id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	milestone	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc
3330	boost::program_options doesn't allow naming the argument in a straightforward way	grumbel@…	Vladimir Prus	"When using boost::program_options, there is no straightforward way to set the name of a boost::program_options::value<>():

{{{
#include <iostream>
#include <boost/program_options.hpp>

int main()
{
  boost::program_options::options_description desc;

  desc.add_options()
    (""width"", boost::program_options::value<int>(),
     ""Give width"");

  std::cout << desc << std::endl;

  return 0;
}
}}}

The above code gives:

{{{
  --width arg           Give width in pixels
}}}

What it should allow is replacing the ""arg"" name with something more descriptive like PIXELS:

{{{
  --width PIXELS           Give width in pixels
}}}

For example via {{{boost::program_options::value<int>(""PIXELS"")}}}.

Even the tutorial makes ""use"" of this non-existant feature:

http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_39_0/doc/html/program_options/tutorial.html

The output at the bottom of the page shows ""--optimization n"" instead of ""--optimization arg"", same with ""path"".

There is a way to accomplish a different arg name by inheriting from boost::program_options::typed_value<> as documented at:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1249646/when-using-boostprogramoptions-how-does-one-set-the-name-of-the-argument

But considering that naming the argument is a extremely common use case, this should be doable in a much more straightforward manner, such as an additional name argument to po_value()."	Feature Requests	closed	Boost 1.40.0	program_options	Boost 1.37.0	Problem	wontfix