Command Line Interface (CLI)

Most of Charon functionality could be accessed via CLI commands. The application itself uses the getops syntax. You should be familiar with terminal on your OS to fully tap potential of CLI.

Installation

Manual Download

The Charon.exe package can be downloaded from Nuget and extracted as a ZIP archive, containing the application located in the tools/ directory.

Nuget Client

Or use Nuget client to download and unpack package:

nuget install GameDevWare.Charon -ExcludeVersion -PackageSaveMode nupkg -PreRelease -OutputDirectory ./

Bootstrap scripts (recommended)

Alternatively, you can use one of two bootstrap scripts:

RunCharon.bat (Windows)

RunCharon.sh (Linux, MacOS)

Both scripts require the dotnet tool to be available in PATH and mono installed for Linux and MacOS.

mkdir Charon
cd Charon
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gamedevware/charon/main/scripts/bootstrap/RunCharon.bat

RunCharon.bat DATA EXPORT --help
#              ^
#         your command goes here

mkdir Charon
cd Charon
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gamedevware/charon/main/scripts/bootstrap/RunCharon.bat

chmod +x RunCharon.sh

./RunCharon.sh DATA EXPORT --help
#               ^
#      your command goes here

Command Syntax

Commands have the following syntax:

Charon.exe COMMAND --parameterName <parameter-value>

# parameters can have more than one value.
# Use space to separate values
Charon.exe EXPORT --schemas Item Armor "Project Settings" Quest

# if your value contains a space, put it inside the quotation marks.
# Escape characters and other rules depend on the OS you are running.
Charon.exe SERVE --dataBase "c:\my application\my path.txt"

# some parameters don't require a value (e.g. flag).
Charon.exe VERSION --verbose

Linux and MacOS

To run Charon.exe on non-Windows systems, you need to have the mono runtime installed, which can be either a global one from $PATH or a local installation.

# for globally installed mono
mono Charon.exe VERSION

# for non-brew installed mono on MacOS
/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Commands/mono Charon.exe VERSION

# for some linux installations
/usr/bin/mono Charon.exe VERSION

# or use bootstrap script
./RunCharon.sh VERSION

Absolute and relative paths

When running commands, it’s crucial to be aware of whether you are using absolute or relative paths to files.

Absolute Path: An absolute path defines a file or directory’s location in relation to the root directory. In Linux and macOS, it starts from the root /, while in Windows, it begins with a drive letter (like C:\\).
- Example for Linux/macOS: /usr/local/bin
- Example for Windows: C:\\Program Files\\mono
Relative Path: A relative path references a file or directory in relation to the current working directory, without starting with a root slash or drive letter.
- Example: If currently in /home/user/Documents, a file in /home/user/Documents/Projects would have the relative path Projects/FileName.

Windows Command Prompt: Paths use backslashes (\\). Absolute paths start with a drive letter (like C:\\Users\\Name), while relative paths use the file name or paths like subfolder\\file.txt.
macOS/Linux Terminal: Paths are denoted with forward slashes (/). Absolute paths begin from the root (/), and relative paths use ./ for the current directory or ../ to go up one level.

Getting Help Text

To display list of available commands add –help or /?.

Charon.exe --help

#> Usage: Charon.exe <action> [--<param> || (--<param> <paramValue> ...) ...]
#>
#> Verbs:
#>  DATA        Data manipulation actions.
#>  GENERATE    Code generation actions.
#>  VERSION     Print version.

Charon.exe DATA EXPORT --help

#> Usage:
#>   DATA EXPORT --dataBase <URI> [--schemas [<TEXT>]] [--properties [<TEXT>]] [--languages [<TEXT>]] [--output <TEXT>
#>               ] [--outputFormat <TEXT>] [--outputFormattingOptions [<TEXT>]] [--mode <EXPORTMODE>] [--credentials [<
#>               TEXT>]]