JCLO: A Java Command Line Option parser

This package takes an object, uses reflection to find varibles in that object, and creates a command line parser that uses those variable names and types to give values to those variables. This dramtically reduces the effort required to deal with command line options. It parses either the double dash (--this=that) or single dash (-this that) styles. If there is a String array variable named "additional", any options after the dashed options are placed in it. It throws exceptions for nonexistant options and for number format errors. It can be downloaded from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/jclo/

Examples

Here is a simple example using a class devoted to command line options.

import edu.mscd.cs.jclo.JCLO;

class ExampleArgs
{
    private int a;
    private boolean b;
    private float c;
    private String d;
    private String[] additional;
}

public class Example
{

    public static void main (String args[])
    {
        JCLO jclo = new JCLO (new ExampleArgs(), args);
	System.out.println ("a = " + jclo.getInt ("a"));
	System.out.println ("b = " + jclo.getBoolean ("b"));
	System.out.println ("c = " + jclo.getFloat ("c"));
	System.out.println ("d = " + jclo.getString ("d"));
	System.out.println ("additional = " + 
	    java.util.Arrays.toString (jclo.getStrings ("additional")));
    }
}

Here are several example runs: one with good options, one with a nonexistant option, and one with a number format error.

$ java Example --a=5 --b --c=3.141592 --d=this that theother
a = 5
b = true
c = 3.141592
d = this
additional = [that, theother]

$ java Example --e=5
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No such option: "e"

$ java Example --c=true
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "true"

Here is one that only uses variables prefixed with "JCLO" and that accepts single dash options.

import edu.mscd.cs.jclo.JCLO;

public class Main
{
    private int JCLOa;
    private boolean JCLOb;
    private int c;
    private boolean d;

    public String toString()
    {
        return ("JCLOa = " + JCLOa + " JCLOb = " + JCLOb +
	    " c = " + c + " d = " + d);
    }

    public static void main (String args[])
    {
        Main main = new Main();
	System.out.println ("before: " + main);
        JCLO jclo = new JCLO (main, "JCLO", false, args);
	System.out.println (jclo.usage());
	System.out.println ("after: " + main);
    }
}

An example run.

$ java Main -a 5 -b
before: JCLOa = 0 JCLOb = false c = 0 d = false
Command line options:
    -b
    -a int
after: JCLOa = 5 JCLOb = true c = 0 d = false