MSPro.CLArgs 1.2008.5.2

CLArgs - A dotnet command-line interpreter

Console Applications are simple: static void Main(string[] args) .. and go! However, getting arguments from a command-line can be complex. Simply run dotnet build --help and see!

CLArgs turns your console application ​ into a modern command-line application ​ with minimal coding effort ​ while providing maximum flexibility and extensibility.

c:\ > YourApp.exe --country=Germany --count=3

internal static class Program
{
	private static void Main(string[] args)
	{
		// Parse the command-line
		Arguments arguments = CommandLineParser.Parse(args);
		// Create a command (that contains the functionality)
		var cmd = new HelloWorldCommand();
		// Let CLArgs convert the arguments and run the command.
		cmd.Execute(arguments);
	}
}

internal class HelloWorldParameters
{
	[OptionDescriptor("country", "c", Required = true)]
	public string Country { get; set; }

	[OptionDescriptor("count", Required = false, Default = 1)]
	public int Count { get; set; }
}

internal class HelloWorldCommand : CommandBase<HelloWorldParameters>
{
	protected override void Execute(HelloWorldParameters ps)
	{
		for (int i = 0; i < ps.Count; i++)
			Console.WriteLine($"Hello {ps.Country}!");
	}
}

See Simple-As-That Source-Code / Sample Project / All Samples.

⇒ Continue reading documentation

Feature List

• A single line of code does the trick: Commander.ExecuteCommand( args);
• Unlimited number of Verbs
• Plug-In concept: Automatic Command resolution based on Verbs
• Different argument-sets for each Command
  • Command Parameter classes support
    • Sub-Classes (inheritance)
• Flexible argument validation and completion
• Clean error-handling to report all errors instead of only the first one
  • When using a console application, It can be frustrating to see "Param1 is missing" and once you fixed it you get: "Param2 is missing".
  • CLArgs reports all errors in a single run.
• Support for command and argument help-text
  • Help-Texts and argument definitions can be loaded from files, from Resources or they can be build-in by code or a combination of these.
  • This includes support for localized help-messages.
• Support for custom property types and enums in your parameter classes
• Support converting custom value converters
  • to convert any command-line string-value into any Type
• Dynamic default values (not only static, like True, "abc")
  • Including depend default values, e. g. on other values
• ...

_{Markus Schmidt (PRO), Munich (DE), 2020-07-10}