4 // Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS)
5 // Competence Center NETwork research (NET), St. Augustin, GERMANY
6 // Stefan Bund <g0dil@berlios.de>
8 // This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
9 // it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
10 // the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
11 // (at your option) any later version.
13 // This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
14 // but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
15 // MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
16 // GNU General Public License for more details.
18 // You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
19 // along with this program; if not, write to the
20 // Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
21 // 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
23 /** \mainpage The Configuration and Runtime Control Library
25 The Console library implements a runtime interactive (network) console which allows to
26 configure, control and manipulate a running application in any way. Additionally this library
27 provides support for configuration files and command line parsing which can be used with or
28 without the network console.
33 \section console_intro Introduction
35 There are three parts to the Config/console library:
37 The Config/Console library is built around several components
39 \li The \link node_tree Node tree\endlink represents all configuration options and commands
40 organized in a filesystem like structure.
41 \li \link console_commands Actions\endlink are added to the node tree in the form of command
43 \li There exist several interfaces to \link console_access access\endlink entries in the node
44 tree: interactive console, reading configuration files etc.
46 The node tree works like a directory structure. Commands are entered into this directory
47 structure and can be called passing arbitrary arguments. Configuration parameters are just
48 commands which set their respective parameter, however the library allows commands to do much
52 \section console_example Example
54 The following example shows a \e very short summary on how to integrate the config/console
55 library. See above links for more:
58 #include <senf/Console.hh>
60 // Define callback function.
61 void mycommand(std::ostream & os, int foo, int bar)
64 os << "!! Important message ...\n";
67 namespace kw = senf::console::kw;
69 int main(int argc, char** argv)
71 // Provide global documentation
73 .doc("This is someServer server");
77 .add("mycommand", &mycommand)
78 .doc("If <bar> is given, flurgle the <foo>, otherwise burgle it")
80 .arg(kw::name = "bar", kw::default_value = 0);
82 // Parse command line parameters
83 senf::console::parseOptions(argc,argv);
85 // Start the interactive console server
86 senf::console::Server::start(senf::INet4SocketAddress(senf::INet4Address::None, 23232u))
90 senf::scheduler::process();
94 after this registration, we can call the command from the command-line using
97 $ someServer --mycommand="1 2"
100 the console can be accessed easily via telnet:
103 $ telnet localhost 23232
105 Connected to localhost.
106 Escape character is '^]'
107 xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx.xxxxxx-0000 [NOTICE][senf::console::Server] Registered new client 0xxxxxxx
110 someServer:/# mycommand
111 !! Important message ...
113 xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx.xxxxxx-0000 [NOTICE][senf::console::Server] Disposing client 0xxxxxxx
114 Connection closed by foreign host.
118 \see \ref console_testserver for a complete example application
121 \section intro_usage Using the Console: Configuration files, Network console
122 \seechapter \ref console_access
124 There are several ways to access the node tree:
125 \li By parsing configuration files
126 \li By parsing command line parameters
127 \li By providing interactive or non-interactive network console access
130 \section intro_nodes The node tree
131 \seechapter \ref node_tree
133 The basic idea is, that the console/config library manages a directory structure of parameters
134 and auxiliary commands. Parameters are just commands which set a parameter value so everything
135 is either a directory entry (senf::console::DirectoryNode) or a command
136 (senf::console::CommandNode).
139 \section intro_commands Implementing console/config commands
140 \seechapter \ref console_commands
142 The console/config language does not define, how arguments are passed to the commands, it just
143 tokenizes the input and passes the tokens to the commands which then handle the
146 Since parsing the tokens into something usable is quite tedious and error prone, the library
147 implements automatic argument parsing where the argument tokens are automatically parsed
148 depending on argument types. This enables you to register a command taking an integer argument
149 which will be called with an already parsed integer value (or throw a
150 senf::console::SyntaxErrorException if the conversion fails). This will be the most often used
154 /** \defgroup console_access Accessing the Console/Config tree
156 The Console/Config library provides several ways to use the node tree to configure and control
162 \section console_access_config Configuration support
164 The configuration support of the Console/Config library revolves around the ConfigSource
165 concept. Each ConfigSource will somehow provide commands which will then be executed against the
168 To simplify the usage, there will always be three interfaces to a specific config source:
169 \li A constructor to build a bare config source which is then added to a
170 senf::console::ConfigBundle (see \ref console_access_multiple)
171 \li A class parsing and executing a single config source. The visible interface of this class is
172 a combination of the constructor and the senf::console::ConfigBundle interfaces.
