ConsoleFx

ConsoleFx is a suite of .NET libraries for building command-line (CLI) applications.

Build console apps with command line arguments

The following code simulates the following made-up console app:

COPY <source file> [<destination dir>] [--overwrite] [--create-dir]

public class Program : ConsoleProgram
{
    // Declare one property per argument and option.
    
    public string SourceFile { get; set; }
    
    public string DestinationDir { get; set; }
    
    [Option("overwrite")]
    public bool OverwriteExistingFile { get; set; }
    
    [Option("create-dir")]
    public bool CreateDirIfMissing { get; set; }
    
    // Code to execute the console program if all command line args are verified.
    protected int HandleCommand()
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"You want to copy {SourceFile} to {DestinationDir}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Overwrite file if it exists: {OverwriteExistingFile}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Create destination directory if it does not exist: {CreateDirIfMissing}");
        return 0;
    }
    
    // Specify the options and arguments that are accepted by the console app
    protected override IEnumerable<Arg> GetArgs()
    {
        yield return new Argument(nameof(SourceFile))
            .ValidateAsFile(shouldExist: true);
        yield return new Argument(nameof(DestinationDir), optional: true)
            .ValidateAsDirectory();
        yield return new Option("overwrite", "o")
            .UsedAsFlag();
        yield return new Option("create-dir", "c")
            .UsedAsFlag();
    }
    
    public static int Main()
    {
        var program = new Program();
        return program.Run();
    }
}

Packages

ConsoleFx consists of the following NuGet packages. Development packages from continuous integration builds are available on MyGet.

Package	Description	Dev Build
ConsoleFx.CmdLine.Program	Write command line programs with sophisticated argument parsing, including error handling, automatic help generation and rich validation support. Supports both Unix and Windows-style arguments.
ConsoleFx.CmdLine.Parser	Standalone argument parser that is used by ConsoleFx.CmdLine.Program. Can be used in non-console program such as Windows Forms, WPF, REPL, etc. to parse command line arguments in a similar fashion.
ConsoleFx.ConsoleExtensions	Extended console capabilities like color output, prompts, inputting secrets, outputting indented text, progress bars, etc.
ConsoleFx.Prompter	Rich interactive framework from getting inputs from users. Inspired by the Inquirer.js framework for JavaScript.

Metapackage

ConsoleFx includes a metapackage that contains all the major packages that would typically needed to build a complex console application.

Under development

The following packages are under development and expected in a future release.