NIFI-4839 - Added abbreviation in simple output for name, description, and comments

- Refactored so that commands produce a result which can then be written or used
- Added support for back-referencing results, initially prototyped by Andrew Grande
- Fixed dynamic table layout when writing simple results
- Added a new command group called 'demo' with a new 'quick-import' command
- Fixes/improvements after previous refactoring
- Created a reusable TableWriter and updating a few result classes to use it

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/CLICompleter.java

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandGroup;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.session.SessionCommandGroup;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariables;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariable;
 import org.jline.builtins.Completers;
 import org.jline.reader.Candidate;
 import org.jline.reader.Completer;
@@ -50,14 +50,16 @@ public class CLICompleter implements Completer {
         args.add("-" + CommandOption.PROPERTIES.getShortName());
         args.add("-" + CommandOption.INPUT_SOURCE.getShortName());
         args.add("-" + CommandOption.OUTPUT_FILE.getShortName());
+        args.add("-" + CommandOption.NIFI_REG_PROPS.getShortName());
+        args.add("-" + CommandOption.NIFI_PROPS.getShortName());
         FILE_COMPLETION_ARGS = Collections.unmodifiableSet(args);
     }
 
     private static final Set<String> FILE_COMPLETION_VARS;
     static {
         final Set<String> vars = new HashSet<>();
-        vars.add(SessionVariables.NIFI_CLIENT_PROPS.getVariableName());
-        vars.add(SessionVariables.NIFI_REGISTRY_CLIENT_PROPS.getVariableName());
+        vars.add(SessionVariable.NIFI_CLIENT_PROPS.getVariableName());
+        vars.add(SessionVariable.NIFI_REGISTRY_CLIENT_PROPS.getVariableName());
         FILE_COMPLETION_VARS = Collections.unmodifiableSet(vars);
     }
 
@@ -178,7 +180,7 @@ public class CLICompleter implements Completer {
                 // if we have two args then we are completing the variable name
                 // if we have three args, and the third is one a variable that is a file path, then we need a file completer
                 if (line.wordIndex() == 2) {
-                    addCandidates(SessionVariables.getAllVariableNames(), candidates);
+                    addCandidates(SessionVariable.getAllVariableNames(), candidates);
                 } else if (line.wordIndex() == 3) {
                     final String currWord = line.word();
                     final String prevWord = line.words().get(line.wordIndex() - 1);

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/CLIMain.java

@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ClientFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandGroup;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Session;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.NiFiClientFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.NiFiRegistryClientFactory;
@@ -31,8 +30,6 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandProcessor;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.context.StandardContext;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.JsonResultWriter;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.SimpleResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.InMemorySession;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.PersistentSession;
 import org.jline.reader.Completer;
@@ -195,8 +192,6 @@ public class CLIMain {
                 .nifiClientFactory(niFiClientFactory)
                 .nifiRegistryClientFactory(nifiRegClientFactory)
                 .interactive(isInteractive)
-                .resultWriter(ResultType.SIMPLE, new SimpleResultWriter())
-                .resultWriter(ResultType.JSON, new JsonResultWriter())
                 .build();
     }
 

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/api/Command.java

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.cli.Options;
 /**
  * Represents a command to execute.
  */
-public interface Command {
+public interface Command<R extends Result> {
 
     /**
      * Called directly after instantiation of the given command before any other method is called.
@@ -57,7 +57,20 @@ public interface Command {
      * Executes the command with the given CLI params.
      *
      * @param cli the parsed CLI for the command
+     * @return the Result of the command
      */
-    void execute(CommandLine cli) throws CommandException;
+    R execute(CommandLine cli) throws CommandException;
+
+    /**
+     * @return the implementation class of the result
+     */
+    Class<R> getResultImplType();
+
+    /**
+     * @return true if the type of result produced is considered Referenceable
+     */
+    default boolean isReferencable() {
+        return Referenceable.class.isAssignableFrom(getResultImplType());
+    }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/api/Context.java

@@ -36,6 +36,4 @@ public interface Context {
 
     boolean isInteractive();
 
-    ResultWriter getResultWriter(ResultType resultType);
-
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/api/ReferenceResolver.java

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api;
+
+/**
+ * An object that is capable of resolving a positional reference to some value that corresponds with the reference.
+ */
+public interface ReferenceResolver {
+
+    /**
+     * Resolves the passed in positional reference to it's corresponding value.
+     *
+     * @param position a position in this back reference
+     * @return the resolved value for the given position
+     */
+    String resolve(Integer position);
+
+    /**
+     * @return true if the there are no references to resolve, false otherwise
+     */
+    boolean isEmpty();
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/api/Referenceable.java

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api;
+
+/**
+ * An object that is capable of producing a ReferenceResolver.
+ */
+public interface Referenceable {
+
+    /**
+     * @return a ReferenceResolver for this Referenceable
+     */
+    ReferenceResolver createReferenceResolver(Context context);
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/api/Result.java

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api;
+
+/**
+ * A result returned from a command.
+ *
+ * @param <T> the type of result
+ */
+public interface Result<T> {
+
+    /**
+     * @return the result of a command
+     */
+    T getResult();
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/api/ResultWriter.java

@@ -1,65 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
- * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
- * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
- * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
- * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api;
-
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.authorization.CurrentUser;
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.bucket.Bucket;
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlow;
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.CurrentUserEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.ProcessGroupEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientsEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VariableRegistryEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionControlInformationEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.PrintStream;
-import java.util.List;
-
-/**
- * Responsible for writing entities to the given stream.
- */
-public interface ResultWriter {
-
-    void writeBuckets(List<Bucket> buckets, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeBucket(Bucket bucket, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeFlows(List<VersionedFlow> versionedFlows, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeFlow(VersionedFlow versionedFlow, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeSnapshotMetadata(List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> versions, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeSnapshotMetadata(VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata version, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeRegistryClients(RegistryClientsEntity clientsEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeVariables(VariableRegistryEntity variableRegistryEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeSnapshotMetadata(VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeVersionControlInfo(VersionControlInformationEntity versionControlInformationEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeProcessGroups(List<ProcessGroupEntity> processGroupEntities, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeCurrentUser(CurrentUserEntity currentUserEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-    void writeCurrentUser(CurrentUser currentUser, PrintStream output) throws IOException;
-
-}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/api/WritableResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+/**
+ * A result that can be written to a PrintStream.
+ *
+ * @param <T> the type of result
+ */
+public interface WritableResult<T> extends Result<T> {
+
+    /**
+     * Writes this result to the given output stream.
+     *
+     * @param output the output stream
+     * @throws IOException if an error occurs writing the result
+     */
+    void write(PrintStream output) throws IOException;
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/client/NiFiRegistryClientFactory.java

@@ -97,7 +97,6 @@ public class NiFiRegistryClientFactory implements ClientFactory<NiFiRegistryClie
 
         // if a proxied entity was specified then return a wrapped client, otherwise return the regular client
         if (!StringUtils.isBlank(proxiedEntity)) {
-            System.out.println("Creating client for proxied entity: " + proxiedEntity);
             return new ProxiedNiFiRegistryClient(client, proxiedEntity);
         } else {
             return client;

