NAME¶
MooseX::App - Write user-friendly command line apps with even less suffering
SYNOPSIS¶
In your base class:
package MyApp;
use MooseX::App qw(Color);
option 'global_option' => (
is => 'rw',
isa => 'Bool',
documentation => q[Enable this to do fancy stuff],
); # Global option
has 'private' => (
is => 'rw',
); # not exposed
Write multiple command classes (If you have only a single command class you
should use MooseX::App::Simple instead)
package MyApp::SomeCommand;
use MooseX::App::Command; # important (also imports Moose)
extends qw(MyApp); # optional, only if you want to use global options from base class
# Positional parameter
parameter 'some_parameter' => (
is => 'rw',
isa => 'Str',
required => 1,
documentation => q[Some parameter that you need to supply],
);
option 'some_option' => (
is => 'rw',
isa => 'Int',
required => 1,
documentation => q[Very important option!],
); # Option
sub run {
my ($self) = @_;
# Do something
}
And then you need a simple wrapper script (called eg. myapp):
#!/usr/bin/env perl
use MyApp;
MyApp->new_with_command->run;
On the command line:
bash$ myapp help
usage:
myapp <command> [long options...]
myapp help
global options:
--global_option Enable this to do fancy stuff [Flag]
--help --usage -? Prints this usage information. [Flag]
available commands:
some_command Description of some command
another_command Description of another command
help Prints this usage information
or
bash$ myapp some_command --help
usage:
myapp some_command <SOME_PARAMETER> [long options...]
myapp help
myapp some_command --help
parameters:
some_parameter Some parameter that you need to supply [Required]
options:
--global_option Enable this to do fancy stuff [Flag]
--some_option Very important option! [Int,Required]
--help --usage -? Prints this usage information. [Flag]
DESCRIPTION¶
MooseX-App is a highly customisable helper to write user-friendly command line
applications without having to worry about most of the annoying things usually
involved. Just take any existing Moose class, add a single line ("use
MooseX-App qw(PluginA PluginB ...);") and create one class for each
command in an underlying namespace. Options and positional parameters can be
defined as simple Moose accessors.
MooseX-App will then
- •
- Find, load and initialise the command classes (see MooseX-App-Simple for
single command applications)
- •
- Create automated help and documentation from modules POD as well as
attributes metadata and type constraints
- •
- Read, encode and validate the command line options and positional
parameters entered by the user from @ARGV and %ENV
- •
- Provide helpful error messages if user input cannot be validated ( either
missing or wrong attributes or Moose type constraints not satisfied)
Commandline options are defined using the 'option' keyword which accepts the
same attributes as Moose' 'has' keyword.
option 'some_option' => (
is => 'rw',
isa => 'Str',
);
This is equivalent to
has 'some_option' => (
is => 'rw',
isa => 'Str',
traits => ['AppOption'], # Load extra metaclass
cmd_type => 'option', # Set attribute type
);
Positional parameters are defined with the 'parameter' keyword
parameter 'some_option' => (
is => 'rw',
isa => 'Str',
);
This is equivalent to
has 'some_option' => (
is => 'rw',
isa => 'Str',
traits => ['AppOption'],
cmd_type => 'parameter',
);
Furthermore all options and parameters can also be supplied vie %ENV
option 'some_option' => (
is => 'rw',
isa => 'Str',
cmd_env => 'SOME_OPTION',
);
Read the Tutorial for getting started with a simple MooseX::App command line
application.
METHODS¶
new_with_command¶
my $myapp_command = MyApp->new_with_command();
This constructor reads the command line arguments and tries to create a command
class instance. If it fails it retuns a MooseX::App::Message::Envelope object
holding an error message.
You can pass a hash of default/fallback params to new_with_command
my $obj = MyApp->new_with_command(%default);
initialize_command_class¶
my $obj = MyApp->initialize_command_class($command_name,%default);
Helper method to instantiate the command class for the given command.
GLOBAL OPTIONS¶
app_base¶
app_base 'my_script'; # Defaults to $0
Usually MooseX::App will take the name of the calling wrapper script to
construct the program name in various help messages. This name can be changed
via the app_base function.
app_namespace¶
app_namespace 'MyApp::Commands', 'YourApp::MoreCommands';
Usually MooseX::App will take the package name of the base class as the
namespace for commands. This namespace can be changed and you can add multiple
extra namespaces.
app_fuzzy¶
app_fuzzy(1); # default
OR
app_fuzzy(0);
Enables fuzzy matching of commands and attributes. Is turned on by default.
app_strict¶
app_strict(0); # default
OR
app_strict(1);
If strict is enabled the program will terminate with an error message if
superfluous/unknown positional parameters are supplied. If disabled all extra
parameters will be copied to the extra_argv attribute.
