Create custom command line parameters for C# console application

Question

I have a C# console application that I'm gonna run from the command line, and it should take some information as input and serialize the given values into a json file, but the classic args[] is not what I want.

Let's say I have 10 particular data that I may want to pass, like name, model, state, version, number etc, but not necessarily all of them, only name would be mandatory. So, for example, I would like to be able to run the following command successfully or other random combination of the 10 parameters Example:

myApp.exe --name paramName

myApp.exe --name paramName --version 5

myApp.exe --name paramName --model R7 --state on

How can I achieve this?

Thank you!

Answer 1

I'd rather suggest you to use some tool to do this.

For example, I usually use: https://github.com/commandlineparser/commandline

That tool allows you to write your options in a class which is automatically filled when the program loads.

Here the sample for their git:

class Program
{
    public class Options
    {
        [Option('v', "verbose", Required = false, HelpText = "Set output to verbose messages.")]
        public bool Verbose { get; set; }
    }

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Parser.Default.ParseArguments<Options>(args)
               .WithParsed<Options>(o =>
               {
                   if (o.Verbose)
                   {
                       Console.WriteLine($"Verbose output enabled. Current Arguments: -v {o.Verbose}");
                       Console.WriteLine("Quick Start Example! App is in Verbose mode!");
                   }
                   else
                   {
                       Console.WriteLine($"Current Arguments: -v {o.Verbose}");
                       Console.WriteLine("Quick Start Example!");
                   }
               });
    }
}