Application Manager

Application Manager is a tool designed to create and manage CLI applications. It provides a structured way to register and manage applications, making them globally accessible from any location using sudo or a local user.

Introduction

The Application Manager is used to register CLI applications. This is achieved by adding an application-specific folder to the application's directory. Each application is represented by a bash script with a .amc extension, signifying an "Application Manager Command" (AMC). This script serves as the main file for the application.

Once an AMC file is added, the Application Manager registers it as a global CLI application. This is achieved by creating a symbolic link to the AMC file in the /usr/local/bin directory, effectively installing the application system-wide.

In addition to this, Application Manager includes a management service that monitors the applications folder for changes. When a change is detected (e.g., a new AMC is added, an existing AMC is modified, or an AMC is deleted), the management service automatically reinstalls and updates the corresponding application.

Installation

To install Application Manager, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository.
2. Run the init command. This will initialize Application Manager and start its services, including the management service that monitors the applications folder for changes.

./path_to_package/applications-manager/init

Usage

To create a new application:

1. Create a new folder inside the applications folder. This folder will house your new application.
2. Inside this new folder, create a bash script file with the .amc extension. This will be the main script for your application, and its filename will serve as the CLI command name for the application.

Here's an example of a simple AMC named hello.amc:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
echo "Hello, world!"

To run the application, simply type the command name in the terminal:

> hello
Hello, world!

Advanced Usage

For more advanced usage, you can use the run_command function from the common script file. This function allows you to run subcommands, providing a flexible way to extend your application's functionality.

You can also use the log function from the common script file to log messages. The logging service automatically saves these messages to a log file in the application folder, ensuring that you have a record of important events and errors.

Here's an example of how to use these functions:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
. "/path/to/common"

log "info" "Starting application..."

run_command "/path/to/subcommands" "$1"

In this example, log is used to log an informational message, and run_command is used to run a subcommand based on the first argument passed to the script.

Remember to replace "/path/to/common" and "/path/to/subcommands" with the actual paths to your common script file and subcommands folder, respectively.