173 \li A helper function which will do the complete parsing of a single source with default
176 When parsing these configuration sources, it is always possible to optionally change the root
177 node used during parsing and it is also possible to restrict parsing to a command subset. See
178 \ref console_access_partial.
181 \subsection console_access_file Configuration files
183 <table class="senf fixedwidth">
184 <tr><td><b>Constructor</b></td> <td>senf::console::FileConfig()</td></tr>
185 <tr><td><b>Class</b></td> <td>senf::console::ConfigFile</td></tr>
186 <tr><td><b>Helper</b></td> <td>senf::console::parseFile()</td></tr>
189 In it's simplest form, parsing a configuration file consists of calling
190 senf::console::parseFile() with the name of the respective config file as argument.
193 senf::console::parseFile("some.conf");
196 To get more flexible, instantiate a senf::console::ConfigFile instance at use that to parse the
200 senf::console::ConfigFile cf ("some.conf");
201 // The following line is optional: Call to ignore mussing files
206 If the application supports other configuration sources besides a single configuration file
207 (like command line options) or if it supports multiple configuration files (e.g. a system-wide
208 and a user specific configuration file) see \ref console_access_multiple and add one (or more)
209 senf::console::FileConfig() source to a senf::console::ConfigBundle.
212 \subsubsection console_access_file_syntax Configuration file syntax
214 Configuration files are written in a simple configuration language. This language is almost
215 declarative (e.g. it does not have any control-flow statements) but is processed imperatively
216 from top to bottom. This is very simple and flexible.
218 Commands are referenced by their path in the node tree. To simplify working with deeply nested
219 directory structures, the current directory may be changed persistently or temporarily for some
224 /logger/targets/console {
225 accept senf::log::Debug IMPORTANT;
226 accept server::ServerLog CRITICAL;
230 \see \ref console_parser
233 \subsection console_access_options Command line options
235 <table class="senf fixedwidth">
236 <tr><td><b>Constructor</b></td> <td>senf::console::OptionsConfig()</td></tr>
237 <tr><td><b>Class</b></td> <td>senf::console::ProgramOptions</td></tr>
238 <tr><td><b>Helper</b></td> <td>senf::console::parseOptions()</td></tr>
241 Command line options can either be parsed by calling the senf::console::parseOptions() helper
244 senf::console::parseOptions(argc, argv)
247 or more flexibly by instantiating a senf::console::ProgramOptions class
250 std::vector<std::string> args;
251 senf::console::ProgramOptions opts (argc, argv);
254 .alias('c', "--mycommand",true)
255 .alias('C', "--mycommand=2 3");
259 This registeres two short options and accumulates all non-option arguments in \c args.
261 If the application supports other configuration sources besides the command line options (like
262 configuration files) see \ref console_access_multiple and add a senf::console::OptionsConfig()
263 source to a senf::console::ConfigBundle.
265 See \ref senf::console::ProgramOptions for the source specific additional parameters. These
266 apply to senf::console::ProgramOptions and to the senf::console::OptionsConfig() source.
269 \subsubsection console_access_options_syntax Options syntax
271 Command line options are primarily parsed as long-options. Long options start with '--'. Further
272 '-' characters serve as directory separators if required (that is, they are \e only interpreted
273 as directory separator is there is no entry in the current (sub-) directory matching more than a
274 single name component). This still allows using hyphens in node names.
276 Options can be abbreviated at each directory boundary: A command <tt>/foo/bar/do</tt> can be
277 called as <tt>--f-b-d</tt> as long as this name is unique.
279 Everything after the first '=' character is parsed into argument tokens using the normal
280 config/console parser. If the option has no '=' character, the list of argument tokens will be
283 <table style="font-size:80%" class="senf">
284 <tr><th>Command</th><th>File syntax</th><th>Option syntax</th></tr>
287 <td><tt>void doo()</tt></td>
288 <td><tt>/path/to/doo;</tt></td>
289 <td><tt>--path-to-doo</tt></td>
293 <td><tt>void doo(std::string const &)</tt></td>
294 <td><tt>/path/to/doo john.doe@everywhere.org;</tt></td>
295 <td><tt>--path-to-doo="john.doe@everywhere.org"</tt></td>
299 <td><tt>void doo(std::string const &)</tt></td>
300 <td><tt>/path/to/doo "some test";</tt></td>
301 <td><tt>--path-to-doo='"some text"'</tt></td>
305 <td><tt>void doo(std::string const &, int)</tt></td>
306 <td><tt>/path/to/doo take 1;</tt></td>
307 <td><tt>--path-to-doo="take 1"</tt></td>
311 The last column is additionally quoted using standard \c sh quoting: quotes in arguments need to
312 be additionally quoted for the shell.
