How to show the console on a C# program with Windows application output type

Question

I have a C# Console application project where the output type is set to "Windows application". This is so the console does not flash up at the start of the program.

However i also want to allow a help command line argument which will display details about the program if you run it from the command line with "/?" as an argument.

Is there a way to have the program run as a windows application normally but show a console if the help argument is passed?

EDIT - After reading the answers and a similar one at This question (this question assumes you are running with a console application output type) I am using this solution.

  [DllImport(Kernel32_DllName)]
    private static extern bool AllocConsole();

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
    static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);

    const int SW_HIDE = 0;
    const int SW_SHOW = 5;

  static void Main(string[] args)
    {

        if(args.Contains("/?"))
        {
           AllocConsole();

           Console.WriteLine("helpText");
           Console.ReadLine();


           var handle = GetConsoleWindow();

          //Hides console
           ShowWindow(handle, SW_HIDE);
        }
 }

possible duplicate of How do I include a console in Winforms? — Bradley Uffner
– Bradley Uffner, Commented May 1, 2014 at 14:47

Burdell · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-01 17:53:56Z

2

I have not found a way to do exactly as you are asking, but you can have a console open up depending on the input. For example:

class Program
{
    private const string Kernel32_DllName = "kernel32.dll";

    [DllImport(Kernel32_DllName)]
    private static extern bool AllocConsole();
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {

        if (args[0] == "/")
        {
            AllocConsole();


            Console.WriteLine("Details");
            Console.ReadKey();
            //cases and such for your menu options
        }

That will open a console that you can use if you follow the run command with a / even though the output type of the project is a Windows Application.

answered May 1, 2014 at 17:53

Burdell

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Comments

tinstaafl · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-01 17:07:48Z

1

Is there a way to have the program run as a windows application normally but show a console if the help argument is passed?

For what you want, learn about using command line arguments here. Basically declare Main to accept arguments as an array of string:

static void Main(string[] args)

Use a simple dialog form to display the help message or even a MessageBox which is a very simple dialog form.

This gives you much better control rather than trying to cobble something together that wasn't really meant to be put together.

edited May 1, 2014 at 17:07

answered May 1, 2014 at 17:01

tinstaafl

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Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:44:33Z

0

When I need to do stuff like this, I usually make my app a console app. I then parse the args if any in main and decide if I'm going to hide the console window and launch my UI or write to the console.

Hiding a window is fairly straightforward. See How to hide / unhide a process in C#? for an example.

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:44

CommunityBot

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answered May 1, 2014 at 17:58

whoisj

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