Passing arguments to python exe

Question

I am trying to create a python executable using below code.

import pandas as pd
import pyodbc as po
import os
#variables
server = 'DESKTOP-9B94UPJ' 
database = 'DB1' 
username = 'etluser' 
password = 'password' 
rawfile_directory='E:\\Projects\\Ebay\\ETLApp\\'
cnxn = po.connect('DRIVER={SQL 
Server};SERVER='+server+';DATABASE='+database+';UID='+username+';PWD='+ password)

df=pd.read_csv(rawfile_directory+"SPSS_Files\\"+filename,usecols=var_filteredCols)

cnxn = po.connect('DRIVER={SQL 
Server};SERVER='+server+';DATABASE='+database+';UID='+username+';PWD='+ password)
     sql_stmt = "INSERT INTO "+var_table+" ("+var_DBCols+") values("+var_placeholder+")"
     cursor = cnxn.cursor()
     cursor.fast_executemany = True
     cursor.executemany(sql_stmt, df.values.tolist())
           # print(f'{len(df)} rows inserted to the {MY_TABLE} table')
     cursor.commit()
     cursor.close()
     cnxn.close()

I have created an exe using pyinstaller

pyinstaller --onefile etl.py

I want to pass the database credential and the folder path on the runtime to the exe. Can any of experts advise me how to achieve this? Thanks in advance

You can use `argparse` – Prakash Dahal Jul 04 '21 at 03:44 — Prakash Dahal, Jul 04 '21 at 03:44

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 04 '21 at 03:43

If you don't want to create a GUI program that uses a user interface to extract credentials, you are probably left with command-line manipulation. You can easily do the above by passing the arguments in and then extracting them using sys.argv

For example:

import sys
if len(sys.argv) < 6:
    raise ValueError("Not enough commandline arguments! Please run with <executable> <server> <database> <username> <password> <folder_path>")

server = sys.argv[1]
database = sys.argv[2]
username = sys.argv[3]
password = sys.argv[4]
rawfile_directory= sys.argv[5]

Then you can run your executable from command prompt using something like

C:\> <EXEfilename> DESKTOP-9B Ebay_CX etluser password E:\Projects\Ebay\ETLApp

If you want a fancier, more polished commandline interface, consider using argparse so you can give your end users more help on how to use the different arguments to your executable, e.g. with usage instructions, --options instead of args, --help support, etc.

You could also ask for user input during runtime, e.g. after running the executable with input() but this is less standard

See also: after compiling python program, how to input arguments

Passing arguments to python exe

1 Answers1