Controlling a C# GUI based on input arguments

Question

I'm not entirely sure this is possible.

I have a legacy GUI application written in C#. Using AttachConsole(-1) (from kernel32.dll) I can add a console window if it is called from the command line. I've even been able to write a module to run through basic use cases and make it look as if it is a console application. I don't show the window, and if I do it doesn't update or work properly (because I didn't use Application.Run)

However, another person in my team wants to do something similar where input arguments will set off a series of GUI actions (like buttonExample.PerformClick(), update text boxes, etc) to simulate a user. Is it possible to do this using C# entirely or will he have to use something like AutoIt?

We're using VS2008/.NET Framework v3.5.

Answer 1

You can add string array args to your static void Main() and pass them up to the GUI class to perform such actions.

  static class Program
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// The main entry point for the application.
    /// </summary>
    [STAThread]
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      ...
      //TODO: Stuff with your args
    }
  }

Answer 2

The answer to your question is 'sort-of'... You can do some things but for the most part you'll need to expose a lot of detail from your form. Here is a simple example:

class Program
{
 public static void Main(string[] args)
 {
  Form2 frm = new Form2();
  if( args.Length >= 2 && args[0] == "something" )
  {
   frm.txtTextArea.Text = args[1];
   frm.btnOk_OnClick(frm.btnOk, EventArgs.Empty);
  }
 }
}

public class Form2 : Form
{
 public TextBox txtTextArea;
 public Button btnOk;

 public void btnOk_OnClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
 {
  //... code ...
 }
}

I really, really, really, do not recommend doing this. You need to refactor the form's implementation and get your code out of the form into a business logic class.

Answer 3

You can use the SendInput function from user32.dll

(Of course, this should only be done if changing the GUI application is not possible.)