Capture line number of exception in dot sourced file - powershell

Question

So I am running a powershell script within my script, whenever it fails the line number of the exception is the line number of where I call the dot sourced file in my parent script.
I tried to catch the exception, but that didn't contain the full exception, only the actual exception text (no line numbers or categories).
Has anyone solved this? I've been searching high and low and haven't found anything about this.

Answer 1

Error objects have a number of properties.
Output of $Error[0] | Get-Member | Select Name | Set-Clipboard:
Name
Equals
GetHashCode
GetObjectData
GetType
ToString
CategoryInfo
ErrorDetails
Exception
FullyQualifiedErrorId
InvocationInfo
PipelineIterationInfo
ScriptStackTrace
TargetObject
PSMessageDetails
So, you could throw the details to the console via a function, for example:
Function Write-ErrorDetails($ErrorObject)
{
$thisError = [PSCustomObject]#{
Exception = $ErrorObject.Exception
Message = $ErrorObject.Exception.Message
FQID = $ErrorObject.FullyQualifiedErrorId
InovcationInfo = $ErrorObject.InvocationInfo
ScriptStackTrace = $ErrorObject.ScriptStackTrace
TargetObject = $ErrorObject.TargetObject
}
return $thisError
}
In your script, if you have a try/catch block, you could catch exceptions and call your function:
BEGIN
{
Function Write-ErrorDetails($ErrorObject)
{
$thisError = [PSCustomObject]#{
Exception = $ErrorObject.Exception
Message = $ErrorObject.Exception.Message
FQID = $ErrorObject.FullyQualifiedErrorId
InovcationInfo = $ErrorObject.InvocationInfo
ScriptStackTrace = $ErrorObject.ScriptStackTrace
TargetObject = $ErrorObject.TargetObject
}
return $thisError
}
}
PROCESS
{
try
{
Do-SomeNonExistentCommand
}
catch
{
Write-ErrorDetails -ErrorObject $Error[0]
}
}
END{}
If saved inside of a file called 123.ps1 and run, your output would look like this:
Exception : System.Management.Automation.CommandNotFoundException: The term
'Do-SomeNonExistentCommand' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet,
function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name,
or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
at System.Management.Automation.ExceptionHandlingOps.CheckActionPreference(
FunctionContext funcContext, Exception exception)
at System.Management.Automation.Interpreter.ActionCallInstruction`2.Run(Int
erpretedFrame frame)
at System.Management.Automation.Interpreter.EnterTryCatchFinallyInstruction
.Run(InterpretedFrame frame)
at System.Management.Automation.Interpreter.EnterTryCatchFinallyInstruction
.Run(InterpretedFrame frame)
Message : The term 'Do-SomeNonExistentCommand' is not recognized as the name of a
cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the
name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try
again.
FQID : CommandNotFoundException
InovcationInfo : System.Management.Automation.InvocationInfo
ScriptStackTrace : at <ScriptBlock><Process>, C:\Users\Pythagoras\desktop\123.ps1: line 22
at <ScriptBlock>, <No file>: line 1
TargetObject : Do-SomeNonExistentCommand
The ScriptStackTrace property might be helpful for troubleshooting, especially if you are writing scripts/tools for an audience and not just your own use. You could add additional functions to do logging with the objects Write-ErrorDetails can provide, etc etc