314 Short options are registered as aliases for long options. They can be registered with or without
315 an implied parameter and can optionally take a parameter. so after
319 .alias('c', "--mycommand",true)
320 .alias('C', "--mycommand=2 3");
326 $ program -C -c "4 5"
333 $ program --mycommand="2 3" --mycommand="4 5"
336 (Beware, that the second argument to \c alias() is \e not shell quoted).
339 \subsection console_access_root Changing the root node
341 When used in it's default state, parsing will always interpret all commands relative to the
342 senf::console::root() node and will parse a file completely.
344 The first possibility to control this is to change the root node. This is done by
345 \li passing that root node to the helper class or to the parse helper as an additional argument
346 (see the respective documentation).
347 \li passing it to the senf::console::ConfigBundle constructor when parsing multiple sources.
352 senf::console::parseFile("/etc/myserver.conf", senf::console::root()['config']);
355 This functionality is even more powerful by combining it with \c link nodes: This allows to
356 selectively choose commands from the node tree which are to be made accessible for
357 configuration. See \ref node_tree.
360 \subsection console_access_partial Partial / incremental configuration
362 Another feature provided by senf::console::ConfigBundle and all helper classes is partial
366 // Create a console/config aware object and place it into the node tree
368 senf::console::root().add("foo", foo.dir);
370 // Open configuration file
371 senf::console::ConfigFile cf ("/etc/myserver.conf");
373 // Parse only commands in the configuration file which are in the foo.dir directory
378 // Anywhere later, parse the rest of the configuration file
382 This feature allows to parse parts of one or more configuration sources before the
383 console/config tree has been fully established. Partial parsing can be applied any number of
384 times to arbitrary nodes. Any command already parsed will be skipped automatically.
386 When combining partial parsing with \c chroot() and \c link's, it is important to realize, that
387 <em>partial parsing always applies to the \e real target and ignores links</em>. This is very
388 important: It allows a subsystem to parse it's configuration parameters irrespective of any
389 links pointing to nodes of that subsystem.
392 \subsection console_access_multiple Multiple sources
394 Most of the time, an application will utilize multiple configuration sources: A global
395 configuration file, maybe a user specific local configuration file, command line options ...
397 When parsing configuration commands, especially using partial / incremental parsing, all parse
398 commands should be applied to each configuration source in turn. This is the responsibility of
399 senf::console::ConfigBundle.
402 senf::console::ScopedDirectory<> config;
403 senf::console::root().add("config", config);
405 // Let's enable all logger commands for configuration
406 config.link("logger", senf::console::root()["logger"]);
408 // Create bundle and add sources
409 std::vector<std::string> args;
410 senf::console::ConfigBundle conf (senf::console::root()["config"]);
411 conf.add( senf::console::FileConfig("/etc/myserver.conf") );
412 conf.add( senf::console::FileConfig(".myserver.conf")->ignoreMissing() );
413 conf.add( senf::console::OptionsConfig(senf::Daemon::instance().argc(),
414 senf::Daemon::instance().argv()) )
416 .alias('c', "--mycommand",true)
417 .alias('C', "--mycommand=2 3");
419 // Parse the logger subsystem commands in '/logger'
420 conf.parse(senf::console::root()['logger']);
424 // Parse all other configuration commands. All necessary commands and links in '/config' must by
425 // now have been created.
429 This example parses three configuration sources: Two configuration files and additional
430 parameters specified on the command line. All the configuration commands are placed into the
431 <tt>/config</tt> directory (directly or via links). The configuration sources are parsed in the
432 order they are specified, so in this case, the command line options will override any options
433 specified in one of the configuration files.
436 \section console_access_console The network console
438 To make the network console accessible, it must be initialized when the program is started:
440 #include <senf/Console.hh>
442 int main(int argc, char * argv [])
444 // Configure console nodes, add commands ...
446 // Start console server
447 senf::console::start(senf::INet4SocketAddress(12345u))
450 // You need to enter the scheduler main-loop for the server to work
451 senf::scheduler::process();
453 // Alternatively enter the main-loop via the PPI
458 This will start the server on IPv4 port 12345. The servers name (as displayed in the interactive
459 console prompt) is set to 'myserver'.
