What is the easiest way to create log file in powershell? - powershell

Question

I have a code which modify user attribute in active directory.
How can I modify the code, to see in a log file what changed? I would like to see too if there was an error or not. If was an error what was that.
The code:
$csvdata = Import-Csv $csv -Delimiter $delimiter -Encoding "UTF8"
ForEach-Object -InputObject $csvdata {
$params = #{Identity = $_.ObjectGUID}
$sn = $_.Surname.Trim()
$gn = $_.GivenName.Trim()
$Manager = $_.Manager
if (-not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($_.Surname)) {
$params.Surname = $_.Surname
}
if (-not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($_.Givenname)) {
$params.Givenname = $_.Givenname
}
Set-ADUser #params
}

Answer 1

You can use transcript commands.
Start-Transcript
& ".\Script.ps1"
Stop-Transcript

Answer 2

I wrote the following function for logging in a little script I made a while back, feel free to rip it up and abuse it!
function Write-Log {
param(
[Parameter(ValueFromPipeline =$true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,
Position=0
)]
[string[]]
$Message,
[string]
$Level = "Informational"
)
if (!$loglocation)
{
write-error -Message 'No $LogLocation set.'
break
}
$logarchive = split-path $loglocation
$logarchive = $logarchive + "\Archive.log"
$truedate = get-date -f yyyy-MM-dd_HH:MM:ss
if (test-path $loglocation)
{
if ((get-item $loglocation).length -ge 5242880)
{
"$truedate : Log exceeds 5MB, archiving and creating new log." | out-file -append -filepath $loglocation
if (test-path $logArchive)
{
"$truedate : Log archive already exists, removing this log first before archiving current log." | out-file -append -filepath $loglocation
get-item $logArchive | remove-item
}
get-childitem $loglocation | rename-item -NewName {"Archive.log"}
"$truedate : New log created, old log archived." | out-file -append -filepath $loglocation
}
}
"$truedate : $level - $message" | out-file -append -filepath $loglocation
}
You just need to set a variable in your script called $loglocation to the file path you want the log to save too, i.e. "C:\MyLogs" etc. Then when you want to log something out to it, just use write-log -Message "Whatever you are logging".