Try-catch in VS Code call to Get-Mailbox don't catch error

[weinand]

From @AndersElonGroup on August 10, 2017 14:7

• VSCode Version: Code 1.14.2 (cb82febafda0c8c199b9201ad274e25d9a76874e, 2017-07-19T23:34:09.706Z)
• OS Version: Windows 10 1703 (OS-version 16232.1000)
• PS Version: 5.1.16232.1000
• Extensions:
  Extension|Author (truncated)|Version
  ---|---|---
  PowerShell|ms-|1.4.1

---

When connecting to Office365 in Powershell and call the cmd Get-Mailbox, VS Code do not Catch the Error thrown if the object (the email-address) cannot be found.
I use this method to check if requested email-addresses is available. If the email-address is available the -ErrorAction Stop should throw an Error and the Catch will just display a message that the adress is available. If the email-adress is occupied I get information about the accountowning the adress.

When running the code in Powershell ISE i get the expected output, Catching the error.
When running the code in VS Code, the error is not caught.

Steps to Reproduce:
VS Code

1. Open O365 Session in VS Code
2. call the function with a adress that do not exist in O365
3. VS Code do not Catch the error thrown by Get-Mailbox or Get-User

PS ISE
4. Open O365 Session in PS ISE
5. call the function with a adress that do not exist in O365
6. PS ISE Catch the error thrown by Get-Mailbox or Get-User and show the Catch-output

Reproduces without extensions: Yes

`#Open O365 Session
#Get your credentials
$cred=Get-Credential
#Connect to O365
Connect-MsolService -Credential $cred

#import O365 Session commands
$session=New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell -Credential $cred -Authentication Basic –AllowRedirection
Import-PSSession $session -AllowClobber`

Function ListAllEmailAdresses { param ($ID) Try { $Mailbox = Get-Mailbox -Identity $ID -ErrorAction Stop $VarUser = Get-User -Identity $ID -ErrorAction Stop Write-Output "Email is occupied by: $Mailbox, $($VarUser.Title)" Write-Output $Mailbox.EmailAddresses } Catch { Write-Output "E-mail $ID is available" } }

Output when called fromVS Code:
PS C:\script> ListAllEmailAdresses -ID 'lidingo@elon.se'
The operation couldn't be performed because object 'lidingo@elon.se' couldn't be found on 'VI1PR03DC0025.eurprd03.prod.outlook.com'.

• CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-Mailbox], ManagementObjectNotFoundException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : [Server=VI1PR03MB3165,RequestId=62016320-c687-41ed-9949-4b0fe854d821,TimeStamp=2017-08-09 13:54:40] [FailureCategory=Cmdlet-ManagementObjectNotFoundException] 2CD51ECE,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.GetMailbox
• PSComputerName : ps.outlook.com

The operation couldn't be performed because object 'lidingo@elon.se' couldn't be found on 'VI1PR03DC0025.eurprd03.prod.outlook.com'.

• CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-User], ManagementObjectNotFoundException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : [Server=VI1PR03MB3165,RequestId=db435869-8b64-4edf-bb90-a2eb836b07fa,TimeStamp=2017-08-09 13:54:41] [FailureCategory=Cmdlet-ManagementObjectNotFoundException] DAFB12B9,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.GetUser
• PSComputerName : ps.outlook.com

Email is occupied by: ,

Output when called from PS ISE:
PS C:\Script> ListAllEmailAdresses -ID 'lidingo@elon.se'
E-mail lidingo@elon.se is available

Copied from original issue: microsoft/vscode#32228

[weinand]

@AndersElonGroup I do not understand the first step "connect to O365 with VS Code". Could you please provide more details.

[weinand]

From @AndersElonGroup on August 11, 2017 6:16

Hmm, Some of my explanations in the post was missing, sorry about that.
have updated my post.

[weinand]

I still don't understand whether you are running PowerShell scripts in the integrated terminal built into VS Code or in an interactive (debugging) session of the PowerShell extension?

[weinand]

From @AndersElonGroup on August 11, 2017 7:25

Sorry, started using VS Code two Days ago.
Just upgraded VS Code this morning and now I cannot get the code to run at all :(

• VSCode Version: Code 1.15.0 (8b95971d8cccd3afd86b35d4a0e098c189294ff2, 2017-08-09T20:16:06.988Z)
• OS Version: Windows_NT ia32 10.0.16232
• Extensions:

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
PowerShell	ms-	1.4.1

[weinand]

Could you please answer my question from above first.

If you have an unrelated problem with the new VS Code 1.15.0 please create a new issue to avoid confusion.

[weinand]

From @AndersElonGroup on August 11, 2017 7:50

I open my .ps1-file in VS Code, select each row to start the O365 session and press F8.
Then I select my function and press F8.
lastly I type a call to the function and press F8
The Result is shown in "Terminal"
Now with 1.15 it say Powershell Integrated Console, I'm not sure what it said in 1.14

[weinand]

Thanks. The functionality you are using is provided by the PowerShell extension.
I'll move this issue to their repo.

[daviwil]

Hey @AndersElonGroup, what behavior do you see when you run this in a plain powershell.exe shell?

[onerrorgoto]

Strange ??
In just powershell.exe (as admin) I get the same error output as I did in VS Code.

But if I run it in powershell ISE the try-catch is working, how come?
I have not used powershell.exe for my day to day work just ISE, thats why this behaviour was unexpected.

[mattmcnabb]

@AndersElonGroup this is normal and is due to implicit remoting, not the VSCode PowerShell extension. Connecting to Exchange Online via PowerShell works by implicit remoting, which means you're executing the Exchange commands on a remote Exchange server, not locally. This causes some issues with error handling because powerShell sees the remote commands as successful even though an exception was returned from the command. You can work around this by temporarily setting your global $ErrorActionPreference variable to "Stop."

[onerrorgoto]

Thank you for the explanation. I did not know that.
You say temporarily set $ErrorActionPreference to Stop, is there any drawback to have it permanently to stop?
I see that in my ISE that $ErrorActionPreference = Stop

[mattmcnabb]

Yes, there is definitely a drawback - any commands you run that return non-terminating errors would instead be terminating. If you're scheduling scripts that only run actions against Exchange Online then it would probably be fine to set the ErrorActionPreference to Stop for that session. If you're writing functions that you'll use in the shell or in other scripts then I would consider changing the ErrorActionPreference to stop temporarily. One way I've done this in the past is to capture the current preference and then set that again at the end of the function:

$EapPrevious = $ErrorActionPreference
$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

# do some work here

$ErrorActionPreference = $EapPrevious

Of course you'd need to make sure that if an error occurs somewhere in the "work" section of your function that you set the ErrorActionPreference back before exiting.

Also, it sounds like the ISE is configured differently than the console on your machine. That would explain why you have a different ErrorActionPreference value in the ISE.

[onerrorgoto]

thank you again, I will add the $ErrorActionPreference = Stop to my O365-script which is my main use of Powershell.

Since this is not an issue, it was education for me, you can close this.
Can I somehow give you "forum-credit" for your help ?

[mattmcnabb]

You can, but like in "Whose Line is it Anyway" the points won't count for anything. ;)