How to capture the exception raised in the scriptblock of start-job?

Question

I have the following script,

$createZip = {     Param ([String]$source, [String]$zipfile)     Process {          echo "zip: $source`n     --> $zipfile"         throw "test"     } }  try {     Start-Job -ScriptBlock $createZip -ArgumentList "abd", "acd"       echo "**Don't reach here if error**"     LogThezippedFile } catch {     echo "Captured: "     $_ | fl * -force } Get-Job | Wait-Job  Get-Job | receive-job  Get-Job | Remove-Job  

However, the exception raised in another powershell instance cannot be captured. What's the best way to capture the exception?

Id              Name            State      HasMoreData     Location             Command                   --              ----            -----      -----------     --------             -------                   343             Job343          Running    True            localhost            ...                       **Don't reach here if error** 343             Job343          Failed     True            localhost            ...                       zip: abd      --> acd Receive-Job : test At line:18 char:22 + Get-Job | receive-job <<<<       + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (test:String) [Receive-Job], RuntimeException     + FullyQualifiedErrorId : test 

Answer 1

Using throw will change the job object's State property to "Failed". The key is to use the job object returned from Start-Job or Get-Job and check the State property. You can then access the exception message from the job object itself.

Per your request I updated the example to also include concurrency.

$createZip = {     Param ( [String] $source, [String] $zipfile )      if ($source -eq "b") {         throw "Failed to create $zipfile"     } else {         return "Successfully created $zipfile"     } }  $jobs = @() $sources = "a", "b", "c"  foreach ($source in $sources) {     $jobs += Start-Job -ScriptBlock $createZip -ArgumentList $source, "${source}.zip" }  Wait-Job -Job $jobs | Out-Null  foreach ($job in $jobs) {     if ($job.State -eq 'Failed') {         Write-Host ($job.ChildJobs[0].JobStateInfo.Reason.Message) -ForegroundColor Red     } else {         Write-Host (Receive-Job $job) -ForegroundColor Green      } }