.0 directive to ensure PowerShell 7+ compatibility
  • Updated parameter help text to reflect simplified usage
  • Single conversion method - no duplicate escape logic

• README.md: Updated documentation to show natural parameter format

  • Added note about PowerShell 7+ requirement
  • Documented domain username support (e.g., DOMAIN\username)

Example

Before:

.\cf-create-service.ps1 -NetworkAddress "\\\\myserver\\myshare" -UserName "user" -Password "pass"

After:

# Works with domain usernames and special characters in passwords
.\cf-create-service.ps1 -NetworkAddress "\\myserver\myshare" -UserName "DOMAIN\user" -Password 'p@ss"word'

The script now uses ConvertTo-Json to produce properly-escaped JSON for all parameters, handling backslashes, quotes, and other special characters automatically while accepting intuitive input.

Original prompt

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This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Parameter escaping in cf-create-service.ps1</issue_title>
<issue_description>The parameters need to be passed to the cf cli as json, which can be tricky to escape correctly. Currently, the user is expected to do the escaping ("For example, if the path is '\localhost\steeltoe_network_share', use '\\localhost\steeltoe_network_share'"), but the help text must be specficially requested by typing !? in order to show up.

Can the script handle the escaping internally so the script is easier to use?</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

• Fixes Parameter escaping in cf-create-service.ps1 #435

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[TimHess]

@copilot, the username will also commonly have a backslash as well, and I suppose there's no guarantee a password wouldn't either. Add the escaping to those two params as well. Also evaluate whether additional characters could break this script, like single or double-quotes - can those be handled as well? Assuming there are additional characters that need to be escaped, consider using a built-in powershell function (it would be acceptable to also adjust the script to require pwsh 7+ to minimize compatibility concerns) or refactoring to avoid duplicating the escape logic

[Copilot]

@copilot, the username will also commonly have a backslash as well, and I suppose there's no guarantee a password wouldn't either. Add the escaping to those two params as well. Also evaluate whether a...

Done in commit f10b9b5. The script now uses PowerShell's ConvertTo-Json function which automatically handles escaping for all parameters (NetworkAddress, UserName, and Password). This properly escapes:

• Backslashes in UNC paths, usernames (DOMAIN\user), and passwords
• Double quotes and other special characters

Added #Requires -Version 7.0 directive and updated README.md to document the PowerShell 7+ requirement and domain username support.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR improves the usability of the cf-create-service.ps1 script by handling JSON parameter escaping internally instead of requiring users to manually escape special characters. The script now uses PowerShell's ConvertTo-Json cmdlet to automatically handle escaping of backslashes, quotes, and other special characters in UNC paths, usernames (including domain accounts), and passwords.

Key changes:

• Replaced manual string formatting with ConvertTo-Json for automatic JSON escaping
• Updated help text and documentation to reflect simplified usage with natural input formats
• Added PowerShell 7.0+ requirement directive

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
FileShares/scripts/cf-create-service.ps1	Implements automatic JSON escaping using ConvertTo-Json, updates parameter help text, and adds PowerShell 7.0 version requirement
FileShares/README.md	Updates documentation to show natural UNC path format, adds PowerShell 7+ requirement note, and documents domain username support

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[TimHess]

This looks good to me, here's the result of a test run:

PS C:\source\steeltoe-samples\FileShares\scripts> .\cf-create-service.ps1

cmdlet cf-create-service.ps1 at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
(Type !? for Help.)
NetworkAddress: \\myserver\myshare
UserName: mydomain\useraccount
Password: some\ridulous"'passw\o/rd"""''"""''"''\'"
cf create-service credhub default sampleNetworkShare -c {"location":"\\\\myserver\\myshare","password":"some\\ridulous\"'passw\\o/rd\"\"\"''\"\"\"''\"''\\'\"","username":"mydomain\\useraccount"} -t sampleNetworkShare
Creating service instance sampleNetworkShare in org / space as <user>...

Service instance sampleNetworkShare created.
OK

[bart-vmware]

Do we really need this? The script is only useful on Windows, so it would be nice if users could run it with the built-in Windows PowerShell instead of installing PowerShell Core first.

[bart-vmware]

Variable names are very inconsistent. Some are camelCase, others are PascalCase (all should be the former). The names range from $redactedParams (plural; the type of params before it) to $ParamJSON (singular, the type after it) and $ParamJSONRedacted (singular, the type before and after it).

Suggested:
$params (array)
$jsonParams (string)
$redactedParams (array)
$redactedJsonParams (string)

[bart-vmware]

The explanations here and in the script itself should be synced up.