CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netwpf.net-corecommand-line-interface
Jim Evans
Jim Evans

Reputation: 6505

Can .Net Core CLI be run from within C# Application

I am building my first WPF application - a developer tool. I am building it in .Net Core 3.1. I have a requirement to use the .Net Core CLI to create another application from within the tool. I have really two questions:

  1. Is this possible? I have done a lot of research but I have found nothing so far.
  2. Is there a CLI command to add a new class to a class library project? The tool needs to create a new solution that compiles with all classes it creates added to the project.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3356

Answers (2)

thatguy
thatguy

Reputation: 22089

  1. Is this possible? I have done a lot of research but I have found nothing so far.

Of course, it is not even WPF related. You can run the dotnet CLI just like any other program with Process. The code below will call the help for dotnet.

var process = new Process();
var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
{
   FileName = "dotnet.exe",
   Arguments = "-h"
};
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();

If you do not want do display the console widow, you can add these options to the start info.

CreateNoWindow = true,
WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,

Keep in mind that commands may fail and you should handle the console output to react on that. Look here for a related post that demonstrates how you can redirect console output.

  1. Is there a CLI command to add a new class to a class library project? The tool needs to create a new solution that compiles with all classes it creates added to the project.

Let's do a quick walkthrough to show the essential parts of your application. Since it is is always the same code for calling dotnet but with different arguments, I will only show those.

  1. Create an new solution with a class library
Arguments = @"new classlib -o C:\The\Path\To\Your\Solution -n MyProject"

The classlib command will create a class library in the given directory with the name MyProject.

  1. Adding a new class
File.Create(@"C:\The\Path\To\Your\Solution\MyClass.cs");
File.WriteAllText(@"C:\The\Path\To\Your\Solution\MyOtherClass.cs", cSharpClassBoilerPlateCode);

As far as I know there is no built-in command to create single class files. However, you can just create a .cs file with File.Create or File.WriteAllText that contains some boilerplate code directly in your project directory. The .NET SDK-style project format includes all source files in the project directory by default, unless you overrode this behavior.

  1. Compile the project
Arguments = @"build C:\The\Path\To\Your\Solution\MyProject.csproj"

This is only a starter example. The dotnet command line interface offers a lot more options to customize and work with solutions and projects, see below for reference.

Upvotes: 10

mm8
mm8

Reputation: 169270

Is this possible?

Sure. You can invoke any executable, including the dotnet command-line tool, using the Process.Start API:

//dotnet new wpf:
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(@"C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet", "new wpf");

Is there a CLI command to add a new class to a class library project?

No, but you any file with a matching file extension that you add to the project folder will be considered when building the project so you don't really need to explicitly add a class to the project.

Upvotes: 1

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