bx/automated help output

In your documentation is mentioned, that a command is incorrect usage should print out the help page:
https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/ibm-cloud-cli-sdk/blob/master/docs/plugin_developer_guide.md#25-incorrect-usage

The help page is defined by that structure of yours:
https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/ibm-cloud-cli-sdk/blob/master/docs/plugin_developer_guide.md#11-register-a-new-plug-in
--- SNIP ---
func (p *FssPlugin) GetMetadata() plugin.PluginMetadata {
// define plugin namespace
fssNamespace := plugin.Namespace{
Name: "mpl",
Description: "Doing stuff",
}
return plugin.PluginMetadata{
Name: "my.plugin",
Version: plugin.VersionType{
Major: 0,
Minor: 0,
Build: 1,
},
MinCliVersion: plugin.VersionType{
Major: 0,
Minor: 0,
Build: 1,
}, Namespaces: []plugin.Namespace{
fssNamespace,
},
Commands: []plugin.Command{
{
Namespace: fssNamespace.Name,
Name: "my-command",
Description: "Doing stuff",
Usage: "bx mpl my-command KEY VALUE\n KEY is the key of the configuration e.g. my-config\n VALUE is the value of the configuration e.g. fg",
Hidden: false,
}
...
--- SNAP ---

So it would be great, if we could just this information to build the help out instead of duplicate the text and generate an own help output

Guest
Feb 4 2019
Not under consideration

CLI

Idea priority

Low

Comments (4)

Post comment
Guest commented

29 Mar, 2019 06:58am

The IBM SDK does not provide any support to print out the help in case of incorrect usage as recommended here: https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/ibm-cloud-cli-sdk/blob/master/docs/plugin_developer_guide.md#25-incorrect-usage

So if an invalid option combination is used, the IBM SDK help printout can't be triggered, hence as plugin developer, you have to code the print out again manually.

We will stick to it, that we just print out: "invoke help" instead of maintaining the help output twice.
Guest commented

28 Mar, 2019 09:07pm

The plugin should implement the help command so that they can define exactly what is shown to the user. This way, the plugin can update the help command if new commands are added/removed/modified. Please let me know if you have additional questions, or feel free to create an issue on the IBM Cloud CLI SDK repo, here: https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/ibm-cloud-cli-sdk
Marking this idea as Closed.
Guest commented

20 Mar, 2019 07:43am

it would be nice, if the plugin developer would not to have to maintain two places of help output.

We will stick to it, that we don't generate any manual help output, as long IBM does not provide any easy way to reuse their help output. Instead we will advide the IBM CLI user to invoke the help command. That is not user-friendly, but it would reduce the risk of getting out of sync regarding the two help outputs.
Guest commented

19 Mar, 2019 08:57pm

For the help message, both the core CLI and plugin can build the help message. If the plugin has the help command implemented, then the core CLI will delegate to the plugin, otherwise the core CLI will show the help message. Specific help output should be done by the plugin since the plugin will know exactly which options are required and which are not. Does this help answer your questions?

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