Functions from an imported module are not available in a powershell script

Question

I am working with PowerShell V 4.0 on a Windows Server machine. I have encountered a problem that I am not able to debug or find a solution.

I have a ps1 script that imports two psm1 modules A and B. (B in turn imports another module C).

Import-Module  $PSScriptRoot\..\lib\infra\moduleA.psm1 
Import-Module  $PSScriptRoot\..\lib\nwm\moduleB.psm1 

#get-logger function works fine. This is defined in moduleA
$log = get-logger

$smisXmlData = [xml] $smisConfigData

#The function get-hostLocalCred is defined in moduleB. This is where the error occurs. 
($username, $password) = get-hostLocalCred $smisXmlData

I am not able to use the functions from the second module moduleB in the script. When I run the script, it throws errors where ever a function from the module B is used. The error is below (get-hostLocalCred is the function name.)

get-hostLocalCred : The term 'get-hostLocalCred' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling  of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

The following is the content in the moduleB.

#Importing moduleC. 
Import-Module  $PSScriptRoot/../infra/moduleC.psm1

#Defining required functions. These are the functions that are not available in the above script. 
function get-hostLocalCred {
    Param($xmldata)
    $log.entry()
    $username = $xmldata.component.yourhost.localcred.username
    $log.debug("USERNAME: $username")
    $password = $xmldata.component.yourhost.localcred.password
    $log.exit()
    return $username, $password
}

function new-ArrayCredObj {
Param([Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] $user,
  [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] $password)
    $log.entry()
    $log.info("Creating custom Object")
    $log.debug("User : $user")
    $log.debug("Pwd : $password")
    $arrayCred = New-Object psobject
    $arrayCred | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name auser -Value $user
    $arrayCred | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name password -Value $password
    $log.exit()
    return $arrayCred
}
.
.
.
.

The functions from moduleA are being executed properly, but I am not able to execute the function from moduleB. Also, After running the script in the console, When I try to lookup the functions available in the Module B, using the following commandlet,

Get-Command -Module ModuleB

I only see the functions defined in the ModuleC, which is imported by moduleB, but I donot see any of the functions defined in the moduleB. I have been working with powershell but this is the first time I have seen this issue.

When I do a Get-Module, I see only moduleA and moduleB.

All the Modules are imported in the following way:

Import-Module  $PSScriptRoot/../lib/newmodules/moduleB.psm1 

Importing modules Globally has also not solved the problem.

Importing modules by giving actual path like following has also not solved the issue.

Import-Module C:\folderpath\ModuleB.psm1 

All the functions in all the modules have been defined as following. There is no difference in the function definition in any of the modules.

function get-hostLocalCred {
    Param($xmldata)
    # Function Definition 
    return $result
}

I might be missing a simple thing but I am not able to get it. I have been importing modules normally and working with them since long time but this is the first time I ran into this issue. Thanks in advance for the help.

Answer 1

This problem occurs when your manifest (.psd1) does not have a root module specified.

@{

# Script module or binary module file associated with this manifest.
RootModule = 'mymodule.psm1' 
...

Previously, it would have been commented out by default when generating it from New-ModuleManifest

@{

# Script module or binary module file associated with this manifest.
# RootModule = '' 
...

Answer 2

Maybe you are updating the code in moduleB while testing it from a PS session.

Then according to Microsoft's documentation you should use the Force parameter of Import-Module if your module has changed during the same calling session.

Import-Module $PSScriptRoot\..\lib\nwm\moduleB.psm1 -Force