GettingStarted

Getting started

First download the latest package, unzip it, and add a reference to MiP.ShellArgs.dll to your project.

Most simplistic way to parse arguments to a class

Define the argument container

Create a class and create a property for each option you want to make available to the user:

public enum Gender { Female, Male }
public class MyArgs
{
  public Gender Gender { get; set; }
  public string Name { get; set; }
  public DateTime DayOfBirth { get; set; }
  public int Weight { get; set; }
}

The created options can be customized by adding Attributes to the properties.

Parse the arguments into the container

To parse the string[] args from your Main() method to the container class, add a using MiP.ShellArgs; and call

  public static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    MyArgs p = Parser.Parse<MyArgs>(args);

    Console.WriteLine("Gender: {0}", p.Gender);
    Console.WriteLine("Name: {0}", p.Name);
    Console.WriteLine("Birthday: {0}", p.DayOfBirth);
    Console.WriteLine("Weight: {0}", p.Weight);
  }

Compile and test

Call your program from the console with

> Test.exe -gender Male -name Buddy -dayofbirth 2007-5-16 -weight 16

If you just want to try it out from your tests, call it like this

  [TestMethod]
  public void ArgsTest()
  {
    MyArgs p = Parser.Parse<MyArgs>(
               "-gender", "Male", "-name", "Buddy", "-dayofbirth", "2007-5-16", "-weight", "16");
  }

The arguments will be parsed to an instance of MyArgs, and contain the values.