Broken links SPE report return no results

[AkahnDEG]

I am working in Sitecore.NET 10.3.4 (rev. 012661 PRE) and the broken links report found under the sitecore powershell reports, So reporting tools -> powershell reports -> content audit -> broken links always returns 0 results no matter what I try. However when I use the broken links report that is built into sitecore and accessed from the control panel -> reports -> scan for broken links I do get results.

[michaellwest]

Root Cause Analysis

After reviewing the script in Broken Links.yml, I identified 4 bugs — the most critical of which explains why the report returns no results.

Bug 1 (Critical): Non-rendering internal broken links are never reported

In the HasBrokenLink filter, the loop over $brokenLinks only reports links that match a rendering datasource. When a broken link is a normal field-level link (Droptree, General Link, etc.), $brokenRendering is $null, and this condition fires:

if(!$brokenRendering -or !$linksToCheck.Contains("renderings")) { continue }

This continue skips all standard internal broken links. Only rendering datasource broken links are ever reported — which is a rare edge case. This is the primary reason the report returns 0 results for most users.

Bug 2: Assignment instead of comparison in InfoDescription

$(@('all versions','latest versions')[[byte]($searchVersion='1')])

$searchVersion='1' is an assignment (=), not a comparison (-eq). This always overwrites $searchVersion with '1' and always displays "latest versions" in the description regardless of user selection.

Bug 3: Hardcoded database name

$brokenRenderingItem = Get-Item -Path "master:" -ID $brokenRendering.ItemId

Should use $Item.Database.Name instead of hardcoded "master:".

Bug 4: Null comparison order

if($brokenlinks -ne $null -and $brokenlinks.Length -gt 0)

When an array is on the left side of -ne $null, PowerShell filters elements instead of null-checking the variable. Should be $null -ne $brokenlinks.

---

Fix plan: Restructure the internal link loop to report non-rendering broken links, and fix the three secondary issues.

[michaellwest]

We've identified several bugs in the Broken Links report script and have a fix ready on the feature/1406-broken-links-report branch. Here's a summary of what was wrong:

1. Non-rendering internal broken links were silently skipped - The original logic only reported broken links that matched a rendering datasource. Standard internal broken links (the common case) were skipped entirely, which is why the report returned 0 results.
2. Assignment instead of comparison - $searchVersion='1' was assigning instead of comparing ($searchVersion -eq '1'), causing the version display text to always show incorrectly.
3. Hardcoded database name - Get-Item -Path "master:" was used instead of $Item.Database.Name, which would fail on non-master databases.
4. Null comparison order - $brokenlinks -ne $null changed to $null -ne $brokenlinks to follow PowerShell best practices.

Could you try the updated script below and let us know if it resolves the issue?

Updated Broken Links script (click to expand)

<#
    .SYNOPSIS
        Lists the items with broken links searching all or the latest version in the current language.

    .DESCRIPTION
        The following report lists items with broken links.

        * Supports checking internal links
        * Ability to ignore checking broken links in the renderings field. (Makes sense in come clone scenarios)
        * Supports checking external links of field type "General Link with Search"
        * Supports checking external protocol independent links (URL's starting with //)
        * Supports checking external links of field type "Rich Text"

    .NOTES
        Adam Najmanowicz, Michael West, Daniel Scherrer, Mikael Hogberg
        Adapted from the Advanced System Reporter module & Daniel Scherrer's external links checker:
        https://gist.github.com/daniiiol/143db3e2004afe9a55c1dd3e33048940

        Updated with improvements found here:
        https://gist.github.com/mikaelnet/9d4345d73db257e1e81c3bc9ebd8280c
#>

$database = "master"
$root = Get-Item -Path (@{$true="$($database):\content\home"; $false="$($database):\content"}[(Test-Path -Path "$($database):\content\home")])
$linksToCheck =  @("internal")
$linkTypes = [ordered]@{"Internal Links"="internal";"External Links"="external";"Renderings"="renderings"};

$versionOptions = [ordered]@{
    "Latest"="1"
}

$props = @{
    Parameters = @(
        @{Name="root"; Title="Choose the report root"; Tooltip="Only items in this branch will be returned."; Columns=9},
        @{Name="searchVersion"; Value="1"; Title="Version"; Options=$versionOptions; Tooltip="Choose a version."; Columns="3"; Placeholder="All"},
        @{Name="linksToCheck"; Title="Link types to check"; Options=$linkTypes; Tooltip="Link types you want to check"; Editor="checklist"}
    )
    Title = "Broken Links Report"
    Description = "Choose the criteria for the report."
    Width = 550
    Height = 300
    ShowHints = $true
    Icon = [regex]::Replace($PSScript.Appearance.Icon, "Office", "OfficeWhite", [System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions]::IgnoreCase)
}

$result = Read-Variable @props

if($result -eq "cancel"){
    exit
}

filter HasBrokenLink {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,ValueFromPipeline=$true)]
        [Sitecore.Data.Items.Item]$Item,

