how to pass argument to a process - c#

Is there a way to pass a string argument to a process which is spawned from my own process.
I have in my main application:
Process.Start(Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "wow.exe");
wow.exe is another app I created. I need to pass argument to this exe (a string). How can I achieve this typically?
What I tried:
ProcessStartInfo i = new //........
i.Argument = "cool string";
i. FileName = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "wow.exe");
Process.Start(i);
And in the main of wow application i wrote:
static void Main()
{
//print Process.GetCurrentProcess().StartInfo.Argument;
}
But I never get my string there in second application's Main. Here is a question which asks why, but no how to solve it..
Edit: Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[1], it has to be. Nevertheless, got it working. Accepted #Bali's answer as he cameup first with this answer. Thanks all

To get the arguments passed you can either use the string[] args in your Main, or you can use Environment.GetCommandLineArgs.
Example:
Console.WriteLine(args[0]);
or
Console.WriteLine(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs[0]);

You probably want a
static void Main(string[] args)
{
}
where args contains the arguments you passed in

Here's an example how you can get arguments passed to your exe:
static void Main()
{
string[] args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
string firstArgument = args[0];
string secondArgument = args[1];
}
or change your main method a bit:
static void Main(string []args)
{}

In your wow.exe program.cs
static void Main()
{
//Three Lines of code
}
change it to
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Three Lines of code
}
string[] args. will now contain your arguments passed to your exe.
Or you can use
string[] arguments = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
Your arguments are broken by space " ".

Related

Get path+filename of file that was opened with my application

I'm an amateur at c# and I've been unable to locate the answer to this.
Perhaps I am not aware of the correct terms to use.
When a video file is dragged onto my exe application, I would like the application to know that it was launched with a file and be able to know the path and filename of that file. This way, the user does not have to use the file>open menu.
Hope that makes sense.
Thanks
You can check the command line arguments which were used to launch the application.
If your application was started by dropping a file on the .exe file, there will be a single command line argument with the path of the file.
string[] args = System.Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
if(args.Length == 1)
{
// make sure it is a file and not some other command-line argument
if(System.IO.File.Exists(args[0])
{
string filePath = args[0];
// open file etc.
}
}
As your question title states, you want the path and the file name. You can get the file name using:
System.IO.Path.GetFileName(filePath); // returns file.ext
When you drag a file into a C# application, it will goes as an command-line argument to that application. Like console applications, you can catch it on the Main method on the Program class.
I'll explain it using Windows Forms application.
Open your Program class on the solution. Your program class should look like this.
static class Program
{
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
Application.Run(new Form1());
}
}
By default, when you create Windows Forms applications, they don't treat command line arguments. You have to make a tiny change on the signature of the Main method, so it can receive arguments:
static class Program
{
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
Application.Run(new Form1());
}
}
Now you can handle file name argument passed to the application. By default, Windows will put the file name as the first argument. Just do something like this:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
// Before Application.Run method, treat the argument passed.
// I created an overload of the constructor of my Form1, so
// it can receive the File Name and load the file on some TextBox.
string fileName = null;
if (args != null && args.Length > 0)
fileName = args[0];
Application.Run(new Form1(fileName));
}
In case you want to know the constructor overload of my Form1, here it is. Hope it helps!
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public Form1(string fileName) : this()
{
if (fileName == null)
return;
if (!File.Exists(fileName))
{
MessageBox.Show("Invalid file name.");
return;
}
textBox1.Text = File.ReadAllText(fileName);
}
}
You need your application's command-line arguments. When you drop a file on your application in Explorer, Explorer opens the application with the file you dropped on it. You can select as many files as you want, drop them on your application and using this line of code, files will be an array of those command line arguments.
string[] files = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();