461 After launching the application, the server can be accessed at the given port:
464 bash$ telnet localhost 12345
466 Connected to localhost.
467 Escape character is '^]'.
470 Connection closed by foreign host.
475 It is possible to start multiple server consoles by calling \c start() multiple times with
476 different ports/addresses. Each server can be configured separately (e.g. root node, mode ...).q
479 \subsection console_serverclient Server and Client objects
481 The senf::console::Server and senf::console::Client objects offer further API calls. To access
482 the server instance you need to store away the senf::console::Server reference returned when
483 starting the server so you can later refer to it:
485 int main(int, char**)
487 senf::console::Server & server ( senf::console::start( ... ) );
495 The client instance can be accessed via the \c std::ostream arg of any command callback
497 void someCallback(std::ostream & os, ... )
499 senf::console::Client & client (senf::console::Client::get(os));
501 // Use the client's log target
502 client.route<senf::log::Debug, senf::Log::IMPORTANT>();
507 senf::console::Server for the Server API \n
508 <a href="classsenf_1_1console_1_1Client-members.html">senf::console::Client / List of all
509 members</a> for the Client API
512 \subsection console_shell The interactive console shell
514 The interactive shell implements a fully function line editor on capable terminals. This support
515 is available when using a full featured telnet client on a fully supported terminal (like vt100
518 The shell supports auto-cd and auto-completion: If you enter the name of a directory at the
519 prompt, the console will change to that directory. With auto-completion, any unique beginning of
520 a path component will be completed automatically and transparently to the corresponding full
524 \subsection console_noninteractive Non-interactive network console
526 After a new connection is established, the console server waits a short time for data to arrive.
527 arrive. Only if nothing happens in the first 500ms, an interactive session is initialized.
529 By sending data immediately after opening the connection, the console is switched into
530 non-interactive mode. In this mode, no prompt is displayed. In this mode, commands are \e not
531 terminated automatically by end-of-line (CR). This allows, to easily cat an arbitrary
532 configuration file into the network console using netcat:
535 $ nc -q1 localhost 23232 < some.conf
538 The argument <tt>-q1</tt> makes netcat close the sending end of the connection on EOF and wait
539 up to 1 second for the console to terminate. Even better, use \c netcat6, which has full TCP
543 $ echo "ls" | nc6 --half-close localhost 23232 2>/dev/null
550 Commands are executed as soon as the terminating character (';', '{' or '}') is received or when
551 the sending end of the connection is closed.
554 /** \defgroup console_commands Supported command types
556 The Console/config library supports quite a number of different command types. All these types
557 of command are registered, by passing them to DirectoryNode::add()
562 \section console_cmdadd Adding commands and setting attributes
564 Basically, all commands are added using senf::console::DirectoryNode::add(). What exactly
565 happens depends on the type of object added.
567 dir.add("name", callback)
569 will add a command 'name' which will execute 'callback' when called, where 'callback' can be a
570 lot of things as documented in the following chapters.
572 The add call always returns (something which can be used as) a reference to the command node
575 senf::console::CommandNode & node ( dir.add( ... ) );
578 Depending on the object added, you can also bind to a more specific node type
579 (e.g. senf::console::SimpleCommand) if you know the type of node returned.
581 Depending on the type of object added, there are additional attributes which can be set. These
582 attributes are always set by calling them on the return value <b>before saving that value as a
583 node reference</b>. It is \e not guaranteed, you can call these members on the node
586 dir.add("name", callback)
587 .doc("The documentation");
589 sets the \e doc attribute (if that is available, otherwise this will fail to compile). The
590 attribute members return value is again (something which can be used as) a reference to the
593 senf::console::CommandNode & node (
594 dir.add("name", callback)
595 .doc("The documentation") );
599 \section console_manualparse Manually parsing command arguments
601 This is the most primitive type of command. It will be called with an output stream and with a
602 senf::console::ParseCommandInfo reference which holds information about the command parsed.
604 From this information the command callback gets a list of arguments or tokens which then can be
605 interpreted in an arbitrary way.
607 void fun1(std::ostream & os, senf::console::ParseCommandInfo const & command)
609 // Here we declare variables for the arguments
613 // We parse the arguments using the CheckedArgumentIteratorWrapper. This wrapper
614 // will throw a SyntaxErrorException if we access a nonexistent argument or if we
615 // do not parse all arguments.