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/AbstractCommand.java

@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Result;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 
 import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
@@ -34,37 +34,47 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Base class for all commands.
  */
-public abstract class AbstractCommand implements Command {
+public abstract class AbstractCommand<R extends Result> implements Command<R> {
 
     private final String name;
+    private final Class<R> resultClass;
     private final Options options;
 
     private Context context;
     private PrintStream output;
 
-    public AbstractCommand(final String name) {
+    public AbstractCommand(final String name, final Class<R> resultClass) {
         this.name = name;
+        this.resultClass = resultClass;
         Validate.notNull(this.name);
+        Validate.notNull(this.resultClass);
 
-        this.options = new Options();
+        this.options = createBaseOptions();
+        Validate.notNull(this.options);
+    }
 
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.URL.createOption());
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.PROPERTIES.createOption());
+    protected Options createBaseOptions() {
+        final Options options = new Options();
 
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.KEYSTORE.createOption());
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.KEYSTORE_TYPE.createOption());
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.KEYSTORE_PASSWORD.createOption());
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.KEY_PASSWORD.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.URL.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.PROPERTIES.createOption());
 
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.TRUSTSTORE.createOption());
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.TRUSTSTORE_TYPE.createOption());
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.TRUSTSTORE_PASSWORD.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.KEYSTORE.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.KEYSTORE_TYPE.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.KEYSTORE_PASSWORD.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.KEY_PASSWORD.createOption());
 
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.PROXIED_ENTITY.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.TRUSTSTORE.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.TRUSTSTORE_TYPE.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.TRUSTSTORE_PASSWORD.createOption());
 
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.OUTPUT_TYPE.createOption());
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.VERBOSE.createOption());
-        this.options.addOption(CommandOption.HELP.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.PROXIED_ENTITY.createOption());
+
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.OUTPUT_TYPE.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.VERBOSE.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.HELP.createOption());
+
+        return options;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -89,10 +99,15 @@ public abstract class AbstractCommand implements Command {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public String getName() {
+    public final String getName() {
         return name;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public final Class<R> getResultImplType() {
+        return resultClass;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public Options getOptions() {
         return options;
@@ -116,6 +131,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractCommand implements Command {
         hf.printWrapped(printWriter, width, getDescription());
         hf.printWrapped(printWriter, width, "");
 
+        if (isReferencable()) {
+            hf.printWrapped(printWriter, width, "PRODUCES BACK-REFERENCES");
+            hf.printWrapped(printWriter, width, "");
+        }
+
         hf.printHelp(printWriter, hf.getWidth(), getName(), null, getOptions(),
                 hf.getLeftPadding(), hf.getDescPadding(), null, false);
 
@@ -136,11 +156,6 @@ public abstract class AbstractCommand implements Command {
         output.println();
     }
 
-    protected ResultWriter getResultWriter(final Properties properties) {
-        final ResultType resultType = getResultType(properties);
-        return context.getResultWriter(resultType);
-    }
-
     protected ResultType getResultType(final Properties properties) {
         final ResultType resultType;
         if (properties.containsKey(CommandOption.OUTPUT_TYPE.getLongName())) {

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/AbstractCommandGroup.java

@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractCommandGroup implements CommandGroup {
                 hf.printWrapped(printWriter, width, "");
                 hf.printWrapped(printWriter, width, "- " + c.getDescription());
                 hf.printWrapped(printWriter, width, "");
+
+                if (c.isReferencable()) {
+                    hf.printWrapped(printWriter, width, "PRODUCES BACK-REFERENCES");
+                    hf.printWrapped(printWriter, width, "");
+                }
             });
 
             printWriter.flush();

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/AbstractPropertyCommand.java

@@ -20,8 +20,9 @@ import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.Option;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Result;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Session;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariables;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariable;
 
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.InputStream;
@@ -30,14 +31,14 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Base class for commands that support loading properties from the session or an argument.
  */
-public abstract class AbstractPropertyCommand extends AbstractCommand {
+public abstract class AbstractPropertyCommand<R extends Result> extends AbstractCommand<R> {
 
-    public AbstractPropertyCommand(String name) {
-        super(name);
+    public AbstractPropertyCommand(final String name, final Class<R> resultClass) {
+        super(name, resultClass);
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void execute(final CommandLine commandLine) throws CommandException {
+    public final R execute(final CommandLine commandLine) throws CommandException {
         try {
             final Properties properties = new Properties();
 
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractPropertyCommand extends AbstractCommand {
                 }
             } else {
                 // no properties file was specified so see if there is anything in the session
-                final SessionVariables sessionVariable = getPropertiesSessionVariable();
+                final SessionVariable sessionVariable = getPropertiesSessionVariable();
                 if (sessionVariable != null) {
                     final Session session = getContext().getSession();
                     final String sessionPropsFiles = session.get(sessionVariable.getVariableName());
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractPropertyCommand extends AbstractCommand {
             }
 
             // delegate to sub-classes
-            doExecute(properties);
+            return doExecute(properties);
 
         } catch (CommandException ce) {
             throw ce;
@@ -80,16 +81,17 @@ public abstract class AbstractPropertyCommand extends AbstractCommand {
     }
 
     /**
-     * @return the SessionVariables that specifies the properties file for this command, or null if not supported
+     * @return the SessionVariable that specifies the properties file for this command, or null if not supported
      */
-    protected abstract SessionVariables getPropertiesSessionVariable();
+    protected abstract SessionVariable getPropertiesSessionVariable();
 
     /**
      * Sub-classes implement specific command logic.
      *
      * @param properties the properties which represent the arguments
-     * @throws CommandException if an error occurrs
+     * @return the Result of executing the command
+     * @throws CommandException if an error occurs
      */
-    protected abstract void doExecute(final Properties properties) throws CommandException;
+    public abstract R doExecute(final Properties properties) throws CommandException;
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/CommandFactory.java

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandGroup;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.composite.DemoCommandGroup;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.misc.Exit;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.misc.Help;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.NiFiCommandGroup;
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ public class CommandFactory {
         final List<CommandGroup> groups = new ArrayList<>();
         groups.add(new NiFiRegistryCommandGroup());
         groups.add(new NiFiCommandGroup());
+        groups.add(new DemoCommandGroup());
         groups.add(new SessionCommandGroup());
 
         final Map<String,CommandGroup> groupMap = new TreeMap<>();

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/CommandOption.java

@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ public enum CommandOption {
     PROPERTIES("p", "properties", "A properties file to load arguments from, " +
             "command line values will override anything in the properties file, must contain full path to file", true),
 
+    NIFI_PROPS("nifiProps", "nifiProps", "A properties file to load for NiFi config", true),
+    NIFI_REG_PROPS("nifiRegProps", "nifiRegProps", "A properties file to load for NiFi Registry config", true),
+
     // Registry - Buckets
     BUCKET_ID("b", "bucketIdentifier", "A bucket identifier", true),
     BUCKET_NAME("bn", "bucketName", "A bucket name", true),

