Describables.jl

Installation

julia> import Pkg

julia> Pkg.add(url = "https://github.com/bcbi/Describables.jl")

Usage

Option 1: @describable struct Foo ... end

julia> using Describables: Describables, @describable, set_description!

julia> @describable struct Foo
           x::Int
           y::Int
       end

julia> Foo(1, 2)
Foo(1, 2, #=  =#)

julia> set_description!(Foo(1, 2), "my description")

julia> Foo(1, 2)
Foo(1, 2, #= my description =#)

Option 2: @describable Bar

julia> using Describables: Describables, @describable, set_description!

julia> struct Bar
           x::Int
           y::Int
       end

julia> @describable Bar

julia> Bar(1, 2)
Bar(1, 2, #=  =#)

julia> set_description!(Bar(1, 2), "my description")

julia> Bar(1, 2)
Bar(1, 2, #= my description =#)

This form can be useful if you already need to use another macro in your struct definition, as seen in the following example:

julia> Base.@kwdef struct Baz
           x::Int
           y::Int
       end
Baz

julia> @describable Baz

julia> Baz(; x = 1, y = 2)
Baz(1, 2, #=  =#)

julia> set_description!(Baz(; x = 1, y = 2), "my description")

julia> Baz(; x = 1, y = 2)
Baz(1, 2, #= my description =#)

Option 3: Macro-less workflow (manually define the Base.show method)

julia> using Describables: Describables, show_describable, set_description!

julia> struct World
           x::Int
           y::Int
       end

julia> Base.show(io::IO, mime::MIME"text/plain", obj::World) = show_describable(io, mime, obj)

julia> World(1, 2)
World(1, 2, #=  =#)

julia> set_description!(World(1, 2), "my description")

julia> World(1, 2)

julia> World(1, 2)
World(1, 2, #= my description =#)