= thor
Map options to a class. Simply create a class with the appropriate annotations
and have options automatically map to functions and parameters.
Example:
class App < Thor # [1]
map "-L" => :list # [2]
desc "install APP_NAME", "install one of the available apps" # [3]
method_options :force => :boolean, :alias => :string # [4]
def install(name)
user_alias = options[:alias]
if options.force?
# do something
end
# other code
end
desc "list [SEARCH]", "list all of the available apps, limited by SEARCH"
def list(search="")
# list everything
end
end
Thor automatically maps commands as such:
thor app:install myname --force
That gets converted to:
App.new.install("myname")
# with {'force' => true} as options hash
1. Inherit from Thor to turn a class into an option mapper
2. Map additional non-valid identifiers to specific methods. In this case, convert -L to :list
3. Describe the method immediately below. The first parameter is the usage information, and the second parameter is the description
4. Provide any additional options that will be available the instance method options.
== Types for <tt>method_options</tt>
* :boolean - is parsed as <tt>--option</tt> or <tt>--option=true</tt>
* :string - is parsed as <tt>--option=VALUE</tt>
* :numeric - is parsed as <tt>--option=N</tt>
* :array - is parsed as <tt>--option=one two three</tt>
* :hash - is parsed as <tt>--option=name:string age:integer</tt>
Besides, method_option allows a default value to be given, examples:
method_options :force => false
#=> Creates a boolean option with default value false
method_options :alias => "bar"
#=> Creates a string option with default value "bar"
method_options :threshold => 3.0
#=> Creates a numeric option with default value 3.0
You can also supply <tt>:option => :required</tt> to mark an option as required. The
type is assumed to be string. If you want a required hash with default values
as option, you can use <tt>method_option</tt> which uses a more declarative style:
method_option :attributes, :type => :hash, :default => {}, :required => true
All arguments can be set to nil (except required arguments), by suppling a no or
skip variant. For example:
thor app name --no-attributes
In previous versions, aliases for options were created automatically, but now
they should be explicit. You can supply aliases in both short and declarative
styles:
method_options %w( force -f ) => :boolean
Or:
method_option :force, :type => :boolean, :aliases => "-f"
You can supply as many aliases as you want.
NOTE: Type :optional available in Thor 0.9.0 was deprecated. Use :string or :boolean instead.
== Namespaces
By default, your Thor tasks are invoked using Ruby namespace. In the example
above, tasks are invoked as:
thor app:install name --force
However, you could namespace your class as:
module Sinatra
class App < Thor
# tasks
end
end
And then you should invoke your tasks as:
thor sinatra:app:install name --force
If desired, you can change the namespace:
module Sinatra
class App < Thor
namespace :myapp
# tasks
end
end
And then your tasks hould be invoked as:
thor myapp:install name --force
== Invocations
Thor comes with a invocation-dependency system as well which allows a task to be
invoked only once. For example:
class Counter < Thor
desc "one", "Prints 1, 2, 3"
def one
puts 1
invoke :two
invoke :three
end
desc "two", "Prints 2, 3"
def two
puts 2
invoke :three
end
desc "three", "Prints 3"
def three
puts 3
end
end
When invoking the task one:
thor counter:one
The output is "1 2 3", which means that the three task was invoked only once.
You can even invoke tasks from another class, so be sure to check the
documentation.
== Thor::Group
Thor has a special class called Thor::Group. The main difference to Thor class
is that it invokes all tasks at once. The example above could be rewritten in
Thor::Group as this:
class Counter < Thor::Group
desc "Prints 1, 2, 3"
def one
puts 1
end
def two
puts 2
end
def three
puts 3
end
end
When invoked:
thor counter
It prints "1 2 3" as well. Notice you should describe (using the method <tt>desc</tt>)
only the class and not each task anymore. Thor::Group is a great tool to create
generators, since you can define several steps which are invoked in the order they
are defined (Thor::Group is the tool use in generators in Rails 3.0).
Besides, Thor::Group can parse arguments and options as Thor tasks:
class Counter < Thor::Group
# number will be available as attr_accessor
argument :number, :type => :numeric, :desc => "The number to start counting"
desc "Prints the 'number' given upto 'number+2'"
def one
puts number + 0
end
def two
puts number + 1
end
def three
puts number + 2
end
end
The counter above expects one parameter and has the folling outputs:
thor counter 5
# Prints "5 6 7"
thor counter 11
# Prints "11 12 13"
You can also give options to Thor::Group, but instead of using <tt>method_option</tt>
and <tt>method_options</tt>, you should use <tt>class_option</tt> and <tt>class_options</tt>.
Both argument and class_options methods are available to Thor class as well.
== Actions
Thor comes with several actions which helps with script and generator tasks. You
might be familiar with them since some came from Rails Templates. They are:
<tt>say</tt>, <tt>ask</tt>, <tt>yes?</tt>, <tt>no?</tt>, <tt>add_file</tt>,
<tt>remove_file</tt>, <tt>copy_file</tt>, <tt>template</tt>, <tt>directory</tt>,
<tt>inside</tt>, <tt>run</tt>, <tt>inject_into_file</tt> and a couple more.
To use them, you just need to include Thor::Actions in your Thor classes:
class App < Thor
include Thor::Actions
# tasks
end
Some actions like copy file requires that a class method called source_root is
defined in your class. This is the directory where your templates should be
placed. Be sure to check the documentation.
== License
See MIT LICENSE.
