Simpcli - A Simple Cli!

Usage

Just instantiate with a mapping of argument names to handler functions.

#! /usr/bin/env node
var Cli = require('simpcli')
  , cli = new Cli({
  
    // the start command is run by default if only the cli is called (no args)
    
    start: function() {
        this.print('I did something useful');
    },
    
    help: function(arg) {
        if(!arg)    arg = 'something';
        this.print('Need help with %s? Too bad.', arg);
    }
    
  });
  

> mycli
I did something useful

> mycli help
Need help with something? Too bad.

> mycli help life
Need help with life? Too bad.

Ensure you add the bin property to your package.json in order gain access to your cli.

{...
    "bin": {
        "mycli":    "./cli.js"
    }
...}

You may need to run npm link from that directory if you did not install your module globally.

API

This module exports an object prototype that you instantiate. Each instance can use the following (on the cli instance or from within argument handler functions using the context, this):

chain property (Promise)

Allows access to the Promise chain used in coordinating async tasks. For instance,

cli.chain.then(function() {
    // do something after the Cli executes the described commands
})
.catch(function(err) {
    // catch exceptions thrown in the promise chain
});

parseFlags() method

Takes the raw arguments passed to your argument handler and converts them to an object mapping. For example, mycli start -p 8181 with the following handler:

start: function() {
  var flags = this.parseFlags(arguments);
  console.log(flags);
}

Would print { p: 8181 } in the console.

A flag without a value would yield a true boolean value. Flags preceded by double dashes are also supported for long form flags (--port).

print() method

Console.log alias. Will allow for better display control.

defer(resolver)

Where resolver is a function with resolve and reject arguments per the Promise API. Shorthand to avoid using a separate promises library for your implementation.

exec()

See Node child_process docs.

spawn()

See win-spawn.

Todo

• Argument chaining
• Flag 'hook' support
• Object definitions for arguments
• Use ES6 promises within Node to remove dependency
• Colours and other useless but fun things

License

MIT