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Saturday, 31 July 2021

The CLI GUI Plays Favourites

 


Introduction


My last change to the CLI GUI was to add the capability to decode a Salesforce CLI command string and regenerate the command page for it. This was the first step towards favourites functionality, so that I could save frequently used commands and quickly re-run them. As usual, it wasn't quite as straightforward as that, but this afternoon I pushed an update to the repository to add support for favourites.

A Few of My Favourite Things


If you are already using the CLI GUI, you'll need to run npm install as I'm using a different mechanism to convert the command string into it's component parameters - string-argv. Previously I had a very complicated regular expression that I found online, but it didn't handle string parameters containing spaces too well, or MacOS directories.

The first change you'll notice when the GUI starts is the new datalist and a couple of buttons. The datalist allows you to select from the favourites you've saved, and you can either Open the command window with the favourite decoded, or run it immediately. As an aside, running a favourite that does something destructive or that can't be undone (like deleting a scratch org) is a pretty dangerous thing to do, so you'll be asked to confirm it. I really only use this for opening orgs without having to go via the command window:


Obviously there won't be anything in the datalist yet, as you'll need to create a favourite or two first.

Favourites are added and removed from the command window, which now has a section at the bottom of the page for this. Once you have set the various parameters, give it a name and click the Save Favourite button:


Note that the directory you are working in is saved with the favourite.

Returning back to the main screen, the new favourite is now available in the datalist, and selecting it enables the buttons:


Clicking the Open button opens the command window with the favourite details, and a button to remove it:



Clicking the Run button first asks you to confirm you really want to do it:



If you choose to continue, the command will immediately execute, in the directory you were in when you saved the favourite, and the output shown in a similar modal to that of the command window:



Right now there's no mechanism to update a favourite - you have to remove the existing one and then save the updated command with the same name. Yes it's a couple more clicks, but think of how grateful you'll be if I do add this capability.

The latest code is in the Github repository, and this week I'm back to the usual test environments of MacOS and Windows 10.  I haven't flogged it to within an inch of its life though, so I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find something that doesn't work. If you do, feel free to raise an issue.

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