The command_strict config in the command classes allows one to set this option
individually for each command.
app_prefer_commandline¶
app_prefer_commandline(0); # default
or
app_prefer_commandline(1);
Specifies if parameters/options supplied via @ARGV,%ENV should take precedence
over arguments passed to new_with_command.
app_command_name¶
app_command_name {
my ($package) = shift;
# munge package name;
return $command_name;
};
This sub can be used to control how package names should be translated to
command names.
app_description¶
Set the description. If not set this information will be taken from the Pod
DESCRIPTION or OVERVIEW sections.
app_usage¶
Set custom usage. If not set this will be taken from the Pod SYNOPSIS or USAGE
section. If those sections are not available, the usage information will be
autogenerated.
GLOBAL ATTRIBUTES¶
All MooseX::App classes will have two extra attributes
Carries all parameters from @ARGV that were not consumed (only if app_strict is
turned off, otherwise superfluous parameters will raise an exception).
help_flag¶
Help flag that is set when help was requested.
ATTRIBUTE OPTIONS¶
- •
- cmd_tags - Extra tags
- •
- cmd_flag - Override option name
- •
- cmd_aliases - Alternative option names
- •
- cmd_split - Split values
- •
- cmd_position - Option/Parameter order
- •
- cmd_env - Read options from %ENV
Refer to MooseX::App::Meta::Role::Attribute::Option for detailed documentation.
MooseX::App will use your class metadata and POD to construct the commands and
helpful error- or usage- messages. These bits of information are utilised and
should be provided if possible:
- •
- Package names
- •
- required options for Moose attributes
- •
- documentation options for Moose attributes
- •
- Moose type constraints (Bool, ArrayRef, HashRef, Int, Num, and Enum)
- •
- POD (NAME, ABSTRACT, DESCRIPTION, USAGE, SYNOPSIS and OVERVIEW
sections)
- •
- Dzil ABSTRACT tag if no POD is available yet
PLUGINS¶
The behaviour of MooseX-App can be customised with plugins. To load a plugin
just pass a list of plugin names after the "use MooseX-App"
statement. (Attention: order sometimes matters)
use MooseX::App qw(PluginA PluginB);
Currently the following plugins are shipped with MooseX::App
- •
- MooseX::App::Plugin::BashCompletion
Adds a command that genereates a bash completion script for your
application
- •
- MooseX::App::Plugin::Color
Colorful output for your MooseX::App applications
- •
- MooseX::App::Plugin::Config
Config files for MooseX::App applications
- •
- MooseX::App::Plugin::ConfigHome
Search config files in users home directory
- •
- MooseX::App::Plugin::Term
Prompt user for options and parameters that were not provided via options or
params
- •
- MooseX::App::Plugin::Typo
Handle typos in command names
- •
- MooseX::App::Plugin::Version
Adds a command to display the version and license of your application
- •
- MooseX::App::Plugin::Man
Display full manpage
Refer to Writing MooseX-App Plugins for documentation on how to create your own
plugins.
CAVEATS & KNOWN BUGS¶
Startup time may be an issue - escpecially if you load many plugins. If you do
not require the functionality of plugins and ability for fine grained
customisation (or Moose for that matter) then you should probably use
MooX::Options or MooX::Cmd.
In some cases - especially when using non-standard class inheritance - you may
end up with command classes lacking the help attribute. In this case you need
to include the following line in your base class
with qw(MooseX::App::Role::Common);
SEE ALSO¶
Read the Tutorial for getting started with a simple MooseX::App command line
application.
For alternatives you can check out
MooseX::App::Cmd, MooseX::Getopt, MooX::Options, MooX::Cmd and App::Cmd
SUPPORT¶
Please report any bugs or feature requests to
"bug-moosex-app@rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at
<
http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Report.html?Queue=MooseX-App>. I will be
notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your report
as I make changes.
AUTHOR¶
MaroX Kollar
CPAN ID: MAROS
maros [at] k-1.com
http://www.k-1.com
CONTRIBUTORS¶
In no particular order: Andrew Jones, George Hartzell, Steve Nolte, Michael G,
Thomas Klausner, Yanick Champoux, Edward Baudrez, David Golden, J.R. Mash,
Thilo Fester, Gregor Herrmann
COPYRIGHT¶
MooseX::App is Copyright (c) 2012-14 MaroX Kollar.
This library is free software and may be distributed under the same terms as
perl itself. The full text of the licence can be found in the LICENCE file
included with this module.