structopt-derive 0.0.3

How to derive(StructOpt)

First, look at an example:

#[derive(StructOpt)]
#[structopt(name = "example", about = "An example of StructOpt usage.")]
struct Opt {
    #[structopt(short = "d", long = "debug", help = "Activate debug mode")]
    debug: bool,
    #[structopt(short = "s", long = "speed", help = "Set speed", default_value = "42")]
    speed: f64,
    #[structopt(help = "Input file")]
    input: String,
    #[structopt(help = "Output file, stdout if not present")]
    output: Option<String>,
}

So, derive(StructOpt) do the job, and structopt attribute is used for additional parameters.

First, define a struct, whatever its name. This structure will correspond to a clap::App. Every method of clap::App in the form of fn function_name(self, &str) can be use in the form of attributes. Our example call for example something like app.about("An example of StructOpt usage."). There is some special attributes:

• name: correspond to the creation of the App object. Our example does clap::App::new("example"). Default to the crate name given by cargo.
• version: default to the crate version given by cargo.
• author: default to the crate version given by cargo.
• about: default to the crate version given by cargo.

Then, each field of the struct correspond to a clap::Arg. As for the struct attributes, every method of clap::Arg in the form of fn function_name(self, &str) can be use in the form of attributes. The name attribute can be used to customize the Arg::with_name() call (default to the field name).

The type of the field gives the kind of argument:

The FromStr trait is used to convert the argument to the given type, and the Arg::validator method is setted to a method using FromStr::Error::description().

Thus, the speed argument is generated as:

clap::Arg::with_name("speed")
    .takes_value(true)
    .multiple(false)
    .required(false)
    .validator(parse_validator::<f64>)
    .short("s")
    .long("debug")
    .help("Set speed")
    .default_value("42")