netargparse 0.1.0

Enhance ArgumentParser with a TCP-based API for argument handling.

netargparse

A Python library that imbues the standard ArgumentParser with an API for the Python script.

This library is intended as a replacement for the ArgumentParser of the standard argparse library, providing an additional TCP based API for handling the arguments of the script.

A minimal example minimal.py with the ArgumentParser could be

from argparse import ArgumentParser

def add_one(args):
    new_number = args.x + 1
    print(new_number)
    return(new_number)

parser = ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument("-x", type=int, required=True)
args = parser.parse_args()
add_one(args)

and running the script results in

$ python minimal.py -x 5
6

Replacing the ArgumentParser with the NetArgumentParser from this library:

from netargparse import NetArgumentParser

def add_one(args):
    new_number = args.x + 1
    print(new_number)
    return(new_number)

nap = NetArgumentParser()
nap.parser.add_argument("-x", type=int, required=True)
nap(add_one)

The script can now be run in two modes:

• main - standalone, same behaviour as above
• nap - enable the API

Main

All arguments must be passed from the CLI after the main argument.

$ python minimal.py main -x 5
6

Nap

nap makes the script listen on a port and wait for the arguments.

$ python minimal.py nap --port 7000 --http

It is then possible to run the main function of the script by sending an HTTP get request with url parameters as arguments.

For example visit http://localhost:7000/?&-x=5 with a browser and receive the script's return as json.

{"response": 6, "exception": "", "finished": 1}

The following arguments are accepted for the nap mode

$ python minimal.py nap --help
usage: minimal.py nap [-h] [-i IP] -p PORT [--http]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i IP, --ip IP        IP address where NetArgumentParser listens. Default is localhost.
  -p PORT, --port PORT  Port number where NetArgumentParser listens.
  --http                Use http get requests instead of plain tcp messages (requires flask).

Installation

For a minimal installation, where only plain TCP messages are used for communication, run

pip install netargparse

No additional libraries will be installed. All libraries used are part of The Python Standard Library.

If HTTP requests are to be used, run

pip install netargparse[http]

This will also install flask.

Documentation

More documentation can be found in docs.

TODO

• Windows support