88 lines
3.0 KiB
XML
88 lines
3.0 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<!DOCTYPE library PUBLIC "-//Boost//DTD BoostBook XML V1.0//EN"
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"http://www.boost.org/tools/boostbook/dtd/boostbook.dtd">
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<library
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name="Program_options"
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dirname="program_options" id="program_options"
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last-revision="$Date$"
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xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
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<libraryinfo>
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<author>
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<firstname>Vladimir</firstname>
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<surname>Prus</surname>
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</author>
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<copyright>
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<year>2002</year>
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<year>2003</year>
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<year>2004</year>
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<holder>Vladimir Prus</holder>
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</copyright>
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<legalnotice>
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<para>Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
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(See accompanying file <filename>LICENSE_1_0.txt</filename> or copy at
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<ulink
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url="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</ulink>)
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</para>
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</legalnotice>
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<librarypurpose>
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Facilities to obtain configuration data from command line, config files
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and other sources</librarypurpose>
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<librarycategory name="category:data-structures"></librarycategory>
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</libraryinfo>
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<title>Boost.Program_options</title>
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<section>
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>The program_options library allows program developers to obtain
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<emphasis>program options</emphasis>, that is (name, value) pairs from the user,
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via conventional methods such as command line and config file.</para>
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<para>Why would you use such a library, and why is it better than parsing
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your command line by straightforward hand-written code?
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>It's easier. The syntax for declaring options is simple, and
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the library itself is small. Things like conversion of option values to
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desired type and storing into program variables are handled
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automatically.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Error reporting is better. All the problems with the command line are
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reported, while hand-written code can just misparse the input. In
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addition, the usage message can be automatically generated, to
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avoid falling out of sync with the real list of options.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Options can be read from anywhere. Sooner or later the command
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line will be not enough for your users, and you'll want config files
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or maybe even environment variables. These can be added without significant
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effort on your part.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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<para>
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Now let's see some examples of the library usage in the <xref
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linkend="program_options.tutorial"/>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<xi:include href="tutorial.xml"/>
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<xi:include href="overview.xml"/>
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<xi:include href="howto.xml"/>
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<xi:include href="design.xml"/>
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<xi:include href="acknowledgements.xml"/>
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<xi:include href="autodoc.xml"/>
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</library>
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