XinLog 1.0

Looking back to the thread of the past weeks [1], I think it may be better to spend some minute more to create a separate library for loggin which can be reusable. Indeed logging is one of the most common activities and it would be great this functionality can stay in a separate file which I can just invoke in the context of my script when needed.

For this reason I’ll create a new ps1 file called XinLog where put all the logging logics:

################# XinLog 1.0 ######################
# Use this library to log easely on file and screen
# In Parameters MANDATORY
#   - $LogString [STRING] Message to log
# The log on file will create file a file in the same directory of the caller
###################################################

# Get the current Directory
$myDir = Split-Path -Parent $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path
#Set the file log name
$Logfile = "$myDir\XinLog_$($env:computername)_$((Get-Date).toString("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss")).log"

#begin FUNCTIONS
function Write-Log
{
    Param (
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]    
        [string]$LogString
    )
    $Stamp = (Get-Date).toString("yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss")
    $LogMessage = "$Stamp - $LogString"
    Add-content $LogFile -value $LogMessage
    Write-Host $LogString -ForegroundColor White
}

#end FUNCTIONS

Actually I did’t do too much, I just extracted the lines related to logging from previous file moving the Write-Log function body which is the log writer.

Now the question is: How can I use Write-Log function if now it is in a separate file? The answer is really straightforward since as it is happening in a large part of languages it is possible to include a script in another one also in PoweShell. To do this we are leveraging on the “dot source notation” (you can find more information here [2]). In our scenario the original file Conto2.3 will change as below:

########### CONTO 2.3.1 ############
# First test
####################################

##### Inclueded Libraries ##########
# Get the current Directory
$myDir = Split-Path -Parent $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path
# Files included 
. "$myDir\XinLog.ps1"  # Include the file logs
####################################


#begin BODY

Write-Log "Text to write"

#end BODY

Here [3] you can find also a GitHub project I created for this purpose.

[1] https://www.beren.it/2022/01/07/conto2-3-logging-with-powershell-get-started/

[2] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_scopes?view=powershell-5.1#using-dot-source-notation-with-scope

[3] https://github.com/stepperxin/XinLog