MakeIndex — Dependency Catalog

Source: main.ps1, line 7531
Purpose: Generates JSON-formatted nested indexes of files and directories with metadata
Audience: AI-first, Human-second

1. External PsLib Functions Called

These functions are defined at the top level of main.ps1 (outside of MakeIndex) and are called from within MakeIndex or its nested sub-functions.

Function	Defined At	Called From (within MakeIndex)	Purpose
`Base64DecodeString`	main.ps1:764	`GetFileExif` → `GetFileExifArgsWrite`	Decodes Base64-encoded exiftool argument strings (with URL-decode and UTF8 encoding support)
`Date2UnixTime`	main.ps1:2517	`MakeObject`	Converts formatted date strings to Unix timestamps
`DirectoryId`	main.ps1:2819	`MakeObject`	Generates unique identifiers (MD5, SHA256) for directories based on directory name hashing. Returns an object with `.IdMD5`, `.IdSHA256`, `.DirectoryName`, `.DirectoryNameMD5`, `.DirectoryNameSHA256`, `.IsLink` properties
`FileId`	main.ps1:4941	`MakeObject`	Generates unique identifiers (MD5, SHA256) for files based on content hashing. Returns an object with `.IdMD5`, `.IdSHA256`, `.ContentMD5`, `.ContentSHA256`, `.NameMD5`, `.NameSHA256`, `.IsLink` properties
`MetaFileRead`	main.ps1:10233	`ReadMetaFile`	Reads and parses external metadata files (sidecar files). Accepts `-InputFile`, `-Format "object"`, `-ProgressString`, `-Verbosity`. Returns an object with `.Type`, `.Data`, `.Name` properties
`TempOpen`	main.ps1:15119	`GetFileExif`	Creates a temporary file and returns its path. Called with `-Type 'txt'`
`TempClose`	main.ps1:15044	`GetFileExif`	Deletes a temporary file. Called with `-Target <path>`
`Vbs`	main.ps1:16412	Throughout (all sub-functions)	Verbose/logging output handler. Called with `-Caller`, `-Status` (i/d/w/e), `-Message`, `-Verbosity`

Listed but Not Directly Called

Function	Notes
`ValidateIsLink`	Listed in the MakeIndex docstring under "Function Dependencies" but never directly invoked within MakeIndex code. The `.IsLink` property is obtained indirectly via the return objects of `DirectoryId` and `FileId`, which likely call `ValidateIsLink` internally.

2. External Variables Loaded

These variables are defined at the script level of main.ps1 (in the variable declarations section, lines ~17383–17441) and are accessed by MakeIndex through scope inheritance or the $global: prefix.

Variable	Defined At	Type	Description
`$global:MetadataFileParser`	main.ps1:16977	`[ordered]@{}` (Hashtable)	Large configuration object governing metadata file parsing behavior. MakeIndex consumes the following sub-properties: `.Exiftool.Exclude` — Array of file extensions to skip for exiftool processing `.Indexer.Include` — Array of regex patterns identifying metadata sidecar file suffixes `.Indexer.IncludeString` — Joined regex string of the Include array `.Indexer.Exclude` — Array of regex patterns for metadata files to exclude `.Indexer.ExcludeString` — Joined regex string of the Exclude array `.Identify.<Key>` — Sub-objects mapping metadata file types to their regex patterns (used by `MetaFileRead` downstream)
`$Sep`	main.ps1:17383	`[System.Char]`	Directory separator character (`[System.IO.Path]::DirectorySeparatorChar`). Used when constructing renamed file paths in `MakeDirectoryIndexLogic`, `MakeDirectoryIndexRecursiveLogic`, and `MakeFileIndex`

Global Variables Created/Managed at Runtime

MakeIndex promotes several local parameter values to global scope for access by deeply nested sub-functions, then cleans them up at the end of execution:

Variable	Lifecycle	Purpose
`$global:ExiftoolRejectList`	Created at start, removed at end	Copy of `$MetadataFileParser.Exiftool.Exclude`
`$global:MetaSuffixInclude`	Created at start, removed at end	Copy of `$MetadataFileParser.Indexer.Include`
`$global:MetaSuffixIncludeString`	Created at start, removed at end	Copy of `$MetadataFileParser.Indexer.IncludeString`
`$global:MetaSuffixExclude`	Created at start, removed at end	Copy of `$MetadataFileParser.Indexer.Exclude`
`$global:MetaSuffixExcludeString`	Created at start, removed at end	Copy of `$MetadataFileParser.Indexer.ExcludeString`
`$global:DeleteQueue`	Created at start (`@()`), removed at end	Accumulates file paths of metadata sidecar files to delete when `-MetaMergeDelete` is active

