[.net-core] Build .NET Core console application to output an EXE

Here's my hacky workaround - generate a console application (.NET Framework) that reads its own name and arguments, and then calls dotnet [nameOfExe].dll [args].

Of course this assumes that .NET is installed on the target machine.

Here's the code. Feel free to copy!

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Text;

namespace dotNetLauncher
{
    class Program
    {
        /*
            If you make .NET Core applications, they have to be launched like .NET blah.dll args here
            This is a convenience EXE file that launches .NET Core applications via name.exe
            Just rename the output exe to the name of the .NET Core DLL file you wish to launch
        */
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var exePath = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
            var exeName = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName;
            var assemblyName = exeName.Substring(0, exeName.Length - 4);
            StringBuilder passInArgs = new StringBuilder();
            foreach(var arg in args)
            {
                bool needsSurroundingQuotes = false;
                if (arg.Contains(" ") || arg.Contains("\""))
                {
                    passInArgs.Append("\"");
                    needsSurroundingQuotes = true;
                }
                passInArgs.Append(arg.Replace("\"","\"\""));
                if (needsSurroundingQuotes)
                {
                    passInArgs.Append("\"");
                }

                passInArgs.Append(" ");
            }
            string callingArgs = $"\"{exePath}{assemblyName}.dll\" {passInArgs.ToString().Trim()}";

            var p = new Process
            {
                StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("dotnet", callingArgs)
                {
                    UseShellExecute = false
                }
            };

            p.Start();
            p.WaitForExit();
        }
    }
}