How to add logging functionality to your PowerShell custom actions

YouTube · Thu Nov 16, 2023 1:48 pm

Hello,

Today, we'll be discussing how to make your PowerShell custom actions log their output to a log file.

This involves modifying the custom action itself by adding the functions that will log, either a message or an error.

First of all, we will have to decide the log's location. For this, I will be using the %temp% location.

Code: Select all

$logFileLocation = $env:temp + "\CustomActionLog.txt"

Now, if this file does not already exist, we need to create it.

To do this, we can use the "test-path" cmdlet.

Code: Select all

if (-not(test-path $logFileLocation)){
new-item -itemtype File -path $logFileLocation
}

Now that we created the file, we can create our functions as well.

Code: Select all

function Log {
    param ([string]$Message)

    $timeStamp = Get-Date -Format "HH:mm:ss.fff"
    $outMessage = $timeStamp + ": " + $Message
    $outMessage | Out-File -FilePath $logFileLocation -Append -Encoding UTF8
}

Code: Select all

function LogError {
    param ([string]$Message)
    
	$ErrorMessage = "[Error] " + $Message
    Log($ErrorMessage)
}

By using the above two functions, you should be able to handle logging the results of your PowerShell custom actions in a log that is separate from the MSI log.

Hope you'll find this useful. ${L_SMILIES_SMILE}$

Best regards,
Catalin

Suggested Articles

User Guide

Videos

How to add logging functionality to your PowerShell custom actions

How to add logging functionality to your PowerShell custom actions

Caphyon Products

Company

Product

Resources

Free Tools

Connect