Tomas Votruba: 4 Ways to Add Global Option or Argument to Symfony Console Application

Tomas Votruba has a new post to his site showing you how to add a global option or argument to your application that makes use of the Symfony Console component. In this case, a "global" option is one that can be given to any command in the application. For his needs, it's a filename.

I'm working on 3 Console Commands. All was good, until I needed to add an argument to all commands at once... and in lazy, extensible, maintainable way.

He starts by talking about some of the "why" behind the need to run multiple commands at once. He shows an example of having multiple CHANGELOG files and the need to define the output file for each rather than just one file. He then goes through four different possible implementations, including the code and pros/cons of the approach:

• Add Argument to Each Command
• Modify Application Definition
• The Symfony Event Subscriber Way
• Extend the Application

He ends the post mentioning the one he prefers (the last one on the list) and briefly mentions anti-patterns and finding the right solution over just the first one you find.