VB.NET: Console.Writeline() to DOS prompt when Forms app invoked from DOS

[TuckerRoth]

This is my first post on this site, so I don't know the rules. Please correct me if this gets to the wrong folks...etc.

PROBLEM: Many of the apps that I am writing need to be able to run 2 ways: They might be invoked from the command-line with parameters so that they do not show UI, but accomplish some task; OR they might be double-clicked, in which case they show a UI (so that the User can configure settings for the app...etc.).

To this end, I create the application as a Forms Application, but have a module that contains a

Public Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)

...procedure as the 'Startup object'.

If the app is double-clicked, there are no 'args', so I just ShowDialog() on the Main Form.

If the app is run from the command-line with args, then I don't ShowDialog() on the MainForm, and just do the work.

OK so far.

QUESTION: In the case where the User runs the application from the command line, I would like to write output to the DOS window (for ex: if they enter the incorrect args, then I want to display correct usage). But Console.Writeline() doesn't put output to the DOS window that the app is being run in?

How can I acheive this?

Am I wrong in doing things the way I am doing them with regards to my strategy of using a Forms Application but starting it with a Sub Main? Should I have created a Console application that somehow displays Forms?

Any help greatly appreciated!

[Plater]

if your program type is set to windows application (go to the properties of the project) then for some reason the "console" never runs correctly. Set it to a console application and you should see your output in the commandline that the program was invoked in. (Yes, you will still be able to do the showdialog() even in a console application....unless they changed something without me noticing)