public interface CommandLineTool
While we use the app script framework to start most Partner applications, there is still use for the built-in Java main() method of starting a program. Typically these are low-level utilities used to troubleshoot or do maintenance on a system using a command-line interface or shell.
The shell under Windows and the scripting provided by .BAT files is sufficiently terrible that it is terribly inconvient to use these things under Windows, so they are not recommended for end-user software.
Implement this interface in your command-line tools so that they can be easily distinguished as such in the API. Do not mix CommandLineTool functionality with other functionality; e.g. do not have a file format class that is also a command-line tool for manipulating the format. This just makes it confusing.
Note that we also discourage using main() for testing. BeanShell scripts or JUnit classes are more appropriate for testing.
A skeletal implementation is provided in skeletons/java/SkeletonCommandLineTool.java for your convenience and pleasure.
Copyright 2006 Partner Software, Inc.