Can I get detailed exception stacktrace in PowerShell?
Solution 1
There is the automatic variable $StackTrace
but it seems to be a little more specific to internal PS details than actually caring about your script, so that won't be of much help.
There is also Get-PSCallStack
but that's gone as soon as you hit the exception, unfortunately. You could, however, put a Get-PSCallStack
before every throw in your script. That way you get a stack trace immediately before hitting an exception.
I think one could script such functionality by using the debugging and tracing features of Powershell but I doubt it'd be easy.
Solution 2
There is a function up on the PowerShell Team blog called Resolve-Error which will get you all kinds of details
Note that $error is an array of all the errors you have encountered in your PSSession. This function will give you details on the last error you encountered.
function Resolve-Error ($ErrorRecord=$Error[0])
{
$ErrorRecord | Format-List * -Force
$ErrorRecord.InvocationInfo |Format-List *
$Exception = $ErrorRecord.Exception
for ($i = 0; $Exception; $i++, ($Exception = $Exception.InnerException))
{ "$i" * 80
$Exception |Format-List * -Force
}
}
Solution 3
Powershell 3.0 adds a ScriptStackTrace property to the ErrorRecord object. I use this function for error reporting:
function Write-Callstack([System.Management.Automation.ErrorRecord]$ErrorRecord=$null, [int]$Skip=1)
{
Write-Host # blank line
if ($ErrorRecord)
{
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "$ErrorRecord $($ErrorRecord.InvocationInfo.PositionMessage)"
if ($ErrorRecord.Exception)
{
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red $ErrorRecord.Exception
}
if ((Get-Member -InputObject $ErrorRecord -Name ScriptStackTrace) -ne $null)
{
#PS 3.0 has a stack trace on the ErrorRecord; if we have it, use it & skip the manual stack trace below
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red $ErrorRecord.ScriptStackTrace
return
}
}
Get-PSCallStack | Select -Skip $Skip | % {
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow -NoNewLine "! "
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red $_.Command $_.Location $(if ($_.Arguments.Length -le 80) { $_.Arguments })
}
}
The Skip parameter lets me leave Write-Callstack or any number of error-handling stack frames out of the Get-PSCallstack listing.
Note that if called from a catch block, Get-PSCallstack will miss any frames between the throw site and the catch block. Hence I prefer the PS 3.0 method even though we have fewer details per frame.
Solution 4
You can not get a stack trace from exceptions of the PowerShell code of scripts, only from .NET objects. To do that, you will need to get the Exception object like one of these:
$Error[0].Exception.StackTrace
$Error[0].Exception.InnerException.StackTrace
$Error[0].StackTrace
Solution 5
I took what I found here as inspiration and created a nice function anyone can drop into their code.
This is how I call it: Write-Host "Failed to write to the log file `n$(Resolve-Error)" -ForegroundColor Red
Function Resolve-Error
{
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Enumerate error record details.
.DESCRIPTION
Enumerate an error record, or a collection of error record, properties. By default, the details
for the last error will be enumerated.
.PARAMETER ErrorRecord
The error record to resolve. The default error record is the lastest one: $global:Error[0].
This parameter will also accept an array of error records.
.PARAMETER Property
The list of properties to display from the error record. Use "*" to display all properties.
Default list of error properties is: Message, FullyQualifiedErrorId, ScriptStackTrace, PositionMessage, InnerException
Below is a list of all of the possible available properties on the error record:
Error Record: Error Invocation: Error Exception: Error Inner Exception(s):
$_ $_.InvocationInfo $_.Exception $_.Exception.InnerException
------------- ----------------- ---------------- ---------------------------
writeErrorStream MyCommand ErrorRecord Data
PSMessageDetails BoundParameters ItemName HelpLink
Exception UnboundArguments SessionStateCategory HResult
TargetObject ScriptLineNumber StackTrace InnerException
CategoryInfo OffsetInLine WasThrownFromThrowStatement Message
FullyQualifiedErrorId HistoryId Message Source
ErrorDetails ScriptName Data StackTrace
InvocationInfo Line InnerException TargetSite
ScriptStackTrace PositionMessage TargetSite
PipelineIterationInfo PSScriptRoot HelpLink
PSCommandPath Source
InvocationName HResult
PipelineLength
PipelinePosition
ExpectingInput
CommandOrigin
DisplayScriptPosition
.PARAMETER GetErrorRecord
Get error record details as represented by $_
Default is to display details. To skip details, specify -GetErrorRecord:$false
.PARAMETER GetErrorInvocation
Get error record invocation information as represented by $_.InvocationInfo
Default is to display details. To skip details, specify -GetErrorInvocation:$false
.PARAMETER GetErrorException
Get error record exception details as represented by $_.Exception
Default is to display details. To skip details, specify -GetErrorException:$false
.PARAMETER GetErrorInnerException
Get error record inner exception details as represented by $_.Exception.InnerException.
Will retrieve all inner exceptions if there is more then one.