3. External Binaries / Executables Invoked

Binary	Called From (within MakeIndex)	How Invoked	Purpose
`exiftool`	`GetFileExif` → `GetFileExifRun`	`exiftool -@ "$ArgsFile" 2> $null` — Invoked via bare command name (must be in system PATH). Receives arguments from a temporary file written by `GetFileExifArgsWrite`.	Extracts EXIF/metadata from files. Arguments include: `-extractEmbedded3`, `-scanForXMP`, `-unknown2`, `-json`, `-G3:1`, `-struct`, `-ignoreMinorErrors`, `-charset filename=utf8`, `-api requestall=3`, `-api largefilesupport=1` (plus `-quiet` when verbosity is off)
`jq`	`GetFileExif` → `GetFileExifRun`	`$ExiftoolOutput \\| jq -c '.[] \\| .' 2> $null` and a second pass with `jq -c 'del(…)'` to strip unwanted keys	Parses and filters JSON output from exiftool. Removes system/exiftool metadata keys (ExifToolVersion, FileSequence, NewGUID, Directory, FileName, FilePath, BaseName, FilePermissions, etc.)

Note on Binary Resolution

Neither exiftool nor jq are referenced via absolute paths. Both must be available in the system PATH environment variable at runtime. The MakeIndex docstring explicitly states: "exiftool must be installed and available in the system PATH. This function will not work without it." The jq dependency is implicit (not mentioned in the docstring) but is equally required for metadata extraction to work.

4. Internal Sub-Functions (Defined Within MakeIndex)

For completeness and call-chain tracing, these are the functions defined inside the MakeIndex function body. They are not accessible outside of MakeIndex.

Top-Level Internal Functions

Function	Purpose	Calls (internal)	Calls (external PsLib)
`GetFileEncoding`	Detects file encoding via BOM byte inspection	—	—
`GetFileExif`	Orchestrates exiftool execution for a single file	`GetFileExifArgsWrite`, `GetFileExifRun`, `UpdateFunctionStack`	`Base64DecodeString`, `TempOpen`, `TempClose`, `Vbs`
`GetFileMetaSiblings`	Finds sibling metadata files matching a given file's basename	`GetParentPath`, `UpdateFunctionStack`	`Vbs`
`GetParentPath`	Extracts parent directory path from a full path string	—	—
`MakeDirectoryIndex`	Entry point for non-recursive directory indexing	`MakeDirectoryIndexLogic`, `UpdateFunctionStack`	`Vbs`
`MakeDirectoryIndexRecursive`	Entry point for recursive directory indexing	`MakeDirectoryIndexRecursiveLogic`, `UpdateFunctionStack`	`Vbs`
`MakeFileIndex`	Entry point for single-file indexing	`MakeObject`, `GetParentPath`, `UpdateFunctionStack`	`Vbs`
`MakeObject`	Core object builder — constructs the PSCustomObject for any file or directory	`GetFileEncoding`, `GetFileExif`, `GetFileMetaSiblings`, `GetParentPath`, `ReadMetaFile`, `VariableStringify`, `UpdateFunctionStack`	`Date2UnixTime`, `DirectoryId`, `FileId`, `Vbs`
`ReadMetaFile`	Reads a metadata sidecar file and wraps it in a standard object	`ReadMetaFile-GetNameHashMD5`, `ReadMetaFile-GetNameHashSHA256`, `UpdateFunctionStack`	`MetaFileRead`, `Vbs`
`ResolvePath`	Resolves real or hypothetical filesystem paths	`UpdateFunctionStack`	`Vbs`
`UpdateFunctionStack`	Maintains a colon-delimited call-stack string for logging	—	—
`VariableStringify`	Converts variables to string representations (handles null/empty)	—	—

Nested Internal Functions (defined inside other internal functions)

Function	Parent Function	Purpose
`GetFileExifArgsWrite`	`GetFileExif`	Writes decoded exiftool argument strings to a temp file
`GetFileExifRun`	`GetFileExif`	Executes `exiftool` and pipes output through `jq`
`MakeDirectoryIndexLogic`	`MakeDirectoryIndex`	Core non-recursive directory traversal and object assembly
`MakeDirectoryIndexRecursiveLogic`	`MakeDirectoryIndexRecursive`	Core recursive directory traversal and object assembly (calls itself recursively for child directories)
`ReadMetaFile-GetNameHashMD5`	`ReadMetaFile`	Computes MD5 hash of a filename string
`ReadMetaFile-GetNameHashSHA256`	`ReadMetaFile`	Computes SHA256 hash of a filename string

5. PowerShell Built-in Cmdlets and .NET Types Used

For porting reference, MakeIndex relies on these PowerShell cmdlets and .NET framework types.