616 senf::console::CheckedArgumentIteratorWrapper args (command.arguments());
618 senf::console::ParseCommandInfo::TokensRange argTokens ( *(args++) );
619 if (arg1Tokens.size() != 1)
620 raise senf::console::SyntaxErrorException("argument syntax error");
621 value = arg1Tokens[0];
624 os << value << std::endl;
628 Registering this callback is done by simply adding it. To provide online help, pass it to
631 senf::console::root()
636 "Echo 'arg' to the console");
639 The callback may now be called interactively on the console by it's registered name:
643 invalid number of arguments
644 server:/$ test1 stefan@j32.de
646 server:/$ test1 (echo me)
647 argument syntax error
652 Echo 'arg' to the console
657 As you can see above, the arguments and tokens are returned as <a
658 href="http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_33_1/libs/range/doc/utility_class.html#iter_range">
659 boost::iterator_range</a> instances. These behave much like containers: They have \c begin() and
660 \c end() and some other useful members.
662 The parser will have divided the argument tokens into arguments already. This simplifies further
663 parsing. If however you want to access the list of argument tokens as a single list, you can do
664 so using senf::console::ParseCommandInfo::tokens().
666 Parsing arguments is quite simple but can get very tedious. To simplify this task, the parsing
667 can be delegated to the Console/config library. See the next section.
669 This type of command has only a single attribute, \e doc to set the commands documentation.
672 \section console_autoparse Automatic argument parsing
674 To greatly simplify parsing complex commands, we turn to automatic argument parsing.
677 \subsection console_autoadd Adding
679 Automatically parsed commands are registered by just adding a callback which has the correct
680 arguments and return-value defined:
682 std::string fun2(std::string const & arg)
688 This extremely simple callback may be registered by adding it to a senf::console::DirectoryNode.
690 senf::console::root()
691 .add("test2", &fun2);
693 The functionality is now identical to \c test1:
697 invalid number of arguments
698 server:/$ test2 stefan@j32.de
700 server:/$ test2 (echo me)
701 argument syntax error
710 \subsection command_ostream Accessing the console stream
712 Commands may have an optional first argument of type <tt>std::ostream &</tt>. This argument is
713 not considered part of the real interface. When the command is executed, the callback will be
714 passed the current consoles output stream object in this argument. With this, the callback can
715 output arbitrary messages to the network console.
717 void fun3(std::ostream & os, unsigned n, std::string text)
719 while (n-- > 0) os << text << std::endl;
722 senf::console::root()
723 .add("test3", &fun3);
726 This simple command can now be used thus:
730 invalid number of arguments
731 server:/$ test3 stefan@j32.de
732 invalid number of arguments
738 test3 arg11:int arg12:string
744 \subsection command_overload Overloading
746 Automatically parsed commands can be overloaded: You can register multiple commands under the
747 same name. Each overload is tried in turn until no SyntaxErrorException is raised.
749 senf::console::root()
750 .add("test4", &fun3);
751 senf::console::root()
752 .add("test4", &fun2);
754 And now, we can call \c test4 with one or two args:
757 invalid number of arguments
758 server:/$ test4 stefan@j32.de
765 1- test4 arg11:int arg12:string
766 2- test4 arg21:string
770 One note: When taking the address of an overloaded function (member or non-member), the C++
771 language forces you to cast that address to one of the possible types so the compiler knows,
772 which overload is requested. So to add a function which is overloaded in C++, each overload
773 needs to be added explicitly, casting to the correct type:
778 senf::console::root()
779 .add("over", static_cast<void (*)(int)>(&over));
780 senf::console::root()
781 .add("over", static_cast<void (*)(int,int)>(&over));
784 senf::console::ScopedDirectory<SomeModule> dir;
786 unsigned int overlodedMethod() const {....};
787 void overlodedMethod(unsigned int) {....};
789 void addConsoleCommands() {
790 dir.node().add("overlodedMethod", senf::membind(
791 static_cast<unsigned int (SomeModule::*)() const>(&SomeModule::overlodedMethod), this));
792 dir.node().add("overlodedMethod", senf::membind(
793 static_cast<void (SomeModule::*)(unsigned int)>(&SomeModule::overlodedMethod), this));
799 \subsection console_attributes Attributes
801 As have seen so far, some documentation is automatically provided. We can add more info, by
802 setting additional attributes.
