Re: Select a startup class from the command line

[Bruce Steers <bsteers4@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 at 12:20, BB <adamnt42@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> On 22/4/25 7:27 pm, Bruce Steers wrote:
>
>
>
> On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 at 10:35, Bruce Steers <bsteers4@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 at 06:04, BB <adamnt42@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> Is this possible?
>>>
>>> Some programs run different interfaces depending on the "command"
>>> specified on the command line, notably (or perhaps notoriously) "apt". Such
>>> as:
>>>
>>> 	apt get <params>
>>> 	apt install <params>
>>> 	apt this-that-and-the-other <params>
>>>
>>> In my case, I'm trying to develop a library to interface to the
>>> OpenWeatherMap feed. It will have 3 modes of operation (so far):
>>>
>>>    - as a library called from a client application, via an exposed
>>>    interface class "Weather"
>>>    - as a normal executable to allow the user to setup some
>>>    configuration data, such as language, API key, etc
>>>    - as a normal executable that just shows the weather for a location
>>>    through a small UI
>>>
>>> For the latter two then I want to specify which interface to use is a
>>> similar way to the "apt" command:
>>>
>>>    - weather configure
>>>    - weather [show] <location params>
>>>    *[show] is optional, if included, the data is just printed on stdout*
>>>
>>> Note, this is different from the normal usage of the gb.args component
>>> where the "options" must come before the "arguments". Here I have a syntax
>>> of
>>>
>>>     weather <command>  <args>  <options>
>>>
>>> So for example,
>>>
>>>     weather show -67.42137331544458, 164.77271477068862 -l zu
>>>
>>> would print the current weather conditions on Sturge Island to stdout in
>>> the zulu language (should I ever require it 😕).
>>>
>>> tia
>>>
>>> bruce
>>>
>>
>> Not quite sure the exact problem but to answer some questions...
>>
>> the -s arg sets startup class with gbx3 and gbr3 but you would then need
>> to use gbr3 prefix on an executable to give the -s arg and not call the
>> executable directly.
>>
>>
>> Args can come after params using Args.class  Args.End()
>> -------------
>> Dim aRestOfArgs As String[]
>> Dim bBoolParam As Boolean
>> Args.Begin()
>> bBoolParam = Args.Has("b", "bool", "bool param")
>>
>> aRestOfArgs = Args.End()
>> -------------
>>
>> aRestOfArgs[] is now ALL the other remaining args supplied after the ones
>> processed between Begin and End are removed. these can be examined and
>> dealt with accordingly.
>>
>> Does that help?
>> Respects
>> BruceS
>>
>
> Hmm after saying that i realize Args.class will probably fail with an
> argument like  -67.42137331544458
> "Unknown option -6"
>
> But then there is not much to gb.args when it comes to copying the
> Args.module file into your project and modifying it to suit your needs.
> Maybe change line 61 from this...
> If Len(sArg) > 1 And If Left(sArg) = "-" Then
> To this...
> If Len(sArg) > 1 And If Left(sArg) = "-" And If IsLetter(sArg[1]) Then
>
> that way only letters not numbers work with - sign
>
> Respects
> BruceS
>
> Yep, all of the above. Maybe I'll have to eshew gb.args and parse the damn
> thing just using Args (the one that gets overridden by gb.args).
>
> Damnably frustrating. All I want (haha) is simply "positional cli
> arguments" with all the features of gb.args! Hmm, maybe I could just scan
> the commend line, split the sub-command and then pass the remainder to
> gb.args somehow or other.
>
> Continuing to thrash.
>
> regards
>
> b
>

I dunno, with the simple above mentioned modification to Args.module you
could easily use gb.args to process the standard way (including multiple
flags like -xyz)
The mod will make a number beginning with - get added to aRestOfArgs so
then a simple run through the rest of the unprocessed args

weather show -67.42137331544458 164.77271477068862 -l zu

the -l flag will be omitted leaving aRestOfArgs as ["show",
"-67.42137331544458", "164.77271477068862", "zu"]

So something like..

Dim sArg As String
Dim aCoords As New Float[]

For c As Integer = 0 to aRestOfArgs.Max
  sArg = aRestOfArgs[c]

   If sArg Like "show" Then

    bShowMode = True

  Else if IsFloat(sArg) Then

    aCoords.Add(cFloat(sArg))

  Else If aCountryCodes.Exist(sArg) Then  ' maybe match to a country code list?

    sLocale = sArg

  Else

    Print "Unknown arg: " & Shell(sArg)

  Endif

Next


Also thanks to my tinkering with gb.args you can now manage your own
help texts to further explain beyond the automatically printed items
from args.Has/Args.Get/etc.

if you use  "*If Args.Has("h","help","Print this help")*" then help is
not automatically printed.
the automatic help text can then be obtained using Args.HelpText()
(AFTER Args.End) and your own further details added.
Eg.
Args.Begin(File.Name(Args[0]) & " [show/edit] <params> [coords] [locale]")
If Args.Has("h","help","Print this help") Then bPrintHelp = True

aRestOfArgs = Args.End()

If bPrintHelp Then
  Print Args.HelpText()  ' help for all the handled params

  Print "blah blah show to open inteface"

  Print "blah blah coordinates"

 Print "Example..."

 Print "blah blah blah"

  Quit

Endif


Respects

BruceS