CLI startup and options processing

A Node.js module with classes to implement a command line Node.js application.

The module exports several classes (like CliApplication, CliCommand, ...) that can be used as base classes for CLI applications.

Prerequisites

A recent Node.js (>=8.x), since the ECMAScript 6 class syntax is used.

Easy install

The module is available as @ilg/cli-start-options from the public repository, use npm to install it inside the module where it is needed:

npm install @ilg/cli-start-options --save

The module does not provide any executables, and generally there are few reasons to install it globally.

The development repository is available from the GitHub xpack/cli-start-options-js project.

User info

The module can be included in CLI applications and the classes can be used to derive application classes.

// Equivalent of import { CliApplication, CliCommand, CliHelp, CliOptions } from 'cli-start-options'

const { CliApplication, CliCommand, CliHelp, CliOptions,
  CliError, CliExitCodes } = require('@ilg/cli-start-options')

Developer info

Git repo

git clone https://github.com/xpack/cli-start-options-js.git cli-start-options-js.git
cd cli-start-options-js.git
npm install
sudo npm link 
ls -l /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@ilg

A link to the development folder should be present in the system node_modules folder.

In projects that use this module under development, link back from the global location:

npm link @ilg/cli-start-options

Tests

The tests use the node-tap framework (A Test-Anything-Protocol library for Node.js, written by Isaac Schlueter).

As for any npm package, the standard way to run the project tests is via npm test:

cd cli-start-options-js.git
npm install
npm test

A typical test result looks like:

$ npm run test

> @ilg/[email protected] test /Users/ilg/My Files/MacBookPro Projects/xPack/npm-modules/cli-start-options-js.git
> standard && npm run test-tap -s

test/tap/author.js .................................... 8/8
test/tap/cmd-copy.js ................................ 40/40
test/tap/errors.js .................................. 18/18
test/tap/interactive.js ............................. 14/14
test/tap/logger.js ................................ 147/147
test/tap/module-invocation.js ......................... 9/9
test/tap/options-common.js ........................ 126/126
total ............................................. 362/362

  362 passing (10s)

  ok

To run a specific test with more verbose output, use npm run tap:

$ npm run tap test/tap/cmd-copy.js -s

test/tap/cmd-copy.js
  xtest copy
    ✓ exit code is syntax
    ✓ has two errors
    ✓ has --file error
    ✓ has --output error
    ✓ has Usage

  xtest copy -h
    ✓ exit code is success
    ✓ has enough output
    ✓ has title
    ✓ has Usage
    ✓ has copy options
    ✓ has --file
    ✓ has --output
    ✓ stderr is empty

  xtest cop -h
    ✓ exit code is success
    ✓ has enough output
    ✓ has title
    ✓ has Usage
    ✓ stderr is empty

  xtest cop --file xxx --output yyy
    ✓ exit code is input
    ✓ stdout is empty
    ✓ strerr is ENOENT

  unpack
    ✓ cmd-code.tgz unpacked into /var/folders/n7/kxqjc5zs4qs0nb44v1l2r2j00000gn/T/xtest-copy
    ✓ chmod ro file
    ✓ mkdir folder
    ✓ chmod ro folder

  xtest cop --file input.json --output output.json
    ✓ exit code is success
    ✓ stdout is empty
    ✓ stderr is empty
    ✓ content is read in
    ✓ json was parsed
    ✓ has name

  xtest cop --file input --output output -v
    ✓ exit code
    ✓ message is Done
    ✓ stderr is empty

  xtest cop --file input --output ro/output -v
    ✓ exit code is output
    ✓ up to writing
    ✓ stderr is EACCES

  cleanup
    ✓ chmod rw file
    ✓ chmod rw folder
    ✓ remove tmpdir


  40 passing (2s)

Coverage tests

Coverage tests are a good indication on how much of the source files is exercised by the tests. Ideally all source files should be covered 100%, for all 4 criteria (statements, branches, functions, lines).

To run the coverage tests, use npm run test-coverage:

$ npm run test-coverage

> @ilg/[email protected] test-coverage /Users/ilg/My Files/MacBookPro Projects/xPack/npm-modules/cli-start-options-js.git
> tap --coverage --reporter=classic --timeout 600 --no-color "test/tap/*.js"

test/tap/author.js .................................... 8/8
test/tap/cmd-copy.js ................................ 40/40
test/tap/errors.js .................................. 18/18
test/tap/interactive.js ............................. 14/14
test/tap/logger.js ................................ 147/147
test/tap/module-invocation.js ......................... 9/9
test/tap/options-common.js ........................ 126/126
total ............................................. 362/362

  362 passing (20s)

  ok
------------------------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------------|
File                          |  % Stmts | % Branch |  % Funcs |  % Lines |Uncovered Lines |
------------------------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------------|
All files                     |      100 |    89.01 |    96.43 |      100 |                |
 cli-start-options-js.git     |      100 |      100 |      100 |      100 |                |
  index.js                    |      100 |      100 |      100 |      100 |                |
 cli-start-options-js.git/lib |      100 |    89.01 |    96.43 |      100 |                |
  cli-application.js          |      100 |    85.71 |    90.91 |      100 |                |
  cli-command.js              |      100 |    78.57 |      100 |      100 |                |
  cli-error.js                |      100 |      100 |      100 |      100 |                |
  cli-help.js                 |      100 |    90.43 |      100 |      100 |                |
  cli-logger.js               |      100 |       72 |      100 |      100 |                |
  cli-options.js              |      100 |    98.39 |      100 |      100 |                |
------------------------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------------|

Continuous Integration (CI)

The continuous integration tests are performed via Travis CI and AppVeyor.

To speed up things, the node_modules folder is cached between builds.

Standard compliance

The module uses ECMAScript 6 class definitions.

As style, it uses the JavaScript Standard Style, automatically checked at each commit via Travis CI.

Known and accepted exceptions:

• // eslint-disable-line node/no-deprecated-api to continue using the deprecated domain module

To manually fix compliance with the style guide (where possible):

$ npm run fix

> @ilg/[email protected] fix /Users/ilg/My Files/MacBookPro Projects/xPack/npm-modules/cli-start-options-js.git
> standard --fix

Documentation metadata

The documentation metadata follows the JSdoc tags.

To enforce checking at file level, add the following comments right after the use strict:

'use strict'
/* eslint valid-jsdoc: "error" */
/* eslint max-len: [ "error", 80, { "ignoreUrls": true } ] */

Note: be sure C style comments are used, C++ styles are not parsed by ESLint.

Publish to npmjs.com

• npm run fix
• commit all changes
• npm run test-coverage
• check the latest commits npm run git-log
• update CHANGELOG.md; commit with a message like CHANGELOG: prepare v0.6.2
• npm version patch (bug fixes), npm version minor (compatible API additions), npm version major (incompatible API changes)
• npm pack and check the content
• push all changes to GitHub; this should trigger CI
• wait for CI tests to complete
• npm publish --tag next (use --access public when publishing for the first time)

Check if the version is present at @ilg/cli-start-options Versions.

Test it with:

npm install -global xpm@next

Change tag to latest

When stable:

• npm dist-tag ls @ilg/cli-start-options
• npm dist-tag add @ilg/[email protected] latest
• npm dist-tag ls @ilg/cli-start-options

License

The original content is released under the MIT License, with all rights reserved to Liviu Ionescu.