Structopt "enum like" args

1

I'm hoping to use the structopt crate to give the user a command line String argument that I can constrain to a simple list of strings for it's valid options. I'm hoping that structopt do it's usual great job of generating a nice help about them as well as detecting when a user attempts to provide a String value not in the acceptable set of options.

In short I want the command line String to behave logically like an enum does.

There's an enum_in_args.rs in the structopt examples that I hoped would do this but it sadly does not build.

I found this here: examples
That I found here: here: crates.io structopt page

fwiw/ here's the build error.


 --> src/main.rs:3:5
  |
3 | use clap::arg_enum;
  |     ^^^^ help: a similar path exists: `structopt::clap`

error: cannot determine resolution for the macro `arg_enum`
 --> src/main.rs:6:1
  |
6 | arg_enum! {
  | ^^^^^^^^
  |
  = note: import resolution is stuck, try simplifying macro imports

error[E0433]: failed to resolve: use of undeclared type `Baz`
  --> src/main.rs:18:36
   |
18 |     #[structopt(possible_values = &Baz::variants(), case_insensitive = true)]
   |                                    ^^^ use of undeclared type `Baz`

error[E0412]: cannot find type `Baz` in this scope
  --> src/main.rs:19:8
   |
19 |     i: Baz,
   |        ^^^ not found in this scope

error[E0282]: type annotations needed
  --> src/main.rs:19:8
   |
17 |     /// Important argument.
   |     ----------------------- this method call resolves to `T`
18 |     #[structopt(possible_values = &Baz::variants(), case_insensitive = true)]
19 |     i: Baz,
   |        ^^^ cannot infer type for type parameter `U` declared on the associated function `map`

Some errors have detailed explanations: E0282, E0412, E0432, E0433.
For more information about an error, try `rustc --explain E0282`.
error: could not compile `structopt` due to 5 previous errors

Here's my Cargo.toml dependency:

[dependencies]
structopt = "0.3.25"

Since structopt pulls in clap I don't think I should add that here. I tried and got even nastier build errors.

Any ideas on where I can actually find a working example would be great for this would be awesome!

Thanks so much!

2

I would use strum to automatically generate the FromStr impl and list of variants, then do something like this:

// src/main.rs

use structopt::StructOpt;
use strum::VariantNames;

fn main() {
    let args = Args::from_args();
    println!("{:?}", args);
}

#[derive(Debug, StructOpt)]
struct Args {
    #[structopt(long, possible_values = Enumerated::VARIANTS)]
    enumerated: Enumerated,
}

#[derive(Debug, strum::EnumString, strum::EnumVariantNames)]
#[strum(serialize_all = "kebab-case")]
enum Enumerated {
    First,
    Second,
    Third,
}

// Cargo.toml
[package]
name = "dummy"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"

# See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html

[dependencies]
structopt = "0.3.25"
strum = { version = "0.22.0", features = ["derive"] }

Which generates the following output:

$ cargo run -- --help
dummy 0.1.0

USAGE:
    dummy --enumerated <enumerated>

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

OPTIONS:
        --enumerated <enumerated>     [possible values: first, second, third]
1 Like
3

You can't use dependencies of dependencies like this. If you want to use clap::..., you must add clap to your Cargo.toml, even if it's already included in the project through some other crate. Structopt does re-export it under structopt::clap, so you can also fix the example by changing use clap::arg_enum; to use structopt::clap::arg_enum;

If you tried adding clap to Cargo.toml and got more errors as a result, you might have tried adding an incompatible version.

1 Like
4

Thank you very much.

Very interesting option. I need to learn more about strum. Looks very useful!

5

Thanks for the advice. That sounds like the problem.

6

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