Coloured output for CLI

In  cli user-experience

Overview

The intent of this feature is to provide a better user experience by means of colouring important parts of the CLI workflow, this includes error messages, warning messages, successful outputs and better visual feedback when using batch and flow control mechanisms if/for/try.

Issue Metadata

Issue:

Dev Contacts:

QE Contacts:

Affected Projects or Components:

  • WildFly Core CLI

Requirements

Hard requirements

  • Ability to disable colour output via CLI argument

  • Ability to disable colour output using jboss-cli.xml

  • Ability to configure the colours for each allowed type: warning, error, success, batch/workflow, required and prompt

  • Mark required attributes in bold and with a different colour from the default

  • Colour the output of DMR output based on its outcome

  • Add colours to CLI prompt

Soft requirements

  • Have a different prompt for each workflow step

Test Plan

Tests should include:

  • CLI argument and jboss-cli.xml effectiveness

  • Colour configurations

  • Verify new prompt display works accordingly to its mode

  • Work on different operating systems and shells

Design Notes

The current prototype assumes the following defaults:

Type Colour Intensity

Error

Red

Bright

Warning

Yellow

Normal

Success

Default

Normal

Required

Magenta

Bright

Batch/Workflow

Green

Bright

Prompt

Blue

Normal

These defaults might need to be adjusted depending on the target platform. For example, Windows doesn’t render the colour yellow with normal intensity. The UX team might be of great help in setting these defaults.