s11nlite::save(Anything, Anywhere);
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eshell
A C++ library for writing shell-like console applications.
eshell is not technically part of the s11n project. It is presented here because:
- It is often used as a testing ground for libs11n.
- It has evolved to be fairly useful over the past 3 years.
- It demonstrates s11n's usage. For example, it provides
sessions support via s11n.
- i've got nowhere else to publish it ;).
It is available for download from the libs page.
Screenshots are available here (12k) and
here (20k).
What is it? In short it's a framework for aiding in the creation of shell-like
console applications. It takes over the tasks of user input collection and
dispatches the input to a set of client-defined "command handlers".
It's main features are:
- Provides an interface for getting input from the keyboard. If
libreadline_cpp is linked in and supports GNU Readline then full
command editing and command history are supported, otherwise it uses
plain old std::cin.
- Allows clients to plug in their own commands by mapping
single-token strings (i.e., command names) to so-called command
handler functions.
- The "command handler" interface is modelled off of traditional C-style
argc/argv usage and common shell conventions, so it is easy to
understand. It is, of course, much more flexible and simpler to use
than the traditional argc/argv!
-
Comes with a number of built-in shell-like commands (cd, pwd, sleep,
which, alias, set/unset, etc.). Client-written extensions may be
distributed as DLLs, extending the "generic" eshell client application,
or as standalone shell-like apps.
- Supports command aliasing, either coded in client code or typed
in at the console.
- Provides support for doing environment-variable expansion on
arbitrary strings.
- Provides app-wide access to command-line arguments passed in to
main().
- Provides full history/alias/environment persistance via session
files.
- Easy to work with and to integrate into new projects.
Development Status: let's call it "stable beta". The current architecture
has been in use since early 2004, and has steadily undergone improvements along
the way. The project itself was started in 2001, and it has evolved considerably
since then through three complete rewrites.
License: it is released into the Public Domain. It is designed
to be linked to libreadline_cpp (see below), if the configure
script can find it. If it is linked against a fully-functional
readline_cpp then it links against GNU readline, and the resulting
binary then necessarily falls under the GNU GPL.
What is readline_cpp? This is an optional - but
highly recommended - supplemental library which eshell supports if
it's configure script finds it. It is available from the libs page.
readline_cpp offers a front-end for collecting input from the console,
and it supports GNU readline if it is available. Linking against GNU
readline necessarily causes the resulting binaries to be released
under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and using that support
will change the license under which your copies of eshell and
readline_cpp are maintained.
So how do i use eshell?
You can start by Reading The Fine Manual. :)
Next, see the sample application in the source tree: src/test.cpp
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