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My.Application.CommandLineArgs Property 

Gets a collection containing the command-line arguments as strings for the current application.

' Usage
Dim value As System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection(Of String) = My.Application.CommandLineArgs
' Declaration
Public ReadOnly Property CommandLineArgs As System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection(Of String)

Return Value

A ReadOnlyCollection of String, containing the command-line arguments as strings for the current application.

Remarks

The My.Application.CommandLineArgs property provides read-only access to the current application's command-line arguments for applications that are not ClickOnce deployed.

For a single-instance application, the My.Application.CommandLineArgs property returns the command-line arguments for the first instance of an application. To access the arguments for subsequent attempts to start a single-instance application, you must handle the My.Application.StartupNextInstance Event and examine the CommandLine property of the StartupEventArgs argument.

Note

The My.Application.CommandLineArgs property returns only the command-line arguments. This is different from the behavior of the CommandLine property, which returns the application name in addition to the arguments.

Note

In an application that is ClickOnce deployed, use the ActivationUri property of the My.Application.Deployment object to get the command-line arguments. For more information, see My.Application.Deployment Property.

Tasks

The following table lists examples of tasks involving the My.Application.CommandLineArgs property.

To See

Check if the application started with the string /batch as an argument

How to: Enable a Batch Mode for Window Forms Applications

Check the command-line arguments of subsequent attempts to start a single-instance application

My.Application.StartupNextInstance Event

Example

This example uses the My.Application.CommandLineArgs property to examine the application's command-line arguments. If an argument is found that starts with /input=, the rest of that argument is displayed.

Private Sub ParseCommandLineArgs()
    Dim inputArgument As String = "/input="
    Dim inputName As String = ""

    For Each s As String In My.Application.CommandLineArgs
        If s.ToLower.StartsWith(inputArgument) Then
            inputName = s.Remove(0, inputArgument.Length)
        End If
    Next

    If inputName = "" Then
        MsgBox("No input name")
    Else
        MsgBox("Input name: " & inputName)
    End If
End Sub

Requirements

Namespace: Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices

Class: ConsoleApplicationBase

Assembly: Visual Basic Runtime Library (in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll)

Availability by Project Type

Project type Available

Windows Application

Yes

Class Library

No

Console Application

Yes

Windows Control Library

No

Web Control Library

No

Windows Service

Yes

Web Site

No

Permissions

The following permission may be necessary:

Permission Description

EnvironmentPermission

Controls the ability to access the PATH environment variable. Associated enumeration: Read.

For more information, see Code Access Security and Requesting Permissions.

See Also

Reference

My.Application Object
My.Application.StartupNextInstance Event
ReadOnlyCollection
Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.ConsoleApplicationBase.CommandLineArgs
StartupEventArgs
CommandLine