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/CommandProcessor.java

@@ -25,21 +25,30 @@ import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandGroup;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ReferenceResolver;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Referenceable;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Result;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.WritableResult;
 
 import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 
 /**
  * Takes the arguments from the shell and executes the appropriate command, or prints appropriate usage.
  */
 public class CommandProcessor {
 
+    public static final String BACK_REF_INDICATOR = "&";
+
     private final Map<String,Command> topLevelCommands;
     private final Map<String,CommandGroup> commandGroups;
     private final Context context;
     private final PrintStream out;
 
+    private final AtomicReference<ReferenceResolver> backReferenceHolder = new AtomicReference<>(null);
+
     public CommandProcessor(final Map<String,Command> topLevelCommands, final Map<String,CommandGroup> commandGroups, final Context context) {
         this.topLevelCommands = topLevelCommands;
         this.commandGroups = commandGroups;
@@ -67,12 +76,17 @@ public class CommandProcessor {
         out.println();
 
         commandGroups.entrySet().stream().forEach(e -> e.getValue().printUsage(verbose));
-        out.println("-------------------------------------------------------------------------------");
+        if (verbose) {
+            out.println("-------------------------------------------------------------------------------");
+        }
         topLevelCommands.keySet().stream().forEach(k -> out.println("\t" + k));
         out.println();
     }
 
-    private CommandLine parseCli(Command command, String[] args) throws ParseException {
+    private CommandLine parseCli(final Command command, final String[] args) throws ParseException {
+        // resolve any back-references so the CommandLine ends up with the resolved values in the Options
+        resolveBackReferences(args);
+
         final Options options = command.getOptions();
         final CommandLineParser parser = new DefaultParser();
         final CommandLine commandLine = parser.parse(options, args);
@@ -85,6 +99,42 @@ public class CommandProcessor {
         return commandLine;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Finds any args that indicate a back-reference and replaces the value of the arg with the
+     * resolved back-reference.
+     *
+     * If the reference does not resolve, or non-numeric position is given, then the arg is left unchanged.
+     *
+     * @param args the args to process
+     */
+    private void resolveBackReferences(final String[] args) {
+        final ReferenceResolver referenceResolver = backReferenceHolder.get();
+        if (referenceResolver == null) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        for (int i=0; i < args.length; i++) {
+            final String arg = args[i];
+            if (arg == null || !arg.startsWith(BACK_REF_INDICATOR)) {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            if (context.isInteractive()) {
+                context.getOutput().println();
+            }
+
+            try {
+                final Integer pos = Integer.valueOf(arg.substring(1));
+                final String resolvedReference = referenceResolver.resolve(pos);
+                if (resolvedReference != null) {
+                    args[i] = resolvedReference;
+                }
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                // skip
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     public void process(String[] args) {
         if (args == null || args.length == 0) {
             printBasicUsage(null);
@@ -123,20 +173,7 @@ public class CommandProcessor {
                 return;
             }
 
-            try {
-                if (otherArgs.length == 1 && CommandOption.HELP.getLongName().equalsIgnoreCase(otherArgs[0])) {
-                    command.printUsage(null);
-                } else {
-                    command.execute(commandLine);
-                }
-            } catch (Exception e) {
-                command.printUsage(e.getMessage());
-                if (commandLine.hasOption(CommandOption.VERBOSE.getLongName())) {
-                    out.println();
-                    e.printStackTrace(out);
-                    out.println();
-                }
-            }
+            processCommand(otherArgs, commandLine, command);
 
         } catch (Exception e) {
             out.println();
@@ -172,20 +209,7 @@ public class CommandProcessor {
                 return;
             }
 
-            try {
-                if (otherArgs.length == 1 && CommandOption.HELP.getLongName().equalsIgnoreCase(otherArgs[0])) {
-                    command.printUsage(null);
-                } else {
-                    command.execute(commandLine);
-                }
-            } catch (Exception e) {
-                command.printUsage(e.getMessage());
-                if (commandLine.hasOption(CommandOption.VERBOSE.getLongName())) {
-                    out.println();
-                    e.printStackTrace(out);
-                    out.println();
-                }
-            }
+            processCommand(otherArgs, commandLine, command);
 
         } catch (Exception e) {
             out.println();
@@ -194,5 +218,39 @@ public class CommandProcessor {
         }
     }
 
+    private void processCommand(final String[] args, final CommandLine commandLine, final Command command) {
+        try {
+            if (args.length == 1 && CommandOption.HELP.getLongName().equalsIgnoreCase(args[0])) {
+                command.printUsage(null);
+            } else {
+                final Result result = command.execute(commandLine);
+
+                if (result instanceof WritableResult) {
+                    final WritableResult writableResult = (WritableResult) result;
+                    writableResult.write(out);
+                }
+
+                // if the Result is Referenceable then create the resolver and store it in the holder for the next command
+                if (result instanceof Referenceable) {
+                    final Referenceable referenceable = (Referenceable) result;
+                    final ReferenceResolver referenceResolver = referenceable.createReferenceResolver(context);
+
+                    // only set the resolve if its not empty so that a resolver that was already in there sticks around
+                    // and can be used again if the current command didn't produce anything to resolve
+                    if (!referenceResolver.isEmpty()) {
+                        backReferenceHolder.set(referenceResolver);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            command.printUsage(e.getMessage());
+            if (commandLine.hasOption(CommandOption.VERBOSE.getLongName())) {
+                out.println();
+                e.printStackTrace(out);
+                out.println();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/composite/AbstractCompositeCommand.java

