Create Dummy Files for Testing

Question

I have two different folders.

In one folder, I have files that will be exported to a remote site via FTP.

In a second folder, I have .dat files that will be processed by a ftp client program that I have. Each .dat file contains basic information that my ftp program needs to process a request.

I needed to create a bunch of dummy files and dummy requests to test my ftp program. I decided to create these dummy files with Powershell.

I know almost nothing about Powershell, so even the most basic advice would be helpful.

This is all inside a Powershell script that can be run from the Powershell ISE.

$export_src_base = "D:\csv_exports"
$export_src_dir = "$export_src_base\test"
$queue_dir = "D:\FTP\Queue"

# Create the export source directory if it does not exist. 
if (-not(Test-Path $export_src_dir)){
    New-Item -ItemType directory -Path $export_src_dir
}

for ($i=1; $i -le 100; $i++){
    # Create 100 dummy files if they do not exist.
    $file = "$i.txt"
    $filepath = "$export_src_dir\$file"

    if (-not(Test-Path $filepath)){
        New-Item -ItemType file -Path $filepath -Value $i
    }

    # Create 100 dummy requests if they do not exist.
    $queue_file = "$i.dat"
    $queue_filepath = "$queue_dir\$queue_file"

$value = @"
[Item]
SrcFileName=$filepath
DestFileName=$file
FTPSite=Site1
DestPath=Temp\Testing
Sent=0
ErrorCount=0
LastTriedTime= 
"@

    if (-not(Test-Path $queue_filepath)){
        New-Item -ItemType file -Path $queue_filepath -Value $value
    }

}

Answer 1

Pretty hard to pick on this, looks pretty nice already!

You have this duplicated pattern though:

if (-not(Test-Path $filepath)){
    New-Item -ItemType file -Path $filepath -Value $i
}
# ...
if (-not(Test-Path $queue_filepath)){
    New-Item -ItemType file -Path $queue_filepath -Value $value
}

You could create a function that takes $path and $value and use it twice instead of duplicating code.

And the comments are pointless, your code already speaks for itself (nice!), so just delete them!

Other than these nitpicks, I don't see a better way to do what you want.