Updating a Script Editor web part's snippet contents via PowerShell & CSOM is failing

Question

I used code from this site, which updates the title of a web part, so the change needed is perhaps minor.

The code that isn't working:

Write-Output $webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties.FieldValues.Content
$webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties.FieldValues.Content = $statusReport
$webPartDefinition.SaveWebPartChanges()
$webPartDefinition.CloseWebPart() #didn't solve the problem but also didn't seem to hurt
$ctx.executeQuery()
Write-Output $webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties.FieldValues.Content

the "Write-output" sections show differences before and after, meaning that the contents are successfully read and updated within PowerShell, but the changes just aren't updated on the SharePoint site.

My full code:

  Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
 Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"
    
 $statusReport = "Last updated: $(Get-date)"
 $contentTitle = 'Script_Title'
    
 $webURL = "https://domain.sharepoint.com/teams/team_1/team1_Home"
 $relativePageUrl = "/teams/team_1/team1_Home/SitePages/Status_Health.aspx"
 $ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($webURL)
    
 $username = "nate@domain.com" 
 $password = "Super5ecure!" 
 $securePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $password -AsPlainText -Force 
 $credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($username, $securePassword)
 $ctx.Credentials = $credentials
    
 $page = $ctx.Web.GetFileByServerRelativeUrl($relativePageUrl)
 $ctx.load($page)
 $ctx.executeQuery()
     
 #use the WebPartManger to load the webparts on the page
 $limitedWebPartManager = $page.GetLimitedWebPartManager([Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.WebParts.PersonalizationScope]::Shared)
 $ctx.load($limitedWebPartManager.webparts)
 $ctx.executeQuery()
     
 #loop through all WebParts to get the correct one and change its property
 foreach($webPartDefinition in $limitedWebPartManager.webparts){
        
     $ctx.Load($webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties)
     $ctx.executeQuery()
     
     #Only change the webpart with a certain title
     if ($webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties.FieldValues.Title -eq $contentTitle)
     {
         Write-Output $webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties.FieldValues.Content
         $webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties.FieldValues.Content = $statusReport
         #$webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties.FieldValues["Content"] = $statusReport
         $webPartDefinition.SaveWebPartChanges()
         $webPartDefinition.CloseWebPart()
         $ctx.executeQuery()
         Write-Output $webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties.FieldValues.Content
     }
 }

Answer 1

The answer appears to be that this is not possible:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/581947/unable-to-update-scripteditor-webpart-csom-powersh.html?childToView=582966#comment-582966

Testing by a Microsoft employee respondent confirms my findings. This may be possible with the snap-in, though I am not running PowerShell on the SharePoint server, so this does not appear to be an option for me.

I think the next best option is to delete and create the web part each time I want to refresh it. This seems heavy handed to me, hopefully MSFT solves this in future iterations.

Note: Content Editor display the data poorly and is not a good choice for my case.

Here is my extremely verbose solution:

Function replaceScriptEditor(){
    param
    (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientRuntimeContext] $ctx,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $pageRelativeUrl,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $contentTitle,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $content,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [int] $wpZoneOrder
    )

    $wpZoneID = "Main"

    $WebPartXml = [xml] "
    <webParts>
      <webPart xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v3'>
        <metaData>
          <type name='Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.ScriptEditorWebPart, Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=16.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c' />
          <importErrorMessage>Cannot import this Web Part.</importErrorMessage>
        </metaData>
        <data>
          <properties>
            <property name='ExportMode' type='exportmode'>All</property>
            <property name='HelpUrl' type='string' />
            <property name='Hidden' type='bool'>False</property>
            <property name='Description' type='string'>Allows authors to insert HTML snippets or scripts.</property>
            <property name='Content' type='string'>$content</property>
            <property name='CatalogIconImageUrl' type='string' />
            <property name='Title' type='string'>$contentTitle</property>
            <property name='AllowHide' type='bool'>True</property>
            <property name='AllowMinimize' type='bool'>True</property>
            <property name='AllowZoneChange' type='bool'>True</property>
            <property name='TitleUrl' type='string' />
            <property name='ChromeType' type='chrometype'>None</property>
            <property name='AllowConnect' type='bool'>True</property>
            <property name='Width' type='unit' />
            <property name='Height' type='unit' />
            <property name='HelpMode' type='helpmode'>Navigate</property>
            <property name='AllowEdit' type='bool'>True</property>
            <property name='TitleIconImageUrl' type='string' />
            <property name='Direction' type='direction'>NotSet</property>
            <property name='AllowClose' type='bool'>True</property>
            <property name='ChromeState' type='chromestate'>Normal</property>
          </properties>
        </data>
      </webPart>
    </webParts>"
        
