hacky test at declarative mode / subcommand support in trollop, totally unfit for consumption!

trollop_modes.rb

require "rubygems"
require "trollop"

Trollop::Parser.module_eval do

  def self.mode_parse(args=ARGV, &block)
    parser = Parser.new(args, &block)
    with_standard_exception_handling(parser) { parser.mode_parse args }
  end

  def modes
    @modes ||= {}
  end

  def mode(name, &block)
    modes[name.to_sym] = block
    (@stop_words ||= []) << name.to_s
  end

  def mode_parse(args)
    opts = parse(args)
    if args.first && mode = modes[args.first.to_sym]
      opts[:modes] ||= []
      opts[:modes] << args.first.to_sym
      args.shift
      instance_eval(&mode)
      mode_opts = mode_parse(args)
      opts[:modes] = opts[:modes] + (mode_opts.delete(:modes) || [])
      opts.merge!(mode_opts)
    end

    return opts
  end

end

parser = Trollop::Parser.new do
  opt :debug, "debug flag", :type => :string, :default => "defaulted!"

  mode :one do
    opt :foo

    mode :submode do
      opt :mumble
    end
  end

  mode :two do
    opt :bar
  end

end

opts = Trollop::with_standard_exception_handling parser do
  raise Trollop::HelpNeeded if ARGV.empty? # show help screen
  o = parser.mode_parse ARGV
  # puts parser.inspect
  o
end

y opts
y ARGV