Atc.DotNet

Atc.DotNet

Target Framework: net9.0, net10.0

Programmatic interface to dotnet.exe and utilities for parsing .NET project files. Provides helpers for executing dotnet commands, analyzing project structure, and extracting metadata from solution and project files.

Why Use This Library?

Automating .NET build processes and analyzing project files requires executing dotnet.exe and parsing project XML. Atc.DotNet simplifies this by providing:

• DotnetHelper: Locate and execute dotnet.exe programmatically
• DotnetBuildHelper: Build projects and collect compilation errors
• DotnetCsProjFileHelper: Parse and analyze .csproj files
• DotnetNugetHelper: Extract NuGet package references
• VisualStudioSolutionFileHelper: Parse .sln files and extract metadata
• Project Type Detection: Identify console apps, libraries, test projects, etc.

Perfect for:

• Build automation tools
• Code generators analyzing project structure
• CI/CD pipeline utilities
• DevOps tooling for .NET projects
• Project scaffolding and templates
• Dependency analysis tools

Installation

dotnet add package Atc.DotNet

Target Framework

• .NET 9.0

Key Features

• Locate dotnet.exe installation directory and executable
• Execute dotnet build with error collection
• Parse .csproj files and extract project type
• Extract NuGet package references from projects
• Parse Visual Studio solution files
• Detect project types (Console, Library, Web, Test, etc.)
• Analyze project dependencies
• Support for both file-based and content-based parsing

Requirements

• .NET 9

Key Dependencies

• Atc (foundation library)

Main Components

DotnetHelper

Utilities for locating and working with dotnet.exe:

• GetDotnetDirectory(): Finds the dotnet installation directory
• GetDotnetExecutable(): Gets the full path to dotnet.exe

DotnetBuildHelper

Build automation and error collection:

• BuildAndCollectErrors(): Builds project and returns compilation errors

DotnetCsProjFileHelper

Project file analysis:

• PredictProjectType(): Determines project type with file analytics
• GetProjectType(): Determines project type from .csproj content

DotnetNugetHelper

NuGet package analysis:

• GetAllPackageReferences(): Extracts all package references from project

VisualStudioSolutionFileHelper

Solution file parsing:

• GetSolutionFileMetadata(): Extracts metadata from .sln files

Code documentation

References

References extended

DotnetHelper examples

Using GetDotnetDirectory() to find the directory path of dotnet.exe / dotnet - depends on the operating system

DirectoryInfo dotnetDirectory = DotnetHelper.GetDotnetDirectory();

Using GetDotnetExecutable() to find the file path of dotnet.exe / dotnet - depends on the operating system

FileInfo dotnetFile = DotnetHelper.GetDotnetExecutable();

DotnetBuildHelper examples

Using BuildAndCollectErrors(..) to build and collect errors

This method build and collect errors if any - 0 errors is the same as a successful build.

Dictionary<string, int> buildErrors = await DotnetBuildHelper.BuildAndCollectErrors(workingDirectory);

var workingDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(@"c:\code\myproject");
var runNumber = 5;
var buildFile = new FileInfo(@"c:\code\myproject\mylib.csproj"),
var useNugetRestore = true,
var useConfigurationReleaseMode = true,
var timeoutInSec = 20,
var logPrefix = "BUILD-PREFIX";
var cancellationToken = CancellationToken.None;

Dictionary<string, int> buildErrors = await DotnetBuildHelper.BuildAndCollectErrors(
    workingDirectory,
    runNumber,
    buildFile,
    useNugetRestore,
    useConfigurationReleaseMode,
    timeoutInSec,
    logPrefix,
    cancellationToken);

DotnetCsProjFileHelper examples

Using PredictProjectType(..) to find the DotnetProjectType in a file

var file = new FileInfo(@"c:\code\myproject\mylib.csproj"),

DotnetProjectType projectType = DotnetCsProjFileHelper.PredictProjectType(file);

Note: PredictProjectType use GetProjectType but extend the determinations with surrounded files analytics as looking into the Program.cs.

Using GetProjectType(..) to find the DotnetProjectType in a file or file-content

var file = new FileInfo(@"c:\code\myproject\mylib.csproj"),

DotnetProjectType projectType = DotnetCsProjFileHelper.GetProjectType(file);

DotnetNugetHelper examples

Using GetAllPackageReferences(..) to find package-references in a file or file-content

var file = new FileInfo(@"c:\code\myproject\mylib.csproj"),

List<DotnetNugetPackageMetadataBase> packages = DotnetNugetHelper.GetAllPackageReferences(file);

var file = new FileInfo(@"c:\code\myproject\mylib.csproj"),
var fileContent = File.ReadAllText(file.FullName);

List<DotnetNugetPackageMetadataBase> packages = DotnetNugetHelper.GetAllPackageReferences(fileContent);

VisualStudioSolutionFileHelper examples

Using GetSolutionFileMetadata(..) to find VisualStudio metadata in a file or file-content

var file = new FileInfo(@"c:\code\myproject\mylib.sln"),

VisualStudioSolutionFileMetadata metadata = VisualStudioSolutionFileHelper.GetSolutionFileMetadata(file);

var file = new FileInfo(@"c:\code\myproject\mylib.sln"),
var fileContent = File.ReadAllText(file.FullName);

VisualStudioSolutionFileMetadata metadata = VisualStudioSolutionFileHelper.GetSolutionFileMetadata(file);

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see the main repository README for contribution guidelines.