SSW Rules to Better Command Lines

1. Do you have a UI for a command line utility?

   There should never be a command line utility without a UI. Take an example of Visual Studio 2008:

   

   Figure: Bad Example: In website project, Visual Studio does not have a UI for its command line.

   

   Figure: Good Example: In web application project, Visual Studio provides a UI for its command line.

2. Do you open UI by default when you type [ApplicationName].exe?

   It is always a good practice to have UI opened when specifying [ApplicationName].exe from command line. If the GUI is not done, show a messagebox "GUI coming..."
   Note: If you prefer for not putting UI as the default, it should have be at least "/GUI" as the argument. DO NOT use "/i", because too many command lines are using “/i” already.

   

   Figure: Bad example: /i should not be needed to get to the GUI – it should be by default.

   

   Figure: Good Example: UI is opened by default.

3. Do you provide list of arguments?

   When you develop an application that supports command line, you must provide a list of arguments / help on how to use the application through command line.
   It can be as easy as typing: [ApplicationName].exe /? for listing the arguments.

   

   Figure: Bad example: Do no provide supported argument through /?.

   

   Figure: Good Example: Provide supported argument through /? .

Acknowledgements

Adam Cogan
Andy Taslim