Wintersdeep Argument Parser

This is a small extension to the native Python3 argparse.ArgumentParser. It adds some functionality I find I always end up requiring.

Installation

pip install wintersdeep.argparse

Log level support

Often you want the user to be able to configure log levels, thats a pain in itself. Then when you select debug and get overwhelmed you realise you only want it on one or more loggers, and not all of them. Often this is done by tweaking the code to acheive what you need in the moment. This helps fix that by making adjusting log levels at the command line simple - take a look:

from wintersdeep.argparse import ArgumentParser

argument_parser = ArgumentParser()
argument_parser.add_log_level_arguments() # there are options here, but the defaults will work fine.
arguments = argument_parser.parse_args()
if log_levels := arguments.log_level:
    log_levels.apply()

A user can now type -l[log-level] to set the global/default log level, or -l[logger]=[log-level] to set a specific log level, or any mix of the two.

python3 -m path.to.app -lwarning -lpath.to.app.problematic=debug -lpath.to.app.suspect=info

Mapping choices support.

It alters the behaviour of the choices argument on the add_argument method such that it supports the use of Mapping objects such as dict.

When using a Mapping object as a choices constraint the user will be able to choose only from the keys of the Mapping object specified. The arguments value in the resulting Namespace will be that which is associated with the key in the provided Mapping - e.g. if the user specified the key "abc" the value in the resulting namespace would be taken from choices_mapping["abc"].

As a simple example, the below code accepts any number of integer arguments and prints them to stdout using the CLI specified formatting. The formatter argument -f is constrained using choices which is provided as the formatters dict object. Users will only be able to choose one of its keys (bin, hex or oct) and the value in the resulting namespace is the assoicated lambda expression.

from wintersdeep.argparse import ArgumentParser

formatters = {
    "bin": lambda n: f"{n:b}",
    "oct": lambda n: f"{n:o}",
    "hex": lambda n: f"{n:x}"
}

argument_parser = ArgumentParser()
argument_parser.add_argument("N", nargs="+", type=int)
argument_parser.add_argument("-f", choices=formatters, default_key='hex')

arguments = argument_parser.parse_args()

for n in arguments.N:
    print( arguments.formatter(n) )

Features

• Allows usage of Mapping type objects as a choices constraint on ArgumentParser::add_argument. Accepted input will be constrained to key values in the given map and the value in the resulting Namespace will be that keys associated value.
• Added a default_key keyword argument; you can specify either default or default_key but not both. When using default_key the default value will be the value associated with the specified default_key in the choices map. default_key allows you to ensure documentation and behaviour remain syncronised and readable. default can still be used as normal if preferred and is required when the default option should not be user selectable.

Behaviour Notes

• The action process wasn't applied to the default value (specified or derived from default_key).

  This is by intention and is consistent with the native ArgumentParser behaviour - the default value is provided "as-is" when the option is not specifed.

• The Action returned by add_argument is not the type specified by add_arguments action parameter

  The libraries behaviours are implemented by shimming add_argument, and inserting a custom action when choices are a Mapping type.

  If you have set your own action then add_argument will preserve this and invoke it after the value has been translated, so you should still get the expected behaviour. However this does mean the Action class return by add_argument will not be of the type you originally specified. Your original action can be found in the [action].next_action property.

  For example, the below script extends the original sample to use an AddPrefix action to prefix a string to the user specified formatter. This works identically to the native behaviour, except the values argument will be the value from the choices mapping.

  from argparse import Action
  from wintersdeep.argparse import ArgumentParser
  
  # A custom action to add a prefix to all formatters.
  class AddPrefix(Action):
      def __call__(self, parser, namespace, values, option_string=None):
          # by the time this action receives `values` it has been converted into its Mapping associated value (in context a lambda function from `formatters`.
          prefix_fn = lambda x: f"Your number is {values(x)}"
          setattr(namespace, self.dest, prefix_fn)
  
  formatters = {
      "bin": lambda n: f"{n:b}",
      "oct": lambda n: f"{n:o}",
      "hex": lambda n: f"{n:x}"
  }
  
  argument_parser = ArgumentParser()
  argument_parser.add_argument("N", nargs="+", type=int)
  argument_parser.add_argument("-f", action=AddPrefix, choices=formatters, required=True)
  
  arguments = argument_parser.parse_args()
  
  for n in arguments.N:
      print( arguments.formatter(n) )
  
  print(action.__class__.__name__)    # "MappingChoicesAction"
  print(action.next_action.__class__) # <class '__main__.AddPrefix'>