symfony · weaverryan · Apr 12, 2014 · Apr 3, 2014 · xabbuh · Apr 3, 2014
diff --git a/components/console/helpers/dialoghelper.rst b/components/console/helpers/dialoghelper.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@
 Dialog Helper
 =============
 
+.. caution::
+
+    The Dialog Helper was deprecated in Symfony 2.5 and will be removed in
+    Symfony 3.0. You should now use the
+    :doc:`Question Helper </components/console/helpers/questionhelper>` instead,
+    which is simpler to use.
+
 The :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Helper\\DialogHelper` provides
 functions to ask the user for more information. It is included in the default
 helper set, which you can get by calling
@@ -149,6 +156,8 @@ You can also ask and validate a hidden response::
         if (trim($value) == '') {
             throw new \Exception('The password can not be empty');
         }
+
+        return $value;
     };
 
     $password = $dialog->askHiddenResponseAndValidate(

diff --git a/components/console/helpers/index.rst b/components/console/helpers/index.rst
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ The Console Helpers
     formatterhelper
     progressbar
     progresshelper
+    questionhelper
     table
     tablehelper
 

diff --git a/components/console/helpers/map.rst.inc b/components/console/helpers/map.rst.inc
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 * :doc:`/components/console/helpers/formatterhelper`
 * :doc:`/components/console/helpers/progressbar`
 * :doc:`/components/console/helpers/progresshelper`
+* :doc:`/components/console/helpers/questionhelper`
 * :doc:`/components/console/helpers/table`
 * :doc:`/components/console/helpers/tablehelper`
diff --git a/components/console/helpers/questionhelper.rst b/components/console/helpers/questionhelper.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,263 @@
+.. index::
+    single: Console Helpers; Question Helper
+
+Question Helper
+===============
+
+.. versionadded:: 2.5
+    The Question Helper was introduced in Symfony 2.5.
+
+The :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Helper\\QuestionHelper` provides
+functions to ask the user for more information. It is included in the default
+helper set, which you can get by calling
+:method:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Command\\Command::getHelperSet`::
+
+    $helper = $this->getHelperSet()->get('question');
+
+The Question Helper has a single method
+:method:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Command\\Command::ask` that needs an
+:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Output\\InputInterface` instance as the
+first argument, an :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Output\\OutputInterface`
+instance as the second argument and a
+:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Question\\Question` as last argument.
+
+Asking the User for Confirmation
+--------------------------------
+
+Suppose you want to confirm an action before actually executing it. Add
+the following to your command::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\ConfirmationQuestion;
+    // ...
+
+    $helper = $this->getHelperSet()->get('question');
+    $question = new ConfirmationQuestion('Continue with this action?', false);
+
+    if (!$helper->ask($input, $output, $question)) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+In this case, the user will be asked "Continue with this action?". If the user
+answers with ``y`` it returns ``true`` or ``false`` if they answer with ``n``.
+The second argument to
+:method:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Question\\ConfirmationQuestion::__construct`
+is the default value to return if the user doesn't enter any input. Any other
+input will ask the same question again.
+
+Asking the User for Information
+-------------------------------
+
+You can also ask a question with more than a simple yes/no answer. For instance,
+if you want to know a bundle name, you can add this to your command::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\Question;
+    // ...
+
+    $question = new Question('Please enter the name of the bundle', 'AcmeDemoBundle');
+
+    $bundle = $helper->ask($input, $output, $question);
+
+The user will be asked "Please enter the name of the bundle". They can type
+some name which will be returned by the
+:method:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Helper\\QuestionHelper::ask` method.
+If they leave it empty, the default value (``AcmeDemoBundle`` here) is returned.
+
+Let the User Choose from a List of Answers
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+If you have a predefined set of answers the user can choose from, you
+could use a :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Question\\ChoiceQuestion`
+which makes sure that the user can only enter a valid string
+from a predefined list::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\ChoiceQuestion;
+    // ...
+
+    $helper = $app->getHelperSet()->get('question');
+    $question = new ChoiceQuestion(
+        'Please select your favorite color (defaults to red)',
+        array('red', 'blue', 'yellow'),
+        'red'
+    );
+    $question->setErrorMessage('Color %s is invalid.');
+
+    $color = $helper->ask($input, $output, $question);
+    $output->writeln('You have just selected: '.$color);
+
+    // ... do something with the color
+
+The option which should be selected by default is provided with the third
+argument of the constructor. The default is ``null``, which means that no
+option is the default one.
+
+If the user enters an invalid string, an error message is shown and the user
+is asked to provide the answer another time, until they enter a valid string
+or reach the maximum number of attempts. The default value for the maximum number
+of attempts is ``null``, which means infinite number attempts. You can define
+your own error message using
+:method:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Question\\ChoiceQuestion::setErrorMessage`.
+
+Multiple Choices
+................
