Menu Worker DSL

Menu Worker DSL is a DSL-based Ruby library for effortless creation of dynamic user menus in your programs. With a simple API, you can generate menus based on method invocation.

Used technologies

• Ruby (with DSL implementation);
• rainbow gem.

Faced Challenges

• proper implementation of DSL approaches;
• handling corner cases;
• functionality expansion.

Quick Start

Just download the menu.rb to your project and do require:

require "./menu"

And paste this below example to get started:

# Just some example functions
def first; puts "First function"; end
def second; puts "Second function"; end
def third; puts "Third function"; end

# Build
builder = MenuBuilder.new do
  add :second, "My Second Function"
  add_at 0, :first, "My First Function" # Add at zero index
  
  add_submenu "My Submenu" do
    add :third # Add with default name
  end
end

# Get
menu = builder.menu

# Run
runner = MenuRunner.new(menu)
runner.run

Classes

MenuItem.new(function, name = nil)

Represents a function with a name alias.

Designed for internal use.

Instance Variables

• function - is either a symbol or a function real name (access: read).
• name - an alias for a function in menu (access: read).

MenuMenu(name = "Menu")

Represents a menu object stores all MenuItem and other MenuMenu.

Instance Variables

• name: The name of the menu (access: read/write).
• is_submenu: Indicates whether the menu is a submenu (access: read/write).
• storage: An array to store menu items or submenus (access: read).

Public Methods

add(function, name = nil) -> nil

Adds a function to the storage with a provided alias.

add_at(index, function_to_invoke, name = nil) -> nil

Adds a function to the storage with a provided alias at index index.

add_submenu(menu) -> nil

Adds a menu to the storage as submenu, where menu is a MenuMenu instance.

remove_at(index) -> TrueClass | FalseClass

Removes an item from the menu by index. Returns true on success, otherwise false.

remove_by(name) -> TrueClass | FalseClass

Removes an item from the menu by name as String. Returns true on success, otherwise false.

get_item_index_by_name(name) -> Integer | nil

Returns an index of an item by the name, otherwise nil on search failure.

invoke(index) -> TrueClass | FalseClass

Invokes an item by the index. Returns true if success, otherwise false.

print -> nil

Prints menu items.

MenuRunner(menu)

Gives an interface to runs the provided menu.

Public Methods

run -> nil

Runs the provided menu in CLI mode.

This method shows one of possible ways to create CLI for the menu usage.

Private Methods

print_all -> nil

Print menu items in pretty way.

print_utils -> nil

Print additional utility menu items to work with menu.

E.g. it prints exit shortcut and shortcuts to enter remove modes.

MenuBuilder(&init_block)

Provides a way to configure menu in one block with usage of instance_eval.

Instance Variables

• menu: The MenuMenu instance (access: read/write).

Public Methods

modify(&block) -> nil

Provides a way to modify the menu like in initialize of the class.

add(function, name = nil) -> nil

Works exactly like MenuMenu's method.

add_at(index, function, name = nil) -> nil

Works exactly like MenuMenu's method.

add_submenu(name, &block) -> nil

Works like MenuMenu's method, but creates a submenu instance with a provided name using &block first and adds it to menu.

Advanced Examples

Convenient Menu Modification

def first; puts "First function"; end
def second; puts "Second function"; end

builder = MenuBuilder.new do
  # ...
end

# Do some actions in code
# Then decide to add some items 

builder.modify do
  add_at 3, :first, "Very Good Function"
  add :second
end

Remove Items One By One

def first; puts "First function"; end
def second; puts "Second function"; end
def third; puts "Third function"; end

builder = MenuBuilder.new do
  add :first, "My First Function"
  add :second, "My Second Function"

  add_submenu "My Submenu" do
    add :third # Add with default name
  end
end

menu = builder.menu

menu.remove_at(0)
menu.remove_at(1)
menu.remove_by("My Third Function")

Future Work Without MenuBuilder Usage

Notice: This way is less convenient as there is no way to use blocks.

def first; puts "First function"; end
def second; puts "Second function"; end
def third; puts "Third function"; end

builder = MenuBuilder.new do
  add :first, "My First Function"
end

menu = builder.menu

menu.add(:second)
menu.add_at(0, :third)

Contributors

Dmytro Ivashchenko 💻 📖

Oleksandr Shynkarenko 💻 📝

License

MIT License.

TODO

• add custom names for items;

• remove_at

• remove_by_name

• add_at

• bugfix/add-at-array-bounds

• feature/messages-about-what-is-happening

• Add proper system "clear"

• Move execute() to MenuExecutioner

• add docs