lib2cli

Extremely easy library for creating command-line applications, or for converting another libraries to it.

How to use

First of all:

npm install lib2cli

Second you will call the command run to start the CLI:

const lib2cli = require('lib2cli')
const myLib = require('./my_lib.js')
const myDoc = require('./doc_of_my_lib.json')
 
lib2cli.run({ lib: myLib, doc: myDoc })

There are two ways of organizing the information for creating the CLI.

One is informing the lib as an object or the function itself and also informing the doc as an object describing all commands, parameters and flags to create the help text.

Example:

const lib2cli = require('lib2cli')
 
lib2cli.run({
  lib: {
    'be-awesome': (param1, param2, { awesomeFlag }) => {
      console.log(`I'm awesome! ${param1}, ${param2}, ${awesomeFlag}`)
    }
  }
  doc: {
    description: 'My awesome CLI!',
    commands: {
      'be-awesome': {
        description: 'To be awesome.',
        flags: {
          'awesome-flag': {
            description: `It's a awesome flag!`
          }
        }
        parameters: {
          'First parameter': {
            description: `I'm the first.`
          }, {
          'Second parameter': {
            description: `I'm the second.`
          },
        }
      }
    }
  }
})

The other way is to "mix" the functions with the documentation.

Example:

const lib2cli = require('lib2cli')
 
lib2cli.run({
  description: 'My awesome CLI!',
  commands: {
    'be-awesome': {
      command: (param1, param2, { awesomeFlag }) => {
        console.log(`I'm awesome! ${param1}, ${param2}, ${awesomeFlag}`)
      },
      description: 'To be awesome.',
      flags: {
        'awesome-flag': {
          description: `It's a awesome flag!`
        }
      }
      parameters: {
        'First parameter': {
          description: `I'm the first.`
        }, {
        'Second parameter': {
          description: `I'm the second.`
        },
      }
    }
  }
})

Args: Flags & Parameters

The objective of the lib2cli project is to have as little as possible of changes to the interface of the original lib to its CLI version.

Considering that, the CLI parameters are the same as the function parameters, preserving the sequence.

mycli be-awesome something 'another thing'

Will be translated to:

beAwesome('something', 'something')

And flags, which are "named parameters", will be sent as a last object parameter with the flag name as the property of the object.

mycli be-awesome something --awesome-flag 'flag value'

Will be translated to:

beAwesome('something', { awesomeFlag: 'flag value' })

The flag name will be converted to cammelCase.

The args are parsed by the minimist.

It's also possible to handle yourself the args and pass it to the lib2cli with the property args:

lib2cli.run({ args: process.argv, ... })

Documentation

Description

All the objects of the documentation will have the property description, which is the string describing it. At the top level of the documentation, it will describe the command-line tool itself.

Commands

The property commands is used if it would have a aggregation of commands.

Command

The property command is only necessary when using the "mixed" version, when there's no division of the lib and doc. It will point to the function to be triggered when caling the command.

Flags

The property flags object is composed by properties with the name of the flag with it's own properties with the following settings:

• description: a string describing the flag
• alias: another way to call this flag
• required: a boolean to say if it is obligated to be informed or not
• defaultValue: to show the value it will recieve if not informed (override as required = false if used together)

Parameters

The property parameters object also is composed by properties with a name describing it and having as value another object with the possible properties of:

• description: a string describing the flag
• required: a boolean to say if it is obligated to be informed or not
• defaultValue: to show the value it will recieve if not informed (override as required = false if used together)

Settings

It's possible to change some behaviors of this lib by informing the property settings to the command run:

helpFlag

The CLI tool will accept the flag --help. (default: true)

helpCommand

The CLI tool will understand a help command as asking for the help of the next informed word. (default: true)

e.g.: mycli help be-awesome

words

To overwrite the properties used by the lib2cli to create the CLI.

• args
• alias
• command
• commands
• defaultValue
• description
• doc
• flags
• lib
• parameters
• required

Projects using

Some projects using this lib to serve as example:

• gumieri/ecsctl.js
• gumieri/aws-spot-manager