SimpleCLI¶ ↑

SimpleCLI is Undergoing Renovations

After over a year of use, this library needs some love!

I’m going to …

• get a spec suite working again (I had specs for SimpleCLI once … they’re gone now)

• create a DSL (or 2) for making it easier for people to make SimpleCLI apps if they don’t want to just include the SimpleCLI module in one of their classes

• make (atleast some of) the DSL work in pre-defined classes (kindof like what we do now)

• create a screencast showing how easy it is to use SimpleCLI (and how to test-drive SimpleCLI applications)

• document #command_missing and #default_comment usage with good examples

• create abunchof examples and throw them in the examples directory

• add #before and #after blocks for handling global options or something to do before exiting type stuff

• make sure errors return the right response code

Super Simple RubyGems-like CLI

SimpleCLI gives you a stupidly simple way to implement command-line interfaces like that of RubyGems with a basic interface like:

gem command [options]

SimpleCLI gives you a way of defining your commands (or actions) so they’ll automatically show up when you run ‘yourapp commands`

SimpleCLI also makes it really easy to add documentation to each of your commands (or actions)

I use SimpleCLI in most of my apps for quick and dirty command-line interfaces.

Here are a few real examples:

• Syntax On

• Domain Finder

• ADF

Here’s a super simple SimpleCLI example:

#! /usr/bin/env ruby

require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../lib/simplecli'

class Hello
  include SimpleCLI

  def usage
    puts <<doco

  Hello CLI

    Usage:
      #{ script_name } command [options]

    Futher help:
      #{ script_name } commands         # list all available commands
      #{ script_name } help <COMMAND>   # show help for COMMAND
      #{ script_name } help             # show this help message

doco
  end

  def sayhello_help
    <<doco
Usage: #{ script_name } sayhello [SAY]

  Arguments:
    SAY:         Something to say (default 'Hello World!')

  Summary:
    Says hello!
doco
  end
  def sayhello *args
    puts args.empty? ? "Hello World!" : args.join(' ')
  end

end

# POSTAMBLE
if __FILE__ == $0
  Hello.new( ARGV, :default => 'sayhello' ).run
end

Example usage:

$ ./hello-cli

Hello CLI

  Usage:
    hello-cli command [options]

  Futher help:
    hello-cli commands         # list all available commands
    hello-cli help <COMMAND>   # show help for COMMAND
    hello-cli help             # show this help message

$ ./hello-cli commands

hello-cli commands are:

    DEFAULT COMMAND   sayhello

    commands          List all 'hello-cli' commands
    help              Provide help documentation for a command
    sayhello          Says hello!

For help on a particular command, use 'hello-cli help COMMAND'.

$ ./hello-cli help

Usage: hello-cli help COMMAND

  Summary:
    Provide help documentation for a command

$ ./hello-cli help sayhello

Usage: hello-cli sayhello [SAY]

  Arguments:
    SAY:         Something to say (default 'Hello World!')

  Summary:
    Says hello!

$ ./hello-cli sayhello

Hello World!

$ ./hello-cli sayhello Hi There

Hi There

$ ./hello-cli Hi There ‘# this works because sayhello is configured as the default command`

Hi There

TODO

* implement a `before` block for handling global options
* there was once a spec suite ... where'd it go?  find or recreate it!