Defining Commands

To define a CLI command, simply declare a class implementing the CommandLineHandler interface and annotated with @CliCommand:

@CliCommand("myCommand")
public class MyCommandLineHandler implements CommandLineHandler {
    @Override
    public Integer call() throws Exception {
        return 0;
    }
}

This will register the command named myCommand without any option or argument. When this command is invoked from the command-line, the call method is invoked. You must return an integer code from this method which will be returned to the operating system.

Arguments and options

More often than not, commands must accept various options and arguments to alter their behaviors. This is well supported by the Java framework through annotations:

• The @CliOption annotation can be used on fields to inject an option.
• The @CliArgs annotation can be used on fields to inject command arguments.

Consider the following example:

@CliCommand("myCommand")
public class MyCommandLineHandler implements CommandLineHandler {
    @CliOption(name = "o1", longName = "option1")
    private Boolean hasOption1;

    @CliOption(name = "o2", longName = "option2" valueCount = 1, mandatory = true)
    private String option2;

    @CliOption(name = "o3", valueCount = 2, mandatoryValue = true, defaultValues = {"1", "2"})
    private String[] option3;

    @CliOption(name = "o4", valueCount = -1, valueSeparator = '=')
    private Map<String, String> option4;

    @CliArgs(mandatoryCount = 2)
    private String[] args;

    @Override
    public Integer call() throws Exception {
        return 0;
    }
}

The annotations above define:

• An option named o1 or option1 which acts as a flag, present or not. Its presence is injected in the hasOption1 boolean field. This can be specified with -o1 or --option1 on the command-line.
• An option named o2 or option2 which takes a unique value. Its value is injected in the option2 string field. This option is mandatory. This can be specified with the -o2 value or --option2 value on the command-line.
• An option named o3 which takes 2 comma-separated values (the default separator). The values for this option are mandatory and default to 1 and 2. They are injected in the option3 string array field. This can be specified with -o3 5,6 on the command-line.
• An option named o4 which takes and unlimited number of values separated by =. The odd/even value pairs are injected as key/value pairs in the map. This can be specified as -o4 key1=value1 -o4 key2=value2 on the command-line.
• Any number of arguments with at-least two which are mandatory. This can be specified as arg1 arg2 on the command-line.