Easier Way to Read Process Output?

[RehanSaeed]

I'm executing a process and reading the output like so:

StartProcess(
    "az",
    new ProcessSettings()
        .WithArguments(x => x
            .Append("account")
            .Append("list-locations"))
        .SetRedirectStandardOutput(true),
        out var lines);
var json = string.Join(Environment.NewLine, lines);

This is pretty cumbersome. I'd really like something far simpler like simple-exec built into Cake build aliases so I don't have to include yet another dependency:

var (standardOutput, standardError) = await ReadAsync("az account list-locations");

I don't believe anything like this currently exists unless there is an alias I'm missing?

[devlead]

I think a generic tool alias will that takes an ICollection for tool resolution would likely be a good addition.

What I've currently use is a helper method I include in my scripts

static CmdHandler Cmd;
Cmd = (path, args, redirectStandardOutput, workingDirectory) => {
    IEnumerable<string> redirectedStandardOutput = null;
    var settings =  new ProcessSettings {
                Arguments = args(new ProcessArgumentBuilder()),
                RedirectStandardOutput = redirectStandardOutput,
                WorkingDirectory = workingDirectory ?? Context.Environment.WorkingDirectory
            };
    var result = StartProcess(
                    path,
                    settings,
                    out redirectedStandardOutput);

    var output = string.Join(System.Environment.NewLine, redirectedStandardOutput ?? Enumerable.Empty<string>());

    if(0 != result)
    {
        throw new Exception($"Failed to execute tool {path.GetFilename()} ({result}) with args: {settings.Arguments.RenderSafe()}");
    }

    return output;
};
public delegate string CmdHandler(FilePath path, ArgumentHandler args, bool redirectStandardOutput, DirectoryPath workingDirectory = null);
public delegate ProcessArgumentBuilder ArgumentHandler(ProcessArgumentBuilder args);

then use it something like

#load "cmd.cake"

FilePath NpmPath = Context.Tools.Resolve("npm.cmd")
                    ?? Context.Tools.Resolve("npm")
                    ?? throw new FileNotFoundException("Failed to resolved NPM path");
var result = Cmd(
    NpmPath,
    arg => arg.Append("--version"),
    true
);

Information("NPM Version: {0}", result);

[RehanSaeed]

To add to this. Its currently an extra step to check the exit code. It'd be nice if ProcessSettings had a ThrowIfNonZeroExitCode property.