804 senf::console::root()
806 .doc("Echo text to the console")
807 .overloadDoc("Repeat {arg12} for {arg11} lines");
808 senf::console::root()
810 .overloadDoc("Echo the {arg21} argument")
813 This additional info is used to provide more documentation:
818 1- test5 arg11:int arg12:string
819 2- test5 arg21:string
821 Echo text to the console
824 Repeat {arg12} for {arg11} lines
827 Echo the {arg21} argument
833 \subsection console_argattributes Argument attributes
835 Additional attributes can be set for each parameter. They are all passed to the
836 senf::console::ParsedArgumentAttributor::arg() attribute.
839 namespace kw = senf::console::kw;
841 senf::console::root()
843 .doc("Echo text to the console")
844 .overloadDoc("Repeat {text} for {n} lines");
845 .arg( kw::name = "n", kw::description="Number of repetitions" )
846 .arg( kw::name = "text", kw::description="Text to output" );
847 senf::console::root()
849 .overloadDoc("Echo the {text} argument")
850 .arg( kw::name = "text" );
853 (Sadly, there is no way to automatically find out the \e name of an argument, just it's type.)
854 Every callback argument corresponds with a call of the \c arg() attribute. Argument attributes
855 are set using keywords from the \ref senf::console::kw namespace. You will probably either use
856 this namespace via a namespace alias (as above) or via a <tt>using namespace
857 senf::console::kw</tt> declaration (but beware of name collisions).
859 You don't need to specify any information for an argument: To skip an argument, just call \c
860 arg() without attributes for this argument.
862 After adding this information, the online help is much more readable
867 1- test6 n:int text:string
871 n Number of repetitions
874 Echo text to the console
877 Repeat {text} for {n} lines
880 Echo the {text} argument
885 Since most of the time, we only need to set the name and possibly a description for arguments,
886 there is a shortcut: name and description can be specified as positional arguments in this
887 order. So the following will give the exactly same result as above:
889 namespace kw = senf::console::kw;
891 senf::console::root()
893 .doc("Echo text to the console")
894 .overloadDoc("Repeat <text> for <n> lines");
895 .arg("n", "Number of repetitions")
896 .arg("text", "Text to output");
897 senf::console::root()
899 .overloadDoc("Echo the <text> argument")
903 Keyword arguments should always be used if additional attributes are set. You can however mix
904 positional and keyword arguments.
907 \subsection console_defaults Default values
909 Another information which can not be automatically gathered from the type system is default
910 values. These have to be declared explicitly:
912 namespace kw = senf::console::kw;
914 senf::console::root()
916 .doc("Echo {text} to the console, repeating {text} for {n} lines")
917 .arg("n", "Number of repetitions", kw::default_value=1)
918 .arg("text", "Text to output");
921 Default values can be used together with overloading. Default (optional) value support is quite
922 flexible, it is not mandatory, for default values to be specified only for the trailing
923 arguments. For the exact definition, how parsed argument values are assigned to overload
924 arguments in the presence of default values, see \ref senf::console::kw::default_value.
937 test4 [n:unsigned] text:string
940 n Number of repetitions
944 Echo {text} to the console, repeating {text} for {n} lines
950 \subsection console_boostfn Non-function-pointer commands
952 It is possible to add other callable objects besides function (and member-function)
953 pointers. However, since it is not possible to automatically deduce the argument and return
954 types in this case, the callables have to be wrapped in a \c boost::function object:
957 senf::console::root()
959 boost::function<void (std::ostream &, std::string const &)>(
960 boost::bind(&fun3, _1, 4u, _2)));