Default is to display details. To skip details, specify -GetErrorInnerException:$false
.EXAMPLE
Resolve-Error
Get the default error details for the last error
.EXAMPLE
Resolve-Error -ErrorRecord $global:Error[0,1]
Get the default error details for the last two errors
.EXAMPLE
Resolve-Error -Property *
Get all of the error details for the last error
.EXAMPLE
Resolve-Error -Property InnerException
Get the "InnerException" for the last error
.EXAMPLE
Resolve-Error -GetErrorInvocation:$false
Get the default error details for the last error but exclude the error invocation information
.NOTES
.LINK
#>
[CmdletBinding()]
Param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false, Position=0, ValueFromPipeline=$true, ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]
[array]$ErrorRecord,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false, Position=1)]
[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]
[string[]]$Property = ('Message','InnerException','FullyQualifiedErrorId','ScriptStackTrace','PositionMessage'),
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false, Position=2)]
[switch]$GetErrorRecord = $true,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false, Position=3)]
[switch]$GetErrorInvocation = $true,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false, Position=4)]
[switch]$GetErrorException = $true,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false, Position=5)]
[switch]$GetErrorInnerException = $true
)
Begin
{
## If function was called without specifying an error record, then choose the latest error that occured
If (-not $ErrorRecord)
{
If ($global:Error.Count -eq 0)
{
# The `$Error collection is empty
Return
}
Else
{
[array]$ErrorRecord = $global:Error[0]
}
}
## Define script block for selecting and filtering the properties on the error object
[scriptblock]$SelectProperty = {
Param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]
$InputObject,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]
[string[]]$Property
)
[string[]]$ObjectProperty = $InputObject | Get-Member -MemberType *Property | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
ForEach ($Prop in $Property)
{
If ($Prop -eq '*')
{
[string[]]$PropertySelection = $ObjectProperty
Break
}
ElseIf ($ObjectProperty -contains $Prop)
{
[string[]]$PropertySelection += $Prop
}
}
Write-Output $PropertySelection
}
# Initialize variables to avoid error if 'Set-StrictMode' is set
$LogErrorRecordMsg = $null
$LogErrorInvocationMsg = $null
$LogErrorExceptionMsg = $null
$LogErrorMessageTmp = $null
$LogInnerMessage = $null
}
Process
{
ForEach ($ErrRecord in $ErrorRecord)
{
## Capture Error Record
If ($GetErrorRecord)
{
[string[]]$SelectedProperties = &$SelectProperty -InputObject $ErrRecord -Property $Property
$LogErrorRecordMsg = $ErrRecord | Select-Object -Property $SelectedProperties
}
## Error Invocation Information
If ($GetErrorInvocation)
{
If ($ErrRecord.InvocationInfo)
{
[string[]]$SelectedProperties = &$SelectProperty -InputObject $ErrRecord.InvocationInfo -Property $Property
$LogErrorInvocationMsg = $ErrRecord.InvocationInfo | Select-Object -Property $SelectedProperties
}
}
## Capture Error Exception
If ($GetErrorException)
{
If ($ErrRecord.Exception)
{
[string[]]$SelectedProperties = &$SelectProperty -InputObject $ErrRecord.Exception -Property $Property
$LogErrorExceptionMsg = $ErrRecord.Exception | Select-Object -Property $SelectedProperties
}
}
## Display properties in the correct order
If ($Property -eq '*')
{
# If all properties were chosen for display, then arrange them in the order
# the error object displays them by default.
If ($LogErrorRecordMsg) {[array]$LogErrorMessageTmp += $LogErrorRecordMsg }
If ($LogErrorInvocationMsg) {[array]$LogErrorMessageTmp += $LogErrorInvocationMsg}
If ($LogErrorExceptionMsg) {[array]$LogErrorMessageTmp += $LogErrorExceptionMsg }
}
Else
{
# Display selected properties in our custom order
If ($LogErrorExceptionMsg) {[array]$LogErrorMessageTmp += $LogErrorExceptionMsg }
If ($LogErrorRecordMsg) {[array]$LogErrorMessageTmp += $LogErrorRecordMsg }
If ($LogErrorInvocationMsg) {[array]$LogErrorMessageTmp += $LogErrorInvocationMsg}
}
If ($LogErrorMessageTmp)
{
$LogErrorMessage = 'Error Record:'
$LogErrorMessage += "`n-------------"
$LogErrorMsg = $LogErrorMessageTmp | Format-List | Out-String
$LogErrorMessage += $LogErrorMsg
}
## Capture Error Inner Exception(s)
If ($GetErrorInnerException)
{
If ($ErrRecord.Exception -and $ErrRecord.Exception.InnerException)
{
$LogInnerMessage = 'Error Inner Exception(s):'
$LogInnerMessage += "`n-------------------------"
$ErrorInnerException = $ErrRecord.Exception.InnerException
$Count = 0
While ($ErrorInnerException)
{
$InnerExceptionSeperator = '~' * 40
[string[]]$SelectedProperties = &$SelectProperty -InputObject $ErrorInnerException -Property $Property
$LogErrorInnerExceptionMsg = $ErrorInnerException | Select-Object -Property $SelectedProperties | Format-List | Out-String
If ($Count -gt 0)
{
$LogInnerMessage += $InnerExceptionSeperator
}
$LogInnerMessage += $LogErrorInnerExceptionMsg
$Count++
$ErrorInnerException = $ErrorInnerException.InnerException
}
}
}
If ($LogErrorMessage) { $Output += $LogErrorMessage }
If ($LogInnerMessage) { $Output += $LogInnerMessage }
Write-Output $Output
If (Test-Path -Path 'variable:Output' ) { Clear-Variable -Name Output }
If (Test-Path -Path 'variable:LogErrorMessage' ) { Clear-Variable -Name LogErrorMessage }
If (Test-Path -Path 'variable:LogInnerMessage' ) { Clear-Variable -Name LogInnerMessage }
If (Test-Path -Path 'variable:LogErrorMessageTmp') { Clear-Variable -Name LogErrorMessageTmp }
}
}
End {}
}
Comments
-
Hadeel Fouad almost 4 years
Runing such script:
1: function foo() 2: { 3: bar 4: } 5: 6: function bar() 7: { 8: throw "test" 9: } 10: 11: foo
I see
test At C:\test.ps1:8 char:10
Can I get a detailed stack trace instead?
At bar() in C:\test.ps1:8 At foo() in C:\test.ps1:3 At C:\test.ps1:11