C# as a Script

[Ehtyar]

Hi all.
I'm posting this in relation to this thread. It's intended to be just a quick intro to using C# as a scripting language instead of a compiled language.
Due to the fact that CLR compiled applications must be accompanied by a compiler, .net languages provide a unique opportunity to compile code on-the-fly. In this case, we're using a compiled executable to call the compiler to compile code we provide at the moment we wish to execute it via Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider(), thus simulating the behavior of a scripting language. There are two engines I've found to accomplish this task:

• C# Script for .NET 2.0 is the engine I eventually chose. It is extremely small and relatively simple, therefore is also a cinch to modify.
• CS_Script is the bulkier, yet more feature full of the two, this one provides for caching of the compiled script, and for embedding the "interpreter" itself into any .net application.

I chose the former both because it was far easier to modify, and because it runs happier on Mono than the alternative. Attached is a console and GUI build of my slightly modified version (scripts written for the console misbehave if run from the GUI interpreter). The changes include:

• The System, System.IO, System.Text, System.Collections.Generic, and System.Windows.Forms namespaces are included by default, and the necessary assemblies are referenced.
• The full path of the executing script will be provided as the first argument on the command line.
• The code generated from the scripts will be optimized and will not contain any debug information.
• The interpreter will compile code that does not contain a Main(). However, if you provide a Main(), you must also provide an enclosing class { } , and optionally, a namespace { }. This provides for multiple classes or namespaces in a single script.

I hope this info will be of use to somebody. As always, feedback is much appreciated

Ehtyar.

CSScript.zip (9.9 KB)

[mouser]

Cool.  Looking forward to seeing how you use it.

[Ehtyar]

I used it for my binary parsing problem Mouse Man (first link). I won't show the script here because it's not appropriate for DC, but if anyone would like some info on how things went, feel free to ask any questions.

Ehtyar.