Generic options and types

Since v0.21.0, cliffy has strict types by default. All types, option and environment-variable names will be automatically magically inferred 🪄.

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❗ It is no longer recommended to define the types manually with the generic parameters.

The only exception where you define generics manually is when you want to organize your sub commands in separate files, than you can use the first two generic constructor parameters which are used do define required global options and types which is explained in Generic parent types.

Another exception is, if you want to extend the command class to share it with other projects like cliffy it does with the HelpCommand. This is explained in extending commands.

Generic parent types

If you want to organize your sub commands into different files, you can define required global parent options and types in the constructor of the child command.

The first parameter defines required global options and/or environment variables. The second parameter defines required global custom types.

import { Command, EnumType } from "https://deno.land/x/cliffy@v0.25.0/command/mod.ts";

const colorType = new EnumType(["red", "blue"]);

const fooCommand = new Command<
  { debug?: true },
  { color: typeof colorType }
>()
  .option("-b, --bar", "...")
  .option("-c, --color <color-name:color>", "...")
  .action((options) => {
    if (options.debug) {
      console.log("debug");
    }
    if (options.bar) {
      console.log("bar");
    }
    if (options.color) {
      console.log("color", options.color);
    }
    // @ts-expect-error option foo does not exist.
    if (options.foo) {
      console.log("foo");
    }
  });

await new Command()
  .globalType("color", colorType)
  .globalOption("-d, --debug", "...")
  .command("foo", fooCommand)
  .parse(Deno.args);Copy

The types of the options object will look like this:

{
  debug?: true | undefined;
  bar?: true | undefined;
  color?: "red" | "blue" | undefined;
}Copy

Extending commands

If you want to extend the Command class like cliffy it does with the HelpCommand. New instances of this command will have void types by default. In this case you can specify the types manually with the generic constructor parameters of the Command class. But this is completely optional. You can add void commands to any other command.

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When you specify the types, it is recommended to return the command instance in the constructor.

This way you can ensure the constructor typings matches your command typings, because in typescript you can only return an instance in the constructor that is compatible to it self.

import { Command } from "https://deno.land/x/cliffy@v0.25.0/command/mod.ts";

class FooCommand extends Command<
  void,
  void,
  { foo?: string; bar?: number },
  [string, string?]
> {
  constructor() {
    super();
    return this
      .name("foo")
      .description("Foo command.")
      .option("--foo <value:string>", "...")
      .option("--bar <value:number>", "...")
      .arguments("<input:string> [output:string]")
      .action(() => console.log("foo"));
  }
}Copy