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Bootstrapping with CommandExecutor

The easiest way to bootstrap Oakton is to use the integration with IHost. Eschewing that, you have the options in this page.

Oakton applications can be bootstrapped either very simply with a single command, or more elaborately with options to preprocess commands, automatic command discovery, options files, or custom command object builders.

Single Command

If all you have is a single command in your project, the bootstrapping can be as simple as this:

cs
class Program
{
    static int Main(string[] args)
    {
        // As long as this doesn't blow up, we're good to go
        return CommandExecutor.ExecuteCommand<NameCommand>(args);
    }
}

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Multiple Commands

For more complex applications with multiple commands, you need to interact a little more with the CommandFactory configuration as shown below:

cs
public static int Main(string[] args)
{
    var executor = CommandExecutor.For(_ =>
    {
        // Automatically discover and register
        // all OaktonCommand's in this assembly
        _.RegisterCommands(typeof(Program).GetTypeInfo().Assembly);
        
        // You can also add commands explicitly from
        // any assembly
        _.RegisterCommand<HelloCommand>();
        
        // In the absence of a recognized command name,
        // this is the default command to try to 
        // fit to the arguments provided
        _.DefaultCommand = typeof(ColorCommand);

        
        _.ConfigureRun = run =>
        {
            // you can use this to alter the values
            // of the inputs or actual command objects
            // just before the command is executed
        };
        
        // This is strictly for the as yet undocumented
        // feature in stdocs to generate and embed usage information
        // about console tools built with Oakton into
        // stdocs generated documentation websites
        _.SetAppName("MyApp");
    });

    // See the page on Opts files
    executor.OptionsFile = "myapp.opts";

    return executor.Execute(args);
}

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Note the usage of ConfigureRun. See the Marten.CommandLine usage of this extension point as an example.

Custom Command Creators

warning

Oakton was purposely built without direct support for an IoC container so users could focus on building fast console tools without the extra complexity of IoC set up

By default, Oakton just tries to create command objects by calling an expected default, no arg constructor with Activator.CreateInstance(). However, if you want to do something different like use an IoC container, you can provide a custom ICommandCreator like this one using StructureMap:

cs
public class StructureMapCommandCreator : ICommandCreator
{
    private readonly IContainer _container;

    public StructureMapCommandCreator(IContainer container)
    {
        _container = container;
    }

    public IOaktonCommand CreateCommand(Type commandType)
    {
        return (IOaktonCommand)_container.GetInstance(commandType);
    }

    public object CreateModel(Type modelType)
    {
        return _container.GetInstance(modelType);
    }
}

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To use this custom command creator, just tell CommandExecutor about it like this:

cs
public static void Bootstrapping(IContainer container)
{
    var executor = CommandExecutor.For(_ =>
    {
        // do the other configuration of the CommandFactory
    }, new StructureMapCommandCreator(container));
}

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