the wheels look like they're spinning because they are

Had to refactor the multi-value parameter stuff to push some of the key
information in to the generics structure, as they necessarily change
the conversion function signature. Some code has gotten folded
together by being a bit sloppier with inputs and outputs.

This should put us well on our way to having functioning value
conversion, which I think is the main major feature remaining besides
help text generation. Hopefully I won't need to rewrite everything
like this again. While this design seems to be on track to incorporate
all of the main features I am interested in, it has been a lot of work
to wrangle it around, and there is still a lot of work left before I
can put a bow on it.

source/converters.zig

@@ -8,11 +8,18 @@ pub const ConversionError = error{
 };
 
 pub fn ConverterSignature(comptime gen: ParameterGenerics) type {
-    return *const fn (gen.ContextType, []const u8) ConversionError!gen.ResultType();
+    return *const fn (gen.UserContext, gen.IntermediateType()) ConversionError!gen.ConvertedType();
+}
+
+pub fn FlagConverterSignature(comptime UserContext: type, comptime multi: bool) type {
+    comptime if (multi)
+        return *const fn (UserContext, std.ArrayList([]const u8)) ConversionError!std.ArrayList(bool)
+    else
+        return *const fn (UserContext, []const u8) ConversionError!bool;
 }
 
 pub fn default_converter(comptime gen: ParameterGenerics) ?ConverterSignature(gen) {
-    return switch (@typeInfo(gen.ResultType())) {
+    return switch (@typeInfo(gen.OutputType)) {
         .Bool => flag_converter(gen),
         .Int => int_converter(gen),
         .Pointer => |info| if (info.size == .Slice and info.child == u8)
@@ -24,9 +31,23 @@ pub fn default_converter(comptime gen: ParameterGenerics) ?ConverterSignature(ge
     };
 }
 
+// fn multi_converter(comptime gen: ParameterGenerics) ?ConverterSignature(gen) {
+//     const converter = default_converter(gen) orelse @compileError("no default converter");
+
+//     return struct {
+//         pub fn handler(_: UserContext, input: std.ArrayList([]const u8)) ConversionError!std.ArrayList(OutputType) {
+//             var output = std.ArrayList(OutputType).initCapacity(input.allocator, input.items.len) catch return ConversionError.BadValue;
+
+//             for (input.items) |item| {
+//                 output.appendAssumeCapacity()
+//             }
+//         }
+//     }.handler;
+// }
+
 fn flag_converter(comptime gen: ParameterGenerics) ConverterSignature(gen) {
     return struct {
-        pub fn handler(_: gen.ContextType, input: []const u8) ConversionError!bool {
+        pub fn handler(_: gen.UserContext, input: []const u8) ConversionError!bool {
             // treat an empty string as falsy
             if (input.len == 0) return false;
 
@@ -46,29 +67,29 @@ fn flag_converter(comptime gen: ParameterGenerics) ConverterSignature(gen) {
 
 fn string_converter(comptime gen: ParameterGenerics) ConverterSignature(gen) {
     return struct {
-        pub fn handler(_: gen.ContextType, value: []const u8) ConversionError![]const u8 {
+        pub fn handler(_: gen.UserContext, value: []const u8) ConversionError![]const u8 {
             return value;
         }
     }.handler;
 }
 
 fn int_converter(comptime gen: ParameterGenerics) ConverterSignature(gen) {
-    const IntType = gen.ResultType();
+    const IntType = gen.OutputType;
     comptime std.debug.assert(@typeInfo(IntType) == .Int);
 
     return struct {
-        pub fn handler(_: gen.ContextType, value: []const u8) ConversionError!IntType {
+        pub fn handler(_: gen.UserContext, value: []const u8) ConversionError!IntType {
             return std.fmt.parseInt(IntType, value, 0) catch return ConversionError.BadValue;
         }
     }.handler;
 }
 
 fn choice_converter(comptime gen: ParameterGenerics) ConverterSignature(gen) {
-    const EnumType = gen.ResultType();
+    const EnumType = gen.OutputType;
 
     return struct {
-        pub fn handler(_: gen.ContextType, value: []const u8) ConversionError!EnumType {
+        pub fn handler(_: gen.UserContext, value: []const u8) ConversionError!EnumType {
-            return std.meta.stringToEnum(gen.ResultType(), value) orelse ConversionError.BadValue;
+            return std.meta.stringToEnum(gen.ConvertedType(), value) orelse ConversionError.BadValue;
         }
     }.handler;
 }

source/meta.zig

@@ -79,6 +79,12 @@ pub fn SliceIterator(comptime T: type) type {
             return self.data[self.index];
         }
 
+        pub fn rewind(self: *@This()) void {
+            if (self.index == 0) return;
+
+            self.index -= 1;
+        }
+
         pub fn skip(self: *@This()) void {
             if (self.index == self.data.len) return;