Running the C# compiler from a C# program

Question

I am trying to build a C# program that converts a different language into C# code. I have the program working fine, converting the code and writing it to a .cs file. I want to have this file automatically be compiled, and run, however I cannot figure out how to do this with C#.

I can do it manually by simply running a batch file I wrote, and I attempted to run this batch file from C# using the System.Diagnostics.Process class. When it ran it gave an error within the batch code itself, saying that none of the commands were found (the usual "not an executable, batch file etc"). I can't figure out why it runs normally, but not when ran from C#.

Here's the batch file code: C:\Program_Files_(x86)\Microsoft_Visual_Studio 10.0\VC\bin\amd64\vcvars64.bat csc %1.cs pause

and the function that calls it:

System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
process.StartInfo.FileName = "compiler\\compile.bat";
process.StartInfo.Arguments = " "+fileName;
process.Start();
process.WaitForExit();
process.StartInfo.FileName = fileName + ".exe";
process.Start();
process.WaitForExit();
Console.WriteLine("done");

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Check this out stackoverflow.com/questions/361097/…

V4Vendetta
– V4Vendetta

2011-10-11 04:40:44 +00:00
Commented Oct 11, 2011 at 4:40 — V4Vendetta
– V4Vendetta, Commented Oct 11, 2011 at 4:40

Kakashi · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-11 05:42:02Z

7

Don't call the C# compiler or any compiler of .net plataform using a batch script - it's a bad pratice. You can do this using only C#. using the CodeDomProvider class you can write this easily.

  static void CompileCSharp(string code) {
    CodeDomProvider provider = CodeDomProvider.CreateProvider("C#");
    ICodeCompiler compiler = provider.CreateCompiler();
    CompilerParameters parameters = new CompilerParameters();
    parameters.OutputAssembly = @"D:\foo.exe";
    parameters.GenerateExecutable = true;
    CompilerResults results = compiler.CompileAssemblyFromSource(parameters, code);
    if (results.Output.Count == 0)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("success!");
    }
    else
    {
        CompilerErrorCollection CErros = results.Errors;
        foreach (CompilerError err in CErros)
        {
            string msg = string.Format("Erro:{0} on line{1} file name:{2}", err.Line, err.ErrorText, err.FileName);
            Console.WriteLine(msg);
        }
    }
}

edited Oct 11, 2011 at 5:42

answered Oct 11, 2011 at 4:55

Kakashi

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5 Comments

BLUEPIXY Over a year ago

CompileAssemblyFromSource call by CompilerParameters and string[],also from files by CompileAssemblyFromFile

mirhagk Over a year ago

Thank you very much for this. I remember coming across codedom before, but I forgot about it. Just out of curiosity why is it bad practice? I know in this particular case the codedom is better, but what if this wasn't written with .NET? Would the command line be fine, or no? Would I have to use dlls then.

BLUEPIXY Over a year ago

use dlls set to parameters. ex)parameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.dll");

The Mask Over a year ago

I think he meant it's a bad practice because there are native methods to do so.

slcott Over a year ago

ICodeCompiler compiler = provider.CreateCompiler(); is now deprecated. See: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/…

Scott · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-11 04:49:58Z

0

You can programmatically compile your code inside of C# using the CSharpCodeProvider class.

answered Oct 11, 2011 at 4:49

Scott

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