proportional
v0.0.1
Published
A library intended to make CLI's easier to work with
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Readme
Proportional
Proportional
is a library for CLI tools intended to make users having a better time. Many new users struggle when starting with advanced tools or tools in general, most likely due the complexity of many tools out there today.
A common approach to this problem is 0CJS. It consists of only requiring the bare minimum for users to use the tool you have created. This tool is an extention of that. By gradually adapting the CLI for users over time or by invoking a command, the developer experience could become better over time.
Usage
The library exposes a simple interface derived from yargs
. By using yargs's convention when creating your CLI, you will be able to create a CLI within a simple scope of yargs. Not all methods from yargs methods are supported.
Installation
Using npm
$ npm install --save proportional
Using yarn
$ yarn add proportional
Example
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.levels(['webpagetest', 'lighthouse', 'psi']);
CLI.threshold({
webpagetest: 1,
lighthouse: 2,
psi: 3,
});
CLI.hook({
webpagetest: () => require('./node_modules/.bin/webpagetest'),
lighthouse: () => require('./node_modules/.bin/lighthouse'),
psi: () => require('./node_modules/.bin/psi'),
});
CLI.run(process.argv.slice(2));
More examples are found in the examples
directory.
API
threshold
Threshold is a way to specify how many times the current CLI should be used before it should switch to another higher alternative. By setting the threshold, you could allow users to gradually shift towards a more complex CLI over time.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.threshold({
levelOne: 10,
levelTwo: 20,
levelThree: 30,
});
usage
Usage works as it does with yargs. The usage option is visible when the user types a wrong command and it accepts an object.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.usage({
levelOne: 'Seems like you missed the init option! try again with init!',
levelTwo: 'Ipsum Lorem',
levelThree: 'This is way to advanced'
});
version
Pass the version number to be used when outputting the help flag.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.version({
levelOne: '1.2.3',
levelTwo: '4.5.6',
levelThree: '8.9.10'
});
CLI.version('1.34.5');
levels
By setting levels
, you specify which CLI should be run. In order for the tool to know which cli to change to, you need to match this option(array) with threshold
and/or hook
.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.levels(['levelOne', 'levelTwo', 'levelThree']);
defaultLevel
You can specify a default level for your tool to start using.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.levels(['levelOne', 'levelTwo', 'levelThree']);
CLI.defaultLevel('levelOne');
hook
This option allows you to tap into other CLI's when creating your tool. The function expects an object with the keys being your levels and the value being the module you are going to use. This tool handles process.env
for you, so if you combine the tool with arguments that are supported in this libary, it will not be used in the module you are using.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.hook({
levelOne: () => require('./node_modules/.bin/easy'),
levelTwo: () => require('./node_modules/.bin/medium'),
levelThree: () => require('./node_modules/.bin/hard'),
});
alias
Alias works as yargs handles aliases. You can either supply it through options, or with an own flag.
CLI.alias({
k: 'k',
p: 'p'
});
options
Options are handled the same way as yargs handles an option, however, this follows the key/value convention where you need to pass the level as the key and the option to be the value.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.options({
levelOne: {
alright: {
type: 'boolean',
alias: 'a',
describe: 'AaA?',
},
bC00l: {
type: 'boolean',
describe: 'B c00l :)',
},
},
levelTwo: {...}
})
upgrade
If you want to switch to another CLI at runtime you can use the upgrade
flag, or use the built in function to do it at "compile-time".
If you use the function, you can either supply a string(being the level you want to change to), or call the function without any arguments, where the tool will read your .proportional
configuration to determine which CLI to swap to.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.upgrade("levelOne");
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.upgrade();
$ node ./my/path.js upgrade --help
downgrade
Downgrade works similarly as upgrade
.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.downgrade("levelOne");
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
CLI.downgrade();
$ node ./my/path.js downgrade --help
run
To run the CLI, you will need to invoke the run
method. If you built the tool using options, aliases et al. from proportional
, output
and argv
is given back to you. If you use hooks
, nothing is returned. To handle both cases (hooks and your own CLI), see examples/webpack
.
const Proportional = require('proportional');
const CLI = new Proportional();
// or const results = CLI.run(process.argv.slice(2))
CLI.run(process.argv.slice(2));
misc
You can also pass the level to the CLI you want to swap to if you want to. If you have set the level thisLevel
programatically, but your current level is previousLevel
you can swap to the level by calling node ./path/to/myCLI.js thisLevel <args>
.
$ node ./my/path.js levelTwo --help
todo
- Use private methods for store
- Expose more yargs methods / bridge to other tools or build the API from scratch
- Swap Environment based on current node version, i.e node v6 should require a different module than v8.