filmstro_optionsparser Documentation

This class provides a parser for command line arguments in unix style.

You can add options with long arguments prefixed by "--" or short arguments using "-". It will create a help text and error messages automatically. An example would look like that:

OptionsParser options;

options.header = "My console application";
options.footer = "Build date: " + String(__DATE__) + " at " + String(__TIME__);

OptionsParser::Option* option = options.addOption ("help", "h", OptionsParser::OptBoolean);
option->longArg     = "help";
option->helpText    = "Display this help text and exit";

option = options.addOption ("logfile", "l", OptionsParser::OptFile, false);
option->longArg     = "logfile";
option->helpText    = "Set a logfile to enable logging";

if (! options.parseArguments (StringArray::fromTokens (commandLine, true))) {
    std::cout << options.getErrorMessage () << std::endl;
    exit (-1);
}
if (options.getErrorMessage().isNotEmpty()) // there can also be warnings...
    std::cout << options.getErrorMessage () << std::endl;

if (options.getOptBoolean("help")) {
    std::cout << options.getHelpText() << std::endl;
    exit (0);
}

if (options.isOptionSet ("logfile")) {
    File logfile = options.getOptFile("logfile");
    Logger::setCurrentLogger (new FileLogger (logfile, "Started My Application"));
}

It will understand the following types:

1. OptionsParser::OptString a normal string value. Use quotes if you want spaces in one argument
2. OptionsParser::OptFile will also support relative strings. You can add mustExist to the option
3. OptionsParser::OptInteger an numeric value
4. OptionsParser::OptDouble a rational number (floating point)
5. OptionsParser::OptBoolean a yes/no flag. this needs no argument, option present means true, option not present means false. Note that a boolean with required makes no sense.

For an option you can set following options

1. optionId: to retrieve the value later
2. arg: the letter, will be prefixed with one -
3. longArg: the name, will be prefixed with –
4. helpText: this text will be displayed with getHelpText(). The arg and longArg are added and formatted automatically
5. required: the parser will fail, if this option is not supplied
6. mustExist: for files, the parser will fail, if the file does not exist
7. type: the expected type of the argument

Brighton, 2017