@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.composite;
+
+import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
+import org.apache.commons.cli.Options;
+import org.apache.commons.cli.ParseException;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryClient;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryException;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ClientFactory;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Result;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Session;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.SessionException;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariable;
+
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+/**
+ * Base class for higher-level marco commands that interact with NiFi & Registry to perform a series of actions.
+ */
+public abstract class AbstractCompositeCommand<R extends Result> extends AbstractCommand<R> {
+
+    public AbstractCompositeCommand(final String name, final Class<R> resultClass) {
+        super(name, resultClass);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected final Options createBaseOptions() {
+        final Options options = new Options();
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.NIFI_PROPS.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.NIFI_REG_PROPS.createOption());
+        options.addOption(CommandOption.VERBOSE.createOption());
+        return options;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public final R execute(final CommandLine cli) throws CommandException {
+        try {
+            final Properties nifiProperties = createProperties(cli, CommandOption.NIFI_PROPS, SessionVariable.NIFI_CLIENT_PROPS);
+            if (nifiProperties == null) {
+                throw new CommandException("Unable to find NiFi config, must specify --"
+                        + CommandOption.NIFI_PROPS.getLongName() + ", or setup session config");
+            }
+
+            final ClientFactory<NiFiClient> nifiClientFactory = getContext().getNiFiClientFactory();
+            final NiFiClient nifiClient = nifiClientFactory.createClient(nifiProperties);
+
+            final Properties registryProperties = createProperties(cli, CommandOption.NIFI_REG_PROPS, SessionVariable.NIFI_REGISTRY_CLIENT_PROPS);
+            if (registryProperties == null) {
+                throw new CommandException("Unable to find NiFi Registry config, must specify --"
+                        + CommandOption.NIFI_REG_PROPS.getLongName() + ", or setup session config");
+            }
+
+            final ClientFactory<NiFiRegistryClient> registryClientFactory = getContext().getNiFiRegistryClientFactory();
+            final NiFiRegistryClient  registryClient = registryClientFactory.createClient(registryProperties);
+
+            return doExecute(cli, nifiClient, nifiProperties, registryClient, registryProperties);
+        } catch (CommandException ce) {
+            throw ce;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new CommandException("Error executing command '" + getName() + "' : " + e.getMessage(), e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a Properties instance by looking at the propertOption and falling back to the session.
+     *
+     * @param commandLine the current command line
+     * @param propertyOption the options specifying a properties to load
+     * @param sessionVariable the session variable specifying a properties file
+     * @return a Properties instance or null if the option wasn't specified and nothing is in the session
+     */
+    private Properties createProperties(final CommandLine commandLine, final CommandOption propertyOption, final SessionVariable sessionVariable)
+            throws IOException, SessionException {
+
+        // use the properties file specified by the properyOption if it exists
+        if (commandLine.hasOption(propertyOption.getLongName())) {
+            final String propertiesFile = commandLine.getOptionValue(propertyOption.getLongName());
+            if (!StringUtils.isBlank(propertiesFile)) {
+                try (final InputStream in = new FileInputStream(propertiesFile)) {
+                    final Properties properties = new Properties();
+                    properties.load(in);
+                    return properties;
+                }
+            }
+        } else {
+            // no properties file was specified so see if there is anything in the session
+            if (sessionVariable != null) {
+                final Session session = getContext().getSession();
+                final String sessionPropsFiles = session.get(sessionVariable.getVariableName());
+                if (!StringUtils.isBlank(sessionPropsFiles)) {
+                    try (final InputStream in = new FileInputStream(sessionPropsFiles)) {
+                        final Properties properties = new Properties();
+                        properties.load(in);
+                        return properties;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sub-classes implement specific logic using both clients.
+     */
+    public abstract R doExecute(final CommandLine commandLine,
+                                final NiFiClient nifiClient,
+                                final Properties nifiProperties,
+                                final NiFiRegistryClient nifiRegistryClient,
+                                final Properties nifiRegistryProperties)
+            throws CommandException, IOException, NiFiRegistryException, ParseException, NiFiClientException;
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/composite/DemoCommandGroup.java

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.composite;
+
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractCommandGroup;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * Command group for quick demo commands.
+ */
+public class DemoCommandGroup extends AbstractCommandGroup {
+
+    public static final String NAME = "demo";
+
+    public DemoCommandGroup() {
+        super(NAME);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected List<Command> createCommands() {
+        final List<Command> commands = new ArrayList<>();
+        commands.add(new QuickImport());
+        return commands;
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/composite/QuickImport.java

