I am designing a desktop application in C#, which automatically generates code
based on the requirement provided.
Now I want to check the syntax of the code that is generated.
In the earlier stages we can feed the system some possibilities.
Is there some thing i can do here rather than feeding the system for
every possibility?
Thanks.
Providing you generate the code yourself, the best way to ensure it's syntactically correct is to generate a syntactically correct code at the first place.
Otherwise, besides creating a custom C# parser and semantic analyzer (a “half-compiler”), you can consider calling the command-line C# compiler, which is part of the .NET framework, and analyze its textual output.
The command-line C# compiler usage and output is described here in MSDN. Have a look on Process.Start on how to start a new process from your code.
The easiest way to check the syntax of generated code would be to compile it. Let the compiler handle this for you.
Since you're generating it, once you get it correctly generated, it should be fine (provided the design is done nicely).
Just run the command-line C# compiler, csc.exe, and look at it's output. The syntax is "csc Desktop\MyProgram.cs". For a .dll, the syntax is "csc.exe /target:library Desktop\MyProgram.cs". The csc.exe executable is usually located in Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\\csc.exe.
Related
Is there a way to compile a C++ file from C#, assuming the compiler (G++ or VC++) is installed on the computer?
You should be able to take the same compiler call that you would make in the command line and recreate it using the Process class. The MSDN page has examples of how to use Process.
Yes you would just invoke the c++ compiler with the proper arguments. However there are tools custom built to do just this Make and msbuild for example so I would doubt that a new tool would better serve you.
I understand I can use either the CodeDOM or Mono for compiling and executing C# code on the fly. Which of these are suggested given the security concerns of executing code and flexibility?
EDIT: I need to create an editor in which any user can enter code and choose to execute it. My concern is that if they have malicious code (accessing the file system for example) then I need to take precautions to prevent this from happening. How would I do this using CodeDOM or Mono?
For maximum flexibility, Mono C# compiler should be the choice.
I don't think both provide any security protection inside, as that should be something you do in your own code.
You could use CodeDom anyways, compile and run the code in another AppDomain. My suggestion would be to insert the code as a CodeSnippetStatement into a CodeMemberMethod, that way they can't break out or are constrained by what you provide.
Does anyone know if there is a way to evaluate c# code at runtime.
eg. I would like to allow a user to enter DateTime.Now.AddDays(1), or something similar, as a string and then evaluate the string to get the result.
I woder if it is possible to access the emmediate windows functionality, since it seems that is evaluates every line entered dynamically.
I have found that VB has an undocumented EbExecuteLine() API function from the VBA*.dll and wonder if there is something equivalent for c#.
I have also found a custom tool https://github.com/DavidWynne/CSharpEval (it used to be at kamimucode.com but the author has moved it to GitHub) that seems to do it, but I would prefer something that comes as part of .NET
Thanks
Mono has the interactive command line (csharp.exe)
You can look at it's source code to see exactly how it does it's magic:
https://github.com/mono/mono/raw/master/mcs/tools/csharp/repl.cs
As you've probably already seen, there is no built-in method for evaluating C# code at runtime. This is the primary reason that the custom tool you mentioned exists.
I also have a C# eval program that allows for evaluating C# code. It provides for evaluating C# code at runtime and supports many C# statements. In fact, this code is usable within any .NET project, however, it is limited to using C# syntax. Have a look at my website, http://csharp-eval.com, for additional details.
Microsoft's C# compiler don't have Compiler-as-a-Service yet (Should come with C# 5.0).
You can either use Mono's REPL, or write your own service using CodeDOM
Its not fast but you can compile the code on the fly, see my previous question,
Once you have the assembly and you know the type name you can construct an instance of your compiled class using reflection and execute your method..
The O2 Platform's C# REPL Script Environment use the Fluent# APIs which have a real powerful reflection API that allows you do execute code snippets.
For example:
"return DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString();".executeCodeSnippet();
will return
5:01:22 AM
note that the "...".executeCodeSnippet(); can actually execute any valid C# code snippet (so it is quite powerful).
If you want to control what your users can execute, I could use AST trees to limite the C# features that they have access to.
Also take a look at the Microsoft's Roslyn, which is VERY powerful as you can see on Multiple Roslyn based tools (all running Stand-Alone outside VisualStudio)
I want to learn if there is any library in .net to write c# scripts. Let me describe you with more detail, for example I have an application. When I run it, a c# editor will be opened end user will write some c# codes and when click run, this code should be evaluated and dom should be created after interpret my run time c# code will run. this is brief description of my mind...
I put together a little app called SimpleDevelop which uses CSharpCodeProvider to do what you describe. My understanding is that this (CodeDom) is deprecated and generally discouraged; however, it seems to work just fine for simple scenarios.
Basically, you want to use something like the CSharpCodeProvider. The Razor view engine in MVC essentially uses this to compile your code into an executable to run. If you want your user to be able to write code and then have it interpreted, you would start here. Please note though, this is an incredibly complicated and time intensive feat to get right; plus, linking in and executing foreign code dynamically is a security nightmare. Just be safe.
Are you looking for a test bench sort of?
I use LinqPad for that.
It is mostly a test bench for Linq queries, but I find it very useful for C# statements and mini programs and such.
Check out the System.CodeDom namespace.
This article contains lots of useful information: http://www.developerfusion.com/article/4529/using-net-to-make-your-application-scriptable/2/
You can use the Compiler namespace and compilate the code at runtime. Take a look here for an explanation on how to do it.
I have created an application which will run c# like script without using visual studio.
It is on https://sourceforge.net/projects/csharpquickcode/
For business reasons, I want to create a C# application that would take a C++ file / snippet as input, compile it (probably invoking a C++ compiler under the hood) and output compilation results.
Do you know how this could be done?
Thanks in advance.
Using CL.exe
Look in to the Process class.
It provides all of the functionality required to start an external application, including a compiler.
Now, depending on the compiler you choose, you will need to specify the start arguments of the process carefully in order to compile in a predictable way.
Most compilers support command-line parameters.
You just need to build the right command and execute it through the shell like advised here.
che
If you want to not just build a single file, but a whole .vcproj file - check the command line parameters for devenv.exe. If I remember correct it is:
devenv.exe /build my.vcproj
You can shell out to any number of command-line C++ compilers (like gcc) using Process.Start.
You could do this by calling any C++ compiler on the command line. I'm sure the compilation results can be redirected so that you can grab it after the compile finished.
If you are trying to achieve something like SnippetCompiler for C++, you might want to look at one of the C/C++ scripting languages. I have always liked CInt.
Sure its possible, it is actually common practice nmake and other make-like utilities call the compiler all the time.
OTOH if you are thinking of deploying this solution to a customer you may be in for a bit of rough ride cause of all the details like settings, location where files are, how to react on the result, license, which c++ compiler to deploy etc.
Another option which is much simpler (IMHO) is instead of C++ to invoke the C# compiler directly from your C# program for compiling a C# snippet. Files can then stay in memory and you don't need to save any files before you compile. There are numerous examples on the web that show how to do that. Another advantage with this solution is that you already have the C# compiler there so there is no need to install a C++ compiler as well.