Catching Get-EventLog errors - powershell

Question

I'm writing a simple script to parse some event logs but I need to silence some errors for times when there are no results, or if the instanceid is invalid:
PS C:\> get-eventlog Application -instanceid 1111
Get-EventLog : No matches found
At line:1 char:13
+ get-eventlog <<<< Application -instanceid 1111
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (:) [Get-EventLog], ArgumentException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : GetEventLogNoEntriesFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetEventLogCommand
I can do that and silence it, but that would also silence other errors:
PS C:\> try { get-eventlog Application -instanceid 1111 -erroraction stop } catch { }
I tried this but it doesn't work:
PS C:\> try { get-eventlog Application -instanceid 1111 -erroraction stop } catch [ObjectNotFound] { }
Unable to find type [ObjectNotFound]: make sure that the assembly containing this type is loaded.
At line:1 char:91
+ try { get-eventlog Application -instanceid 1111 -erroraction stop } catch [ObjectNotFound] <<<< { }
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (ObjectNotFound:String) [], RuntimeException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : TypeNotFound

Answer 1

you can use -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue and check your $error variable after it,
$error[0]
It will always contains the last error object.

Answer 2

By no means the only option but you could try something like this:
$result = get-eventlog Application -instanceid 1111 -erroraction silentlycontinue
if($result){
Write-Host "Found some."
} else{
Write-Host "wah wah wah waaaah... you know like the trombone sound"
}
Once again I dont read a post fully. To make better on my answer I offer up this which might help your try block woes
try {
get-eventlog Application -instanceid 1111 -ErrorAction Stop
} Catch [Exception]{
$theError = $_
Switch($theError .Exception.GetType().FullName){
System.InvalidOperationException{Write-Host "This happened: $($theError.Exception.Message)"}
System.ArgumentException {Write-Host "This happened: $($theError.Exception.Message)"}
default{"Something else happened: $($theError.Exception.GetType().FullName)"}
}
}
Use -Stop to create a terminating error. Capture any exceptions and put the error object into variable so it can be used in other scopes later. Get the exception name and use a switch statement on it to determine appropriate action. In your case of "No matches found" that throws a [System.ArgumentException] which you can tell from looking at the value of $_.Exception.GetType().FullName. Capture the specific errors in the switch statement and if you have not already caught a particular exception before you can see the details in default.
For what its worth [System.InvalidOperationException] occurred when I replaced "Application" in the cmdlet call to "Fizgig"

Answer 3

you should try following syntax to get your error while not stopping script execution :
try
{
# check for eventLog
Get-EventLog -LogName "Application" -InstanceId 1111 -ErrorAction Stop
}
catch
{
# send error as ID
Write-Warning "Error -Message $($_.Exception.Message) -Line $($_.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber) -Time $(Get-Date -Format 'HH.mm.ss.fff')"
}