Table Options

Let users override table formatting at runtime with TableOptions and CLI flags.

The TableOptions parameter allows end users to override table formatting settings at runtime via CLI flags. Add it as a parameter to any @Table-annotated command.

Adding TableOptions to a Command

Include TableOptions as a parameter in your command method. No annotation is needed – Crest recognizes it automatically:

@Command
@Table(fields = "name state schedule", sort = "name")
public Stream<Job> list(final Config config, final TableOptions tableOptions) {
    return jobService.stream(config);
}

The @Table annotation defines the defaults. When the user provides CLI flags, TableOptions captures those overrides and the framework applies them on top of the annotation values.

CLI Flags

When TableOptions is present, the following flags become available to the user:

–table-border

Override the border style. Accepts any value from the Border enum:

myapp list --table-border=unicodeSingle
myapp list --table-border=githubMarkdown
myapp list --table-border=csv

–no-table-header

Suppress the header row:

myapp list --no-table-header

–table-sort

Override the sort order. Accepts a space-delimited list of field names:

myapp list --table-sort=state
myapp list --table-sort="state name"

–table-fields

Override which fields are displayed:

myapp list --table-fields="name state"
myapp list --table-fields="name schedule command"

–tsv

Shortcut to set the border style to tab-separated values. Useful for piping output to other tools:

myapp list --tsv
myapp list --tsv | cut -f1,3

Full Example

A command with annotation defaults and user-overridable options:

@Command
@Table(fields = "name state schedule command", sort = "name", border = Border.asciiCompact)
public Stream<Job> list(final Config config, final TableOptions tableOptions) {
    return jobService.stream(config);
}

Default output uses ASCII compact borders, sorted by name, showing all four fields. The user can then customize:

# Use Unicode borders and sort by state
myapp list --table-border=unicodeSingle --table-sort=state

# Show only name and state, no header, as TSV
myapp list --table-fields="name state" --no-table-header --tsv

# Export as CSV
myapp list --table-border=csv > jobs.csv
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