AutoComplete Command not found

[mrdantutunaru]

Hello and thank you for this beautiful library.
I am new to picocli, so I want to implement a menu with autocomplete possibility.
My code is the following :

@Command(name = "licenserES", version = "Help demo v1.0.0", header = "%nAutomatic License Helper%n",
        description = "Prints usage help and version help when requested.%n",
        subcommands = {GenerateKey.class, Sign.class, Verify.class})
public class LicenseCommandLine implements Callable<Void> {

    @Option(names = {"--help", "-h"}, usageHelp = true, description = "Print usage help and exit.")
    boolean help;
    @Option(names = {"--generateKey", "-g"}, description = "Generates a key.")
    boolean gk;
    @Option(names = {"--sign", "-s"}, description = "Signs the license.")
    boolean sl;
    @Option(names = {"--verify", "-v"}, description = "Verifies the license.")
    boolean v;
    @Option(names = {"--exit", "-e"}, description = "Exit the app.")
    boolean exit;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        args = new String[]{"--help" };
        LicenseCommandLine licenseCommandLine = new LicenseCommandLine();
        new CommandLine(licenseCommandLine).parseWithHandler(new RunAll(), args);
    }

    @Override
    public Void call() {
        System.out.println("Menu LicenseCLI");
        return null;
    }
}

When I run this class from IDE, it works fine, it shows me the menu:

Automatic License Helper

Usage: licenserES [-eghsv] [COMMAND]
Prints usage help and version help when requested.

  -e, --exit          Exit the app.
  -g, --generateKey   Generates a key.
  -h, --help          Print usage help and exit.
  -s, --sign          Signs the license.
  -v, --verify        Verifies the license.
Commands:
  --generateKey  Generate the Key.
  --sign         Sign the license.
  --verify       Verify license passed as an argument

After I generated my licenserES_completion, and the source of this script. AutoComplete works fine if a write licenserES ---> it will show me these options, but if I type licenserES --help ...it keeps saying licenserES command not found. Any sugestions on this? Or maybe you have a good example.
Thanks in advance !

[remkop]

When you say

if I type licenserES --help ... it keeps saying licenserES command not found

do you mean when you type this in the bash shell?

Have you tried putting a ./ in front of the command so that the shell knows to look for the command in the current directory? So, in the bash shell, type:

$ ./licenserES --help

[mrdantutunaru]

Thank you for the quick response, yes I tried, same result. Yes, I mean bash shell.

[remkop]

Did you create a shell script for the licenserES command? The picocli.AutoComplete utility can generate such a script if you specify the --writeCommandScript option.

You can also create it yourself. Something like this:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

LIBS=path/to/libs
CP="${LIBS}/LicenserES.jar"
java -cp "${CP}" 'com.company.package.LicenseCommandLine' $@

(but replace the above with the correct value for LIBS, the correct jar name and the correct fully qualified class name)

You should make this shell script executable with:

$ chmod 755 licenserES

[mrdantutunaru]

Yes, sir I created. And it works fine, when I type:
`/es/licenser$ licenserES -- [TAB][TAB]

--exit --generateKey --help --sign --verify `

But, when I choose: licenserES --help

It gives me this message : licenserES: command not found

[remkop]

I believe this is the bash shell telling you it cannot find the licenserES script in the current directory. Do you have a file named licenserES in the current directory when you run the licenserES --help command?

[remkop]

By the way, the licenserES_completion script and the licenserES command script are two separate scripts.

[mrdantutunaru]

No, I don't have that file. Only licenserES_completion. But I did this step :

# 1. Source all completion scripts in your .bash_profile
#
#   cd $YOUR_APP_HOME/bin
#   for f in $(find . -name "*_completion"); do line=". $(pwd)/$f"; grep "$line" ~/.bash_profile || echo "$line" >> ~/.bash_profile; done

Am I supposed to do and this?

The picocli.AutoComplete utility can generate such a script if you specify the --writeCommandScript option.

