PS: Forcing Preferences

2 minute read

Description:

So I’ve been watching the 90 part Don Jones series on CBT Nuggets on Powershell and one thing he is always saying is “Don’t assume what the user will use your script for… don’t force your preferences on other people” like comments. Well if you ever stumble upon my script and have issues with my setup, here are somethings you can do to fix.

To Resolve:

  1. So in the Begin {} block of all my scripts I write a functions called Start-Log, Write-Log, and Stop-Log. These simply create a folder in the script’s running directory called PSLogs and then writes a logfile which is a transaction of the script, it actually looks really good! But… but.. maybe you don’t want it - that’s fine. Do this:
    • Comment out Start-Log in the begin block and Stop-log in the end block.
    • Rename Write-Log to Write-output.

  2. This should fix most scripts, but you might have to see if -Color was ever passed as I sometimes use that as well.

  3. If you wanted to make logging optional like here, you would have to do something like:

    1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72

    Begin
   {       
      If ($($Logfile.Length) -gt 1)
      {
            $EnabledLogging = $True
      }
      Else
      {
            $EnabledLogging = $False
      }
         
         
      Filter Timestamp
      {
            "$(Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss tt"): $_"
      }

      If ($EnabledLogging)
      {
            # Create parent path and logfile if it doesn't exist
            $Regex = '([^\\]*)$'
            $Logparent = $Logfile -Replace $Regex
            If (!(Test-Path $Logparent))
            {
               New-Item -Itemtype Directory -Path $Logparent -Force | Out-Null
            }
            If (!(Test-Path $Logfile))
            {
               New-Item -Itemtype File -Path $Logfile -Force | Out-Null
            }
      
            # Clear it if it is over 10 MB
            $Sizemax = 10
            $Size = (Get-Childitem $Logfile | Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum) 
            $Sizemb = "{0:N2}" -F ($Size.Sum / 1mb) + "Mb"
            If ($Sizemb -Ge $Sizemax)
            {
               Get-Childitem $Logfile | Clear-Content
               Write-Verbose "Logfile has been cleared due to size"
            }
            # Start writing to logfile
            Start-Transcript -Path $Logfile -Append 
            Write-Output "####################<Script>####################"
            Write-Output "Script Started on $env:COMPUTERNAME" | TimeStamp
      }
   }
      
   Process
   {   
      Try
      {
               
               
            # Script      
            # Here
      

      }
      Catch
      {
            Write-Error $($_.Exception.Message)
      }
   }

   End
   {
      If ($EnableLogging)
      {
            Write-Output "Script Completed on $env:COMPUTERNAME" | TimeStamp
            Write-Output "####################</Script>####################"
            Stop-Transcript
      }

Comments

You May Also Enjoy