A C#/.NET Attributes Based Command Line Argument Parser

PeteBarber

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10 Jan 2012CPOL21 min read

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This article introduces an easy to use attribute/reflection based library for seamlessly parsing command line arguments for applications.

NAttrArgs.zip
- NAttrArgs.dll
- NAttrArgs.pdb
NAttrArgs_src.zip
- NAttrArgs
  - CPOL.html
  - NAttrArgs.sln
  - NAttrArgs.Test
    - ArgIteratorTests.cs
    - ArgParser_UsageTests.cs
    - ArgParserTests.cs
    - AttributeTests.cs
    - MemberSetterTests.cs
    - NAttrArgs.Test.csproj
    - NAttrArgs.Test.csproj.user
    - Properties
    - Samples.cs
  - NAttrArgs
  - README
  - ReferencedExternalDLLs
    - NUnit 2.5.10
      - bin
        
        net-2.0
        
        framework
        
        nunit.framework.dll
  - Samples
    - ls
      - FileSystemHelper.cs
      - ListFileSystem.cs
      - ListMain.cs
      - ls.csproj
      - ls.csproj.user
      - Properties
    - Test
      - Program.cs
      - Properties
      - Test.csproj
    - TestMS.ls
      - ListFileSystemTest.cs
      - ListMainTest.cs
      - ls.TestMS.csproj
      - Properties
      - TestableListFileSystem.cs
  - SolutionInfo.cs
NAttrArgsArticle_Examples.zip
- NAttrArgsArticle
  - Example1
    - Example1_Main.csproj
    - Program.cs
    - Properties
      - AssemblyInfo.cs
  - Example2_RequiredAndOptional
    - Example2_RequiredAndOptional.csproj
    - Program.cs
    - Properties
      - AssemblyInfo.cs
  - Example3_AllowedValues
    - Example3_AllowedValues.csproj
    - Program.cs
    - Properties
      - AssemblyInfo.cs
  - Example4_RankAndOptionalParamsWithArguments
    - Example4_RankAndOptionalParamsWithArguments.csproj
    - Program.cs
    - Properties
      - AssemblyInfo.cs
  - Example5_PropertiesAndMethods
    - Example5_PropertiesAndMethods.csproj
    - Program.cs
    - Properties
      - AssemblyInfo.cs
  - Example6_ConsumeRemaining
    - Example6_ConsumeRemaining.csproj
    - Program.cs
    - Properties
      - AssemblyInfo.cs
  - Example6_ConsumeRemainingIEnumberable
    - Example6_ConsumeRemainingIEnumberable.csproj
    - Program.cs
    - Properties
      - AssemblyInfo.cs
  - Example7_WPF
    - App.xaml
    - App.xaml.cs
    - Example7_WPF.csproj
    - Example7_WPF.csproj.user
    - MainWindow.xaml
    - MainWindow.xaml.cs
    - Properties
  - Example8_StaticMember
    - Example8_StaticMember.csproj
    - Program.cs
    - Properties
      - AssemblyInfo.cs
  - NAttrArgs
    - NAttrArgs.dll
    - NAttrArgs.pdb
  - NAttrArgsArticle.sln

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">x86</Platform>
    <ProductVersion>8.0.30703</ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{B3000367-4A96-4E71-B9AD-391E1AF525D4}</ProjectGuid>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <RootNamespace>Example1</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>Example1</AssemblyName>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <TargetFrameworkProfile>Client</TargetFrameworkProfile>
    <FileAlignment>512</FileAlignment>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|x86' ">
    <PlatformTarget>x86</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Debug\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x86' ">
    <PlatformTarget>x86</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Release\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="System" />
    <Reference Include="System.Core" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.CSharp" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Compile Include="Program.cs" />
    <Compile Include="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
  <!-- To modify your build process, add your task inside one of the targets below and uncomment it. 
       Other similar extension points exist, see Microsoft.Common.targets.
  <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
  </Target>
  <Target Name="AfterBuild">
  </Target>
  -->
</Project>

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License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Written By

PeteBarber

Team Leader

United Kingdom

My day job is mostly working in C++ with a bit of C#. I write a fair amount of command line based tools and really wish they could have a GUI front-end to them hence why I spend my spare time working with WPF.

I started a blog few years back but didn't do a lot with it. I've started describing some of the interesting programming things I come across on it. Please take a look.

A C#/.NET Attributes Based Command Line Argument Parser

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