@@ -0,0 +1,248 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.composite;
+
+import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
+import org.apache.commons.cli.MissingOptionException;
+import org.apache.commons.cli.ParseException;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.bucket.Bucket;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryClient;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryException;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.pg.PGImport;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.registry.CreateRegistryClient;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.registry.GetRegistryClientId;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.bucket.CreateBucket;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.bucket.ListBuckets;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.flow.CreateFlow;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.flow.ImportFlowVersion;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.BucketsResult;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.RegistryClientIDResult;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.StringResult;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+/**
+ * Command to demonstrate a quick import capability.
+ */
+public class QuickImport extends AbstractCompositeCommand<StringResult> {
+
+    public static final String BUCKET_NAME = "Quick Import";
+    public static final String BUCKET_DESC = "Created to demonstrate quickly importing a flow with NiFi CLI.";
+
+    public static final String FLOW_NAME = "Quick Import - ";
+    public static final String FLOW_DESC = "Automatically imported on ";
+
+    public static final String REG_CLIENT_NAME = "Quick Import";
+    public static final String REG_CLIENT_DESC = "Automatically created on ";
+
+    private final ListBuckets listBuckets;
+    private final CreateBucket createBucket;
+    private final CreateFlow createFlow;
+    private final ImportFlowVersion importFlowVersion;
+    private final GetRegistryClientId getRegistryClientId;
+    private final CreateRegistryClient createRegistryClient;
+    private final PGImport pgImport;
+
+    public QuickImport() {
+        super("quick-import", StringResult.class);
+        this.listBuckets = new ListBuckets();
+        this.createBucket = new CreateBucket();
+        this.createFlow = new CreateFlow();
+        this.importFlowVersion = new ImportFlowVersion();
+        this.getRegistryClientId = new GetRegistryClientId();
+        this.createRegistryClient = new CreateRegistryClient();
+        this.pgImport = new PGImport();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getDescription() {
+        return "Imports a flow from a file or a public URL into a pre-defined bucket named '" + BUCKET_NAME + "'. This command will " +
+                "create the bucket if it doesn't exist, and will create a new flow for each execution. The flow will then be imported " +
+                "to the given NiFi instance.";
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void doInitialize(Context context) {
+        // add additional options
+        addOption(CommandOption.INPUT_SOURCE.createOption());
+
+        // initialize sub-commands since we are managing their lifecycle ourselves here
+        listBuckets.initialize(context);
+        createBucket.initialize(context);
+        createFlow.initialize(context);
+        importFlowVersion.initialize(context);
+        getRegistryClientId.initialize(context);
+        createRegistryClient.initialize(context);
+        pgImport.initialize(context);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public StringResult doExecute(final CommandLine cli, final NiFiClient nifiClient, final Properties nifiProps,
+                                  final NiFiRegistryClient registryClient, final Properties registryProps)
+            throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException, ParseException, NiFiClientException {
+
+        final boolean isInteractive = getContext().isInteractive();
+
+        // determine the registry client in NiFi to use, or create one
+        // do this first so that we don't get through creating buckets, flows, etc, and then fail on the reg client
+        final String registryClientBaseUrl = registryProps.getProperty(CommandOption.URL.getLongName());
+        final String registryClientId = getRegistryClientId(nifiClient, registryClientBaseUrl, isInteractive);
+
+        // get or create the quick import bucket
+        final String quickImportBucketId = getQuickImportBucketId(registryClient, isInteractive);
+
+        // create a new flow in the quick-import bucket
+        final String quickImportFlowId = createQuickImportFlow(registryClient, quickImportBucketId, isInteractive);
+
+        // import the versioned flow snapshot into newly created quick-import flow
+        final String inputSource = cli.getOptionValue(CommandOption.INPUT_SOURCE.getLongName());
+        if (StringUtils.isBlank(inputSource)) {
+            throw new MissingOptionException("Missing required option --" + CommandOption.INPUT_SOURCE.getLongName());
+        }
+
+        final String quickImportFlowVersion = importFlowVersion(registryClient, quickImportFlowId, isInteractive, inputSource);
+
+        // pg-import to nifi
+        final Properties pgImportProps = new Properties();
+        pgImportProps.setProperty(CommandOption.REGISTRY_CLIENT_ID.getLongName(), registryClientId);
+        pgImportProps.setProperty(CommandOption.BUCKET_ID.getLongName(), quickImportBucketId);
+        pgImportProps.setProperty(CommandOption.FLOW_ID.getLongName(), quickImportFlowId);
+        pgImportProps.setProperty(CommandOption.FLOW_VERSION.getLongName(), quickImportFlowVersion);
+
+        final StringResult createdPgResult = pgImport.doExecute(nifiClient, pgImportProps);
+
+        if (isInteractive) {
+            println();
+            println("Imported process group to NiFi...");
+            println();
+        }
+
+        return createdPgResult;
+    }
+
+    private String importFlowVersion(final NiFiRegistryClient registryClient, final String quickImportFlowId, final boolean isInteractive, final String inputSource)
+            throws ParseException, IOException, NiFiRegistryException {
+        final Properties importVersionProps = new Properties();
+        importVersionProps.setProperty(CommandOption.FLOW_ID.getLongName(), quickImportFlowId);
+        importVersionProps.setProperty(CommandOption.INPUT_SOURCE.getLongName(), inputSource);
+
+        final StringResult createdVersion = importFlowVersion.doExecute(registryClient, importVersionProps);
+        final String quickImportFlowVersion = createdVersion.getResult();
+
+        if (isInteractive) {
+            println();
+            println("Imported flow version...");
+        }
+        return quickImportFlowVersion;
+    }
+
+    private String createQuickImportFlow(final NiFiRegistryClient registryClient, final String quickImportBucketId, final boolean isInteractive)
+            throws ParseException, IOException, NiFiRegistryException {
+        final String flowName = FLOW_NAME + System.currentTimeMillis();
+        final String flowDescription = FLOW_DESC + (new Date()).toString();
+
+        final Properties createFlowProps = new Properties();
+        createFlowProps.setProperty(CommandOption.FLOW_NAME.getLongName(), flowName);
+        createFlowProps.setProperty(CommandOption.FLOW_DESC.getLongName(), flowDescription);
+        createFlowProps.setProperty(CommandOption.BUCKET_ID.getLongName(), quickImportBucketId);
+
+        final StringResult createdFlow = createFlow.doExecute(registryClient, createFlowProps);
+        final String quickImportFlowId = createdFlow.getResult();
+
+        if (isInteractive) {
+            println();
+            println("Created new flow '" + flowName + "'...");
+        }
+        return quickImportFlowId;
+    }
+
+    private String getQuickImportBucketId(final NiFiRegistryClient registryClient, final boolean isInteractive)
+            throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException, MissingOptionException {
+
+        final BucketsResult bucketsResult = listBuckets.doExecute(registryClient, new Properties());
+
+        final Bucket quickImportBucket = bucketsResult.getResult().stream()
+                .filter(b -> BUCKET_NAME.equals(b.getName()))
+                .findFirst().orElse(null);
+
+        // if it doesn't exist, then create the quick import bucket
+        String quickImportBucketId = null;
+        if (quickImportBucket != null) {
+            quickImportBucketId = quickImportBucket.getIdentifier();
+            if (isInteractive) {
+                println();
+                println("Found existing bucket '" + BUCKET_NAME + "'...");
+            }
+        } else {
+            final Properties createBucketProps = new Properties();
+            createBucketProps.setProperty(CommandOption.BUCKET_NAME.getLongName(), BUCKET_NAME);
+            createBucketProps.setProperty(CommandOption.BUCKET_DESC.getLongName(), BUCKET_DESC);
+
+            final StringResult createdBucketId = createBucket.doExecute(registryClient, createBucketProps);
+            quickImportBucketId = createdBucketId.getResult();
+            if (isInteractive) {
+                println();
+                println("Created new bucket '" + BUCKET_NAME + "'...");
+            }
+        }
+        return quickImportBucketId;
+    }
+
+    private String getRegistryClientId(final NiFiClient nifiClient, final String registryClientBaseUrl, final boolean isInteractive)
+            throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException {
+
+        final Properties getRegClientProps = new Properties();
+        getRegClientProps.setProperty(CommandOption.REGISTRY_CLIENT_URL.getLongName(), registryClientBaseUrl);
+
+        String registryClientId;
+        try {
+            final RegistryClientIDResult registryClientResult = getRegistryClientId.doExecute(nifiClient, getRegClientProps);
+            registryClientId = registryClientResult.getResult().getId();
+            if (isInteractive) {
+                println();
+                println("Found existing registry client '" + registryClientResult.getResult().getName() + "'...");
+            }
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            registryClientId = null;
+        }
+
+        if (registryClientId == null) {
+            final Properties createRegClientProps = new Properties();
+            createRegClientProps.setProperty(CommandOption.REGISTRY_CLIENT_NAME.getLongName(), REG_CLIENT_NAME);
+            createRegClientProps.setProperty(CommandOption.REGISTRY_CLIENT_DESC.getLongName(), REG_CLIENT_DESC + new Date().toString());
+            createRegClientProps.setProperty(CommandOption.REGISTRY_CLIENT_URL.getLongName(), registryClientBaseUrl);
+
+            final StringResult createdRegClient = createRegistryClient.doExecute(nifiClient, createRegClientProps);
+            registryClientId = createdRegClient.getResult();
+
+            if (isInteractive) {
+                println();
+                println("Created new registry client '" + REG_CLIENT_NAME + "'...");
+            }
+        }
+
+        return registryClientId;
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/misc/Exit.java

@@ -19,13 +19,13 @@ package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.misc;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.Options;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 
 /**
  * Command for exiting the shell.
  */
-public class Exit implements Command {
+public class Exit implements Command<VoidResult> {
 
     @Override
     public void initialize(final Context context) {
@@ -53,8 +53,14 @@ public class Exit implements Command {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void execute(final CommandLine cli) throws CommandException {
+    public VoidResult execute(final CommandLine cli) {
         System.exit(0);
+        return VoidResult.getInstance();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Class<VoidResult> getResultImplType() {
+        return VoidResult.class;
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/misc/Help.java

@@ -19,13 +19,13 @@ package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.misc;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.Options;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 
 /**
  * Place-holder so "help" shows up in top-level commands.
  */
-public class Help implements Command {
+public class Help implements Command<VoidResult> {
 
     @Override
     public void initialize(final Context context) {
@@ -53,8 +53,12 @@ public class Help implements Command {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void execute(final CommandLine cli) throws CommandException {
-        // nothing to do
+    public VoidResult execute(final CommandLine cli) {
+        return VoidResult.getInstance();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public Class<VoidResult> getResultImplType() {
+        return VoidResult.class;
+    }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/AbstractNiFiCommand.java

