cleanup flags / aliases for NbConvertApp

follow conventions elsewhere in IPython

IPython/nbconvert/nbconvertapp.py

@@ -1,8 +1,7 b''
 #!/usr/bin/env python
-"""NBConvert is a utility for conversion of IPYNB files.
+"""NBConvert is a utility for conversion of .ipynb files.
 
-Commandline interface for the NBConvert conversion utility.  Read the
-readme.rst for usage information
+Command-line interface for the NbConvert conversion utility.
 """
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #Copyright (c) 2013, the IPython Development Team.
@@ -23,7 +22,7 b' import os'
 import glob
 
 #From IPython
-from IPython.core.application import BaseIPythonApplication
+from IPython.core.application import BaseIPythonApplication, base_aliases, base_flags
 from IPython.config.application import catch_config_error
 from IPython.utils.traitlets import Unicode, List, Instance, DottedObjectName, Type
 from IPython.utils.importstring import import_item
@@ -37,10 +36,37 b' from .utils.base import NbConvertBase'
 #Classes and functions
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+nbconvert_aliases = {}
+nbconvert_aliases.update(base_aliases)
+nbconvert_aliases.update({
+    'format' : 'NbConvertApp.export_format',
+    'notebooks' : 'NbConvertApp.notebooks',
+    'writer' : 'NbConvertApp.writer_class',
+})
+
+nbconvert_flags = {}
+nbconvert_flags.update(base_flags)
+nbconvert_flags.update({
+    'stdout' : (
+        {'NbConvertApp' : {'writer_class' : "StdoutWriter"}},
+        "Write notebook output to stdout instead of files."
+        )
+})
+
+
 class NbConvertApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
     """Application used to convert to and from notebook file type (*.ipynb)"""
 
     name = 'ipython-nbconvert'
+    aliases = nbconvert_aliases
+    flags = nbconvert_flags
+    
+    def _classes_default(self):
+        return [
+            Exporter,
+            WriterBase,
+            NbConvertBase,
+        ]
 
     description = Unicode(
         u"""This application is used to convert notebook files (*.ipynb).
@@ -48,17 +74,13 b' class NbConvertApp(BaseIPythonApplication):'
         current directory.""")
 
     examples = Unicode(u"""
-        Running `ipython nbconvert` will read the directory config file and then 
-        apply it to one or more notebooks.
-
         Multiple notebooks can be given at the command line in a couple of 
         different ways:
   
         > ipython nbconvert notebook*.ipynb
         > ipython nbconvert notebook1.ipynb notebook2.ipynb
-        > ipython nbconvert # this will use the config file to fill in the notebooks
+        > ipython nbconvert --format sphinx_howto notebook.ipynb
         """)
-    
     #Writer specific variables
     writer = Instance('IPython.nbconvert.writers.base.WriterBase',  
                       help="""Instance of the writer class used to write the 
@@ -86,47 +108,29 b' class NbConvertApp(BaseIPythonApplication):'
     notebooks = List([], config=True, help="""List of notebooks to convert.
                      Search patterns are supported.""")
 
-    nbconvert_aliases = {'format':'NbConvertApp.export_format',
-               'notebooks':'NbConvertApp.notebooks',
-               'writer':'NbConvertApp.writer_class'} 
-
-
     @catch_config_error
     def initialize(self, argv=None):
-        self.aliases.update(self.nbconvert_aliases)
-
         super(NbConvertApp, self).initialize(argv)
-
-        #Register class here to have help with help all
-        self.classes.insert(0, Exporter)
-        self.classes.insert(0, WriterBase)
-        self.classes.insert(0, NbConvertBase)
-
-        #Init
-        self.init_config(self.extra_args)
+        self.init_notebooks()
         self.init_writer()
 
-
-    def init_config(self, extra_args):
+    def init_notebooks(self):
         """
         Add notebooks to the config if needed.  Glob each notebook to replace
         notebook patterns with filenames.
         """
 
         #Get any additional notebook patterns from the commandline
-        if len(extra_args) > 0:
-            for pattern in extra_args:
-                self.notebooks.append(pattern)
+        patterns = self.notebooks + self.extra_args
 
         #Use glob to replace all the notebook patterns with filenames.
         filenames = []
-        for pattern in self.notebooks:
+        for pattern in patterns:
             for filename in glob.glob(pattern):
                 if not filename in filenames:
                     filenames.append(filename)
         self.notebooks = filenames
 
-
     def init_writer(self):
         """
         Initialize the writer (which is stateless)
@@ -134,15 +138,13 b' class NbConvertApp(BaseIPythonApplication):'
         self._writer_class_changed(None, self.writer_class, self.writer_class)
         self.writer = self.writer_factory(parent=self)
 
-
-    def start(self, argv=None):
+    def start(self):
         """
-        Ran after initiialization completed
+        Ran after initialization completed
         """
         super(NbConvertApp, self).start()
         self.convert_notebooks()
 
-
     def convert_notebooks(self):
         """
         Convert the notebooks in the self.notebook traitlet