I'm working on a PowerShell library that automates some network management operations. Some of these operations have arbitrary delays, and each can fail in unique ways. To handle these delays gracefully, I'm creating a generic retry function that has three main purposes:
- Execute an arbitrary command (with parameters)
- If it fails in a recognized way, try it again, up to some limit
- If it fails in an unexpected way, bail and report
The problem is item #2. I want to be able to specify the expected exception type for the command. How can I do this in PowerShell?
Here's my function:
Function Retry-Command {
[CmdletBinding()]
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=0)]
[String] $name,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=1)]
[String] $scriptBlock,
[String[]] $argumentList,
[Int] $maxAttempts=3,
[Int] $retrySeconds=10,
[System.Exception] $retryException=[System.Management.Automation.RuntimeException]
)
$attempts = 1
$keepTrying = $True
$cmd = [ScriptBlock]::Create($scriptblock)
do {
try {
&$cmd @argumentList
$keepTrying = $False
Write-Verbose "Command [$commandName] succeeded after $attmpts attempts."
} catch [$retryException] {
$msg = "Command [$commandName] failed. Attempt $attempts of $maxAttempts."
Write-Verbose $msg;
if ($maxAttempts -gt $attempts) {
Write-Debug "Sleeping $retrySeconds"
Start-Sleep -Seconds $retrySeconds
} else {
$keepTrying = $False
Write-Debug "Reached $attempts attempts. Re-raising exception."
Throw $_.Exception
}
} catch [System.Exception] {
$keepTrying = $False
$msg = "Unexpected exception while executing command [$CommandName]: "
Write-Error $msg + $_.Exception.ToString()
Throw $_.Exception
} finally {
$attempts += 1
}
} while ($True -eq $keepTrying)
}
I call it like this:
$result = Retry-Command -Name = "Foo the bar" -ScriptBlock $cmd -ArgumentList $cmdArgs
But this is the result:
Retry-Command : Cannot process argument transformation on parameter 'retryException'.
Cannot convert the "System.Management.Automation.RuntimeException" value of type "System.RuntimeType" to type "System.Exception".
At Foo.ps1:111 char:11
+ $result = Retry-Command <<<< -Name "Foo the bar" -ScriptBlock $cmd -ArgumentList $cmdArgs
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [Retry-Command], ParameterBindin...mationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentTransformationError,Retry-Command
This seems to be saying that the type of [System.Management.Automation.RuntimeException]
is not itself a [System.Exception]
, but is instead a [System.RuntimeType]
which makes sense.
So, how do I specify the type of the exception to be caught?