Adjust sub-command template to properly output sub-sub-command placeholder.

[aryounce]

What type of PR is this?

• bug
• cleanup

What this PR does / why we need it:

• template.go includes an improper conditional in the sub-command help text template that relies on flag visibility instead command visibility for the Command instance.

Which issue(s) this PR fixes:

Fixes #1682

Release Notes

Fix sub-command help output to exclude sub-sub-command placeholder when command has no sub-commands.

[avorima]

I played around with this a bit and did not get it to produce different output than current main. Could you provide an example?

[dearchap]

This may not be sufficient since Help Command is added by default. So it really wont change any behaviour

Rereview

[aryounce]

@dearchap This is for when the help command is disabled. Then there are zero sub-commands (which is the use case where I encountered the problem).

[dearchap]

That makes sense. Can you see why the checks are failing ? You might have to run make v2approve or make v3approve

[aryounce]

@dearchap Running make diffcheck (which is failing in the tests) locally succeeds. Running make v2approve and make v3approve don't appear to have any affect. I don't have the ability to re-run the Github actions and thought that perhaps the encountered error is transient. Advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

[avorima]

@aryounce I checked the output with the following program and there was no change from main to your PR. Maybe my example is incorrect?

package main

import "github.com/urfave/cli/v3"

func main() {
	app := &cli.App{
		Name: "test",
		Commands: []*cli.Command{
			{
				Name: "sub",
				Commands: []*cli.Command{
					{Name: "sub-sub", Hidden: true},
				},
				HideHelp: true,
			},
		},
	}
	_ = app.Run([]string{"test", "sub"})
}

[avorima]

You need to run make generate

[aryounce]

@avorima I've modified your example to demonstrate the issue I'm attempting to address. Be sure to run this outside of my branch (or off of main) to prevent my changes having an effect. My version of your code is:

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"os"
	"github.com/urfave/cli/v3"
)

func main() {
	app := &cli.App{
		Name: "test",
		Commands: []*cli.Command{
			{
				Name: "default",
				Action: dumpCmdInfo,
			},
			{
				Name: "hide-help",
				Action: dumpCmdInfo,
				HideHelp: true,
			},
			{
				Name: "hide-help-cmd",
				Action: dumpCmdInfo,
				HideHelpCommand: true,
			},
			{
				Name: "hidden",
				Action: dumpCmdInfo,
				Hidden: true,
			},
		},
	}
	app.Run(os.Args)
}

func dumpCmdInfo(c *cli.Context) error {
	fmt.Println(c.Command.Name)
	fmt.Printf("  VisibleCommands() = %+v\n", c.Command.VisibleCommands())
	fmt.Printf("  VisibleFlags() = %+v\n", c.Command.VisibleFlags())
	return nil
}

default

When running the default sub-command (which has no sub-commands of its own) the output is as follows. Notice that the help text only shows [command options] under USAGE. This appears to use the CommandHelpTemplate: https://github.com/urfave/cli/blob/main/template.go#L59-L67

Help Output

NAME:
   test default

USAGE:
   test default [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --help, -h  show help (default: false)

Command Info Dump

default
  VisibleCommands() = [0x105159b40]
  VisibleFlags() = [--help, -h	show help (default: false)]

hidden

This uses CommandHelpTemplate to form its USAGE section, like default.

Help Output

NAME:
   test hidden

USAGE:
   test hidden [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --help, -h  show help (default: false)

Command Info Dump

hidden
  VisibleCommands() = [0x104471b40]
  VisibleFlags() = [--help, -h	show help (default: false)]

hide-help

Has no help output because the HideHelp property on Command is set to false.

Command Info Dump

hide-help
  VisibleCommands() = []
  VisibleFlags() = []

hide-help-cmd

This is the use case my PR is attempting to address. Although it has no sub-commands the help text output contains command [command options] which implies that it does have one or more sub-commands. This is because it (currently) uses SubcommandHelpTemplate, https://github.com/urfave/cli/blob/main/template.go#L79-L87, which relies upon whether or not VisibleFlags() returns a zero-value.

Help Output

NAME:
   test hide-help-cmd

USAGE:
   test hide-help-cmd command [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --help, -h  show help (default: false)

Command Info Dump

hide-help-cmd
  VisibleCommands() = []
  VisibleFlags() = [--help, -h	show help (default: false)]

[avorima]

Thank you, I can see the difference now.