Parse command line arguments/options in C#

Question

I have a console application with some arguments and options so I would like to use a free third-party library.

I have found two libraries for this purpose: NDesk.Options and Command Line Parser Library

Finally I have decided to use Command Line Parser Library because it is clearer using properties so I have downloaded it and added a reference to it.

The problem is that when adding the reference to my .NET Framework 3.5 project I get a warning icon. From the above page where I have downloaded it, it says that compatibility is .NET Framework 3.5+ so I understand 3.5 is compatible, am I right? If not which previous version of it is compatible with .NET Framework 3.5?

Answer 1

You can also use the new Microsoft CommandLineUtils library. The nuget package is here, but only for .NET Core or Framrwork 4.5.2. But you can download the source code (only 7 files) and include in your projet. For the Framework 3.5, you have only 2 compilation errors to solve: remove an extra method (using Tasks) and remove one line (in HandleUnexpectedArg).

• Nuget: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.Extensions.CommandLineUtils
• Source: https://github.com/aspnet/Common/tree/dev/shared/Microsoft.Extensions.CommandLineUtils.Sources

To use this library, find here a first sample:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var cmd = new CommandLineApplication();
    var argAdd = cmd.Option("-a | --add <value>", "Add a new item", CommandOptionType.SingleValue);

    cmd.OnExecute(() =>
    {
        Console.WriteLine(argAdd.Value());
        return 0;
    });

    cmd.HelpOption("-? | -h | --help");
    cmd.Execute(args);            
}