Cmdlets

Cmdlet	Usage Context
`Add-Content`	Appending filename to exiftool args file
`ConvertFrom-Json`	Parsing exiftool JSON output (`-AsHashtable`)
`ConvertTo-Json`	Serializing output objects (`-Depth 100`)
`Get-ChildItem`	Directory listing (with `-Force`, `-File`, `-Recurse`, `-LiteralPath`)
`Get-Help`	(not directly, but pattern exists in other functions)
`Get-Item`	File/directory info retrieval (`-Force`, `-LiteralPath`)
`Measure-Object`	Directory size calculation (`-Property Length -Sum`)
`Move-Item`	File renaming (`-LiteralPath`, `-Destination`, `-Force`)
`Out-File`	Writing final JSON output (`-Encoding UTF8`)
`Out-Null`	Suppressing output from `Remove-Item`
`Remove-Item`	Deleting metadata files from DeleteQueue (`-LiteralPath`, `-Force`)
`Remove-Variable`	Cleaning up global variables at end of execution
`Resolve-Path`	Path resolution (`-LiteralPath`)
`Select-Object`	Property selection and exclusion
`Set-Content`	Writing in-place metadata JSON files (`-LiteralPath`, `-Force`)
`Set-Location`	Changing working directory for exiftool and directory traversal
`Split-Path`	Extracting parent path
`Test-Path`	Validating file/directory existence (`-LiteralPath`, `-PathType Leaf/Container`)
`Where-Object`	Filtering child items (excluding `$RECYCLE.BIN`, `System Volume Information`; separating files from directories)

.NET Types and Methods

Type / Method	Usage
`[math]::Round()`	Progress percentage calculation
`[System.Collections.ArrayList]`	Combining file and directory child item arrays
`[System.IO.FileStream]`	BOM-based encoding detection
`[System.IO.Path]::GetFileName()`	Extracting filename from full path
`[System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension()`	Extracting basename
`[System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath()`	Resolving hypothetical paths
`[System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName()`	Extracting directory from file path
`[System.Security.Cryptography.MD5]::Create()`	MD5 hashing (in ReadMetaFile sub-functions)
`[System.Security.Cryptography.SHA256]::Create()`	SHA256 hashing (in ReadMetaFile sub-functions)
`[System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8`	Encoding for hash computation
`[System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Escape()`	Escaping basename for regex matching
`[BitConverter]::ToString()`	Converting hash bytes to hex string
`[DateTimeOffset]::Now.ToUnixTimeMilliseconds()`	Session ID generation
`[PSCustomObject]@{}`	All output object construction
`[Text.Encoding]::ASCII/UTF7/Unicode/BigEndianUnicode/UTF32/UTF8`	Encoding type constants for BOM detection

6. Summary Call Graph

MakeIndex
├── [validates inputs, resolves paths, sets up globals]
├── ResolvePath → Vbs
├── GetParentPath
│
├── (TargetTyp=0) MakeDirectoryIndexRecursive → Vbs
│   └── MakeDirectoryIndexRecursiveLogic (recursive)
│       ├── MakeObject ──────────────────────────────┐
│       │   ├── VariableStringify                    │
│       │   ├── GetParentPath                        │
│       │   ├── DirectoryId ◄────── external pslib   │
│       │   ├── FileId ◄────────── external pslib    │
│       │   ├── Date2UnixTime ◄──── external pslib   │
│       │   ├── GetFileEncoding                      │
│       │   ├── GetFileExif                          │
│       │   │   ├── Base64DecodeString ◄── ext pslib │
│       │   │   ├── TempOpen ◄──────────── ext pslib │
│       │   │   ├── TempClose ◄─────────── ext pslib │
│       │   │   ├── [exiftool] ◄────────── BINARY    │
│       │   │   └── [jq] ◄─────────────── BINARY     │
│       │   ├── GetFileMetaSiblings                  │
│       │   ├── ReadMetaFile                         │
│       │   │   ├── MetaFileRead ◄──── external pslib│
│       │   │   ├── ReadMetaFile-GetNameHashMD5      │
│       │   │   └── ReadMetaFile-GetNameHashSHA256   │
│       │   └── Vbs ◄──────────── external pslib     │
│       └── MakeDirectoryIndexRecursiveLogic (self)  │
│                                                    │
├── (TargetTyp=1) MakeFileIndex → Vbs                │
│   └── MakeObject ──────────────────────────────────┘
│
├── (TargetTyp=2) MakeDirectoryIndex → Vbs
│   └── MakeDirectoryIndexLogic
│       └── MakeObject (same as above)
│
├── [DeleteQueue processing]
├── [Global variable cleanup via Remove-Variable]
├── [OutFile via ConvertTo-Json | Out-File]
└── [StandardOutput via ConvertTo-Json]