powershell - write errors to .txt file and in one line - powershell

Question

I need to log the process in a text file and there are two problems:
1. How to write errors in a text file? Now when the e-mails are not sent, nothing is logged.
2. I need to write time, date and event in a single line
Now I have this in log.txt:
17. feb. 2012 10:47:34
Chyba: .gpg neexistuje
17. feb. 2012 10:57:28
Test.gpg existuje.
This is my code:
function write-log{
param(
[string]$mytext,
[string]$fgc
)
if(!$fgc){$fgc="Black"}
write-host $mytext -foregroundcolor $fgc
$myfile = "c:\gnupg\subor\log.txt"
Get-Date | Out-File $myfile -append
$mytext | Out-File $myfile -append
}
if(test-path "d:\vm\shared pre ws08R2+SQL05\SFRB\*.chk") {
echo "Subor .chk existuje a jeho nazov je "
get-childitem "d:\vm\shared pre ws08R2+SQL05\SFRB\*.chk" -Name
$a = get-childitem "d:\vm\shared pre ws08R2+SQL05\SFRB\*" -include *.chk -name | Foreach-Object {$a -replace ".chk", ""}
if(test-path d:\vm\"shared pre ws08R2+SQL05"\SFRB\$a.gpg) {
Write-Log $a".gpg existuje." Green
Write-Log "Presuvam do banky subor $a.gpg.." Green
Move-Item "d:\vm\shared pre ws08R2+SQL05\SFRB\$a.gpg" c:\gnupg\subor\$a.gpg
Write-Log "Presun ukonceny." Green
Write-Log "Presuvam do banky subor $a.chk.." Green
Move-Item "d:\vm\shared pre ws08R2+SQL05\SFRB\$a.chk" c:\gnupg\subor\$a.chk
Write-Log "Presun ukonceny. Subor je pripraveny na spracovanie." Green
Write-Log "Posielam notifikacne maily.." Green
$emailFrom = "sfrbControlMsg#primabanka.sk"
$emailTo = "msic#primabanka.sk"
$subject = "subject"
$body = "subor presunuty"
$smtpServer = "87.244.217.54"
$smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer)
$smtp.Send($emailFrom, $emailTo, $subject, $body)
# Write-Log "Maily odoslane." Green
}
else {
Write-Log " Chyba: $a.gpg neexistuje" Magenta
}
} else {
Write-log "V cielovom adresari neexistuje ziadny subor .chk."
}
Thank you.

Answer 1

Make use of the inbuilt Send-MailMessage cmdlet with parameter -ErrorAction Stop.
Use a try-catch around this (see about_try_catch_finally to pick up and handle any errors.
In the catch block $_ will be the error message (as would be shown on the console), and has an Exception property which is the (.NET) Exception (or subclass) instance (I use $_.Exception.GetType() below to specifically report this type as it is an important part of any diagnostics):
Eg. in a script I have:
try {
$trans = (MakeSummaryMessage) + "`r`n`r`n" + $trans
Send-MailMessage -From $emailFrom `
-To $emailTo `
-SmtpServer $emailServer `
-Subject $subject" `
-Body $trans `
-Encoding ([System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8) `
-ErrorAction Stop
$emailSent = $true
} catch {
Write-EventLog -LogName $eventLog -Source $eventSource -EntryType "Error" `
-EventId 100 -Message "Failed to send email: $($_.Exception.GetType()): $_"
}