Quick Start

Installation

CommandDotNet can be installed from nuget.org

.NET CLI

dotnet add package CommandDotNet

Nuget Package Manager

Install-Package CommandDotNet

Let's build a calculator

Let's say you want to create a calculator console application which can perform 2 operations:

1. Addition
2. Subtraction

It prints the results on console.

Let's begin with creating the class

public class Calculator
{
    public void Add(int value1, int value2)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Answer:  {value1 + value2}");
    }

    public void Subtract(int value1, int value2)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Answer:  {value1 - value2}");
    }
}

Now that we have our calculator ready, let's see about how we can call it from command line.

class Program
{
    static int Main(string[] args)
    {
        AppRunner<Calculator> appRunner = new AppRunner<Calculator>();
        return appRunner.Run(args);
    }
}

Assuming our application's name is example.dll

let's try and run this app from command line using dotnet

INPUT

dotnet example.dll --help

OUTPUT

Usage: dotnet example.dll [options] [command]

Options:
  -h | -? | --help  Show help information

Commands:
  Add
  Subtract

Use "dotnet example.dll [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Voila!

So, as you might have already guessed, it is detecting methods of the calculator class. How about adding some helpful description.

[ApplicationMetadata(Description = "Adds two numbers. duh!")]
public void Add(int value1, int value2)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Answer: {value1 + value2}");
}

This should do it.

Let's see how the help appears now.

Usage: dotnet example.dll [options] [command]

Options:
  -h | -? | --help  Show help information

Commands:
  Add        Adds two numbers. duh!
  Subtract

Use "dotnet example.dll [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Awesome. Descriptions are not required but can be very useful depending upon the complexity of your app and the audience.

Now let's try to see if we can get further help for the add command.

INPUT

dotnet example.dll Add --help

OUTPUT

Usage: dotnet example.dll Add [arguments] [options]

Arguments:
  value1  Int32
  value2  Int32

Options:
  -h | -? | --help  Show help information

tada!

Ok, so here, it show what parameters are required for addition and their type.

Let's try and add two numbers.

INPUT

dotnet example.dll Add 40 20

OUTPUT

Answer: 60

Cool. You get the gist of this library. Let's move on.