C# Pass a file via command line

My Programm is supposed to read the file and count the number of vowels and consonants in it. So, the fileName must be passed as a command line argument. This is part of my code:
class FileDetails
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine(args.Length);
foreach (string arg in args)
{
Console.WriteLine(arg);
}
}
}
After compilation of this file, I run it via command line and pass some arguments to the Main function:
C:\Users\StepN\Desktop\FILEDETAILS>filedetails abc def xyz
The result of programm looks like this:
3
abc
def
xyz
So, the root of the problem is that I need to pass as a command line argument the filename, but I don't know, how to do it.
Thanks in advance for any help!
The only problem you can have is file name with white spaces. If your file has name abc def xyz then you should pass it wrapped in double quotes:
C:\Users\StepN\Desktop\FILEDETAILS>filedetails "abc def xyz"
If you are using spaces in one command line argument then enclose it with double quotes. That is how you should give arguments to your executable:
C:\Users\StepN\Desktop\FILEDETAILS>filedetails.exe "C:\file name.txt"
In Code access filename:
class FileDetails
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
if(args.Length > 0 )
{
string filePath = args[0];
//read the file using System.IO namespace
}
}
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
if (args.Length == 0){
Console.WriteLine("Please pass command line arguments.");
return;
}
string fileName = args[0];
}
}
There is a way to do.
1) Open Notepad and write your code and save it.
2) MOST IMPORTANT: Open visual studio command prompt and compile the code as follow:
(i) Set current path, where your program is saved.
(ii) Compile it with csc FileName.cs
3) Now execute the program using following command line argument:
(a) FileName arg1 arg2
If you aren't comfortable doing this then create a batch file and pass write your arguments. Then run your .bat file which will trigger your C# program. I mean that this might trigger the .exe in your bin folder.

GetCommandLineArgs is not returning what I expected

I recently started studying C# through the book and I came to this example where I'm trying to print out arguments passed from the command prompt:
namespace SimpleCSharpApp
{
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
string[] theArgs = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
foreach(string arg in theArgs)
Console.WriteLine("Arg: {0}", arg);
}
}
}
My command prompt input looks like this:
D:\...\SimpleCSharpApp\bin\Debug>SimpleCSharpApp.exe arg1 arg2
And the output looks like this:
Arg: SimpleCSharpApp.exe
Arg: arg1
Arg: arg2
What I supposed it would look like is:
Arg: arg1
Arg: arg2
My question is, why does it recognize my execution command as a member of string arguments? What am I supposed to change to get the output I expected?
I could just change foreach loop into for loop starting from the 2nd element like this:
namespace SimpleCSharpApp
{
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
string[] theArgs = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
for (int i = 1; i < theArgs.Length; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine("Arg: {0}", theArgs[i]);
}
}
}
}
But this does not resolve my curiosity, can I somehow make it not to record executable file like an argument and print it out with foreach loop to get the output I expected?
Thanks in advance!
It is documented behaviour
The first element in the array contains the file name of the executing program. If the file name is not available, the first element is equal to String.Empty. The remaining elements contain any additional tokens entered on the command line.
If you want to skip First argument use Skip extension method.
foreach(string arg in theArgs.Skip(1))
Console.WriteLine("Arg: {0}", arg);
You could just use the args passed to main:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
foreach(string arg in args)
Console.WriteLine("Arg: {0}", arg);
}

Passing command line parameters to IronPython from C# application?

How do I pass command line parameters from my C# application to IronPython 2.x? Google is only returning results about how to do it with Iron Python 1.x.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
ScriptRuntime scriptRuntime = IronPython.Hosting.Python.CreateRuntime();
// Pass in script file to execute but how to pass in other arguments in args?
ScriptScope scope = scriptRuntime.ExecuteFile(args[0]);
}
You can either set the sys.argv via the following C# code:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var scriptRuntime = Python.CreateRuntime();
var argv = new List();
args.ToList().ForEach(a => argv.Add(a));
scriptRuntime.GetSysModule().SetVariable("argv", argv);
scriptRuntime.ExecuteFile(args[0]);
}
having the following python script
import sys
for arg in sys.argv:
print arg
and calling the exe like
Test.exe SomeScript.py foo bar
gives you the output
SomeScript.py
foo
bar
Another option would be passing the prepared options to Python.CreateRuntime as explained in this answer

How to pass arguments to an HtmlFile?

How to pass arguments to an HtmlFile from C#?
Like: System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("Sample.html","Arguments");
If I execute the above code the "Sample.html" file should be opened and it should do something with the "arguments".
Process.Start(
#"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe",
"file:///c:/path/to/file/Sample.html?param1=value1"
);
UPDATE:
To figure out the default browser location:
class Program
{
[DllImport("shell32.dll")]
public extern static int FindExecutable(
string forFile,
string directory,
StringBuilder result
);
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var browserLocation = new StringBuilder(1024);
// make sure you specify the correct path and the file actually exists
// or the FindExecutable will return an empty string.
FindExecutable(#"d:\work\html\index.htm", null, browserLocation);
Process.Start(
browserLocation.ToString(),
"file:///d:/work/html/index.htm?param1=value1"
);
}
}

Categories

Resources