CLI Argument ManagementΒΆ

The system can handle managing arguments passed via the CLI as well as ones in config files or databases. When configuring an option, you have the ability to pass a dictionary of parameters to the option keyword “cli_option”. This dictionary will tell the system to allow that option to be configured by the CLI, defines the help for the cli, and tells the system how to handle the response.

  • flags: (required) a flag or list of flags to be accepted. (these must be unique across the system).

    Note

    If only a single string is passed instead of a dictionary, it is assumed to be the flag and the rest of the data will be set at defaults.

  • data_flag: If present, this will set the “store_true” or “store_false” action in argparse, this means that

    if True is set, and the cli flag is set, the option will be set to True, and vice-versa. If a default is used, it must be a boolean.

  • nargs: [int] This will allow that number of arguments to be added to a list config item, so for example,

    if nargs 3 is passed, the following argument would be treated as one:

    program.py -arg 1 3 4

    This would return [‘1’,‘2’,‘3’], however if nargs 2 was passed, this would return [‘1’,‘2’] and the ‘3’ would be treated as another positional argument. If a default is used in this case, it must be a list and have this many items.

  • choices: a list of choices that are available (and will be validated against). If a default is used, it

    must be present in the list.

  • default: if not present, will use the option default, if present and None, will not have a default,

    if present and set to somethign, will use that as a default. .. note:: if a default is present, either passed or using the option default, it must also fit the other arguments.

  • required: [True/False] this option MUST be passed on the command line.

  • help: this is a descriotion string to be used on the command line. if this is not present,

    the option description will be used.

cli_option: ({'flags':['f', 'foo'],
              'data_flag':False,
              'nargs':2,
              'choices':['bar','barr','b'],
              'required':False,
              'help':'This defines if this is fu or bar'})