+
+Sometimes, multiple answers can be given. The ``ChoiceQuestion`` provides this
+feature using comma separated values. This is disabled by default, to enable
+this use :method:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Question\\ChoiceQuestion::setMultiselect`::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\ChoiceQuestion;
+    // ...
+
+    $helper = $app->getHelperSet()->get('question');
+    $question = new ChoiceQuestion(
+        'Please select your favorite color (defaults to red)',
+        array('red', 'blue', 'yellow'),
+        'red'
+    );
+    $question->setMultiselect(true);
+
+    $colors = $helper->ask($input, $output, $question);
+    $output->writeln('You have just selected: ' . implode(', ', $colors));
+
+Now, when the user enters ``1,2``, the result will be:
+``You have just selected: blue, yellow``.
+
+Autocompletion
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+You can also specify an array of potential answers for a given question. These
+will be autocompleted as the user types::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\Question;
+    // ...
+
+    $bundles = array('AcmeDemoBundle', 'AcmeBlogBundle', 'AcmeStoreBundle');
+    $question = new Question('Please enter the name of a bundle', 'FooBundle');
+    $question->setAutocompleterValues($bundles);
+
+    $name = $helper->ask($input, $output, $question);
+
+Hiding the User's Response
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+You can also ask a question and hide the response. This is particularly
+convenient for passwords::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\Question;
+    // ...
+
+    $question = new Question('What is the database password?');
+    $question->setHidden(true);
+    $question->setHiddenFallback(false);
+
+    $password = $helper->ask($input, $output, $question);
+
+.. caution::
+
+    When you ask for a hidden response, Symfony will use either a binary, change
+    stty mode or use another trick to hide the response. If none is available,
+    it will fallback and allow the response to be visible unless you set this
+    behavior to ``false`` using
+    :method:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Question\\Question::setHiddenFallback`
+    like in the example above. In this case, a ``RuntimeException``
+    would be thrown.
+
+Validating the Answer
+---------------------
+
+You can even validate the answer. For instance, in a previous example you asked
+for the bundle name. Following the Symfony naming conventions, it should
+be suffixed with ``Bundle``. You can validate that by using the
+:method:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Question\\Question::setValidator`
+method::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\Question;
+    // ...
+
+    $question = new Question('Please enter the name of the bundle', 'AcmeDemoBundle');
+    $question->setValidator(function ($answer) {
+        if ('Bundle' !== substr($answer, -6)) {
+            throw new \RuntimeException(
+                'The name of the bundle should be suffixed with \'Bundle\''
+            );
+        }
+        return $answer;
+    });
+    $question->setMaxAttempts(2);
+
+    $name = $helper->ask($input, $output, $question);
+
+The ``$validator`` is a callback which handles the validation. It should
+throw an exception if there is something wrong. The exception message is displayed
+in the console, so it is a good practice to put some useful information in it. The
+callback function should also return the value of the user's input if the validation
+was successful.
+
+You can set the max number of times to ask with the
+:method:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Question\\Question::setMaxAttempts` method.
+If you reach this max number it will use the default value. Using ``null`` means
+the amount of attempts is infinite. The user will be asked as long as they provide an
+invalid answer and will only be able to proceed if their input is valid.
+
+Validating a Hidden Response
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+You can also use a validator with a hidden question::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Question\Question;
+    // ...
+
+    $helper = $this->getHelperSet()->get('question');
+
+    $question = new Question('Please enter your password');
+    $question->setValidator(function ($value) {
+        if (trim($value) == '') {
+            throw new \Exception('The password can not be empty');
+        }
+
+        return $value;
+    });
+    $question->setHidden(true);
+    $question->setMaxAttempts(20);
+
+    $password = $helper->ask($input, $output, $question);
+
+
+Testing a Command that Expects Input
+------------------------------------
+
+If you want to write a unit test for a command which expects some kind of input
+from the command line, you need to set the helper input stream::
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Helper\QuestionHelper;
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Helper\HelperSet;
+    use Symfony\Component\Console\Tester\CommandTester;
+
+    // ...
+    public function testExecute()
+    {
+        // ...
+        $commandTester = new CommandTester($command);
+
+        $helper = $command->getHelper('question');
+        $helper->setInputStream($this->getInputStream('Test\\n'));
+        // Equals to a user inputting "Test" and hitting ENTER
+        // If you need to enter a confirmation, "yes\n" will work
+
+        $commandTester->execute(array('command' => $command->getName()));
+
+        // $this->assertRegExp('/.../', $commandTester->getDisplay());
+    }
+
+    protected function getInputStream($input)
+    {
+        $stream = fopen('php://memory', 'r+', false);
+        fputs($stream, $input);
+        rewind($stream);
+
+        return $stream;
+    }
+
+By setting the input stream of the ``QuestionHelper``, you imitate what the
+console would do internally with all user input through the cli. This way
+you can test any user interaction (even complex ones) by passing an appropriate
+input stream.