        [Parameter()]
        [bool]$IncludeAllVersions
    )

    if(!$Item) { return }
    if($linksToCheck.Contains("internal")) {
        $brokenLinks = $item.Links.GetBrokenLinks($IncludeAllVersions)
        if($null -ne $brokenlinks -and $brokenlinks.Length -gt 0) {
            $finalRenderings = Get-Rendering -Item $Item -FinalLayout
            $sharedRenderings = Get-Rendering -Item $Item
            $uniqueIdLookup = New-Object System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[string]
            foreach($brokenLink in $brokenLinks) {
                if([Sitecore.Data.ID]::IsNullOrEmpty($brokenLink.SourceFieldID)) { continue }
                $fieldItem = Get-Item -Path "$($Item.Database.Name):\" -ID $brokenLink.SourceFieldID
                if(!$fieldItem) { continue }
                $renderings = & {
                    switch($fieldItem.ID) {
                        "{04BF00DB-F5FB-41F7-8AB7-22408372A981}" {
                            $finalRenderings
                        }
                        default {
                            $sharedRenderings
                        }
                    }
                }
                $brokenRendering = $renderings | Where-Object { $_.Datasource -eq $brokenLink.TargetPath -and !$uniqueIdLookup.Contains($_.UniqueId) } | Select-Object -First 1
                if($brokenRendering) {
                    # This is a rendering datasource link - only report if renderings checked
                    if(!$linksToCheck.Contains("renderings")) { continue }
                    $uniqueIdLookup.Add($brokenRendering.UniqueId) > $null
                    $brokenRenderingItem = Get-Item -Path "$($Item.Database.Name):\" -ID $brokenRendering.ItemId
                    [pscustomobject]@{
                        "ID"=$Item.ID
                        "Icon"=$Item.__Icon
                        "DisplayName"=$Item.DisplayName
                        "ItemPath"=$Item.ItemPath
                        "Version"=$Item.Version
                        "Language"=$Item.Language
                        "__Updated"=$Item.__Updated
                        "__Updated by"=$Item."__Updated by"
                        "Link Field"=$fieldItem.Name
                        "Rendering"=$brokenRenderingItem.Name
                        "Placeholder"=$brokenRendering.Placeholder
                        "Target Path"=$brokenLink.TargetPath
                        "Status Code"="Missing Target Item"
                        "BrokenLink"=$brokenLink
                        "Link Type"="Internal"
                    }
                } else {
                    # Standard internal broken link - always report
                    [pscustomobject]@{
                        "ID"=$Item.ID
                        "Icon"=$Item.__Icon
                        "DisplayName"=$Item.DisplayName
                        "ItemPath"=$Item.ItemPath
                        "Version"=$Item.Version
                        "Language"=$Item.Language
                        "__Updated"=$Item.__Updated
                        "__Updated by"=$Item."__Updated by"
                        "Link Field"=$fieldItem.Name
                        "Target Path"=$brokenLink.TargetPath
                        "Status Code"="Missing Target Item"
                        "BrokenLink"=$brokenLink
                        "Link Type"="Internal"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    if($linksToCheck.Contains("external")){
        if($IncludeAllVersions){
            $allItems = Get-Item "$($item.Database.Name):" -Version * -Language * -Id $item.Id
        } else {
            $allItems = @(Get-Item "$($item.Database.Name):" -Language * -Id $item.Id)
        }
        foreach($checkedItem in $allItems){
            foreach($field in $checkedItem.Fields) {
                $urls = @()
                if ($field.TypeKey -like 'general link*' -and $field.Value -like '*linktype="external"*') {
                    $found = $field.Value -match '.*url="(.*?)".*'
                    if($found) {
                        $url = $matches[1]
                        if ($url.StartsWith('//')) {
                            $url = 'http:{0}' -f $url
                        }
                        $urls += $url
                    }
                }
                if ($field.TypeKey -like 'rich text') {
                    $field.Value | Select-String '\shref="([^"]+)"' -AllMatches | ForEach-Object { $_.Matches } | ForEach-Object {
                        $match = $_
                        $url = $match.Groups[1].Value
                        if ($url.StartsWith('//')) {
                            $url = 'http:{0}' -f $url
                        }
                        if ($url.StartsWith('http://') -or $url.StartsWith('https://')) {
                            $urls += $url
                        }
                    }
                }

                $urls | ForEach-Object {
                    $url = $_
                    try{
                        $response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -UseBasicParsing -Method head
                    }
                    catch {
                        $statuscode = $_.Exception.Response.StatusCode.Value__

                        if(!$statuscode) {
                            $statuscode = "Not reachable"
                        }

                        $brokenItem = [pscustomobject]@{
                            "ID"=$checkedItem.ID
                            "Icon"=$checkedItem.__Icon
                            "DisplayName"=$checkedItem.DisplayName
                            "ItemPath"=$checkedItem.ItemPath
                            "Version"=$checkedItem.Version
                            "Language"=$checkedItem.Language
                            "__Updated"=$checkedItem.__Updated
                            "__Updated by"=$checkedItem."__Updated by"
                            "Link Field"=$field.Name
                            "Target Path"=$url
                            "Status Code"=$statuscode
                            "Link Type"="External"
                        }

                        $brokenItem
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

$items = @($root) + @(($root.Axes.GetDescendants() | Initialize-Item)) | HasBrokenLink -IncludeAllVersions (!$searchVersion)

if($items.Count -eq 0){
    Show-Alert "There are no items found which have broken links in the current language."
} else {
    $props = @{
        Title = "Broken Links Report"
        InfoTitle = "Found $($items.Count) items with broken links!"
        InfoDescription = "The report checked for $($linksToCheck -join ' & ') links in $(@('all versions','latest versions')[[byte]($searchVersion -eq '1')]) of items."
        MissingDataMessage = "There are no items found which have broken links in the current language."
        PageSize = 25
        ViewName = "BrokenLinks"
        Property = @(
            "Icon","Status Code",
            @{Label="Name"; Expression={$_.DisplayName} },
            @{Label="Item Path"; Expression={$_.ItemPath} },"Link Field", "Rendering","Placeholder","Target Path",
            "Link Type",
            "Version",
            "Language",
            @{Label="Updated"; Expression={$_.__Updated} },
            @{Label="Updated by"; Expression={$_."__Updated by"} }
        )
    }

    $items | Show-ListView @props
}
Close-Window

You can paste this into the SPE ISE to test, or it will be included in the next release. Please report back whether internal broken links now appear in the results.