FromScriptToTool and ErrorHandlingDebugging

ErrorHandlingDebugging-McElreath/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Take your PowerShell to the next level with error handling and debugging
+
+There are a lot of great features for debugging PowerShell withing VSCode. And if you're like me.... you never use them....
+
+Let's change that today. I've made it my goal this year to be better and more consistent with how I debug my code and handle errors in my scripts.
+
+In this session, we're going to explore how errors are surfaced in PowerShell and how to handle those errors responsibly. We will also dive into using the debugger in VSCode to step through some PowerShell code to identify the potential sources of our errors.

ErrorHandlingDebugging-McElreath/demo/1-Error-Variable.ps1

@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+
+$Error.Clear()
+
+# Let's Generate some errors
+1/0
+Get-ChildItem c:\Does-Not-Exist
+Get-WrongCommand
+
+# Returns an array of error records, with the most recent error at index 0
+$Error
+
+# Most recent error
+$Error[0]
+
+# The oldest error
+$Error[-1]
+
+# Can be used in a catch block to get the current error
+$_
+
+try {
+    1/0
+} catch {
+    Write-Host "An error occurred: $_"
+}
+
+# Was the last command successful?
+Get-WrongCommand
+$?
+
+# Clear the error variable
+$Error.Clear()
+$Error
+
+# Generate some more errors
+Get-ChildItem c:\Does-Not-Exist
+
+# Error view options
+$ErrorView # ConciseView, CategoryView, DetailedView, NormalView 
+
+$ErrorView = 'DetailedView'
+
+Get-ChildItem c:\Does-Not-Exist
+
+
+$ErrorView = 'ConciseView'
+
+
+# Get error details
+$Error[0]
+
+$Error[0] | Select-Object *
+
+# Get the most recent error record with more information
+Get-Error -Newest 1
+
+# Get a text dump of the most recent error record
+$Error[0] | Format-Custom -Force
+
+
+$Error[0] | Select-Object *
+
+$Error[0].Exception
+$Error[0].InvocationInfo 
+$Error[0].ScriptStackTrace
+$Error[0].Exception.StackTrace
+
+
+
+
+$Error.Clear()
+cls
+
+# ScriptStackTrace example
+function Trace-Test {
+    function Get-BadPath  { Get-ChildItem c:\Does-Not-Exist }
+
+    function Function1 { Get-BadPath }
+
+    function Function2 { Function1 }
+
+    function Function3 { Function2 }
+
+    Function3
+
+}
+
+Trace-Test
+
+$error[0] | Select-Object *
+

ErrorHandlingDebugging-McElreath/demo/2-Terminating-Errors.ps1

@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+
+$Error.Clear()
+cls
+
+
+function Test-Error {
+    Get-ChildItem c:\Does-Not-Exist
+
+    Write-Host "Will this Print?" -ForegroundColor Magenta
+}
+
+Test-Error
+
+
+function Test-Error {
+    Get-ChildItem c:\Does-Not-Exist -ErrorAction Stop
+
+    Write-Host "Will this Print?" -ForegroundColor Magenta
+}
+
+Test-Error
+
+
+$ErrorActionPreference # Continue, SilentlyContinue, Ignore, Stop, Break, Inquire, Suspend
+
+
+function Test-Error {
+    param (
+        [ValidateSet("Break", "Continue", "Ignore", "Stop", "SilentlyContinue", "Inquire" , "Suspend")]
+        $errorAction = "Continue"
+    )
+    $variable1 = "Hello"; $variable2 = "Summit 2026!"
+
+    Get-ChildItem c:\Does-Not-Exist -ErrorAction $errorAction
+
+    Write-Host "Will this Print?" -ForegroundColor Magenta
+}
+
+Test-Error
+
+Test-Error -ErrorAction "Stop"
+Test-Error -ErrorAction "SilentlyContinue"
+Test-Error -ErrorAction "Ignore" # Does not add an error record to the $Error variable
+Test-Error -ErrorAction "Suspend" # Only used in PowerShell Workflows
+Test-Error -ErrorAction "Inquire"
+Test-Error -ErrorAction "Break"
+
+
+
+function Test-Error {
+    $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
+
+    Get-ChildItem c:\Does-Not-Exist
+
+    Write-Host "This will not be printed because ErrorActionPreference is set to Stop" -ForegroundColor Magenta
+}
+
+Test-Error
+
+
+function Test-Error {
+    throw("An error occurred in Test-Error")
+
+    Write-Host "This will not be printed after a throw statement" -ForegroundColor Magenta
+}
+
+Test-Error
+
+
+
+$Error.Clear()
+$Error
+cls
+
+function Test-Error {
+    $ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"
+
+    Get-ChildItem c:\Does-Not-Exist
+
+    Write-Host "This will be printed because ErrorActionPreference is set to SilentlyContinue" -ForegroundColor Magenta
+}
+
+Test-Error
+
+$Error