PowerShell - advice to get script slimmer - powershell

Question

I have the following PS script that repeats in the two blocks the same amount of registry keys. So I have two questions:
How can I avoid to repeat that long list of reg keys? I've tried adding them to a variable that is assigned #" "#, but when I use the variable instead of the reg keys it does not work
The $faultReport does not get the addition when into the Catch block, how to fix that?
$faultReport = #()
if (Test-Connection $2FQDN -Quiet -count 2) {
Try {
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $1FQDN -ScriptBlock {
Loads of registry keys
}
}
Catch {
$faultReport += $1FQDN}
}
elseif (Test-Connection $2FQDN -Quiet -count 2) {
Try {
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $2FQDN -ScriptBlock {
Loads of registry keys
}
}
Catch {
$faultReport += $2FQDN
}
}

Answer 1

It is possible to assign a scriptblock to a variable
$scriptBlock = { ... }
Also you have an error in your code: You check the connection for $2FQDN (instead of $1FQDN) in your first if.
Additionally, you could simplify your code further: both bodies of the if-else are identical.
My suggestion:
$scriptBlock = {
# Loads of registry keys...
}
$faultReport = #()
$computerName = $null
if (Test-Connection $1FQDN -Quiet -count 2) {
$computerName = $1FQDN
}
elseif (Test-Connection $2FQDN -Quiet -count 2) {
$computerName = $2FQDN
}
if ($computerName) {
try {
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computerName -ScriptBlock $scriptBlock
}
Catch {
$faultReport += $computerName
}
}
Note: Always use proper indentation. I can never stress that enough. It makes reading and troubleshooting your own code so much easier.