function Test-FirewallPaths {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    [OutputType([Object])]
    param (
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $True, ValueFromPipeline)]
        [String]
        $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $True)]
        [String]
        $Key,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $True)]
        [Object]
        $ExpectedValue,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $True)]
        [String]
        $ProfileType,
        [PSCustomObject]
        $Result = @{
            Message = "Registry value not found."
            Status  = "False"
        }
    )
    BEGIN {
        $FirewallProfiles = Get-NetFirewallProfile -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
    PROCESS {
        $regValue = Get-ItemProperty -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue `
            -Path $Path `
            -Name $Key `
        | Select-Object -ExpandProperty "$($Key)"
        # if regValue == expectedValue OR if the LogFilePath ends with .log
        if (($regValue -eq $ExpectedValue) -or (($Key -eq "LogFilePath") -and ($regValue -match "[a-z]*.log"))) {
            $Result = @{
                Message = "Compliant"
                Status  = "True"
            }
        }
        # if regValue isnot empty AND regValue isnot expectedValue AND result is not True (yet)
        # This result is ranked #2 below "Compliant" and above "Registry value not found"
        if (($null -ne $regValue) -and ($regValue -ne $ExpectedValue) -and ($Result.Status -ne "True")) {
            $Result = @{
                Message = "Registry value is '$regValue'. Expected: $ExpectedValue"
                Status  = "False"
            }
        }
    }
    END {
        $FirewallProfile = $FirewallProfiles | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq $ProfileType}
        $FirewallProfileValue = $FirewallProfile.$Key
        # check whether value is a number
        if ($FirewallProfileValue -is [int32] -or $FirewallProfileValue -is [uint32] -or $FirewallProfileValue -is [int64] -or $FirewallProfileValue -is [uint64]) {
            # if value is a number, the value may also be greater and equals to the expectedvalue
            if ($FirewallProfileValue -ge $expectedValue) {
                $Result = @{
                    Message = "Compliant"
                    Status  = "True"
                }
            }
        }
        if ($FirewallProfileValue -eq $expectedValue) {
            $Result = @{
                Message = "Compliant"
                Status  = "True"
            }
        }
        if ($Key -eq "LogFilePath") {
            if ($FirewallProfiles -eq $null -or $FirewallProfiles.Count -lt 3) {
                ### if profiles are empty, skip comparison and continue with other checks
            } else {
                if (($FirewallProfiles[0].LogFileName -eq $FirewallProfiles[1].LogFileName) -or
                    ($FirewallProfiles[0].LogFileName -eq $FirewallProfiles[2].LogFileName) -or
                    ($FirewallProfiles[1].LogFileName -eq $FirewallProfiles[2].LogFileName)) {
                        $Result = @{
                            Message = "For better organization and identification of specific issues within each profile consider using separate logfiles for each profile."
                            Status  = "Warning"
                        }
                    }
            }
        }
        return $Result
    }
}

