Why Internal/Hidden Functions?

[mscirri]

The source code for dbatools is available for anyone to download and use, but not all functions are exported. What is the point of having internal/hidden functions in the case where source code is available to everyone?

BACKGROUND: I have a project where Find-DbaLoginInGroup got me like 95% of the way there but I needed it to do one more thing, so I thought I would just copy the function code into my own function, add my customization, and as long as I had dbatools installed, it would work. (I did add a suggestion for this specific feature here: #7402)

[niphlod]

if you import the psm1 file you get pretty much everything. That being said, all code gets used... "hidden" pieces are usually reused withing the public functions, which are the only ones with tested/approved/granted "entry-points"/"interfaces" dbatools exposes.

[mscirri]

As far as what I am trying to do, I added this: #7402

[mscirri]

And taking a step back even further, here is what this mini project is supposed to accomplish:

I need a list of all of the AD users that have access to certain SQL Server environments and I need to know what access they have, whether at the server or database level. This is for compliance and internal auditing purposes. Most of our permissions are granted through AD Security groups, and some groups contain other groups a members. We also have some permissions that are granted on a DB but without a SQL login.

I hope that provides some context.

[niphlod]

all of those are available if you import the psm1 file in "developer mode" (fastest way is making sure a .git folder exists in the directory where dbatools.psm1 and dbatools.psd1 are)

[mscirri]

OK. I have never done that before so I will have to take a moment look that up, but I will definitely give it a shot.

[mscirri]

It still does not seem to recognize the 2 main functions I have been having issues with. I tried just importing the PSM1 file as well as importing dbatools AND the PSM1 file. Same result unfortunately.

===========================================

Stop-Function : The term 'Stop-Function' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At C:\Users\mscirri\OneDrive - Empire Innovation Group LLC\Documents\PS Scripts\SQL Server\Find-DbaLoginInGroupWithDBOnlyUsers.ps1:125 char:17
Stop-Function -Message "Error occurred while establis ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Stop-Function:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

Select-DefaultView : The term 'Select-DefaultView' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At C:\Users\mscirri\OneDrive - Empire Innovation Group LLC\Documents\PS Scripts\SQL Server\Find-DbaLoginInGroupWithDBOnlyUsers.ps1:163 char:13
Select-DefaultView -InputObject $res -Property SqlInstanc ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Select-DefaultView:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

[andreasjordan]

Parameters or functionality of internal commands could change without notice.
But there are indeed some internal function I would like to have exported so that I can use them myself.

[potatoqualitee]

Interesting! Which ones, @andreasjordan ?

[andreasjordan]

The last that I wanted to use was Test-PendingReboot to test for pending reboots before starting Install-DbaInstance (and because Install-DbaInstance currently does not test for pending reboots because of open file renames).
I already implemented Convert-ByteToHexString myself, so this and Convert-HexStringToByte is a good candidate.
I once needed Get-DbaHelp - and will need it again to get some better formatted documentation for a command.
And maybe Invoke-Command2 and Invoke-CommandWithFallback would be candidates also.

But exporting functions that don't start with "-Dba" is always a risk because of name collisions. Maybe change these names and then export.

Not an easy topic...

[potatoqualitee]

Ah, those are really good, but admittedly out of scope, except perhaps Test-PendingReboot. I can see a lot of DBAs needing that one.

You can create a helper module with the commands you like and release it to the Gallery. I tend to just copy the commands I like to my other modules and add them to my modules.