@@ -19,10 +19,11 @@ package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.MissingOptionException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ClientFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Result;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractPropertyCommand;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariables;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariable;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.RevisionDTO;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -31,22 +32,22 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Base class for all NiFi commands.
  */
-public abstract class AbstractNiFiCommand extends AbstractPropertyCommand {
+public abstract class AbstractNiFiCommand<R extends Result> extends AbstractPropertyCommand<R> {
 
-    public AbstractNiFiCommand(final String name) {
-        super(name);
+    public AbstractNiFiCommand(final String name, final Class<R> resultClass) {
+        super(name, resultClass);
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected SessionVariables getPropertiesSessionVariable() {
-        return SessionVariables.NIFI_CLIENT_PROPS;
+    protected SessionVariable getPropertiesSessionVariable() {
+        return SessionVariable.NIFI_CLIENT_PROPS;
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final Properties properties) throws CommandException {
+    public final R doExecute(final Properties properties) throws CommandException {
         final ClientFactory<NiFiClient> clientFactory = getContext().getNiFiClientFactory();
         try (final NiFiClient client = clientFactory.createClient(properties)) {
-            doExecute(client, properties);
+            return doExecute(client, properties);
         } catch (Exception e) {
             throw new CommandException("Error executing command '" + getName() + "' : " + e.getMessage(), e);
         }
@@ -57,8 +58,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractNiFiCommand extends AbstractPropertyCommand {
      *
      * @param client a NiFi client
      * @param properties properties for the command
+     * @return the Result of executing the command
      */
-    protected abstract void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public abstract R doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException;
 
 

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/flow/CurrentUser.java

@@ -16,11 +16,12 @@
  */
 package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.flow;
 
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.FlowClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.CurrentUserEntityResult;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.CurrentUserEntity;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Properties;
@@ -28,10 +29,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to get information about the current user accessing the NiFi instance.
  */
-public class CurrentUser extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class CurrentUser extends AbstractNiFiCommand<CurrentUserEntityResult> {
 
     public CurrentUser() {
-        super("current-user");
+        super("current-user", CurrentUserEntityResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -41,10 +42,10 @@ public class CurrentUser extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(NiFiClient client, Properties properties)
+    public CurrentUserEntityResult doExecute(NiFiClient client, Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException {
         final FlowClient flowClient = client.getFlowClient();
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeCurrentUser(flowClient.getCurrentUser(), getContext().getOutput());
+        final CurrentUserEntity currentUserEntity = flowClient.getCurrentUser();
+        return new CurrentUserEntityResult(getResultType(properties), currentUserEntity);
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/flow/GetRootId.java

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.FlowClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.StringResult;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Properties;
@@ -27,10 +28,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Returns the id of the root process group of the given NiFi instance.
  */
-public class GetRootId extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class GetRootId extends AbstractNiFiCommand<StringResult> {
 
     public GetRootId() {
-        super("get-root-id");
+        super("get-root-id", StringResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -39,10 +40,10 @@ public class GetRootId extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public StringResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException {
         final FlowClient flowClient = client.getFlowClient();
-        println(flowClient.getRootGroupId());
+        return new StringResult(flowClient.getRootGroupId());
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/pg/PGChangeVersion.java

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.VersionsClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VersionControlInformationDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionControlInformationEntity;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataEntity;
@@ -37,10 +38,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to change the version of a version controlled process group.
  */
-public class PGChangeVersion extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class PGChangeVersion extends AbstractNiFiCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public PGChangeVersion() {
-        super("pg-change-version");
+        super("pg-change-version", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ public class PGChangeVersion extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VoidResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException {
         final String pgId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.PG_ID);
 
@@ -117,6 +118,7 @@ public class PGChangeVersion extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
             versionsClient.deleteUpdateRequest(updateRequestId);
         }
 
+        return VoidResult.getInstance();
     }
 
     private int getLatestVersion(final NiFiClient client, final VersionControlInformationDTO existingVersionControlDTO)

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/pg/PGGetAllVersions.java

@@ -17,15 +17,14 @@
 package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.pg;
 
 import org.apache.commons.cli.MissingOptionException;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.FlowClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.VersionsClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VersionControlInformationDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionControlInformationEntity;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity;
@@ -36,10 +35,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to get all the available versions for a given process group that is under version control.
  */
-public class PGGetAllVersions extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class PGGetAllVersions extends AbstractNiFiCommand<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetResult> {
 
     public PGGetAllVersions() {
-        super("pg-get-all-versions");
+        super("pg-get-all-versions", VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetResult.class);
     }
     @Override
     public String getDescription() {
@@ -52,8 +51,9 @@ public class PGGetAllVersions extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
-            throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException {
+    public VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+            throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException {
+
         final String pgId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.PG_ID);
 
         final VersionsClient versionsClient = client.getVersionsClient();
@@ -75,8 +75,7 @@ public class PGGetAllVersions extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
             throw new NiFiClientException("No versions available");
         }
 
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeSnapshotMetadata(versions, getContext().getOutput());
+        return new VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetResult(getResultType(properties), versions);
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/pg/PGGetVars.java

@@ -19,12 +19,12 @@ package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.pg;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.MissingOptionException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.ProcessGroupClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VariableRegistryResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VariableRegistryEntity;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -33,10 +33,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Commands to get the variables of a process group.
  */
-public class PGGetVars extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class PGGetVars extends AbstractNiFiCommand<VariableRegistryResult> {
 
     public PGGetVars() {
-        super("pg-get-vars");
+        super("pg-get-vars", VariableRegistryResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -50,13 +50,12 @@ public class PGGetVars extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VariableRegistryResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException {
         final String pgId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.PG_ID);
         final ProcessGroupClient pgClient = client.getProcessGroupClient();
         final VariableRegistryEntity varEntity = pgClient.getVariables(pgId);
-
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeVariables(varEntity, getContext().getOutput());
+        return new VariableRegistryResult(getResultType(properties), varEntity);
     }
+
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/pg/PGGetVersion.java

@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@ package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.pg;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.MissingOptionException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VersionControlInfoResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionControlInformationEntity;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to get the version control info for a given process group.
  */
-public class PGGetVersion extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class PGGetVersion extends AbstractNiFiCommand<VersionControlInfoResult> {
 
     public PGGetVersion() {
-        super("pg-get-version");
+        super("pg-get-version", VersionControlInfoResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -49,16 +49,14 @@ public class PGGetVersion extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VersionControlInfoResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException {
         final String pgId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.PG_ID);
         final VersionControlInformationEntity entity = client.getVersionsClient().getVersionControlInfo(pgId);
         if (entity.getVersionControlInformation() == null) {
             throw new NiFiClientException("Process group is not under version control");
         }
-
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeVersionControlInfo(entity, getContext().getOutput());
+        return new VersionControlInfoResult(getResultType(properties), entity);
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/pg/PGImport.java