You can also create it yourself. Something like this:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

LIBS=path/to/libs
CP="${LIBS}/LicenserES.jar"
java -cp "${CP}" 'com.company.package.LicenseCommandLine' $@

[remkop]

Yes, you need both scripts. Sounds like you already have the licenserES_completion script so all you need is a licenserES command script. The command script is the script that calls java with your class.

[mrdantutunaru]

I tried to add '--writeCommandScript' when running picocli.Autocomplete. But gives me this error :
Invalid value for option '--writeCommandScript': 'help' is not a boolean

What value do I need to pass for '--writeCommandScript' ?
Thanks

[remkop]

Can you please show the exact command you used to run picocli.Autocomplete, and the full output (including a stack trace if there was one)?

[mrdantutunaru]

I do like this:

Stacktrace: Invalid value for option '--writeCommandScript': 'licenserES' is not a boolean

[remkop]

Okay, thanks for the clarification. Please specify -w without any arguments. So, program arguments should be:

-n=licenseES -w com.esempla.licenser.LicenseCommandLine

[remkop]

By the way (unrelated): I strongly recommend everyone to upgrade to picocli 3.9.5 (see release notes) to protect against a bug in jansi-1.14 that may crash the JVM on some versions of Linux with some versions of Java.

[mrdantutunaru]

Sir, here are my last updates, I was able to generate 2 files [ licenserES ] and [ licenserES_completion ].
I updated the licenserES with the following:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

LIBS=/home/user/workspace/es/es-licenser/target
CP="${LIBS}/licenser-1.0.jar"
java -cp "${CP}" 'com.esempla.licenser.LicenseCommandLine' $@

and made it executable. Now I type the following : ./licenserES [TAB] [TAB,] I get my options.
But, If I type ./licenserGRM --help

Error: Unable to initialize main class com.esempla.licenser.LicenseCommandLine
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: picocli/CommandLine$IParseResultHandler2

So it seems like a problem with my Main class?

Thanks.

[remkop]

You also need the picocli jar in the classpath.

One way to do this, in your licenserES command script, replace the CP line with this:

CP="${LIBS}/licenser-1.0.jar:${LIBS}/picocli-3.9.5.jar"

(and make sure the picocli jar exists in the /home/user/workspace/es/es-licenser/target directory)

[mrdantutunaru]

Thank you a lot, Sir !
it seems to work now, but now for [licenserES] autocomplete is not working. Is this the expected behavior?
When I do, ./licenserES [TAB][TAB], it doesn't show my options.

[remkop]

You may need to source the licenserES_completion again, or update your .bash_profile if the location of the licenserES_completion script changed.

[mrdantutunaru]

I figured it out. Thank you again for your support !

[remkop]

Glad to hear I was able to help. Don't forget to star picocli if you like it! :-)

[mrdantutunaru]

Sorry, my last question. What can I do, so I don't have to run like this ./licenserES ?
Is there any way to run script like this : licenserES ?
because if I do like this, i get this answer:

user@pc:~/workspace/es/es-licenser$ licenserES --help 
licenserES: command not found

[mrdantutunaru]

Glad to hear I was able to help. Don't forget to star picocli if you like it! :-)

Already did :) 👍

[remkop]

To be honest, I don’t know why the ./ is necessary. I would expect all scripts in the current directory to be in the PATH...

Is the script executable? (Did you chmod 755 <script> it?)

Perhaps you can find the answer to that question on StackOverflow. We’re surely not the first people to have this issue.

[mrdantutunaru]

Yes, I did. Okay, thank you one more time !

[mrdantutunaru]

@remkop Hello, Mr. Pompa. I tried to find myself, but was not able. Is autocomplete working with @parameters ? Or only with @option? Thanks

[remkop]

Current support for completion on positional parameters is limited. There are some outstanding tickets to improve this, but I’m unable to work on that now.

[mrdantutunaru]

@remkop Thanks

[mrdantutunaru]

@remkop sorry :) ..for subcommands options, is AutoComplete possible?

[remkop]

Yes, options on subcommands (and nested sub-subcommands) should work.
Please raise a separate ticket with steps to reproduce if there is any issue.