README.md

JavaCommander

Java framework for annotating functions such that they can be called via interpreting string inputs.

Example usages: command-line interface applications, chat applications, processing strings sent via sockets.

Usage

Annotating functions of a class:

public class SomeClass 
{
    @Command(
        names = {"printStringInArray", "psia"}, 
        description = "Print the string at the index of the string array.",
        options = { 
            @Option(names = "-index", description = "The index of the string to print.", 
                hasDefaultValue = true, defaultValue = "0"),
            @Option(names = "-array", description = "The string array.", 
                valueParser = StringArrayOptionValueParser.class)
        }
    )
    public void printStringInArray(int index, String[] array)
    {
        System.out.println(array[index]);
    }
}

Fields in @Command's and @Option's may be completely empty, in which case default values are used.

Registering an instance of a class with a JavaCommander instance:

JavaCommander jc = new JavaCommander();
SomeClass sc = new SomeClass();
jc.registerFromObject(sc);

Interpreting and executing a string input:

String input = "printStringInArray -index 1 -array 'One,Two,Three'";
jc.execute(input);

Implementation of the custom StringArrayTranslator class, which parses a string to a string array:

public class StringArrayOptionValueParser implements OptionValueParser<String[]>
{
    @Override
    public String[] parse(String s) throws JavaCommanderException
    {
        return s.split(",");
    }
}