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.ProcessGroupBox;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.ProcessGroupClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.StringResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.PositionDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.ProcessGroupDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VersionControlInformationDTO;
@@ -40,10 +41,10 @@ import java.util.Set;
 /**
  * Command for importing a flow to NiFi from NiFi Registry.
  */
-public class PGImport extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class PGImport extends AbstractNiFiCommand<StringResult> {
 
     public PGImport() {
-        super("pg-import");
+        super("pg-import", StringResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ public class PGImport extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public StringResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException {
 
         final String bucketId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.BUCKET_ID);
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ public class PGImport extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
 
         final ProcessGroupClient pgClient = client.getProcessGroupClient();
         final ProcessGroupEntity createdEntity = pgClient.createProcessGroup(parentPgId, pgEntity);
-        println(createdEntity.getId());
+        return new StringResult(createdEntity.getId());
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/pg/PGList.java

@@ -16,16 +16,14 @@
  */
 package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.pg;
 
-import org.apache.commons.cli.MissingOptionException;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.FlowClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.ProcessGroupsResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.flow.FlowDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.flow.ProcessGroupFlowDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.ProcessGroupEntity;
@@ -39,10 +37,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to list process-groups for a given parent process group.
  */
-public class PGList extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class PGList extends AbstractNiFiCommand<ProcessGroupsResult> {
 
     public PGList() {
-        super("pg-list");
+        super("pg-list", ProcessGroupsResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -57,8 +55,8 @@ public class PGList extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
-            throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException {
+    public ProcessGroupsResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+            throws NiFiClientException, IOException {
 
         final FlowClient flowClient = client.getFlowClient();
 
@@ -77,8 +75,7 @@ public class PGList extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
             flowDTO.getProcessGroups().stream().forEach(pg -> processGroups.add(pg));
         }
 
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeProcessGroups(processGroups, getContext().getOutput());
+        return new ProcessGroupsResult(getResultType(properties), processGroups);
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/pg/PGSetVar.java

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.ProcessGroupClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VariableDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VariableRegistryDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VariableEntity;
@@ -37,10 +38,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to set the value of a variable in a process group.
  */
-public class PGSetVar extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class PGSetVar extends AbstractNiFiCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public PGSetVar() {
-        super("pg-set-var");
+        super("pg-set-var", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ public class PGSetVar extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VoidResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException {
 
         final String pgId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.PG_ID);
@@ -112,5 +113,6 @@ public class PGSetVar extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
             pgClient.deleteVariableRegistryUpdateRequest(pgId, updateRequestId);
         }
 
+        return VoidResult.getInstance();
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/pg/PGStart.java

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.ScheduleComponentsEntity;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -32,10 +33,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to start the components of a process group.
  */
-public class PGStart extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class PGStart extends AbstractNiFiCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public PGStart() {
-        super("pg-start");
+        super("pg-start", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -49,7 +50,7 @@ public class PGStart extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VoidResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException {
 
         final String pgId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.PG_ID);
@@ -60,6 +61,7 @@ public class PGStart extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
 
         final FlowClient flowClient = client.getFlowClient();
         final ScheduleComponentsEntity resultEntity = flowClient.scheduleProcessGroupComponents(pgId, entity);
+        return VoidResult.getInstance();
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/pg/PGStop.java

@@ -17,13 +17,13 @@
 package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.pg;
 
 import org.apache.commons.cli.MissingOptionException;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.FlowClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.ScheduleComponentsEntity;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to stop the components of a process group.
  */
-public class PGStop extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class PGStop extends AbstractNiFiCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public PGStop() {
-        super("pg-stop");
+        super("pg-stop", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ public class PGStop extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
-            throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException {
+    public VoidResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+            throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException {
 
         final String pgId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.PG_ID);
 
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ public class PGStop extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
 
         final FlowClient flowClient = client.getFlowClient();
         final ScheduleComponentsEntity resultEntity = flowClient.scheduleProcessGroupComponents(pgId, entity);
+        return VoidResult.getInstance();
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/registry/CreateRegistryClient.java

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.StringResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.RegistryDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientEntity;
 
@@ -31,10 +32,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command for creating a registry client in NiFi.
  */
-public class CreateRegistryClient extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class CreateRegistryClient extends AbstractNiFiCommand<StringResult> {
 
     public CreateRegistryClient() {
-        super("create-reg-client");
+        super("create-reg-client", StringResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ public class CreateRegistryClient extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public StringResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException {
 
         final String name = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.REGISTRY_CLIENT_NAME);
@@ -67,6 +68,6 @@ public class CreateRegistryClient extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
         clientEntity.setRevision(getInitialRevisionDTO());
 
         final RegistryClientEntity createdEntity = client.getControllerClient().createRegistryClient(clientEntity);
-        println(createdEntity.getId());
+        return new StringResult(createdEntity.getId());
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/registry/GetRegistryClientId.java

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.RegistryClientIDResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.RegistryDTO;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientsEntity;
 
@@ -32,10 +33,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to get the id of a registry client by name or url.
  */
-public class GetRegistryClientId extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class GetRegistryClientId extends AbstractNiFiCommand<RegistryClientIDResult> {
 
     public GetRegistryClientId() {
-        super("get-reg-client-id");
+        super("get-reg-client-id", RegistryClientIDResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ public class GetRegistryClientId extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public RegistryClientIDResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, CommandException {
         final String regClientName = getArg(properties, CommandOption.REGISTRY_CLIENT_NAME);
         final String regClientUrl = getArg(properties, CommandOption.REGISTRY_CLIENT_URL);
@@ -85,16 +86,8 @@ public class GetRegistryClientId extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
         if (registry == null) {
             throw new NiFiClientException("No registry client exists with the name '" + regClientName + "'");
         } else {
-            println(registry.getId());
+            return new RegistryClientIDResult(getResultType(properties), registry);
         }
     }
 
-    private RegistryDTO getByName(final RegistryClientsEntity registries, final String regClientName) {
-        return registries.getRegistries().stream()
-                .map(r -> r.getComponent())
-                .filter(r -> r.getName().equalsIgnoreCase(regClientName))
-                .findFirst()
-                .orElse(null);
-
-    }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/registry/ListRegistryClients.java

@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@
  */
 package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.registry;
 
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.RegistryClientsResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientsEntity;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Lists the registry clients defined in the given NiFi instance.
  */
-public class ListRegistryClients extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class ListRegistryClients extends AbstractNiFiCommand<RegistryClientsResult> {
 
     public ListRegistryClients() {
-        super("list-reg-clients");
+        super("list-reg-clients", RegistryClientsResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -40,11 +40,10 @@ public class ListRegistryClients extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties) throws NiFiClientException, IOException {
+    public RegistryClientsResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+            throws NiFiClientException, IOException {
         final RegistryClientsEntity registries = client.getControllerClient().getRegistryClients();
-
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeRegistryClients(registries, getContext().getOutput());
+        return new RegistryClientsResult(getResultType(properties), registries);
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/nifi/registry/UpdateRegistryClient.java

