org.josef.util.args

Class CommandLineProcessor

java.lang.Object

org.josef.util.args.CommandLineProcessor

@Status(stage=DEVELOPMENT,
        unitTests=PARTIAL)
 @Review(by="Kees Schotanus",
        at="2009-09-28")
public final class CommandLineProcessor
extends Object

A command line processor that uses annotations to process command line arguments that are passed to a java program.
By annotating your methods, this command line processor will automatically set the different flags, options and program arguments on your annotated methods.
A command line normally consists of a program, optionally followed by options and program arguments. In the following example: jar -cvf classes.jar Foo.class Bar.class
c and v are options without arguments (they are just flags) and f is an option with value: "classes.jar". The remaining "Foo.class" and "Bar.class" are program arguments. To handle the flags, options and program arguments, you need the following code:

  @Option(name = "c", optional = true)
 public void setCreateFlag(final boolean createFlag) {
       this.createFlag = createFlag;
 }

  @Option(name = "v", optional = true)
 public void setViewFlag(final boolean viewFlag) {
     this.viewFlag = viewFlag;
  }

  @Option(name = "f", optional = false)
 public void setFileName(final String fileName) {
     this.fileName = fileName;
  }

  @ProgramArguments()
 public void setProgramArguments(final String [] programArguments) {
     this.programArguments = programArguments.clone();
 }
 

It is possible to have options that take more than one argument. Simply annotate the method that accepts several Strings. For example:

  @Option(name = "d")
    public void setDates(final String firstDate, final String secondDate) {
        ...
    }
 

To actually process the command line arguments, simply execute the process() method from withon your main method like this: CommandLineProcessor.process(commandLineObject, args); The commandLineObject must be an object of a class with the aforementioned annotations.

Version:

1.0 $Revision: 6488 $

Author:

Kees Schotanus

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
static void	process(Object commandLineObject, String[] commandLineArguments) Processes the supplied commandLineArguments and stores the processed information in the supplied commandLineObject.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

process

public static void process(Object commandLineObject,
                           String[] commandLineArguments)

Processes the supplied commandLineArguments and stores the processed information in the supplied commandLineObject.

Parameters:

commandLineObject - The Object which methods will be called when arguments are processed.

commandLineArguments - The command line arguments.
Normally you will want to pass in the arguments received by the main method.

Throws:

NullPointerException - When either the supplied commandLineObject or commandLineArguments is null.