Help groups for commands and options

[shadowspawn]

Problem

Some people with larger programs would like to break up their commands and options into groups in the help. There have not been a lot of requests for this, but it is something I had noticed as a possible enhancement.

See: #374 (comment) #1897

Help groups are common in "big" programs, but big programs often have custom help systems anyway! (e.g. git, npm)

Solution

I am currently trying to implement some of the API ideas in #1897 to see how they go. If I can't decide which one or ones are best, I might open a poll for feedback on preferred approach.

Two caveats from work so far:

• supporting group for the built-in help option and help command is extra work, except for the "map" api where easy
• it takes a bit of code to sort out the groups. Want to consider whether worth the extra complexity.

ChangeLog

---

Still a work in progress, I am coding to try ideas so anything could change. 🛠

What is working currently. Can mix and match.

Map, which implies order of groups displayed, and order of commands and options displayed. Help option and help command are included without special code. Options allow short or long option (or attribute name).

program.commandGroups = new Map([
  ['A Commands:', ['a3', 'a2', 'a1']],
  ['B Commands:', ['b3', 'b2', 'b1']],
  ['Help Commands:', ['help']]
]);

program.optionGroups = new Map([
  ['Animal Options:', ['-r', '--armadillo', '--no-sheep', 'dog', '--no-dog']],
  ['Element Options:', ['--carbon', '-o', '-n']],
  ['Help Options:', ['--help']]
]);

Group specified on command and option. This is nice for setting up everything about a command or option in one place. Small downsides are group specified multiple times and have to build Option.

program
  .command('b99')
  .group('B Commands:')
  .action(() => console.log('Called subcommand'));

program
  .addOption(new Option('-s, --sheep').group('Animal Options:'))

[shadowspawn]

I got everything going, but was not happy with extra properties and extra code. I did not want to offer them all anyway! Started again with support for just helpGroup on Option and Group with extensions for the built-ins.

See #1910