One of the issues with PowerShell's built in 'Write-' commands is that it is not easy to capture the output from them and then parse that log. So if, for example, there was the following code in a script:
Write-Verbose "Creating new directory"
This would be seen on the screen, but it is not available to put into a log file, or sent to the Event Log or even sent to Elastic Search.
This module aims to fix that but creating a set of functions that add to the existing functionality of the standard 'Write-' commands. The commands from the module are 'Write-VerboseLog' which mimics 'Write-Verbose' and so on.
My thanks to David Wyatt, whose own Logging module showed me how to extend the built in functions. (http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Write-timestamped-output-4ff1565f). This provided me with the basis to capture the logs and then add the extra capabilities I wanted.
This is still being developed, but the main features are:
- Capture the message from any 'Write-*Log' function and process it as required
- Set an XML file as the resource to extract messages from using an EventId
- Process all messages as an object by calling 'Get-Messages' - useful to send to a different location such as Elastic Search.
The following is a list of the things that are left to do, but it is probably not exhaustive:
- Not all the 'Write-' commands are supported yet. Only Write-Host and Write-Verbose are
- Add ability to add a global parameter for a log tag or prefix
- Log levels are currently linked to the appropriate 'Write-' command, however there maybe times when the 'Write-Host' function is required but with a different level and therefore differnt colour coding.
- Add comment based help to all the exported functions