CleanSolution

First of all, CleanSolution is a CLArgs - the Command-Line Parser demo application. CLArgs completely covers all command-line related topics so that you can focus on cleaning a directory, which is finally not more than ~30 lines of code.

Second of all, CleanSolution is a great too to clean your directories.

Personally, I use CleanSolution to remove all 'unnecessary' files and folders from my Visual Studio Solution folders before I zip or ship source-code from time to time. I also use it for Dart /Flutter applications (with a different "Profile"), as well as in other situations. You can easily create and use your own cleansing profiles for different purposes. One profile is included: sln.profile - more see below.

How to use it

After you have installed CleanSolution (see below) ...

• Open Command-Line and
• navigate to any Visual Studio Solution directory on your drive.

Show All Commands

Run CleanSolution without any parameter will ask CLArgs to print all Command's help-text.

C:\vStudio\_gitHub\CleanSolution> CleanSolution

1 Commands available.

CleanSolution       Clean a directory
                    by deleting all files that match a given pattern.
                    You can perfectly use this command to clean a Visual Studio
                    Solution directory before you ship it. 
                    Delete, for example, all .git, .vs folders or *.user files.

If you look at the source-code, you will see, all you have to do, is to write the help-text. Not a single line of code to support such help functionality in your command-line app.

Get help on specific Command

Run CleanSolution /Help to see a brief description of all command-line arguments.

Again: not a single line of code required to get this output.

C:\vStudio\_gitHub\CleanSolution> CleanSolution /Help
CleanSolution v21.4.7772.39701 Isx64=True Build=RELEASE, 12.04.2021 20:03:22

CleanSolution       Clean a directory
                    by deleting all files that match a given pattern.
                    You can perfectly use this command to clean a Visual Studio
                    Solution directory before you ship it. Delete, for example,
                    all .git, .vs folders or *.user files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/Pattern            Tags=p optional AllowMultiple=True Split=',;'
                    Specify one or more (; separated) patterns for files or
                    directories that will be deleted.
                    For example: *\obj or *.user

Check source-code CommandContext to see how command-line option are defined.

CLArgs turns all command-line arguments into strongly typed properties and passes them as a CommandContextto your Command:

Use an explicit list of Options

C:\vStudio\_gitHub\CleanSolution> CleanSolution.BAT "/p=*\obj;*\bin;*.pdb;*.user  /e=*\.git;*\.vs"
>>> The Batch file requires the arguments to be included in ""

By default, CleanSolution runs in TEST mode, to not harm your system. It does not delete anything until you specify t=false.

See 'Test' Option definition, Default=True

CleanSolution v21.4.7772.39701 Isx64=True Build=RELEASE, 12.04.2021 20:03:22
Ccommand 'CleanSolution'
Pattern: '*\obj;*\bin;*.pdb;*.user'
Ignore : '*\.git;*\.vs'
Test   : 'True'
Root   : C:\vStudio\_gitHub\CleanSolution

EXclude: \.git
EXclude: \.vs
DELete pub\CleanSolution.Command.pdb
EXclude: \src\.vs
RemoveDirectory: \src\CleanSolution\bin
RemoveDirectory: \src\CleanSolution\obj

Use a pre-defined profile

CLArgs allows you to use config file (which simply contain a pre-defined set of parameters).

Profiles, argument collections, config files - whatever you call them - are CLArgsbuilt-in functionality. You can seamlessly use this functionality without a single line of code. The arguments contained in a config file are passed to your Command as if they were explicitly specified, like in the previous example.

There is one config file included in the pub folder: sln.profile

C:\vStudio\_gitHub\CleanSolution> CleanSolution @sln.profile

Content of sln.profile - do you see the arguments?

#
# A CLArgs config file containing predefined Options
#
# This set of options represent a Visual Studio SLN cleansing profile.
# 

# Use the ability to specify /p (Patterns) as often as you want.

# Directiory deletions
/p="*\obj;*\bin"

# File deletions
/p="*.pdb;*.user;*.snk"  

# Files and Directories can also be specified in one single list.
# Using two times /p is only for better readbility of this file.

# Exclusion: ignore those directories
/e="*\.git;*\.vs;*\pub"

How to install CleanSolution

Download the pub folder and copy & paste it to any location on your local disc. Run CleanSolution.exe.

My personal way of using it:

• Navigate to %LocalAppData% (and create a subfolder Programs if it does not exist)

  • Under this folder create another one: CleanSolution.
  • Copy the pub folder content to this folder

• Add <YourUser>\AppData\Local to your PATH

• Create the Batch File there: <YourUser>\AppData\Local\CleanSolution.bat

  with the following content

  @echo off
  set App=%LocalAppData%\Programs\CleanSolution
  call %App%\CleanSolution.exe %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

Now, you can use CleanSolution.Bat from any folder you want.

Markus Schmidt (Pro), 2021-04-12