added a convenient array argument syntax, so you can use: pt Foo.all,…

… :id, :name, :another_field

README

@@ -59,6 +59,12 @@ Example
 |  2 | "Blog the plugin"      | nil           |
 +----+------------------------+---------------+
 
+# There's a convenient equivalent syntax for displaying an ordered list of columns, like :only and :methods:
+>> puts Customer.find(31).purchases.to_table :id, :description, :met_due_date?
+# which provides:
+>> pt Customer.find(31).purchases, :id, :description, :met_due_date?
+# resulting in the same output as above.
+
 
 # If :inspect => false is used, the values will be shown in #to_s form rather than #inspect form:
 >> pt Customer.find(31).purchases, :only => [:id, :description, :due_on, :completed_at]

lib/table_display.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 module TableDisplay
-  def to_table(options = {})
-    extra_methods = Array(options.delete(:methods) || []).collect(&:to_s)
+  def to_table(*args)
+    options = args.last.is_a?(Hash) ? args.pop : {}
+    extra_methods = args.length > 0 ? args.collect(&:to_s) : []
+    extra_methods += Array(options.delete(:methods)).collect(&:to_s) if options[:methods]
     only_attributes = Array(options.delete(:only)).collect(&:to_s) if options[:only]
+    only_attributes ||= [] if args.length > 0
     except_attributes = Array(options.delete(:except)).collect(&:to_s) if options[:except]
-    display_inspect = !options.has_key?(:inspect) || options.delete(:inspect)
-    raise "unknown options passed to to_table: #{options.keys.to_sentence}" unless options.empty?
+    display_inspect = options.nil? || !options.has_key?(:inspect) || options.delete(:inspect)
+    raise "unknown options passed to to_table: #{options.keys.to_sentence}" unless options.blank?
 
     column_lengths = ActiveSupport::OrderedHash.new
 

test/table_display_test.rb

@@ -124,6 +124,28 @@ def setup
 END
   end
 
+  test "#to_table accepts an unnamed list of arguments for column names" do
+    assert_equal <<END.strip, @project.tasks.to_table('id', :due_on, :completed?).join("\n")
++----+------------------+------------+
+| id | due_on           | completed? |
++----+------------------+------------+
+|  1 | Wed, 25 Mar 2009 | true       |
+|  2 | Sun, 05 Apr 2009 | false      |
++----+------------------+------------+
+END
+  end
+
+  test "#to_table allows auxiliary named arguments with the array format" do
+    assert_equal <<END.strip, @project.tasks.to_table('id', :due_on, :completed?, :inspect => false).join("\n")
++----+------------+------------+
+| id | due_on     | completed? |
++----+------------+------------+
+|  1 | 2009-03-25 | true       |
+|  2 | 2009-04-05 | false      |
++----+------------+------------+
+END
+  end
+
   test "#to_table also shows any :methods given as columns" do
     assert_equal <<END.strip, @project.tasks.to_table(:methods => [:completed?, 'project_name']).join("\n")
 +----+------------+------------------------+------------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+------------------------+