How can I tell if a specific ProcessName is running without crashing - powershell

Question

Lets say there is an application with the name exampleService that should be running on Server1. This code works if it is running. However when it's not running, it crashes.
$application = Get-Process -ComputerName Server1 -Name "exampleService"
I get this crash if the application is not running. Is there a more graceful way of finding out if it's not running (without crashing)
Get-Process : Cannot find a process with the name "exampleService". Verify the process name and call the cmdlet again.
At line:1 char:16
+ $application = Get-Process -ComputerName Server1 -Name "exampleService"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Sampler:String) [Get-Process], ProcessCommandException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NoProcessFoundForGivenName,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetProcessCommand
Also is it possible to launch the application on the Server if it's not running?
The Server is running Windows Server 2012. The PowerShell commands are being run from a Windows 7 64-bit PC.

Answer 1

Look at using -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue to keep that error from displaying. You can use that in an If statement to launch the application if it isn't running.
--Updated to include launching the remote process
If (-NOT (Get-Process -Computername Server1 -name "cmd" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
Write-Host "Launch application"
$application = "c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe"
$start = ([wmiclass]"\\Server1\Root\CIMV2:win32_process").Create($application)
}

Answer 2

You could set the ErrorActionto SilentlyContinue (alias for that is -ea 0):
$application = Get-Process -ComputerName Server1 -Name "exampleService" -ea 0
Now you can check $application and start the application if its null.

Answer 3

I only wanted my script to continue on one particular Get-Process error, i.e. process not found. (and I preferred to use a Try/Catch). But I haven't done much powershell and had trouble locating the specific error.
Once I found I could look at FullyQualifiedErrorId and added the following to a general Catch block I located what I was after.
Write-Host ('FullyQualifiedErrorId: ' + $_.FullyQualifiedErrorId);
So as a full example which works for my situation:
Try {
$application = Get-Process -Name "exampleService" -ea Stop #note the -ea Stop is so try catch will fire whatever ErrorAction is configured
} Catch [Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ProcessCommandException] {
If ($_.FullyQualifiedErrorId) {
If ($_.FullyQualifiedErrorId -eq "NoProcessFoundForGivenName,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetProcessCommand"){
Write-Host "Presume not running. That is OK."; # or you could perform start action here
}
}
else {
throw #rethrow other processcommandexceptions
}
} Catch {
# Log details so we can refine catch block above if needed
Write-Host ('Exception Name:' + $_.Exception.GetType().fullname); # what to put in the catch's square brackets
If ($_.FullyQualifiedErrorId) {
Write-Host ('FullyQualifiedErrorId: ' + $_.FullyQualifiedErrorId); #what specific ID to check for
}
throw #rethrow so script stops
}