Re: [Boost-bugs] [Boost C++ Libraries] #4781: Boost Program Options 'arg' text could be editiable.

Subject: Re: [Boost-bugs] [Boost C++ Libraries] #4781: Boost Program Options 'arg' text could be editiable.
From: Boost C++ Libraries (noreply_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-02-07 01:42:27

#4781: Boost Program Options 'arg' text could be editiable.
----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------
  Reporter:  robertmassaioli@…          |       Owner:  vladimir_prus      
      Type:  Feature Requests           |      Status:  closed             
 Milestone:  To Be Determined           |   Component:  program_options    
   Version:  Boost 1.44.0               |    Severity:  Problem            
Resolution:  wontfix                    |    Keywords:  arg program_options
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Comment (by Jacobo de Vera <devel@…>):

 Could you please reconsider? Having a named "arg" helps writing better
 help messages, making it easier to refer to the argument by name. Lots of
 well known programs take advantage of this in their help messages (ls,
 vim, emacs, gcc, to name a few). This is an example from gcc:

 {{{
 -B <directory>           Add <directory> to the compiler's search paths
 }}}

 The mention of a <directory> together with the B option makes it much
 easier to refer back to the option itself during its description, while
 keeping full semantics.

 Perhaps support for this could be added as a new public member of
 `boost::program_options::typed_value`, so that the string to be output can
 be passed when new options are being specified:

 {{{#!c++
  typed_value * metavar(const std::string &);
 }}}

 I'm using `metavar` only because that's the name I've seen for it in
 Python's optparse module, but it could very well be `argname` or whatever.

 Thank you.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/4781#comment:2>
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