Can picocli subcommands have options with the same name? - picocli

Question

I have a program that executes different types of statistical analysis. I would like to define a subcommand for each type of analysis. The parent command would be the main entry point into the program. I get an error message that says "option should be specified only once" when my subcommands have options with the same name. The problem seems to be how I am calling the subcommands. In the example below, input1 and input2 work correctly. When I try to use both subcommands simultaneously (input3), I get an error message.
The code below demonstrates the problem. If the input contains both subcommands (i.e. input3), I get the error message "option '-id' at index 0 () should be specified only once".
How can I call both subcommands simultaneously as in input3?
import picocli.CommandLine;
import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
#CommandLine.Command(name = "myprogram", subcommands = {TestCase.FrequencyCommand.class, TestCase.HistogramCommand.class})
public class TestCase implements Callable<Void> {
public TestCase(){
}
public Void call() {
System.out.println("Main program called");
return null;
}
public static void main(String[] args){
String[] input1 = {"frequency", "-id", "1001", "-table", "ex1"};
String[] input2 = {"histogram", "-id", "1002", "-table", "ex5" };
String[] input3 = {"frequency", "-id", "1001", "-table", "ex1", "histogram", "-id", "1002", "-table", "ex5" };
CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(new TestCase());
System.out.println("==Test1==");
commandLine.execute(input1);
System.out.println();
System.out.println("==Test2==");
commandLine.execute(input2);
System.out.println();
System.out.println("==Test3==");
commandLine.execute(input3);
System.out.println();
}
#CommandLine.Command(name = "frequency", description = "Frequency analysis.")
static class FrequencyCommand implements Callable<Void> {
#CommandLine.Option(names = {"-id"}, arity = "1..*", description = "Unique case identifier")
public String id;
#CommandLine.Option(names = "-table", arity = "1..*", description = "Database table")
public String table;
public FrequencyCommand(){
}
public Void call() {
System.out.println("Frequency");
System.out.println("ID = " + id);
System.out.println("Table = " + table);
return null;
}
}
#CommandLine.Command(name = "histogram", description = "Histogram plot.")
static class HistogramCommand implements Callable<Void> {
#CommandLine.Option(names = {"-id"}, arity = "1..*", description = "Unique case identifier")
public String id;
#CommandLine.Option(names = "-table", arity = "1..*", description = "Database table")
public String table;
public HistogramCommand(){
}
public Void call() {
System.out.println("Histogram");
System.out.println("ID = " + id);
System.out.println("Table = " + table);
return null;
}
}
}
The output I expect to see is:
==Test1==
Frequency
ID = 1001
Table = ex1
==Test2==
Histogram
ID = 1002
Table = ex5
==Test3==
Frequency
ID = 1001
Table = ex1
Histogram
ID = 1002
Table = ex5

Answer 1

The last example invokes two subcommands, frequency and histogram, which are siblings (they have the same parent command).
This is not supported yet as of picocli 4.0.0-alpha-3: currently picocli expects subcommands to be a hierarchy.
However, support for this is on the todo list, see GitHub tickets #454 and #319.
Pull requests are welcome if you want to help speed things up. :-)