Printing the error in try catch block in powershell - exception

Question

Here is my script which returns a boolean
param($fileName, $path, $contextMenuItem, $automationDLLPath)
function CloseWindowsExplorer()
{
(New-Object -comObject Shell.Application).Windows() | foreach-object {$_.quit()}
}
Try
{
Import-Module $automationDLLPath
# Open the explorer window in a maximized form
Start-Process explorer $path -WindowStyle Maximized
Start-Sleep 1
Get-UIAActiveWindow
# Get the "Items View" in Explorer to go through all the lements
$list = Get-UIAList -Name 'Items View' -TimeOut 30000;
# Get the file specified in the feature file from the Items View
# Added a sleep because the VM takes time to perform the functions
Start-Sleep 1
$file = $list | Get-UIAListItem -Name $fileName;
# Perform a single click on the file to invoke a right click on it
Invoke-UIAListItemSelectItem -InputObject $file -ItemName $fileName;
# Added a sleep because the VM takes time to perform the functions
Start-Sleep 1
# Invoke the right click on the selected file
$menu = Invoke-UIAControlContextMenu -InputObject $file;
Start-Sleep 1
# select our context menu item
$menuItem = Get-UIAMenuItem -InputObject $menu $contextMenuItem -TimeOut 30000;
# Display error if the required item in the context menu is not found
if( $null -eq $menuItem){
%{ Write-Host 'cannot find menuItem' }
}
# Invoke the item if found in the context menu
else{
Invoke-UIAMenuItemClick -InputObject $menuItem
}
# close the windows explorer and return true
CloseWindowsExplorer
Write-Output "true"
}
Catch
{
# close the explorer window as a part of teardown and return false to reflect test failure
Write-Output "false"
CloseWindowsExplorer
}
I want the script to print the exact exception that was caught as well as return a boolean but in this case it is just returning false when the script fails. Any help is appreciated
Basically I need to print the exception as if the try catch block does not exist.

Answer 1

You need to use the special variable $_
This small example shows how it works:
try {
testmenow
} catch {
Write-Host $_
}
$_ is an object so you can do
$_|gm
in the catch block in order to see the methods you can call.