Shell - Full features and pretty console applications

Create nice looking shell applications in minutes with a Connect inspired API.

Quick exemple, a redis client

var spawn = require('child_process').spawn,
    shell = require('shell'),
    app = new shell.Shell();

app.configure(function(){
    app.use( shell.history({shell: app}) );
    app.use( shell.completer({shell: app}) );
    app.use( shell.router({shell: app}) );
    app.use( shell.help({shell: app, introduction: true}) );
    app.use( shell.error({shell: app}) );
});

app.on('exit', function(){
    if(app.server){ app.server.kill(); }
    if(app.client){ app.client.quit(); }
});

app.cmd('start', 'Start the redis server', function(req, res, next){
    app.server = spawn('redis-server', [__dirname+'/redis.conf']);
    res.prompt();
});

app.cmd('keys :pattern', 'Find keys', function(req, res, next){
    if(!app.client){
        app.client = require('redis').createClient();
    }
    app.client.keys(req.params.pattern, function(err, keys){
        if(err){ return res.styles.red(err.message), next(); }
        res.cyan(keys.join('\n')||'no keys');
        res.prompt();
    });
});

Installation

`npm install shell`

Creating and configuring

var app = new shell.Shell();

app.configure(function(){
    app.use( shell.history({shell: app}) );
    app.use( shell.completer({shell: app}) );
    app.use( shell.help({shell: app, introduction: true}) );
});

The constructor shell.Shell take an optional object. options are - stdin, Source to read from - stdout, Destination to write to

Like with Express, app.configure allows the customization of plugins for different environments (however, it is not yet implemented) while app.use register plugins.

Routes plugin

A route is made of a command pattern, an optional description and one or more route specific middleware.

Middlewares recieve three parameters, a request object, a response object and a function.

The request object contains the following properties: - command, command entered by the user - params, parameters object extracted from the command

The response object inherit from styles which contains various utility functions for printing, coloring and bolding.

History plugin

Persist command history between multiple sessions. Options passed during creation are: - shell, required - historyFile, default to process.cwd()+'/.node_shell'

Completer plugin

Provide tab completion. Options passed during creation are: - shell, required

Help plugin

Display help when use type "help" or when he press enter on empty prompt. Command help is only displayed if a description was provided during the command registration. Additionnaly, a new shell.help() function is made available. Options passed during creation are: - shell, required - introduction, Print message 'Type "help" or press enter for a list of commands' if boolean true or a custom message if a string