Pretty Args

Pretty Args is the pretty way to show off your usage dialog. It is perfect for small projects that have a few program arguments. However, pretty_args is powerful enough to handle large argument numbers and descriptions. It's also really simple to set up, give it a whirl.

Installation

gem install pretty_args

Usage

require 'pretty_args'

#make a collection of arguments
ac = ArgCollection.new

#add a few arguments
ac.add '[options]', 'something about x'
ac.add '<file>', 'the file name'

#draw them to the screen
puts "program usage:"
ac.draw

This prints out the following:

program usage:
[options]   <file>
    ┬         ┬
    │         │
    │         └────── the file name
    └──────────────── something about x

Isn't that just pretty? Now go use it.

Alternate Usage

require 'pretty_args'

#make the arguments individually
ar1 = Arg.new 'label', 'description'
ar2 = Arg.new '[options]', 'options for x'

#and add them on initialization
ac = ArgCollection.new ar1, ar2

#or individually
ac = ArgCollection.new
ac.add_arg ar1
ac.add_arg ar2

#or as an Array
ac = ArgCollection.new
ac.add_args [ar1,ar2]

#then draw
ac.draw

Super Large Descriptions

If you feel so inclined as to have large descriptions for your arguments, that's fine too. Here is a sample output. Nothing has changed about creating the arguments, just the length of the description string.

foo   baz   fiz52s   [options]   lol   bat   [options]   [flags]
 ┬     ┬      ┬         ┬        ┬     ┬        ┬          ┬
 │     │      │         │        │     │        │          │
 │     │      │         │        │     │        │          └─────── this is a really long description that wi
 │     │      │         │        │     │        │                   ll most likely break my application. This
 │     │      │         │        │     │        │                    is to test if the program correctly hand
 │     │      │         │        │     │        │                   les really long input strings and parses
 │     │      │         │        │     │        │                   them the right way.
 │     │      │         │        │     │        └────────────────── this is a really long description that wi
 │     │      │         │        │     │                            ll most likely break my application. This
 │     │      │         │        │     │                             is to test if the program correctly hand
 │     │      │         │        │     │                            les really long input strings and parses
 │     │      │         │        │     │                            them the right way. For instance, the pro
 │     │      │         │        │     │                            gram should make another set of bars for
 │     │      │         │        │     │                            every new line that comes from this text.
 │     │      │         │        │     │                             I think this is long enough.
 │     │      │         │        │     └─────────────────────────── mobile
 │     │      │         │        └───────────────────────────────── cats
 │     │      │         └────────────────────────────────────────── this is a really long description that wi
 │     │      │                                                     ll most likely break my application. This
 │     │      │                                                      is to test if the program correctly hand
 │     │      │                                                     les really long input strings and parses
 │     │      │                                                     them the right way. For instance, the pro
 │     │      │                                                     gram should make another set of bars for
 │     │      │                                                     every new line that comes from this text.
 │     │      │                                                      I think this is long enough.
 │     │      └──────────────────────────────────────────────────── bizz
 │     └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── buz
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── bar

License

I really don't care for licenses, so use it as you will. However let me know where you use it, just for fun.