Resource Bundles

Centralize option descriptions in OptionDescriptions.properties for sharing across commands and i18n.

When the same option appears across many commands – --verbose, --dry-run, --config – repeating its description on every method is noise. A ResourceBundle named OptionDescriptions.properties in the same package as the command class lets you write each description once and reuse it.

This is also the source to use for translated help text.

Placement

src/main/resources/com/example/cli/OptionDescriptions.properties

recursive=recurse into directories
links=copy symlinks as symlinks
verbose=enable verbose output
dry-run=show what would happen, but do not change anything

Lookup order

For an option named progress on a command named rsync, Crest looks up:

  1. rsync.progress – command-specific override
  2. progress – bare option name

The command-specific key takes precedence, so a generic option can be specialized for one command:

progress=show progress during transfer
rsync.progress=don't show progress during transfer

Priority

OptionDescriptions.properties is the highest-priority source for option descriptions. It overrides both @Option(description) and @param javadoc tags. See the Annotation Descriptions page for the full priority chain.

On this page