How to get powershell to throw exception instead of block when missing parameters to cmdlet

Question

Lets say I have a cmdlet:

function Set-Something
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [string] $SomeValue
    )
}

and some automation that calls my cmdlet:

Set-Something

This will make the powershell session halt and write this to screen:

cmdlet Set-Something at command pipeline position 1 Supply values for the following parameters: SomeValue:

This is downright annoying when doing automation: What we really want is for powershell to not Halt forever expecting user input that will never come, instead we simply want it to throw an exception "Missing parameter in call to Set-Something".

Is this possible?

Kristoffer Bakkejord · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-28 14:05:08Z

2

While removing [Parameter(Mandatory)] as Avshalom suggests works, another solution which will retain the self-documenting benefit, may be to run PowerShell non-interactively.

Use -Noninteractive to launch PowerShell in non-interactive mode. You should then get an error which respects [Parameter(Mandatory)].

Set-Something : Cannot process command because of one or more missing mandatory parameters: SomeValue.
At line:1 char:1
+ Set-Something
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Set-Something], ParameterBindingException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MissingMandatoryParameter,Set-Something

answered Nov 28, 2017 at 14:05

Kristoffer Bakkejord

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Comments

Avshalom · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-28 13:38:17Z

2

Just remove the [Parameter(Mandatory)] part and validate it inside the function:

function Set-Something
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [string] $SomeValue
    )

    if (!$SomeValue)
    {
    throw "Missing parameter in call to Set-Something"
    }
}

answered Nov 28, 2017 at 13:38

Avshalom

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