yargs-promise

Use the headless yargs parser with promises!

Install

npm

npm install --save yargs-promise

yarn

yarn add --save yargs-promise

Usage

Instead of using a callback with yargs.parse, use a promise chain: parser.parse(text).then().catch().

Examples:

const yargs = require('yargs');
const YargsPromise = require('yargs-promise');

// create the customized yargs parser
const parser = new YargsPromise(yargs);

// setup command & command handler
parser
  .command('hello <name>', 'hello world parser' , ()=>{}, (argv) => {
    // resolve stuff
    argv.resolve(yourData, argv); // pass back argv if you need it

    // reject stuff
    argv.reject(yourErrorData, argv); // pass back argv if you need it

    // or do nothing and reject/resolve will be handled internally
    // however { data } will not be present in resolved or rejected responses
    console.log('testing argv', argv);
  })
  .help();

// parse text input and use the returned promise
parser.parse('hello world')
  .then(({argv, output, data}) => {
    // `output` exists if there was console output from yargs and if this was
    // resolved in internal parser callback

    // `data` exists if the promise was resolved in command handler

    // `argv` exists if the promise was resolved in internal parser callback
    // otherwise it will need to be passed as the 2nd argument to
    // context.resolve(data, argv)
  })
  .catch((error, argv, data) => {
    // `error` exists if there was an internal error from yargs

    // `argv` exists if the promise was rejected in internal parser callback
    // otherwise it will need to be passed as the 2nd argument to
    // context.reject(data, argv)

    if (error) {
      // built in error validation
    }
    if (data) {
      // rejected from command handler
    }

    // argv contains parsed input
  });

Customizing context example

const yargs = require('yargs');
const YargsPromise = require('yargs-promise');

const parser = new YargsPromise(
  yargs,
  // customize context
  {
    customContextMethod: () => {},
    foo: 'bar'
  }
);

parser
  .command('hello <name>', 'hello world parser' , ()=>{}, (argv) => {
    // argv now contains
    argv.customContextMethod();
    console.log(argv.foo);
  })
  .help();

How it works

This library does three things:

• wraps the yargs.parse in a new Promise
  • no more callbacks
• attaches that Promises resolve & reject methods on the context passed to yargs.parse
  • this enables you to call argv.resolve or argv.reject in command handler function
• handles default behavior
  • from Error validation
  • output from internal commands like .help()
  • unhandled output from custom handler

Checkout the source code or tests for more information.

Why

Building chatbots requires parsing and handling text input. This wraps up the most common needs I've come across for handling errors, simple commands, and commands with handlers.