Help output formatting is not tolerant of StrictMode #10562
Description
There is a PowerShell module at work which has a MAML help file (.dll-Help.xml). While the help content seemed to show up okay for some colleagues, it did not show up well for me. I would see content like:
PS C:\Users\jazzdelightsme> open-foo -?
NAME
Open-Foo
SYNOPSIS
Opens a new connection to a foo.
SYNTAX
Open-Foo [-FooName] <string> [<CommonParameters>]
Open-Foo [<CommonParameters>]
Open-Foo [<CommonParameters>]
Open-Foo [<CommonParameters>]
DESCRIPTION
Lorem ipsum dolor blah blah blah ...
RELATED LINKS
REMARKS
To see the examples, type: "get-help Open-Foo -examples".
For more information, type: "get-help Open-Foo -detailed".
For technical information, type: "get-help Open-Foo -full".
PS C:\Users\jazzdelightsme>
After some troubleshooting, I found that this was due to the fact that I Set-StrictMode -Version Latest in my $profile script. It turns out there is some script run during formatting of help output, and the MAML was perhaps not as complete as it should be. I discovered clues in $error, like:
The property 'required' cannot be found on this object. Verify that the property exists.
At line:1 char:1
+ $optional = $_.required -ne 'true'
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], PropertyNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PropertyNotFoundStrict
This can be worked around by filling out the MAML a bit more, but it is rather large, and hand-tweaking MAML is not my idea of a good time. (I'm not sure if the MAML was originally hand-crafted, or some tool was used, or what, but it's quite old.)
Perhaps help formatting could be upgraded to be more tolerant of StrictMode errors?
In fact, it seems that some help formatting script already does this. See here--the script includes a call to Set-StrictMode -Off:
var RelatedLinksHelpInfoControl = CustomControl.Create()
.StartEntry()
.StartFrame(leftIndent: 4)
.AddScriptBlockExpressionBinding(StringUtil.Format(@"Set-StrictMode -Off
if (($_.relatedLinks -ne $()) -and ($_.relatedLinks.navigationLink -ne $()) -and ($_.relatedLinks.navigationLink.Length -ne 0))See also: #6497
Environment data
Name Value
---- -----
PSVersion 7.0.0-preview.3
PSEdition Core
GitCommitId 7.0.0-preview.3
OS Microsoft Windows 10.0.18985
Platform Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.3
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion 3.0