Formatting help text (ends of line)

[downwater]

The command line wiki shows what help texts look like:

yourapp 2.0.201-alpha
[...]
  --filename    Input filename.

  --help        Display this help screen.

  --version     Display version information.

Each argument entry is followed by a double end of line. I wondered if there is a simple way to get a formatting with single eol, like this grep example:

Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]...
[...]
  -E, --extended-regexp     PATTERN is an extended regular expression (ERE)
  -F, --fixed-strings       PATTERN is a set of newline-separated strings
  -G, --basic-regexp        PATTERN is a basic regular expression (BRE)

If I undestand correctly, I'll have to implement my own help screen and use HelpText.RenderUsageText or HelpText.RenderUsageTextAsLines ?

[moh-hassan]

You need not to use Rendering methods, only configure HelpText and set:

       AdditionalNewLineAfterOption=false

Wiki is updated to include new page: HelpText Configuration for generating custom help with examples that you can run online.
Custom helpExample: Try it online

[downwater]

Thank you very much.

[leoformaggi]

You need not to use Rendering methods, only configure HelpText and set:

       AdditionalNewLineAfterOption=false

Wiki is updated to include new page: HelpText Configuration for generating custom help with examples that you can run online.
Custom helpExample: Try it online

Is there a way to cut the empty lines from Default parser? Using the HelpText it works, but there's a different behavior. I am using a method for parsing subverbs, which works fine. If I use a single --help with Default parser, it shows the available verbs. But if I use HelpText.AutoBuild() setting AdditionalNewLineAfterOption = false, the single --help command won't show the available verbs.

[downwater]

@moh-hassan, I confirm this works (tested with VB.NET).

[moh-hassan]

@downwater
Thanks for feedback

[moh-hassan]

@leoformaggi
Can you post sample code to repro the issue.

[downwater]

@moh-hassan, I just realized I'm experiencing the same issue as @leoformaggi , but I didn't yet dig into it. I started from your sample to write the one below to show up the case:

// @nuget: CommandLineParser -Version 2.6.0
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using CommandLine;
using CommandLine.Text;

public class Program
{
	public static void Main()
	{
		var args = "--help".Split();
		StartUp(args);
	}

	static void StartUp(string[] args)
	{
		var parser = new CommandLine.Parser(with => with.HelpWriter = null);
		var parserResult = parser.ParseArguments<ReadOptions, WriteOptions>(args);
		parserResult
			.WithParsed<ReadOptions>(options => Run(options))
			.WithParsed<WriteOptions>(options => Run(options))
			.WithNotParsed(errs => DisplayHelp(parserResult, errs));
	}

	static void DisplayHelp<T>(ParserResult<T> result, IEnumerable<Error> errs)
	{
		var helpText = HelpText.AutoBuild(result, h =>
		{
			h.AdditionalNewLineAfterOption = false; //remove the extra newline between options
			h.Heading = "MyVerbApp 2.0.0-beta"; //change header
			h.Copyright = "Copyright (c) 2019 Global.com"; //change copyrigt text
			return HelpText.DefaultParsingErrorsHandler(result, h);
		}, e => e);
		Console.WriteLine(helpText);
	}

	static void Run(WriteOptions options){}
	static void Run(ReadOptions options){}
}

[Verb("read", HelpText = "Reads from source.")]
class ReadOptions
{
	[Option("path", Default = false, HelpText = "Source path")]
	public bool path{get;set;}
}

[Verb("write", HelpText = "Writes to destination.")]
class WriteOptions
{
	[Option("path", Default = false, HelpText = "Destination path")]
	public bool path{get;set;}
}

Calling the program with --help will ouput this:

MyVerbApp 2.0.0-beta
Copyright (c) 2019 Global.com

  --help       Display this help screen.
  --version    Display version information.

[moh-hassan]

@downwater, @leoformaggi
Custom Help for Verbs need accessing internal members.
I investigate the possibility of modifying these members to be public.

[downwater]

@moh-hassan, thank you for this first feedback.

[moh-hassan]

@downwater, @leoformaggi
Custom help for verb is fixed in v2.7.0-preview1 by adding a new overload method to AutoBuild and DisplayHelp is simplified

var helpText = HelpText.AutoBuild(result, h => {..});

Try it online

Click to expand source code!

// @nuget: CommandLineParser -Version 2.7.0-preview1
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using CommandLine;
using CommandLine.Text;

public class Program
{
	public static void Main()
	{		
		StartUp("--help");
		StartUp("--help write");
		StartUp("write --dummy"); // Option 'dummy' is unknown
	}

	static void StartUp(string command)
	{
		Console.WriteLine($"------Args: '{command}' -------");
		var args = command.Split();
		var parser = new CommandLine.Parser(with => with.HelpWriter = null);
		var parserResult = parser.ParseArguments<ReadOptions, WriteOptions>(args);
		parserResult.WithParsed<ReadOptions>(options => Run(options)).WithParsed<WriteOptions>(options => Run(options)).WithNotParsed(errs => DisplayHelp(parserResult));
	}

	static void DisplayHelp<T>(ParserResult<T> result)
	{
		var helpText = HelpText.AutoBuild(result, h =>
		{
			h.AdditionalNewLineAfterOption = false; //remove the extra newline between options
			h.Heading = "MyVerbApp 2.0.0-beta"; //change header
			h.Copyright = "Copyright (c) 2019 Global.com"; //change copyrigt text
			return h;
		}

		);
		Console.WriteLine(helpText);
	}

	static void Run(WriteOptions options)
	{
	}

	static void Run(ReadOptions options)
	{
	}
}

[Verb("read", HelpText = "Reads from source.")]
class ReadOptions
{
	[Option("path", Default = false, HelpText = "Source path")]
	public bool path
	{
		get;
		set;
	}
}

[Verb("write", HelpText = "Writes to destination.")]
class WriteOptions
{
	[Option("path", Default = false, HelpText = "Destination path")]
	public bool path
	{
		get;
		set;
	}
}

Click to expand Help Screen!

------Args: '--help' -------
MyVerbApp 2.0.0-beta
Copyright (c) 2019 Global.com

  read       Reads from source.
  write      Writes to destination.
  help       Display more information on a specific command.
  version    Display version information.

------Args: '--help write' -------
MyVerbApp 2.0.0-beta
Copyright (c) 2019 Global.com

  --path       (Default: false) Destination path
  --help       Display this help screen.
  --version    Display version information.

------Args: 'write --dummy' -------
MyVerbApp 2.0.0-beta
Copyright (c) 2019 Global.com

ERROR(S):
  Option 'dummy' is unknown.

  --path       (Default: false) Destination path
  --help       Display this help screen.
  --version    Display version information.

[downwater]

@moh-hassan
Thank you for the information. We'll be waiting for the stable release.