How do I pass command-line arguments to a WinForms application?

user_72547 0
Viewed 202311

I have two different WinForms applications, AppA & AppB. Both are running .NET 2.0.

In AppA I want to open AppB, but I need to pass command-line arguments to it. How do I consume the arguments that I pass in the command line?

This is my current main method in AppB, but I don't think you can change this?

  static void main()
  {
  }
command-line winforms c#
6 Answers
static void Main(string[] args)
{
  // For the sake of this example, we're just printing the arguments to the console.
  for (int i = 0; i < args.Length; i++) {
    Console.WriteLine("args[{0}] == {1}", i, args[i]);
  }
}

The arguments will then be stored in the args string array:

$ AppB.exe firstArg secondArg thirdArg
args[0] == firstArg
args[1] == secondArg
args[2] == thirdArg
user_146370

You can grab the command line of any .Net application by accessing the Environment.CommandLine property. It will have the command line as a single string but parsing out the data you are looking for shouldn't be terribly difficult.

Having an empty Main method will not affect this property or the ability of another program to add a command line parameter.

JaredPar_232830

You use this signature: (in c#) static void Main(string[] args)

This article may help to explain the role of the main function in programming as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_function_(programming)

Here is a little example for you:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        bool doSomething = false;

        if (args.Length > 0 && args[0].Equals("doSomething"))
            doSomething = true;

        if (doSomething) Console.WriteLine("Commandline parameter called");
    }
}
user_496680
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