963 This works with any callable object where argument types cannot be deduced automatically:
964 Boost.Bind expressions, Boost.Lambda expressions, functors and so on.
981 \subsection console_attr_summary Attribute summary
983 Here a summary of the most common attributes
985 <table class="senf fixedwidth">
987 <tr><td style="width:14em">\link senf::console::ParsedArgumentAttributorBase::doc() .doc\endlink
988 ( \e doc )</td><td>Set documentation for all overloads</td></tr>
990 <tr><td>\link senf::console::ParsedArgumentAttributorBase::overloadDoc()
991 .overloadDoc\endlink ( \e doc )</td><td>Set documentation for a specific overload</td></tr>
993 <tr><td>\link senf::console::ParsedArgumentAttributor::arg() .arg\endlink ( \e argument \e
994 attributes )</td><td>Set argument attributes (see below)</td></tr>
998 The most important argument attributes (all defined in the senf::console::kw namespace) are:
1000 <table class="senf fixed width">
1002 <tr><td style="width:14em">\link senf::console::kw::name kw::name\endlink</td><td>Parameter
1005 <tr><td>\link senf::console::kw::description kw::description\endlink</td><td>One-line
1006 description of the argument</td></tr>
1008 <tr><td>\link senf::console::kw::default_value kw::default_value\endlink</td><td>Arguments
1009 default value</td></tr>
1014 href="classsenf_1_1console_1_1ParsedArgumentAttributor-members.html">senf::console::ParsedArgumentAttributor
1015 / List of all members</a> for the complete attribute interface \n
1016 \ref senf::console::kw for a list of all argument attribute keywords
1019 \section console_memberfn Member functions
1021 Non-static member functions are supported like non-member functions (static member functions are
1022 identical to non-members). They must however be added through a senf::console::ScopedDirectory
1023 instance to bind them to their instance.
1028 senf::console::ScopedDirectory<Test1> dir;
1030 Test1(std::string label) : dir(this), label_ (label)
1031 { dir.add("test", &Test::test1);
1032 dir.add("test", &Test::test2); }
1034 std::string test1(std::string const & text)
1035 { return label_ + ": " + text; }
1037 void test2(std::ostream & os, unsigned n, std::string const & text)
1038 { while (n-- > 0) os << label << ": " << text << std::endl; }
1046 Test1 test1ob ("test");
1047 senf::console::root().add("test1ob", test1ob.dir);
1050 Binding via senf::console::ScopedDirectory ensures, that the commands are automatically removed
1051 from the tree when the object is destroyed.
1054 \section console_variables Variables
1056 \subsection console_varadd Adding
1058 The console/config library supports the direct registration of variables as commands. A
1059 variable command consists of two overloads, one to query the current value and one to change the
1065 senf::console::ScopedDirectory<Test2> dir;
1067 Test2() : dir(this), var_(0)
1068 { dir.add("var", var_); }
1075 senf::console::root().add("test2ob", test2ob.dir);
1077 This shows the most common scenario: A member variable is added to a ScopedDirectory of the same
1078 class. This ensures, that the variable command node is removed from the tree when the instance
1079 (and thereby the variable) are destroyed. The variable can now be used like any other command:
1082 server:/$ test2ob/var
1084 server:/$ test2ob/var 10
1085 server:/$ test2ob/var
1087 server:/$ help test2ob
1089 1- var new_value:int
1096 \subsection console_varro Read-only variables
1098 The library also supports read-only variables. To make a variable read-only, just wrap it in \c
1099 boost::cref() (where \c cref stands for \c const reference)
1103 senf::console::root().add("var1", boost::cref(var));
1105 A read-only variable only has a single overload:
1118 \subsection console_varattr Attributes
1120 The most important Variable command attributes are
1122 <table class="senf fixedwidth">
1124 <tr><td style="width:14em">\link senf::console::VariableAttributor::doc() .doc\endlink
1125 ( \e doc )</td><td>Set variable documentation</td></tr>
1127 <tr><td>\link senf::console::VariableAttributor::onChange() .onChange\endlink
1128 ( \e handler )</td><td>Set change handler</td></tr>
1132 \see senf::console::VariableAttributor for the complete attribute interface
1135 \subsection console_varchange Change notification
1137 A \e handler can be set to be called, whenever the variable is changed. It will be called with a
1138 reference to the old value. The handler is called, after the value has been changed
1143 // Since this is int, it would make sense to declare the argument pass-by-value (int old)
1144 // but for more complex args, use a const & here
1145 void varChanged(int const & old)
1150 senf::console::root().add("var2",var)
1151 .onChange(&varChanged);
1154 After this setup, \c varChanged will be called, whenever the value has changed.
1157 \section console_args Special argument types
1159 By default, argument types which can be read and written using \c iostreams are automatically
1160 supported. Other types need to be registered explicitly
1163 \subsection console_args_bool Boolean arguments and return values
1165 The console library by default formats boolean values using the strings \c true and \c false for
1166 their representation. When parsing a boolean value, most sensible representations will be
1169 <table class="senf">
1170 <tr><td>\c true</td> <td>\c false</td> <td>\ref senf::console::formatTrueFalse</td></tr>
1171 <tr><td>\c on</td> <td>\c off</td> <td>\ref senf::console::formatOnOff</td></tr>
1172 <tr><td>\c enabled</td> <td>\c disabled</td> <td>\ref senf::console::formatEnabledDisabled</td></tr>
1173 <tr><td>\c yes</td> <td>\c no</td> <td>\ref senf::console::formatYesNo</td></tr>
1174 <tr><td><em>non-zero integer</em></td><td>\c 0</td><td>\ref senf::console::formatOneZero</td></tr>
1177 The boolean parser will accept these values in any (mixed) case and accepts any unique initial
1178 substring (e.g. \c Y / \c N).
