Changelog

Release history for Crest.

A summary of features and significant enhancements in each release.

0.48

  • Interceptors can declare options. The @CrestInterceptor method may take @Option parameters and @Options beans alongside its CrestContext. Declared options parse from the command line, appear in help and bash completion, and are passed to the interceptor at execution — the command method does not need to declare them. A command and interceptor declaring the identical option (same name, type, and default) share one value; conflicting declarations fail at deploy time naming both parties.
  • CrestContext.getOptions() — the mutable option namespace of the invocation, keyed by option name: every option declared by the command or any interceptor bound to it. Where the command declares the option, the entry is a live view over the same storage as getParameters(). Replacing a value is seen by every interceptor later in the chain and by the command itself; writes are type checked against the declared option type. @Options beans are derived values, rebuilt from their constituents when one is replaced.
  • @Priority for interceptor ordering. Double-valued: lower runs first (outermost), unannotated interceptors run at 5, ties keep declaration order. The valid range is greater than 0 and less than 11 — the endpoints are deliberately excluded so there is always room to slot a new interceptor before or after any existing priority without renumbering: between 6 and 7 there is 6.5, before 1 there is 0.9.
  • Deploy-time interceptor binding. Bindings resolve when the Main is constructed: an unresolved custom annotation, a class with no @CrestInterceptor method, an out-of-range priority, or an option conflict fails at startup instead of on first invocation.
  • Interceptors run once even when reachable through several bindings on the same command, e.g. an interceptor class carrying two custom annotations both used on the method.
  • Bash completion now offers the constituent options of @Options bean parameters and interceptor-declared options.
  • toolz demo module.

0.47

  • tomitribe-crest-util module with a generic include/exclude regex Filter for list commands.
  • Commands can see which fields will be visible in table output.
  • Update to tomitribe-util 1.5.14.

0.46

  • Fix wrong javadoc description resolved for a method (#131).

0.45

  • Wrap long command descriptions in listings.
  • Omit groups from recursive listings.

0.44

  • Expanded help documentation and fully rendered examples.
  • Don’t show the help suggestion on man-page style output.
  • Fix javadoc bullet indentation/continuation (#129).

0.43

  • help --all lists every command in the CLI as a flat, full-path listing. help <group> --all scopes the listing to a subtree, and help <group> (or bare-group invocation) now defaults to recursive. Groups appear inline alongside leaves so the structure is self-documenting at every level.
  • Help: section added to listings and man pages, surfacing help --all and help <command> so users discover detailed help even when they don’t already know it exists. On a leaf’s man page the hint shows the actual command path, copy-paste ready.
  • Unlimited sub-command depth in the help command. Varargs collapsed four help() overloads into one and now navigate paths of arbitrary depth, replacing the previous 3-level cap.
  • Optional positional varargs. Framework no longer requires ≥1 value for listable positional parameters; opt into the strict behavior with @Required.
  • Fix NPE in HtmlDocumentParser that crashed help output when javadoc contained HTML tags like <p> or <br>.

0.42

  • More accurate first-sentence extraction for @Command descriptions sourced from javadoc. The first sentence (split on period+space, exclamation, or question) is now extracted via DocumentParser so heading-prefixed and multi-paragraph javadoc resolve correctly.

0.41

  • Multi-level command groups. @Command("quote line-item") on a class creates nested groups to any depth. Class and method paths are concatenated following the JAX-RS @Path model. Intermediate groups are auto-created. Multiple classes can contribute to the same deep group.
  • Constructor validation improvements.

0.40

  • Hugo documentation site.
  • Crest Maven Plugin can now create executable jars.
  • @Editor support in table output.
  • Show negated boolean options in help.
  • Class include/exclude filtering for command loading.

0.39

  • @Command descriptions from Javadoc, extracted at compile time by annotation processor.

0.38

  • Split-class command groups. Multiple classes can contribute sub-commands to the same @Command group.

0.37

  • @GlobalOptions annotation for flags that apply across all commands.
  • Global options support in bash completion.

0.36

  • Pluggable bean provider via TargetProvider SPI for CDI and other DI frameworks.

0.35

  • @Editor support loaded from Loader and used in help output.

0.34

  • Help output matches method signature order.
  • Fix help for overloaded commands.

0.33

  • CSV and TSV table output no longer pads or wraps rows.

0.32

  • Remove deprecated Main.systemDefaults() builder method.

0.31

  • Command name and version in help from Main.builder() or MANIFEST.MF.
  • Convenience --csv and --tsv flags for table output.

0.30

  • Main.builder() API for programmatic CLI construction.

0.29

  • CSV table format via @Table.

0.28

  • TSV table format via @Table.

0.27

  • Fix regression with object-based tables.
  • Map key escaping and field name escaping for tables.

0.26

  • Map support in table formatting.

0.25

  • Programmatic table builder API.

0.24

  • Case-insensitive field/column names in tables.

0.23

  • Print help when @Exit(help=true) is set on exceptions.

0.22

  • Allow commands to set table options.

0.21

  • Allow commands to set table options at runtime.

0.20

  • Prefer @Options constructor with Crest annotations.

0.19

  • Javadoc fallback for help text.
  • Archetype fixes.

0.18

  • @Table annotation for automatic table formatting of return values.
  • Table border styles, headers, field selection, sorting, and word wrapping.
  • Stream return type support.

0.17

  • CDI-style custom interceptor annotations via @CrestInterceptor.
  • GraalVM native image support via Apache Arthur extension.

0.16

  • Windows compatibility fixes.
  • Dependency updates (ASM 9, JUnit 4.13.1).

0.15

  • @Exit exceptions control reporting. Help is only printed when requested.

0.14

  • Table output from String[][] return values with configurable borders.
  • Man page piped to less.
  • Auto-detect terminal width.

0.13

  • Improved exception handling for all return types.

0.12

  • Bash completion script generation.
  • Stream return type support.

0.11

  • @DefaultMapping made repeatable.
  • Upgrade to Java 8 compilation.

0.10

  • System property and environment variable interpolation for defaults.
  • Nullable @Options support.
  • Varargs with @In/@Out streams.

0.9

  • @Option(description) for inline option descriptions.

0.8

  • Bean validation fixes.
  • Ctrl+C handling in CLI.

0.7

  • Bean Validation 1.1 support.
  • Interactive CLI with history, clear, and alias support.

0.6

  • Command interceptors for cross-cutting concerns like security.

0.5

  • Crest Maven Plugin for compile-time command discovery.
  • @Default for prefixed bean parameters.
  • @In/@Out/@Err stream injection.

0.4

  • @Exit annotation for exception exit codes.
  • Iterable return type support.

0.3

  • Maven archetype for quick project setup.