CLI

[wpbonelli]

Flopy has two utility commands already:

• flopy.mf6.utils.generate_classes (need to invoke with python -m)
• get-modflow (proper command)

What other common tasks might we want it to do? Some ideas

• list all modflow-related exes installed to known locations
• check mf6 module's compatibility with a given mf6 executable (e.g. by checking version number)
• exe selection as a global setting — default behavior could be, look in PATH, unless there's a global setting, and simulation-level overrides always take precedence
• emit definition files derived from the mf6 module (reverse of generating classes from dfns)
• generate a template definition file for a component of a given type (e.g. model or package)

https://clig.dev/ has some nice notes on CLI design, some of which applies to python user interfaces too.

[christianlangevin]

This is a nice idea. I wonder if we could come up with a plot command with some reasonable defaults (layer 0, last time step, etc) and few switches to make a common flopy plot? Lots of other options too. Convert binary mf6 output files to ascii, for example. Users would like this, I think.