WriteLog

Apteco PS Modules - PowerShell logging script

Execute commands like

Write-Log -message "Hello World"
Write-Log -message "Hello World" -severity ([LogSeverity]::ERROR)
"Hello World" | Write-Log

Then the logfile getting written looks like

20220217134552	a6f3eda5-1b50-4841-861e-010174784e8c	INFO	This is a general information
20220217134617	a6f3eda5-1b50-4841-861e-010174784e8c	ERROR	Note! This is an error
20220217134618	a6f3eda5-1b50-4841-861e-010174784e8c	VERBOSE	This is the verbose/debug information
20220217134619	a6f3eda5-1b50-4841-861e-010174784e8c	WARNING	And please look at this warning

separated by tabs.

Make sure, after Import-Module WriteLog the module to call Set-Logfile -Path .\file.log and/or Set-ProcessId -Id abc. Otherwise the logfile and the processId will be created automatically and you are notified about the location and the current process id.

The process id is good for parallel calls/processes so you know they belong together.

Installation

You can just download the whole repository here and pick this script or your can use PSGallery through PowerShell commands directly.

PSGallery

Installation via Install-Module

For installation execute this for all users scope

Find-Module -Repository "PSGallery" -Name "WriteLog" -IncludeDependencies | Install-Module -Verbose -Scope AllUsers

You can check the installed module with

Get-InstalledModule WriteLog

If you want to find more Apteco scripts in PSGallery, please search with

Find-Module -Repository "PSGallery" -Tag "Apteco"

Installation via local Repository

If your machine does not have an online connection you can use another machine to save the script from PSGallery website as a local file via your browser. You should have download a file with an .nupkg extension. Please don't forget to download all dependencies, too. You could simply unzip the file(s) and put the script somewhere you need it OR do it in an updatable manner and create a local repository if you don't have it already with

Set-Location "$( $env:USERPROFILE )\Downloads"
New-Item -Name "PSRepo" -ItemType Directory
Register-PSRepository -Name "LocalRepo" -SourceLocation "$( $env:USERPROFILE )\Downloads\PSRepo"
Get-PSRepository

To trust a local repository, use

Set-PSRepository -Name LocalRepo  -InstallationPolicy Trusted

To remove the trust, just put it back to Untrusted

Set-PSRepository -Name LocalRepo  -InstallationPolicy Untrusted

Then put your downloaded .nupkg file into the new created PSRepo folder and you should see the module via

Find-Module -Repository LocalRepo

Then install the script like

Find-Module -Repository LocalRepo -Name WriteLog -IncludeDependencies | Install-Module -Scope CurrentUser -Verbose

That way you can exchange the .nupkg files and update them manually from time to time.

Uninstall

If you don't want to use the script anymore, just remove it with

Uninstall-Module -Name WriteLogfile

Github

Download the whole repository and to load the module, just execute

Set-Location WriteLog
Import-Module .\WriteLog

Example 1

Write-Log -message "Hello World"

Uses the internal $logfile and $processId variables and redirects the message to your console and creates a line in your logfile like

20220217134552	a6f3eda5-1b50-4841-861e-010174784e8c	INFO	Hello World

Example 2

Write-Log -message "Note! This is an error" -severity ([LogSeverity]::ERROR)

outputs red characters at the console and creates a line in your logfile like

20220217134617	a6f3eda5-1b50-4841-861e-010174784e8c	ERROR	Note! This is an error

Example 3

"Hello World" | Write-Log -WriteToHostToo $false

Works like the previous examples but also works with the pipeline and in this example do not output to the console

Best Practise

Normally I use a settings at the beginning of the script to allow debugging without writing into a production log like:

# debug switch
$debug = $true

Import-Module WriteLog
Set-Logfile -Path ".\script.log"

# append a suffix, if in debug mode
if ( $debug ) {
    Set-Logfile -Path "$( (Get-Logfile).FullName ).debug"
}