Can I get detailed exception stacktrace in PowerShell?

Question

Runing such script:

 1: function foo()
 2: {
 3:    bar
 4: }
 5: 
 6: function bar()
 7: {
 8:     throw \"test\"
 9: }
10: 
11: foo

I see

Answer 1

Maybe I've misunderstood something, but my issue here is that I've not been seeing powershell script stack traces for inner exceptions.

In the end I ended up searching $Global:Error for an exception's Error Eecord object to retrieve the script stack trace.

<#
.SYNOPSIS
   Expands all inner exceptions and provides Script Stack Traces where available by mapping Exceptions to ErrorRecords

.NOTES
   Aggregate exceptions aren't full supported, and their child exceptions won't be traversed like regular inner exceptions
   
#>
function Get-InnerErrors ([Parameter(ValueFrompipeline)] $ErrorObject=$Global:Error[0])
{
   # Get the first exception object from the input error
   $ex = $null
   if( $ErrorObject -is [System.Management.Automation.ErrorRecord] ){
       $ex = $ErrorObject.Exception 
   }
   elseif( $ErrorObject -is [System.Exception] ){
       $ex = $ErrorObject
   } 
   else
   {
       throw "Unexpected error type for Get-InnerErrors: $($ErrorObject.GetType()):`n $ErrorObject"
   }

   Write-Debug "Walking inner exceptions from exception"
   for ($i = 0; $ex; $i++, ($ex = $ex.InnerException))
   {  
       $ErrorRecord = $null

       if( $ex -is [System.Management.Automation.IContainsErrorRecord] ){ 

           Write-Debug "Inner Exception $i : Skipping search for ErrorRecord in `$Global:Error, exception type implements IContainsErrorRecord" 
           $ErrorRecord = ([System.Management.Automation.IContainsErrorRecord]$ex).ErrorRecord
       }
       else {

           # Find ErrorRecord for exception by mapping exception to ErrorRecrods in $Global:Error

           ForEach( $err in $Global:Error ){# Need to use Global scope when referring from a module
               if( $err -is [System.Management.Automation.ErrorRecord] ){
                  if( $err.Exception -eq $ex ){
                       $ErrorRecord = $err 
                       Write-Debug "Inner Exception $i : Found ErrorRecord in `$Global:Error" 
                       break
                   }
               } 
               elseif( $err -is [System.Management.Automation.IContainsErrorRecord] ) {
                   if( $err -eq $ex -or $err.ErrorRecord.Exception -eq $ex ){
                       $ErrorRecord = $err.ErrorRecord
                       Write-Debug "Inner Exception $i : Found ErrorRecord in `$Global:Error" 
                       break
                   }
               } 
               else {
                   Write-Warning "Unexpected type in `$Global:Error[]. Expected `$Global:Error to always be an ErrorRecrod OR exception implementing IContainsErrorRecord but found type: $($err.GetType())"
               }
           }
       }

       if( -not($ErrorRecord) ){
           Write-Debug "Inner Exception $i : No ErrorRecord could be found for exception of type: $($ex.GetType())" 
       }
       
      
       # Return details as custom object

       [PSCustomObject] @{
           ExceptionDepth      = $i
           Message             = $ex.Message
           ScriptStackTrace    = $ErrorRecord.ScriptStackTrace  # Note ErrorRecord will be null if exception was not from Powershell
           ExceptionType       = $ex.GetType().FullName
           ExceptionStackTrace = $ex.StackTrace
       }
   }
}

Example Usage:

function Test-SqlConnection
{
    $ConnectionString = "ThisConnectionStringWillFail"
    try{
        $sqlConnection = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection $ConnectionString;
        $sqlConnection.Open();
    }
    catch
    {
        throw [System.Exception]::new("Sql connection failed with connection string: '$ConnectionString'", $_.Exception)
    }
    finally
    {
        if($sqlConnection){
            $sqlConnection.Close();
        }
    }
}


try{
    Test-SqlConnection
}
catch {
    Get-InnerErrors $_
}

Example output:

ExceptionDepth      : 0
Message             : Sql connection failed with connection string: 'ThisConnectionStringWillFail'
ScriptStackTrace    : at Test-SqlConnection, : line 11
                      at , : line 23
ExceptionType       : System.Exception
ExceptionStackTrace : 

ExceptionDepth      : 1
Message             : Exception calling ".ctor" with "1" argument(s): "Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index 0."
ScriptStackTrace    : 
ExceptionType       : System.Management.Automation.MethodInvocationException
ExceptionStackTrace :    at System.Management.Automation.DotNetAdapter.AuxiliaryConstructorInvoke(MethodInformation methodInformation, Object[] arguments, Object[] originalArguments)
                         at System.Management.Automation.DotNetAdapter.ConstructorInvokeDotNet(Type type, ConstructorInfo[] constructors, Object[] arguments)
                         at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewObjectCommand.CallConstructor(Type type, ConstructorInfo[] constructors, Object[] args)

ExceptionDepth      : 2
Message             : Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index 0.
ScriptStackTrace    : 
ExceptionType       : System.ArgumentException
ExceptionStackTrace :    at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions.GetKeyValuePair(String connectionString, Int32 currentPosition, StringBuilder buffer, Boolean useOdbcRules, String& keyname, String& 
                      keyvalue)
                         at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions.ParseInternal(Hashtable parsetable, String connectionString, Boolean buildChain, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean firstKey)
                         at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions..ctor(String connectionString, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean useOdbcRules)
                         at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionString..ctor(String connectionString)
                         at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnectionOptions(String connectionString, DbConnectionOptions previous)
                         at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnectionPoolGroup(DbConnectionPoolKey key, DbConnectionPoolGroupOptions poolOptions, DbConnectionOptions& userConnectionOptions)
                         at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.ConnectionString_Set(DbConnectionPoolKey key)
                         at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.set_ConnectionString(String value)
                         at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection..ctor(String connectionString, SqlCredential credential)