How do I reliably get variable from child - powershell

Question

I am building a sql Job Generator in Powershell. My PS skills aren't the greatest,
I want to get a value created in function CreateSqlTask. The variable I want is $job. I get an array of objects back from this function.
#My call
$returnParams = CreateSqlTask ( LIST OF PARAMS)
$returnParams[0] is the value of the jobSchedule Creation $returnParams[1] is the variable I want, this is the value of $job .
as a programmer I do not believe it is relable to just assume $returnParams[1] is always the variable I need. What is the proper way to handle this case?
#Here is the function implementation:
function CreateSqlTask
{
Param ( LIST OF PARAMS )
#Make all errors terminating
$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
#Create the SQL Job
$job = CreateSqlJob -serverInstance $serverInstance -jobName $jobName -jobDesc $jobDesc -jobCategory $jobCategory -jobAlertOperator $jobAlertOperator -jobEmailLevel $jobEmailLevel
#Create the SQL Job Step
$jobStep = CreateSqlJobStep $job $stepName $stepCmd
#Alter the Job to tell it what step should execute first
$job.StartStepID = $jobStep.ID
$job.Alter()
#Create the SQL Job Schedule
CreateSqlJobSchedule $job `
$schedName `
$schedFreqType `
$schedFreqRecurFactor `
$schedFreqInterval `
$schedFreqSubDayType `
$schedFreqSubDayInterval `
$startingSchedHour `
$startingSchedMinute `
$endingSchedHour `
$endingSchedMinute
return $job
}

Answer 1

A function should return only one type of object. If you don't need the job creation return, you can send that output to $null or assign it to a variable within the function. If you do need that along with the other information I'd create a custom object or hash table that includes that information along with the job information and return that.

Answer 2

As you have pointed out, both CreateSqlJobSchedule and return $job are returning values. If you need both of these then I suggest you assign these to a new object:
$jobDetails = #{
CreateSqlJob = $CreateSqlJob
CreateSqlJobSchedule = $CreateSqlJobSchedule
}
return $jobDetails
The above assumes you have assigned the two calls to two variables, you can then refer to them by name:
$createSqlTaskResults = CreateSqlTask
$createSqlTaskResults.CreateSqlJob
$createSqlTaskResults.CreateSqlJobSchedule
Here's how it would look in your example:
#Here is the function implementation:
function CreateSqlTask
{
Param ( LIST OF PARAMS )
#Make all errors terminating
$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
#Create the SQL Job
$CreateSqlJob = CreateSqlJob -serverInstance $serverInstance -jobName $jobName -jobDesc $jobDesc -jobCategory $jobCategory -jobAlertOperator $jobAlertOperator -jobEmailLevel $jobEmailLevel
#Create the SQL Job Step
$jobStep = CreateSqlJobStep $job $stepName $stepCmd
#Alter the Job to tell it what step should execute first
$job.StartStepID = $jobStep.ID
$job.Alter()
#Create the SQL Job Schedule
$CreateSqlJobSchedule = CreateSqlJobSchedule $job `
$schedName `
$schedFreqType `
$schedFreqRecurFactor `
$schedFreqInterval `
$schedFreqSubDayType `
$schedFreqSubDayInterval `
$startingSchedHour `
$startingSchedMinute `
$endingSchedHour `
$endingSchedMinute
$jobDetails = #{
CreateSqlJob = $CreateSqlJob
CreateSqlJobSchedule = $CreateSqlJobSchedule
}
return $jobDetails
}

Answer 3

One option you have is within the CreateSQLJob function to return a custom object that includes the pertinent information you want.
For instance:
$job = New-Object Object
$obj | Add-Member Noteproperty serverInstance -value $serverInstance
$obj | Add-Member Noteproperty jobName -value $jobName
Then you would be able to call into those properties:
$obj.jobName
The above is a contrived example.