Engage

Engage is a project that allows you to create your own command line application where the commands are defined in a config file. This project was created to allow you to bundle common command line tasks in a config file and create your own named application.

It changes this:

{
    "name": "engage",
    "usage": "make it so",
    "authors": [
        {
            "name": "Jean Luc Picard",
            "email": "j.l.picard@starfleet.org"
        }
    ],
    "version": "NCC-1701-D",
    "commands": [
        {
            "name": "photon",
            "action": "./photon-torpedoes.sh",
            "usage": "Arm the photon torpedoes"
        },
        {
            "name": "hail",
            "action": "echo",
            "usage": "Hail ship"
        },
        {
            "name": "warp",
            "action": "./engines.sh; ./warp.sh",
            "usage": "Use to jump to warp speed"
        }
    ]
}

Into this:

$ engage

NAME:
   engage - make it so

USAGE:
   main [global options] command [command options] [arguments...]
   
VERSION:
   NCC-1701-D
   
AUTHOR(S):
   Jean Luc Picard <j.l.picard@starfleet.org> 
   
COMMANDS:
    photon      Arm the photon torpedoes
    hail        Hail ship
    warp        Use to jump to warp speed

GLOBAL OPTIONS:
   --help, -h           show help
   --version, -v        print the version

Below you'll find the explanation for doing this, but there is also a blog post that will help you guide through it.

Using Engage

Instead of creating your own named command line application, you can use engage itself.

$ go get github.com/erroneousboat/engage
$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/erroneousboat/engage

# This will install the binary in the bin folder of your $GOPATH, if you want
# to run engage from the command line make sure this folder is on your system
# PATH: export PATH=$GOPATH/bin:$PATH
$ go install

Now create your engage.json file and put it in the $GOPATH/bin folder. See the Usage section on how to create the engage.json file.

Create own cli app

First clone this project, and make sure you have The Go Programming Language installed. Then think about an incredible name you want to use for your application, and then use it in the following command:

$ make APP_NAME=[name-of-app]

This will place your new application in the bin/ folder. If you like you can place this application together with the engage.json file somewhere you like. And if you want to be able to reference from anywhere on your system, then create a symlink to the application in one of the following locations:

Folder	Access
$HOME/bin	yourself only
/usr/local/bin	you and other local users
/usr/local/sbin	root only

Create symlink:

$ ln -s ~/location/of/app $HOME/bin

Usage

Now we need to create our config file engage.json, an example:

{
    "name": "engage",
    "usage": "make it so",
    "authors": [
        {
            "name": "Jean Luc Picard",
            "email": "j.l.picard@starfleet.org"
        }
    ],
    "version": "NCC-1701-D",
    "commands": [
        {
            "name": "photon",
            "action": "./photon-torpedoes.sh",
            "usage": "Arm the photon torpedoes"
        },
        {
            "name": "hail",
            "action": "echo",
            "usage": "Hail ship"
        },
        {
            "name": "warp",
            "action": "./engines.sh; ./warp.sh",
            "usage": "Use to jump to warp speed"
        }
    ]
}

Save the config file along-side your newly created app, and you'l be able to issue the following commands:

$ engage

NAME:
   engage - make it so

USAGE:
   main [global options] command [command options] [arguments...]
   
VERSION:
   NCC-1701-D
   
AUTHOR(S):
   Jean Luc Picard <j.l.picard@starfleet.org> 
   
COMMANDS:
    photon      Arm the photon torpedoes
    hail        Hail ship
    warp        Use to jump to warp speed

GLOBAL OPTIONS:
   --help, -h           show help
   --version, -v        print the version

# Executing a single command
$ engage photon
Firing photons topedoes...

# With single commands you'll be able to add arguments
$ engage hail klingon ship
klingon ship

# This combines two script calls
$ engage warp
engines operational
warp speed 9, engage ...

As you can see in the example file you can chain commands by using ;.

Todo

• command alias
• flags
• subcommands
• arguments with combined commands