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<h1 class="title">cmdr::help(n) 1.3.2 doc &quot;Cmdr, a framework for command line parsing and dispatch&quot;</h1>
<div id="name" class="section"><h2><a name="name">Name</a></h2>
<p>cmdr::help - Cmdr - (Internal) Utilities for help text formatting and setup</p>
</div>
<div id="toc" class="section"><h2><a name="toc">Table Of Contents</a></h2>
<ul class="toc">
<li class="section"><a href="#toc">Table Of Contents</a></li>
<li class="section"><a href="#synopsis">Synopsis</a></li>
<li class="section"><a href="#section1">Description</a></li>
<li class="section"><a href="#section2">API</a></li>
<li class="section"><a href="#section3">Format Notes</a></li>
<li class="section"><a href="#section4">Bugs, Ideas, Feedback</a></li>
<li class="section"><a href="#keywords">Keywords</a></li>
<li class="section"><a href="#copyright">Copyright</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="synopsis" class="section"><h2><a name="synopsis">Synopsis</a></h2>
<div class="synopsis">
<ul class="requirements">
<li>package require <b class="pkgname">cmdr::help</b></li>
</ul>
<ul class="syntax">
<li><a href="#1"><b class="cmd">::cmdr::help</b> <b class="method">auto</b> <i class="arg">actor</i></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div id="section1" class="section"><h2><a name="section1">Description</a></h2>
<p>Welcome to the Cmdr project, written by Andreas Kupries.</p>
<p>For availability please read <i class="term"><a href="cmdr_howto_get_sources.html">Cmdr - How To Get The Sources</a></i>.</p>
<p>This internal package implements the four standard help formats</p>
<ol class="enumerated">
<li><p><b class="const">full</b>,</p></li>
<li><p><b class="const">short</b>,</p></li>
<li><p><b class="const">list</b>, and</p></li>
<li><p><b class="const">by-category</b>.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It provides a single utility command used by the other parts of
the framework to add a <b class="syscmd">help</b> command to any
<b class="package"><a href="cmdr_actor.html">cmdr::actor</a></b> requiring such.</p>
</div>
<div id="section2" class="section"><h2><a name="section2">API</a></h2>
<dl class="definitions">
<dt><a name="1"><b class="cmd">::cmdr::help</b> <b class="method">auto</b> <i class="arg">actor</i></a></dt>
<dd><p>When invoked this command extends the <i class="arg">actor</i> with a <b class="const">help</b>
command. The result of the command is the empty string.</p>
<p>The inserted command will accept all known format names as
options, enabling the user to choose the form of the help. By default
the format <b class="const">by-category</b> will be used, except if a command name
was given to <b class="syscmd">help</b>, then the default will be <b class="const">full</b>.</p>
<p>An additional option accepted by <b class="syscmd">help</b> is
<b class="const">--width</b>, giving the user control over the length of lines
in the help. By default help will be formatted to the width of the
terminal.</p>
<dl class="arguments">
<dt><b class="package"><a href="cmdr_actor.html">cmdr::actor</a></b> <i class="arg">actor</i></dt>
<dd><p>The <b class="package"><a href="cmdr_actor.html">cmdr::actor</a></b> instance to be extended with <b class="syscmd">help</b>.</p></dd>
</dl></dd>
</dl>
</div>
<div id="section3" class="section"><h2><a name="section3">Format Notes</a></h2>
<p>The format <b class="const">by-category</b> looks for and uses the block
<b class="const">*category-order*</b> for when the user wishes to override the
natural (alphabetical) order of display for the toplevel sections.</p>
<p>This block has to be defined by the user, in the root of
the command hierarchy.
Its value has to be a dictionary mapping from the names of toplevel
sections/categories to an integer number. This is used to change
the order of displaying these sections in the generated text.</p>
<p>Sections with higher/larger numbers are shown first, and
lower/smaller numbers move towards the end. Negative numbers are
possible.</p>
<p>Sections not mentioned in the dictionary are assigned their
natural number. This is calculated by sorting all sections
alphabetically (<b class="option">-dict</b>) ascending and assigning <b class="const">0</b>
to the first section, <b class="const">-10</b> to the next, and so on.</p>
<p>The generated section/category <b class="const">Miscellaneous</b> is
given the number <b class="const">-10000</b> to force it to the end (bottom)
of the help text, if it was generated.</p>
</div>
<div id="section4" class="section"><h2><a name="section4">Bugs, Ideas, Feedback</a></h2>
<p>Both the package(s) and this documentation will undoubtedly contain
bugs and other problems.
Please report such at
<a href="https:/core.tcl.tk/akupries/cmdr">Cmdr Tickets</a>.</p>
<p>Please also report any ideas you may have for enhancements of
either package(s) and/or documentation.</p>
</div>
<div id="keywords" class="section"><h2><a name="keywords">Keywords</a></h2>
<p><a href="../../index.html#key4">arguments</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key5">command hierarchy</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key9">command line completion</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key11">command line handling</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key13">command tree</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key0">editing command line</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key8">help for command line</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key6">hierarchy of commands</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key3">interactive command shell</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key1">optional arguments</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key2">options</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key12">parameters</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key10">processing command line</a>, <a href="../../index.html#key7">tree of commands</a></p>
</div>
<div id="copyright" class="section"><h2><a name="copyright">Copyright</a></h2>
<p>Copyright &copy; 2013-2016 Andreas Kupries<br>
Copyright &copy; 2013-2016 Documentation, Andreas Kupries</p>
</div>
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