Expose parsed options object in ParserResult

I tried using this library in my project today. I’m able to parse the command line from the examples just fine, but found no way to access the parsed options object directly from ParserResult.

By my coding style, I prefer not use callbacks here (i.e. WithParsed and WithNotParsed). I’m already able to use the Tag property to check if parsing succeeded. Am I just missing something here or can a property exposing the parsed object be added?

[johnjaylward]

No offense, but I find using the WithParsed and WithNotParsed to be very awkward. I don’t really see the point of having a command-line parser being part of my call stack which makes looking at debug logs and stack traces awkward. Once the command line is parsed and I have my Options back, I have no need for the parser object to stay in the stack in any form. It’s preferable to me that I get my options in a single step and then let the parser be garbage collected.

Something simple like this is optimal for me from a command line parsing perspective:

public static async Task<int> Main(params string[] args)
{
    
    Options options = Parser.Default.ParseArguments<Options>(args)?.Value;

    if (options == null)
    {
        return 15; // some error code. Arg issues should have been printed from above
    }
   
    return await RunMyActualProg(options);
}

This to me shows a clear separation of concerns (command line parsing vs running the program) and I don’t have random LINQ type statements making tracing my program take longer than needed.

Having WithParsed and MapResult calls just adds unneeded overhead, both from a call stack as well as from developer review.

[johnjaylward]

From the original above:

By my coding style, I prefer not use callbacks here (i.e. WithParsed and WithNotParsed). I’m already able to use the Tag property to check if parsing succeeded. Am I just missing something here or can a property exposing the parsed object be added?

The main issue was not having to use the WithParsed and WithNotParsed methods at all.

The Async was just a concrete example of how those methods didn’t help.

It also still doesn’t solve the issue with return values from int Main(params string[] args).

Can we just move the Value property from the Parsed<T> object and put it on ParserResult<T> instead? It seems like a more logical place to put it since ParserResult is already generic however it makes no public references to the generic type.