New-M365DSCReportFromConfiguration: en dash in EXOGroupSettings DisplayName causes DSCParser exception

[nick-waterhouse]

Description of the issue

While attempting to create a report for a configuration, I received similar exceptions to those in the verbose logs.

I was able to reduce the configuration down to the one in the DSC configuration section, where the configuration reliably caused an exception.

My script is as follows:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope LocalMachine

$NetConnection = Get-NetConnectionProfile
Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceAlias $NetConnection.InterfaceAlias -NetworkCategory "Private"
winrm quickconfig

New-M365DSCReportFromConfiguration -type html -ConfigurationPath ..\Reports\source.psd -OutputPath ..\Reports\report.html

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope LocalMachine
Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceAlias $NetConnection.InterfaceAlias -NetworkCategory $NetConnection.NetworkCategory

Strangely, the culprit is having the DisplayName contain an en dash, such as "Group – name" - I expect other characters, such as em dash, would behave similarly. If I replace this character with a regular minus character, or remove it completely, the report is successfully created.

I can confirm that my dependencies are up to date, and that I am running this in an elevated terminal.

Is there anything that can be done here?

Microsoft 365 DSC Version

V1.24.1016.1

Which workloads are affected

Exchange Online

The DSC configuration

param (
    [parameter()]
    [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]
    $Credential
)

Configuration Microsoft365TenantConfigExport-tenant.onmicrosoft.com-2024-09-17
{
    param (
        [parameter()]
        [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]
        $Credential
    )

    if ($null -eq $Credential)
    {
        <# Credentials #>
        $Credscredential = Get-Credential -Message "Credentials"

    }
    else
    {
        $CredsCredential = $Credential
    }

    $OrganizationName = $CredsCredential.UserName.Split('@')[1]

    if ($null -eq $Credential)
    {
        <# Credentials #>
    }
    else
    {
        $CredsCredential = $Credential
    }

    $OrganizationName = $CredsCredential.UserName.Split('@')[1]

    Import-DscResource -ModuleName 'Microsoft365DSC' -ModuleVersion '1.24.904.1'

    Node localhost
    {
        EXOGroupSettings "Test Name"
        {
            AccessType                             = "Public";
            AlwaysSubscribeMembersToCalendarEvents = $False;
            AuditLogAgeLimit                       = "90.00:00:00";
            AutoSubscribeNewMembers                = $False;
            ConnectorsEnabled                      = $True;
            Credential                             = $Credscredential;
            CustomAttribute1                       = "";
            CustomAttribute10                      = "";
            CustomAttribute11                      = "";
            CustomAttribute12                      = "";
            CustomAttribute13                      = "";
            CustomAttribute14                      = "";
            CustomAttribute15                      = "";
            CustomAttribute2                       = "";
            CustomAttribute3                       = "";
            CustomAttribute4                       = "";
            CustomAttribute5                       = "";
            CustomAttribute6                       = "";
            CustomAttribute7                       = "";
            CustomAttribute8                       = "";
            CustomAttribute9                       = "";
            DisplayName                            = "Group–name";
            EmailAddresses                         = @("SPO:SPO_076bc706-8bdf-4a49-9402-eb045b8c47e1@SPO_3e26c7b7-e5f0-44a2-b10d-c2eddac91f62","smtp:groupforanswersinvivaengagedonotdelete1823809462b81@tenant.onmicrosoft.com","smtp:groupforanswersinvivaengagedonotdelete1823809462@tenant.onmicrosoft.com","SMTP:groupforanswersinvivaengagedonotdelete1823809462@$OrganizationName");
            HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled          = $False;
            HiddenFromExchangeClientsEnabled       = $False;
            Id                                     = "groupforanswersinvivaengage_78de5c5f-5398-4387-a549-b9493af29acd";
            InformationBarrierMode                 = "Open";
            Language                               = "en-US";
            MaxReceiveSize                         = "36 MB (37,748,736 bytes)";
            MaxSendSize                            = "35 MB (36,700,160 bytes)";
            ModerationEnabled                      = $False;
            Notes                                  = "Group that stores content and metadata for Answers in Viva Engage in network 1823809. Deleting this this group will disrupt Answers in Viva Engage.";
            PrimarySmtpAddress                     = "groupforanswersinvivaengagedonotdelete1823809462@$OrganizationName";
            RequireSenderAuthenticationEnabled     = $True;
            SubscriptionEnabled                    = $False;
            TenantId                               = "tenant.onmicrosoft.com";
        }
    }
}

Microsoft365TenantConfigExport-tenant.onmicrosoft.com-2024-09-17 -ConfigurationData .\ConfigurationData.psd1 -Credential $Credential

Verbose logs showing the problem

Cannot index into a null array.
At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\DSCParser\2.0.0.11\Modules\DSCParser.psm1:548 char:9
	+         $resourceType         = $resource.CommandElements[0].Value                                                      
	+         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                          
	+ CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException                                                      
	+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NullArray       
	
Cannot index into a null array.                                                                                           
At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\DSCParser\2.0.0.11\Modules\DSCParser.psm1:549 char:9                        
	+         $resourceInstanceName = $resource.CommandElements[1].Value                                                      
	+         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                          
	+ CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NullArray

Cannot index into a null array.
At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\DSCParser\2.0.0.11\Modules\DSCParser.psm1:562 char:35
+ ... foreach ($keyValuePair in $resource.CommandElements[2].KeyValuePairs)
+                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NullArray

Environment Information + PowerShell Version

OsName : Microsoft Windows 11 Enterprise
OsOperatingSystemSKU : EnterpriseEdition
OsArchitecture : 64-bit
WindowsVersion : 2009
WindowsBuildLabEx : 22000.1.amd64fre.co_release.210604-1628
OsLanguage : en-GB
OsMuiLanguages : {en-GB, en-US}

[FabienTschanz]

That sounds very strange, but somehow I expected something like that. The culprit here might be the fact that en dash is a Unicode character and not all Unicode characters might be available… I‘ll take a look at it if I have time.

[ricmestre]

@FabienTschanz This is a known issue, check out #4824

[FabienTschanz]

Uhmm, "it works on my machine" 😓 Will dig a bit deeper.