C++ Inquirer

A single header C++11 library for interactive command line prompts.

Use

Simply include the header:

#include "inquirer.h"

And initialise the inquirer object (with optional title):

auto inquirer = alx::Inquirer("cpp-inquirer example");

There are two ways to get answers back:

// Adds a question.
inquirer.add_question({"query", "What do you want to do?" });
// Prompts the user with all questions at once.
inquirer.ask();
/* With the key of your question. You will get a std::string as a value, so you will need to convert
   it to an appropriate type yourself. */
inquirer.answer("query"); 

or

// Adds a question and immediately prompts the user for an answer.
std::string answer = inquirer.add_question({ "query", "What do you want to do?" }).ask();

If you mix both of these approaches the question already answered will not be asked again. If you wish to ask the same question more than once call:

inquirer.ask(true);

Alternatively, if you have unrelated question or prefer to manage them individually you can use the alx::Question class directly:

std::string answer = alx::Question{"key", "What do you want to do?"}.ask(); // Key is not used in this case, so any value will do.
// Or
alx::Question question{"key", "What do you want to do?"};
std::string answer = question.ask();

Prompts

Text

inquirer.add_question({ "query", "What do you want to do?" });

Yes/No

inquirer.add_question({ "birthday", "Is this for a birthday?", alx::Type::yesNo });

Integer or decimal

inquirer.add_question({ "candles", "How many candles do you want?", alx::Type::integer });
// Or
inquirer.add_question({ "candles", "How many candles do you want?", alx::Type::decimal });

Select

inquirer.add_question({ "type", "What kind of a cake would you like?",
		        std::vector<std::string>{ "Chocolate", "Ice-cream", "Cheesecake", "Red velvet" }});

Confirm

inquirer.add_question({ "delivery", "Is this for delivery?", alx::Type::confirm });

Regex validated input

inquirer.add_question({ "number", "Enter your contact details:", "\\d{9}" });

Password

Password questions hide user input.

inquirer.add_question({ "password", "Enter your password:", alx::Type::password });

You can keep asking for a password if it doesn't meet your criteria like this:

std::string pass;
alx::Question question{ "pass", "Password", alx::Type::password };
while (pass.empty()) // Your criteria here
    pass = question.ask(true);

This works for any other question type as well but would probably be most commonly used with passwords.

Contributing

I'm more than happy to accept pull requests with some minor requirements:

• Prefix your commit messages with a relevant change type. If the commit relates to a GitHub issue, include the issue number in the message. Example:

Types: added a new question type 'yes/no'

This addresses issue #123

or

Answers: added a way to return an answer with the correct type

• Please follow the naming convention already established in the code. There is no clangformat, but I'm sure you can deduce it yourself.