Command Introspection

Overview

The command introspection system provides runtime metadata about registered commands. This enables UI components to build command pickers, generate parameter forms, and display command documentation — all without hard-coding knowledge of specific commands.

CommandInfo

CommandInfo is a plain struct that holds static metadata for one registered command:

struct CommandInfo {
    std::string name;                              // "MoveByTimeRange"
    std::string description;                       // Human-readable description
    std::string category;                          // "data_mutation", "meta", etc.
    bool supports_undo = false;                    // Whether the command supports undo
    std::vector<std::string> supported_data_types; // e.g. {"LineData", "PointData"}
    ParameterSchema parameter_schema;              // Full field-level schema
};

Source: src/Commands/Core/CommandInfo.hpp

Factory Query Functions

Two functions in CommandFactory.hpp provide access to command metadata:

/// Return metadata for all registered commands
std::vector<CommandInfo> getAvailableCommands();

/// Return metadata for a single command, or std::nullopt if unknown
std::optional<CommandInfo> getCommandInfo(std::string const & name);

These are implemented alongside createCommand() in CommandFactory.cpp. Adding a new command requires one if-branch for creation and one entry in getAvailableCommands() — both in the same file.

ParameterUIHints Specializations

Each command’s parameter struct has a ParameterUIHints<T> specialization in CommandUIHints.hpp that annotates fields with tooltips and UI flags. These are automatically applied by extractParameterSchema<T>().

Source: src/Commands/CommandUIHints.hpp

Current Annotations

Command	Fields Annotated
`MoveByTimeRangeParams`	All 4 fields: tooltips for source_key, destination_key, start_frame, end_frame
`CopyByTimeRangeParams`	All 4 fields: same as MoveByTimeRange
`AddIntervalParams`	All 4 fields: tooltips for interval_key, frames, and create_if_missing
`ForEachKeyParams`	All 3 fields: tooltips for items, variable, commands (commands marked advanced)

Usage Example

#include "Commands/Core/CommandFactory.hpp"

// List all commands for a picker UI
auto commands = commands::getAvailableCommands();
for (auto const & cmd : commands) {
    // cmd.name, cmd.description, cmd.category for display
    // cmd.parameter_schema.fields for generating form widgets
}

// Get schema for a specific command
auto info = commands::getCommandInfo("MoveByTimeRange");
if (info) {
    for (auto const & field : info->parameter_schema.fields) {
        // field.name, field.type_name, field.tooltip, etc.
    }
}

Registered Commands

Command	Category	Undo	Supported Types	Fields
`MoveByTimeRange`	data_mutation	Yes	LineData, PointData, MaskData, DigitalEventSeries	4
`CopyByTimeRange`	data_mutation	No	LineData, PointData, MaskData, DigitalEventSeries	4
`AddInterval`	data_mutation	No	DigitalIntervalSeries	4
`ForEachKey`	meta	No	(any)	3