Multiple Stacked Controllers¶

from cement.core.foundation import CementApp
from cement.core.controller import CementBaseController, expose

# define application controllers
class MyAppBaseController(CementBaseController):
    class Meta:
        label = 'base'
        description = "my application does amazing things"
        arguments = [
            (['--base-opt'], dict(help="option under base controller")),
            ]

    @expose(help="base controller default command", hide=True)
    def default(self):
        print "Inside MyAppBaseController.default()"

    @expose(help="another base controller command")
    def command1(self):
        print "Inside MyAppBaseController.command1()"

class SecondController(CementBaseController):
    class Meta:
        label = 'second_controller'
        stacked_on = 'base'
        stacked_type = 'nested'
        description = "this is the second controller (stacked/nested on base)"
        arguments = [
            (['--2nd-opt'], dict(help="another option under base controller")),
            ]

    @expose(help="second-controller default command", hide=True)
    def default(self):
        print "Inside SecondController.default()"

    @expose(help="this is a command under the second-controller namespace")
    def command2(self):
        print "Inside SecondController.command2()"

class ThirdController(CementBaseController):
    class Meta:
        label = 'third_controller'
        stacked_on = 'second_controller'
        stacked_type = 'embedded'
        description = "this controller is embedded in the second-controller"
        arguments = [
            (['--3rd-opt'], dict(help="an option only under 3rd controller")),
            ]

    @expose(help="another command under the second-controller namespace")
    def command3(self):
        print "Inside ThirdController.command3()"

class FourthController(CementBaseController):
    class Meta:
        label = 'fourth_controller'
        stacked_on = 'second_controller'
        stacked_type = 'nested'
        description = "this controller is nested on the second-controller"
        arguments = [
            (['--4th-opt'], dict(help="an option only under 3rd controller")),
            ]

    @expose(help="a command only under the fourth-controller namespace")
    def command4(self):
        print "Inside FourthController.command4()"

class MyApp(CementApp):
    class Meta:
        label = 'myapp'
        handlers = [
            MyAppBaseController,
            SecondController,
            ThirdController,
            FourthController,
            ]

def main():
    with MyApp() as app:
        app.run()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

In the base controller output of –help notice that the second-controller is listed as a sub-command:

$ python myapp.py --help
usage: myapp.py (sub-commands ...) [options ...] {arguments ...}

my application does amazing things

commands:

  command1
    another base controller command

  second-controller
    this is the second controller (stacked/nested on base)

optional arguments:
  -h, --help           show this help message and exit
  --debug              toggle debug output
  --quiet              suppress all output
  --base-opt BASE_OPT  option under base controller


$ python myapp.py
Inside MyAppBaseController.default()


$ python myapp.py command1
Inside MyAppBaseController.command1()

$ python myapp.py second-controller
Inside SecondController.default()

$ python myapp.py second-controller --help
usage: myapp.py (sub-commands ...) [options ...] {arguments ...}

this is the second controller (stacked/nested on base)

commands:

  command2
    this is a command under the second-controller namespace

  command3
    another command under the second-controller namespace

  fourth-controller
    this controller is nested on the second-controller

optional arguments:
  -h, --help         show this help message and exit
  --debug            toggle debug output
  --quiet            suppress all output
  --2nd-opt 2ND_OPT  another option under base controller
  --3rd-opt 3RD_OPT  an option only under 3rd controller

Under the second-controller you can see the commands and options from the second and third controllers. In this example, the second-controller is nested on the base controller, and the third-controller is embedded on the second-controller. Finally, we see that the fourth-controller is also nested on the second-controller creating a sub-sub-command.

$ python myapp.py second-controller command3
Inside ThirdController.command3()


$ python myapp.py second-controller fourth-controller --help
usage: myapp.py (sub-commands ...) [options ...] {arguments ...}

this controller is nested on the second-controller

commands:

  command4
    a command only under the fourth-controller namespace

optional arguments:
  -h, --help         show this help message and exit
  --debug            toggle debug output
  --quiet            suppress all output
  --4th-opt 4TH_OPT  an option only under 3rd controller


$ python myapp.py second-controller fourth-controller command4
Inside FourthController.command4()