Write-Verbose is a really useful command in PowerShell; it lets you add code to see what’s going on behind the scenes, which you can easily toggle on and off with a simple parameter, rather than by amending your code each time you need to investigate some issue. Here’s a blog nicely summarising it for those unfamiliar: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/poshchap/2014/09/18/scripting-tips-and-tricks-write-verbose/.
However, in my opinion there’s one major flaw with this; it doesn’t work the way I’d expect it to where modules are concerned. That is, if I have Write-Verbose statements in my code, and I put my common code into a .psm1 module file then import that module into the script (.ps1 file), the behaviour will not be the same as were I to just have those functions defined in my script.
To illustrate, say I had the following code:
# MyScript.ps1
[CmdletBinding()]
param()
function Invoke-Demo {
[CmdletBinding()]
param ([Parameter()][string]$Message)
process {Write-Verbose $Message}
}
Invoke-Demo 'This DOES show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose"'
Write-Verbose 'This DOES show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose"'
Running this script with the Verbose parameter outputs 2 lines:
.\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose
This DOES show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose This DOES show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose
However, were I to put my function into a module (i.e. to simplify its re-use in other scripts) as below, the functionality would change; making it harder for me to investigate issues.
# MyModule.psm1
function Invoke-Demo {
[CmdletBinding()]
param ([Parameter()][string]$Message)
process {Write-Verbose $Message}
}
# MyScript.ps1 [CmdletBinding()] param() Import-Module -Path '.\MyModule.psm1' -Force Invoke-Demo 'This does NOT show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose"' Write-Verbose 'This DOES show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose"'
.\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose
This DOES show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose
I can understand that perhaps MS decided that modules contain that’s at a stage that’s ready to be packaged and shared, and therefore assumed that people may not wish to see verbose output from the packaged module, but I’d assume that there should be some way to override this for anyone who does need to look under the covers.
There is a workaround suggested by Craig on StackOverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/a/16442063/361842. That is, whenever calling a function from a module, assign the verbose parameter with the value of the caller’s Verbose parameter as so:
Invoke-Demo 'This DOES show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose"; but it smells' -Verbose:($PSBoundParameters['Verbose'] -eq $true)`
Suggested Improvement
Add a parameter to the Import-Module cmdlet which states whether to inherit the caller’s Verbose setting (be that from $VerbosePreference or because the calling function/script was called with the Verbose switch specified (be that explicitly or through inheritance). i.e.
# MyModule.psm1
function Invoke-Demo {
[CmdletBinding()]
param ([Parameter()][string]$Message)
process {Write-Verbose $Message}
}
# MyScript.ps1 [CmdletBinding()] param() Import-Module -Path '.\MyModule.psm1' -Force -InheritVerbose # <-- new switch on Import-Module Invoke-Demo 'This now DOES show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose" (if above suggestion implemented by MS)' Write-Verbose 'This DOES show when I run ".\MyScript.ps1 -Verbose"'
NB: Currently MS Connect for PowerShell (https://connect.microsoft.com/PowerShell/) is not taking submissions, hence blogging this.
If you like this idea, please share; I’m hoping to get this on Microsoft’s radar so that it can be implemented; or some improved solution can be offered.
Update: Thanks to Zachary Alexander for pointing out that suggestions can be submitted on GitHub. This is now logged here: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/issues/3106
Developer42 