How to properly use the -verbose and -debug parameters in a custom cmdlet

Question

By default, any named function that has the [CmdletBinding()] attribute accepts the -debug and -verbose (and a few others) parameters and has the p

Answer 1

There is no need. PowerShell already does this as the code below proves.

function f { [cmdletbinding()]Param()    
    "f is called"
    Write-Debug Debug
    Write-Verbose Verbose
}
function g { [cmdletbinding()]Param() 
    "g is called"
    f 
}
g -Debug -Verbose

The output is

g is called
f is called
DEBUG: Debug
VERBOSE: Verbose

It is not done as direct as passing -Debug to the next cmdlet though. It is done through the $DebugPreference and $VerbrosePreference variables. Write-Debug and Write-Verbose act like you would expect, but if you want to do something different with debug or verbose you can read here how to check for yourself.

Answer 2

Perhaps it sounds strange, but there isn't any easy way for a cmdlet to know its verbose or debug mode. Take a look at the related question:

How does a cmdlet know when it really should call WriteVerbose()?

One not perfect, but practically reasonable, option is to introduce your own cmdlet parameters (for example, $MyVerbose and $MyDebug) and use them in the code explicitly:

function DoStuff {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param
    (
        # Unfortunately, we cannot use Verbose name with CmdletBinding
        [switch]$MyVerbose
    )

    process {

        if ($MyVerbose) {
            # Do verbose stuff
        }

        # Pass $MyVerbose in the cmdlet explicitly
        New-Item Test -Type Directory -Verbose:$MyVerbose
    }
}

DoStuff -MyVerbose

UPDATE

When we need only a switch (not, say, a verbosity level value) then the approach with $PSBoundParameters is perhaps better than proposed in the first part of this answer (with extra parameters):

function DoStuff {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param()

    process {
        if ($PSBoundParameters['Verbose']) {
            # Do verbose stuff
        }

        New-Item Test -Type Directory -Verbose:($PSBoundParameters['Verbose'] -eq $true)
    }
}

DoStuff -Verbose

It's all not perfect anyway. If there are better solutions then I would really like to know them myself.