    try{        
        Write-Host "Getting the page with the webpart we are going to modify" -ForegroundColor Green

        #Using the params, build the page url
        Write-Host "Getting the page with the webpart we are going to modify: " $pageRelativeUrl -ForegroundColor Green

        #Getting the page using the GetFileByServerRelativeURL and do the Checkout
        #After that, we need to call the executeQuery to do the actions in the site
        $page = $ctx.Web.GetFileByServerRelativeUrl($pageRelativeUrl)
        $page.CheckOut()
        $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
        Write-Host "The page is checked out" -ForegroundColor Green

        try{
        #Get the webpart manager from the page, to handle the webparts
        $webpartManager = $page.GetLimitedWebPartManager([Microsoft.Sharepoint.Client.WebParts.PersonalizationScope]::Shared);

        #Load and execute the query to get the data in the webparts
        Write-Host "Getting the webparts from the page" -ForegroundColor Green
        $ctx.load($webpartManager.webparts)
        $ctx.ExecuteQuery();
        
        #Remove the existing Script Editor WebPart
        foreach($webPartDefinition in $webpartManager.webparts){
            $ctx.Load($webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties)
 
            #send the request containing all operations to the server
            try{
                $ctx.executeQuery()
            }
            catch{
                write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor red
            }
 
            #Only change the webpart with a certain title
            if ($webPartDefinition.WebPart.Properties.FieldValues.Title -eq $contentTitle)
            {
                try {
                    Write-Host "Deleting existing webpart." -ForegroundColor Green
                    $webPartDefinition.DeleteWebPart()
                    $ctx.executeQuery()
                } catch {  
                    Write-Output $Error
                }
            }
        }

        #Import the webpart
        $wp = $webpartManager.ImportWebPart($WebPartXml.OuterXml)
        

        #Add the webpart to the page
        Write-Host "Add the webpart to the Page" -ForegroundColor Green
        $webPartToAdd = $webpartManager.AddWebPart($wp.WebPart, $wpZoneID, $wpZoneOrder)
            
        $ctx.Load($webPartToAdd);
        $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
        }
        catch{
            Write-Host "Errors found:`n$_" -ForegroundColor Red

        }
        finally{
            #CheckIn the Page
            Write-Host "Checkin  the Page" -ForegroundColor Green
            $page.CheckIn("Add the User Profile WebPart", [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.CheckinType]::MajorCheckIn)          
            $ctx.ExecuteQuery()

            Write-Host "The webpart has been added" -ForegroundColor Yellow             
        }   

    }
    catch{
        Write-Host "Errors found:`n$_" -ForegroundColor Red
    }

}

$statusReport = "<![CDATA[$($htmlData]]>"

$tenantAdmin = "me@domain.com" 
$tenantAdminPassword = "5ecureP@ss!"

$secureAdminPassword = $(convertto-securestring $tenantAdminPassword -asplaintext -force)
$ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($siteURL) 
$credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($tenantAdmin, $secureAdminPassword)  
$ctx.Credentials = $credentials

$contentTitle = 'Data_Health'
[int]$index = 1 #position on page, lower number = higher on page
$relUrl = "/teams/myTeam/Team_Home/Lists/My_List/Gantt_View.aspx"

Write-Output "$(Get-Date -Format yyyy-MM-dd.hh:mm:ss): Updating '$contentTitle' WebPart on site '$relUrl'."
replaceScriptEditor -ctx $ctx -pageRelativeUrl $relUrl -contentTitle $contentTitle -content $statusReport -wpZoneOrder $index