1180 The last column lists explicit formatters which can be set to customize the return value
1181 formatting of a registered overload accordingly.
1184 \subsection console_args_enum Registering enum types
1186 Enum types are a special case, since it is not possible, to find a string representation for the
1187 enumerator values automatically. Therefore, enum types need to be registered manually.
1189 enum MyEnum { Sit, Run, Jump };
1190 SENF_CONSOLE_REGISTER_ENUM( MyEnum, (Sit)(Run)(Jump) );
1192 MyEnum fun4(MyEnum v) { return v }
1194 senf::console::root()
1195 .add("test9", &fun4);
1198 After an enum type is registered, it can be used like any other type for arguments or
1205 server:/$ test9 Crawl
1206 argument syntax error: invalid enum value
1207 server:/$ help test9
1214 \ref SENF_CONSOLE_REGISTER_ENUM() can only be used, to register enums at namespace scope. To
1215 register enums defined within some class, use \ref SENF_CONSOLE_REGISTER_ENUM_MEMBER()
1221 enum Color { Red, Green, Blue };
1223 senf::console::ScopedDirectory<MyClass> dir;
1227 Color mem3(Color c) { return c }
1229 SENF_CONSOLE_REGISTER_ENUM_MEMBER( Test3, Color, (Red)(Green)(Blue) );
1231 Test3::Test3() : dir(this)
1232 { dir.add("test", &MyClass::mem3); }
1235 senf::console::root().add("test3ob", test3ob.dir);
1238 Using this command/type is identical
1241 server:/$ test3ob/test Red
1243 server:/$ test3ob/test White
1244 argument syntax error: invalid enum value
1245 server:/$ help test3ob/test
1252 \subsection console_args_custom Extending the library to support additional types
1254 To support or customize parsing/formatting of other types, they need to be registered. In it's
1255 simplest case, this works, by just providing an appropriate overload for
1256 senf_console_parse_argument() and senf_console_format_value():
1260 Coordinate() : x(0), y(0) {}
1261 Coordinate(int x_, int y_) : x(x_), y(y_) {}
1266 void senf_console_parse_argument(senf::console::ParseCommandInfo::TokensRange const & tokens,
1269 senf::console::CheckedArgumentIteratorWrapper arg (tokens);
1270 senf::console::parse( *(arg++), out.x );
1271 senf::console::parse( *(arg++), out.y );
1274 void senf_console_format_value(Coordinate const & value, std::ostream & os)
1276 os << '(' << value.x << ' ' << value.y << ')';
1280 The parser will accept an argument with two tokens which are each forwarded to the integer
1281 parser. The senf::console::CheckedArgumentIteratorWrapper ensures two things: That all input
1282 tokens are parsed and no extra trailing tokens are left unparsed and it checks, that all
1283 referenced tokens really exist.
1285 The formatter writes out the value as a parenthesized pair.
1288 Coordinate fun5(Coordinate const & p) { return Coordinate(2*p.x, 2*p.y) }
1290 namespace kw = senf::console::kw;
1292 senf::console::root()
1293 .add("test10", &fun5)
1294 .arg("x","coordinate to double",
1295 kw::default_value = Coordinate())
1297 We can now call \c test10 with a coordinate argument:
1300 server:/$ test10 (2 7)
1302 server:/$ help test10
1304 test10 [x:Coordinate]
1307 x Coordinate to double
1313 If you want to customize the formatting of default values differently from the formating of
1314 return-values or if you want to change the displayed name of a type, you will need to specialize
1315 the senf::console::ArgumentTraits class instead of implementing
1316 senf_console_parse_argument(). See senf::console::ArgumentTraits and
1317 senf::console::ReturnValueTraits for more.
1324 // comment-column: 40
1325 // c-file-style: "senf"
1326 // indent-tabs-mode: nil
1327 // ispell-local-dictionary: "american"
1328 // compile-command: "scons -u test"