How to build a WPF application with Add-Type C# code

Question

hi, i tryed to build WPF application using Add-Type, but it failed.


$a = @'
using System.Windows;
public class Program
{
[STAThread()]
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
Application app = new Application();
Window1 w = new Window1();
app.Run(w);
}
}
'@

Add-Type -TypeDefinition $a -UsingNamespace "System.Windows"

Add-Type's help document doesn't have usages of -UsingNamespace (and -ReferencedAssemblies), so i dont well understand...

Answer 1

Personally I would give up this approach and try PowerBoots It's very powerfull PowerShell module with easy syntax and all the basic possibilities of WPF available.

There is much more to do than what you have presented in the script, sorry.

Answer 2

Several problems:

$a = @'
 using System;
 using System.Windows;

 public class Program 
 { 
   [STAThread()] 
   public static void Main(string[] args) 
   { 
     Application app = new Application(); 
     Window w = new Window(); 
     app.Run(w); 
   } 
 } 
'@

• Missing "using System;" reference for STAThread
• Window w = new Window() - NOT Window1.

Then, compile with:

Add-Type -TypeDefinition $a -ReferencedAssemblies presentationcore, presentationframework, windowsbase

• Missing WPF assembly refernces

Finally:

ps> [program]::main(@())

This last line will only work if you're using PowerShell ISE,or have started the console version o powershell 2.0 with the -STA flag.

Ultimately this is a academic exercise. You really should be using a mature product like PowerBoots (mentioned by the other poster). It's done all the hard work for you (thanks Jaykul!)

-Oisin