Coming From swiftDialog

Coming From swiftDialog

If you already write swiftDialog into Munki or Jamf workflows, the mental model transfers whole: build a dialog from flags, keep it alive, drive it from a command file, read the exit code. What differs is scope. csharpDialog implements the progress-reporting core and leaves swiftDialog's interactive and presentational surface out.

Read this page for what maps, then CLI Reference for the exact behaviour of each csharpDialog flag.

The three differences that will bite first

A window is not the default. swiftDialog always draws. dialog.exe only uses the WPF front end when it sees --window, --fullscreen, --kiosk, --firstrun, --autolaunch or --commandfile; otherwise it prints a menu to stdout and blocks on Console.ReadLine(). A swiftDialog line transliterated verbatim will hang a non-interactive script. Add --window.

Exit codes are 0 or 1 only. swiftDialog's 2 (button2), 4 (timeout), 10 (quit key) and 20 (--infobutton) do not exist. Button pressed is 0; timeout, quit key and error are all

1. Any workflow that branches on 2 or 4 needs restructuring.

Only one button is ever displayed. --button2 is parsed and stored but the window has a single button control. Two-way decisions have to be built another way.

Flag mapping

Maps directly

swiftDialog	csharpDialog	Notes
--title, -t	--title, -t	Same
--message, -m	--message, -m	Plain text only — see markdown, below
--button1text	--button1text / --button1	Same
--button1disabled	--button1disabled	Also engages a close lock: title-bar X and Alt+F4 are refused while disabled
--quitkey	--quitkey	Ctrl+char instead of Cmd+char. Only the first character is used; letters and digits only
--hidedefaultkeyboardaction	--hidedefaultkeyboardaction	Swallows Esc, Enter and Alt+F4
--timeout	--timeout	Seconds. Closes the window; exit code is 1, not swiftDialog's 4
--width / --height	--width / --height	Pixels. No percentage form
--commandfile	--commandfile	Same idea, mostly the same verbs
--listitem	--listitem	The comma-separated title,status,icon form. No key/value form on the command line
--progress	--progress	With no value it simply shows the bar, which is the usual use
--progresstext	--progresstext	Initial value is not applied by dialog.exe; send it over the command file

Renamed or behaviourally different

swiftDialog	csharpDialog	Difference
--blurscreen	--fullscreen	Full-virtual-desktop overlay with a dimmed, DWM-blurred backdrop and the dialog centred on it. Acrylic needs Windows 11 22H2+; older builds get a plain dim
--ontop	--topmost	Parsed but inert in dialog.exe. Use --fullscreen, whose overlay is always topmost
--position	—	No equivalent. The window is always centred
--progress <max>	--progress-max	csharpDialog's --progress <n> is the value, not the maximum. --progress-max exists but is inert — the bar's maximum is fixed at 100, so always send percentages
--icon	--icon	Parsed but inert in dialog.exe; the header graphic is a built-in vector. List-item icons via the third --listitem field do work, from a local absolute path
--iconsize	—	No equivalent
--big, --small, --mini	--width / --height	No named size presets

No equivalent

Everything in this list is absent from the parser. Passing it is silently ignored.

swiftDialog area	Flags with no csharpDialog counterpart
Form controls	--textfield, --checkbox, --selecttitle/--selectvalues, --selectdefault, --fileselect
Structured input	--jsonstring, --jsonfile, --jsonoutput
Chrome and layout	--infobox, --infotext, --infobuttontext, --infobuttonaction, --titlefont, --messagefont, --alignment, --centreicon, --overlayicon, --bannerimage, --bannertitle, --helpmessage
Content views	--webcontent, --video/--videocaption (the flag is parsed but no playback exists), --image/--imagecaption (parsed, inert), --listitem icon URLs
Modes	--notification, --mini, --presentation, --displaylog
Behaviour	--moveable, --ontop (as a working flag), --hidetimerbar, --quitoninfo, --blurscreen opacity control, --autoplay
Output	Result JSON on stdout, per-field values, --jsonoutput
Text	Markdown in --message. --markdown is parsed but read by nothing; the message renders as plain text

Command-file verb mapping

swiftDialog command	csharpDialog	Status
title:	title:	Works
message:	message:	Works. No markdown
progress:	progress:	Works. Percentage — the maximum is fixed at 100
progresstext:	progresstext:	Works
button1text:	button1text:	Works
button1: enable / disable	same	Works, and enabling also releases the close lock
listitem: add, title: …	same	Works
listitem: index: N, status: …	same	Works
listitem: delete, …	—	Parsed, does nothing. Rows cannot be removed
list: clear	—	Parsed, does nothing
quit:	quit	Works. Exits 0
progress: increment	progressincrement:	Accepted by the parser, no window handler. Track the value in your script
progress: reset	progressreset	Same — send progress: 0
icon:, image:, overlayicon:, infobox:, infotext:, width:, height:, position:, activate:, alignment:, button2text:	—	Either absent or accepted-and-ignored

The verbs accepted-but-ignored are enumerated in Command File Reference.

Concept mapping

swiftDialog on macOS	csharpDialog on Windows
Munki managedsoftwareupdate	Cimian managedsoftwareupdate.exe
/Library/Application Support/Dialog/dialog.log as the default command file	No default. --commandfile is required and takes an explicit path
Munki icon cache under Managed Installs/icons	%ProgramData%\ManagedInstalls\icons\, checked first when resolving an icon by basename
Launching from a LaunchAgent in the user's session	A scheduled task or logon script in the user's session. A SYSTEM-context launch lands in session 0 and is invisible — see Troubleshooting
Dark mode from the system appearance setting	Dark mode from AppsUseLightTheme in HKCU, with a DWM immersive dark title bar
dialog binary in /usr/local/bin	dialog.exe in C:\Program Files\csharpDialog, added to the machine PATH by the installer

Rewriting a swiftDialog call

A typical Munki-side swiftDialog invocation:

dialog --title "Setting up your Mac" \
       --message "Please wait while we install your software." \
       --progress --progresstext "Starting..." \
       --button1disabled \
       --blurscreen \
       --commandfile /var/tmp/dialog.log

The csharpDialog equivalent. Note the added front-end flag is unnecessary here only because --fullscreen and --commandfile both imply it, and that the initial progress text moves into the command file because the launch-time value is not applied:

dialog --title "Setting up this computer" `
       --message "Please wait while we install your software." `
       --progress `
       --button1disabled `
       --hidedefaultkeyboardaction `
       --fullscreen `
       --commandfile "C:\ProgramData\ManagedNotifications\work\dialog.txt"

Add-Content "C:\ProgramData\ManagedNotifications\work\dialog.txt" "progresstext: Starting..." -Encoding UTF8

--hidedefaultkeyboardaction is added because on Windows, Alt+F4 and Esc are live dismissal paths that a disabled button alone does not cover.

What to expect next

The repository's roadmap lists markdown, form elements, sound, JSON configuration files and a PowerShell module as unimplemented. The JSON model and the theming layer are partly written but not reachable — see Configuration. Do not design a workflow around them until they are wired up.