How to pass parameter to an Exe

When building desktop applications, you often need to pass data between different programs. Fortunately, there is a common method for passing parameters to an executable (.exe) whether you are using WPF or Windows Forms. By leveraging command-line arguments, you can trigger specific behaviors or load specific data into your application upon startup. Below, I’ll show you the universal way to implement this.

1. Add reference System.Diagnostics your class.                                                             

2. Then need start process.                                                                                    

                                                                                          ProcessStartInfo processStrInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
              processStrInfo.FileName =   /// Exe path;
              processStrInfo.Arguments =  /// Parameter to pass as string;
              processStrInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
              Process.Start(processStrInfo);                                                                                                              

3. parameter can send as string.

           string tempCommandArgs ="TestPara";                 

             ProcessStartInfo processStrInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
             processStrInfo.FileName = "test.exe";  /// Exe path;
             processStrInfo.Arguments = tempCommandArgs  /// Parameter to pass as string;

             processStrInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
             Process.Start(processStrInfo);   

4 .When we passing multiple parameter, we can use space between parameters .

          tempCommandArgs  =COMPANYNAME +" "+USERID

5. If parameter value have spaces.

When a parameter contains spaces—for example, a company name like 'Test Company'—you must wrap the string in double quotes. This ensures the operating system treats the entire phrase as a single argument. In your code, you can achieve this by adding a double-quote character at the start and end of the parameter string."

   

    In this time we can use below method (add stroke to start of parameter and end of parameter)

    tempCommandArgs  ="\"" + COMPANYNAME + "\"" + " "

                                                  +"\"" + USERlOGINNAME. + "\"";    

Note:-

This is way to pass parameter to Exe as argument , But running exe from another running application (exe) is not good practice. It will consume some more memory

Now take a look at how to consume passed argument form exe.

Note:-
This example I have done with WPF application

1. We can override OnStartup in App.xaml.cs

 protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
  {          
            string[] args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
            args = e.Args;
         
            if (args.Count() > 0)
            {            
                COMPANYNAME = args[0];        
                USERNAME = args[1];
            }

 }

How to convert WPF Application project to Class Library

How do convert WPF Application to Class Library

Let's see how can we convert exist WPF Application project to Class Library project.

1. Right click on WPF application project and select project properties.
2. Then select application and change the Out put type to Class Library, save it.
3. Open App.xaml and remove StartupUri from it.
4. Then build project, you can see  some error with  the project. so here is the trick to remove error,
5. Exclude  App.xaml file from project and build project again , it will build project without any errors.
6. So if you want add App.xaml file to project ,now you can include App.xaml file again.

Note:-

If you going create new project to your solution, you can chose WPF User Control Library or WPF Custom Control Library.