Positioning of test-path in a PowerShell script - powershell

Question

I have a script that sends an email when files are about to reach their max size.
The problem is, that I can't implement a validation check of what the script should do when a file is not found at the given path.
I know that I should implement:
if(!(Test-Path $item.Path))
{
"The file " + $item.Name + " is not found! <br />"
}
But I don't know where to place it exactly (since I'm getting errors all over the place).
The Code:
I start with retrieving the files from a config file:
$list = foreach ($file in $files)
{
$f = Get-Item $file.Path
New-Object -Type PSObject -Property #{
Name = $f.Name
Path = $file.Path
Size = ($f.Length/$byteSize)
}
}
then I loop through the file list and check their size:
foreach ($item in $list)
{
if($item.Size -gt $item.TriggerSize -And (Test-Path $item.Path))
{
#Write-Host $item.Name "Warning! File has reached it's max limit ("$item.Size.ToString(".00")"), The max size is" $item.MaxSize". The trigger size is: " $item.TriggerSize "`r`n"
$body +=
"The file " + $item.Name + " is reaching his max size!
<br /> Current size: <b>"+$item.Size.ToString(".00") + " " + $byteSize.Substring(1) + "</b>" +
"<br /> Maximum size: " + $item.MaxSize + " " + $byteSize.Substring(1) + "<br /><br />"
}
}
I tried implementing my error check on these places:
$list = foreach ($file in $files)
{
if(!(Test-Path $item.Path))
{
"The file " + $item.Name + " is not found! <br />"
}
$f = Get-Item $file.Path
New-Object -Type PSObject -Property #{
Name = $f.Name
Path = $file.Path
Size = ($f.Length/$byteSize)
}
}
and here
foreach ($item in $list)
{
if($item.Size -gt $item.TriggerSize -And (Test-Path $item.Path))
{
#Write-Host $item.Name "Warning! File has reached it's max limit ("$item.Size.ToString(".00")"), The max size is" $item.MaxSize". The trigger size is: " $item.TriggerSize "`r`n"
$body +=
"The file " + $item.Name + " is reaching his max size!
<br /> Current size: <b>"+$item.Size.ToString(".00") + " " + $byteSize.Substring(1) + "</b>" +
"<br /> Maximum size: " + $item.MaxSize + " " + $byteSize.Substring(1) + "<br /><br />"
}
if(!(Test-Path $item.Path))
{
"The file " + $item.Name + " is not found! <br />"
}
}
But I keep getting the error that it's at Get-Item that it can't find a file:
the name of the file that I wrote with a false path on purpose:
file123.exe
Error (at the line of the if(!(Test-Path $file.path)):
Get-Item : Cannot find path 'file123.exe' because it does not exist.

Answer 1

You are trying to error-handle but then your code still passes control to main logic. Instead, you should develop your control flow so that Get-Item will be called only when Test-Path returns true.
$list = foreach ($file in $files)
{
if (Test-Path $file.Path) {
$f = Get-Item $file.Path
New-Object -Type PSObject -Property #{
Name = $f.Name
Path = $f.Path
Size = ($f.Length/$byteSize)
}
} else {
"The file " + $file.path + " is not found! <br />"
}
}
And finally, PROOFREAD YOUR CODE! You've got $item.path tested but $file.path accessed. Given your foreach loop, you should have $file.path at both places.

Answer 2

You are only checking for file's existence and not catching not found exception. Here's a pseudo that should work:
foreach ($file in $files) {
try {
if (!(Test-Path $file.Path)) {
throw "File $($file.Path) not found"
}
# Rest of the logic
}
catch {
# log error $_.Exception.Message
}
}
Update: Send email whether file exists or not. This is pseudo, excuse syntax please.
Refactor the email sending functionality in separate method, say Send-Email($content). Then:
foreach file in files {
if !(Test-Path file.path) {
Send-Email -content "File $($file) does does not exist"
}
else {
// your logic here
if file.size > threshold {
Send-Email -content "File $($file) exceeded threshold size"
}
}
}