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35 /*! \defgroup module_options Extensible Handling of Options (options)
36 * \ingroup group_utilitymodules
37 * \brief
38 * Provides functionality for handling options.
39 *
40 * <H3>Basic Use</H3>
41 *
42 * Basic interface for providing options is implemented by the Options class
43 * and classes defined in basicoptions.h for specifying individual options.
44 * Only these are needed if a class wants to provide a set of standard options.
45 * When creating an Options object and adding options, it is possible to add
46 * descriptions for individual options as well as for the whole set of options.
47 * These can then be used to write out help text.
48 *
49 * The sequence charts below provides an overview of how the options work from
50 * usage perspective. They include two fictional modules, A and B, that provide
51 * options, and a main routine that manages these. The first chart shows a
52 * typical initialization sequence, where the main routine creates an options
53 * object, and calls an initOptions() method in each module that can provide
54 * options (the modules may also request their submodules to add their own
55 * options). Each module uses gmx::Options::addOption() to add the options
56 * they require, and specify output variables into which the options values are
57 * stored.
58 * \msc
59 * main,
60 * options [ label="Options", URL="\ref gmx::Options" ],
61 * A [ label="module A" ],
62 * B [ label="module B" ];
63 *
64 * main box B [ label="main owns all objects" ];
65 * main => options [ label="create", URL="\ref gmx::Options::Options()" ];
66 * main => A [ label="initOptions()" ];
67 * A => options [ label="addOption()", URL="\ref gmx::Options::addOption()" ];
68 * ...;
69 * main << A;
70 * main => B [ label="initOptions()" ];
71 * B => options [ label="addOption()", URL="\ref gmx::Options::addOption()" ];
72 * ...;
73 * main << B;
74 * \endmsc
75 *
76 * After all options have been specified, they can be parsed. A parser splits
77 * the input into option-value pairs (one option may have multiple values), and
78 * passes these into the gmx::Options object, which is responsible for
79 * converting them into the appropriate types and storing the values into the
80 * variables provided in the calls to gmx::Options::addOption().
81 * \msc
82 * main,
83 * parser [ label="parser" ],
84 * options [ label="Options", URL="\ref gmx::Options" ],
85 * A [ label="module A" ],
86 * B [ label="module B" ];
87 *
88 * main => parser [ label="parse()" ];
89 * parser => options [ label="assign(string)" ];
90 * options -> A [ label="set variable" ];
91 * parser => options [ label="assign(string)" ];
92 * options -> B [ label="set variable" ];
93 * ...;
94 * \endmsc
95 *
96 * After all options have been parsed (possibly using multiple different
97 * parsers), gmx::Options::finish() is called. This performs final
98 * validation of the options and may further adjust the values stored in the
99 * output variables (see documentation on individual option types on when this
100 * may happen).
101 * \msc
102 * main,
103 * options [ label="Options", URL="\ref gmx::Options" ],
104 * A [ label="module A" ],
105 * B [ label="module B" ];
106 *
107 * main => options [ label="finish()", URL="\ref gmx::Options::finish()" ];
108 * options -> A [ label="set variable" ];
109 * options -> B [ label="set variable" ];
110 * ...;
111 * \endmsc
112 *
113 * Module \ref module_commandline implements classes that assign option values
114 * from command line and produce help for programs that use the command line
115 * parser.
116 *
117 * \if libapi
118 * <H3>Advanced Use (in library API)</H3>
119 *
120 * It is possible to extend the module with new option types and/or parsers for
121 * option values.
122 *
123 * To implement new option types, it is necessary to subclass the templates
124 * OptionTemplate and OptionStorageTemplate with the type of the values that
125 * the option should provide as the template argument. After this is done, it
126 * is possible to add options of this new type using Options::addOption().
127 *
128 * To implement new parsers, one can use OptionsAssigner, which provides an
129 * interface to set values in an Options object.
130 *
131 * There is also an interface to iterate over all options in an Options object.
132 * One should implement the OptionsVisitor interface, and then use
133 * OptionsIterator to apply this visitor to the Options object.
134 * \endif
135 *
136 * \author Teemu Murtola <teemu.murtola@gmail.com>
137 */
138 /*! \file
139 * \brief
140 * Public API convenience header for handling of options.
141 *
142 * \author Teemu Murtola <teemu.murtola@gmail.com>
143 * \inpublicapi
144 * \ingroup module_options
145 */
146 #ifndef GMX_OPTIONS_H
147 #define GMX_OPTIONS_H
155 #endif