From: ara.t.howard@...
Date: 2007-03-21T04:56:24+09:00
Subject: Re: [ANN] main-0.0.1 - command line apps for the truly lazy

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007, Justin Bailey wrote:

> On 3/20/07, Ara.T.Howard <ara.t.howard@noaa.gov> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> NAME
>>    main.rb
>> 
>> SYNOPSIS
>>    a class factory and dsl for generating real main programs real quick
>
>
> Excellent looking library. I have some fascination with writing CLI apps,
> and have used the commandline gem extensively. My one complaint with that
> library was the obscure syntax used for parsing command line options.
>
> Can the options parsed be used outside the Main { } declaration? For small
> scripts, the "run" method is fine, but for larger apps it becomes necessary
> to break things up. Specifically, I am thinking of some highline driven apps
> I have which would benefit from the option parsing provided here.

   harp:~ > cat a.rb
   require 'rubygems'
   require 'main'

   ARGV.replace %w( --foo=42 42.0 )

   main = Main.new{
     option('foo='){ cast :int }
     option('bar='){ cast :float }
   }


   p main.param['foo']
   p main.param['bar']


   harp:~ > ruby a.rb
   #<Main::Parameter::Option:0xb74ce1b4 @given=true, @validate=nil, @cast=:int, @names=["foo"], @arity=1, @argument=:required, @required=false, @values=[42], @type=:option, @defaults=[]>
   #<Main::Parameter::Option:0xb74cdd18 @given=nil, @cast=:float, @names=["bar"], @argument=:required, @required=false, @type=:option, @defaults=[]>


i realize, as i post this, that i'd meant for one to be able to say

   argv = %w( --foo=42 42.0 )

   env = {'PATH' => '/usr/loca/bin'}

   main = Main.new(argv, env){
     option('foo='){ cast :int }
     option('bar='){ cast :float }
   }

but neglected to pass some information through.  i'll think about it and ensure
that's possible v.s directly manipulating ARGV

this is quite a re-work of what's in alib, so i'm all ears for
comments/feature-requests.  btw.  the usage can be overridden simply with

   Main{
     usage 'my usage string'
   }

regards.

  -a
-- 
be kind whenever possible... it is always possible.
- the dalai lama