Question

In my PowerShell script – one function’s output is another function’s input.
For Eg: Function CreateReport($x) cannot run until unless the Function ParseXml($x) runs. What if a user directly runs the 2nd function before running the 1st.
How can I check if 1st function is already run to continue with 2nd, i.e, first run the 1st function (generate the txt file) then run the 2nd? if first func is already run do not re-run it.

For Eg: Suppose I have a TestFunc.ps1 file having 2 functions as below

$X = "C:\XmlPath\file1.xml"
Function ParseXml($X)
{
#Read xml and output contents in a txt file    
}

#This function should execute only after the function Parsexml($X) and if Pasrsexml() has run before and generated the output, it shouldnot be allowed to re-run here
Function CreateReport($T) 
{
#from the txtfile Create csv
}

Answer 1

If ParseXml function output a file, you can, in the CreateReport function, test for the existence of this file with Test-Path cmdlet:

if exists continue with CreateReport function else call the ParseXml function before continue.