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClientException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.nifi.AbstractNiFiCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientEntity;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -33,10 +34,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to update a registry client in NiFi.
  */
-public class UpdateRegistryClient extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
+public class UpdateRegistryClient extends AbstractNiFiCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public UpdateRegistryClient() {
-        super("update-reg-client");
+        super("update-reg-client", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ public class UpdateRegistryClient extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VoidResult doExecute(final NiFiClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws NiFiClientException, IOException, MissingOptionException, CommandException {
 
         final ControllerClient controllerClient = client.getControllerClient();
@@ -89,5 +90,6 @@ public class UpdateRegistryClient extends AbstractNiFiCommand {
         existingRegClient.getRevision().setClientId(clientId);
 
         controllerClient.updateRegistryClient(existingRegClient);
+        return VoidResult.getInstance();
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand.java

@@ -22,8 +22,9 @@ import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ClientFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Result;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractPropertyCommand;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariables;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariable;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -33,22 +34,22 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Base class for all NiFi Reg commands.
  */
-public abstract class AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand extends AbstractPropertyCommand {
+public abstract class AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<R extends Result> extends AbstractPropertyCommand<R> {
 
-    public AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand(final String name) {
-        super(name);
+    public AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand(final String name, final Class<R> resultClass) {
+        super(name, resultClass);
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected SessionVariables getPropertiesSessionVariable() {
-        return SessionVariables.NIFI_REGISTRY_CLIENT_PROPS;
+    protected SessionVariable getPropertiesSessionVariable() {
+        return SessionVariable.NIFI_REGISTRY_CLIENT_PROPS;
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final Properties properties) throws CommandException {
+    public final R doExecute(final Properties properties) throws CommandException {
         final ClientFactory<NiFiRegistryClient> clientFactory = getContext().getNiFiRegistryClientFactory();
         try (final NiFiRegistryClient client = clientFactory.createClient(properties)) {
-            doExecute(client, properties);
+            return doExecute(client, properties);
         } catch (Exception e) {
             throw new CommandException("Error executing command '" + getName() + "' : " + e.getMessage(), e);
         }
@@ -59,8 +60,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand extends AbstractPropertyComman
      *
      * @param client the NiFiRegistryClient to use for performing the action
      * @param properties the properties for the command
+     * @return the Result of executing the command
      */
-    protected abstract void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public abstract R doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException, ParseException;
 
     /*

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/bucket/CreateBucket.java

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.StringResult;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Properties;
@@ -31,10 +32,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Creates a new bucket in the registry.
  */
-public class CreateBucket extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class CreateBucket extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<StringResult> {
 
     public CreateBucket() {
-        super("create-bucket");
+        super("create-bucket", StringResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -49,7 +50,7 @@ public class CreateBucket extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public StringResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException, MissingOptionException {
 
         final String bucketName = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.BUCKET_NAME);
@@ -61,7 +62,6 @@ public class CreateBucket extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
 
         final BucketClient bucketClient = client.getBucketClient();
         final Bucket createdBucket = bucketClient.create(bucket);
-
-        println(createdBucket.getIdentifier());
+        return new StringResult(createdBucket.getIdentifier());
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/bucket/DeleteBucket.java

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlow;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -33,10 +34,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Deletes a bucket from the given registry.
  */
-public class DeleteBucket extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class DeleteBucket extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public DeleteBucket() {
-        super("delete-bucket");
+        super("delete-bucket", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ public class DeleteBucket extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VoidResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException, ParseException {
 
         final String bucketId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.BUCKET_ID);
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ public class DeleteBucket extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
         } else {
             final BucketClient bucketClient = client.getBucketClient();
             bucketClient.delete(bucketId);
+            return VoidResult.getInstance();
         }
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/bucket/ListBuckets.java

@@ -16,12 +16,11 @@
  */
 package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.bucket;
 
-import org.apache.commons.cli.MissingOptionException;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.bucket.Bucket;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryException;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.BucketsResult;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -30,10 +29,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to list all buckets in the registry instance.
  */
-public class ListBuckets extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class ListBuckets extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<BucketsResult> {
 
     public ListBuckets() {
-        super("list-buckets");
+        super("list-buckets", BucketsResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -42,10 +41,10 @@ public class ListBuckets extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
-            throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException, MissingOptionException {
+    public BucketsResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+            throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException {
         final List<Bucket> buckets = client.getBucketClient().getAll();
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeBuckets(buckets, getContext().getOutput());
+        return new BucketsResult(getResultType(properties), buckets);
     }
+
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/flow/CreateFlow.java

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlow;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.StringResult;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Properties;
@@ -31,10 +32,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Creates a flow in the registry
  */
-public class CreateFlow extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class CreateFlow extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<StringResult> {
 
     public CreateFlow() {
-        super("create-flow");
+        super("create-flow", StringResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ public class CreateFlow extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public StringResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws ParseException, IOException, NiFiRegistryException {
         final String bucketId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.BUCKET_ID);
         final String flowName = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.FLOW_NAME);
@@ -63,7 +64,6 @@ public class CreateFlow extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
 
         final FlowClient flowClient = client.getFlowClient();
         final VersionedFlow createdFlow = flowClient.create(flow);
-
-        println(createdFlow.getIdentifier());
+        return new StringResult(createdFlow.getIdentifier());
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/flow/DeleteFlow.java

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -33,10 +34,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Deletes a flow from the given registry.
  */
-public class DeleteFlow extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class DeleteFlow extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public DeleteFlow() {
-        super("delete-flow");
+        super("delete-flow", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ public class DeleteFlow extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VoidResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException, ParseException {
 
         final String flowId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.FLOW_ID);
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ public class DeleteFlow extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
         } else {
             final FlowClient flowClient = client.getFlowClient();
             flowClient.delete(bucketId, flowId);
+            return VoidResult.getInstance();
         }
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/flow/ExportFlowVersion.java

@@ -23,17 +23,15 @@ import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshot;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.util.JacksonUtils;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VersionedFlowSnapshotResult;
 
-import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
-public class ExportFlowVersion extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class ExportFlowVersion extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<VersionedFlowSnapshotResult> {
 
     public ExportFlowVersion() {
-        super("export-flow-version");
+        super("export-flow-version", VersionedFlowSnapshotResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -50,7 +48,7 @@ public class ExportFlowVersion extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VersionedFlowSnapshotResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws ParseException, IOException, NiFiRegistryException {
         final String flowId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.FLOW_ID);
         final Integer version = getIntArg(properties, CommandOption.FLOW_VERSION);
@@ -74,15 +72,14 @@ public class ExportFlowVersion extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
 
         // currently export doesn't use the ResultWriter concept, it always writes JSON
         // destination will be a file if outputFile is specified, otherwise it will be the output stream of the CLI
+        final String outputFile;
         if (properties.containsKey(CommandOption.OUTPUT_FILE.getLongName())) {
-            final String outputFile = properties.getProperty(CommandOption.OUTPUT_FILE.getLongName());
-            try (final OutputStream resultOut = new FileOutputStream(outputFile)) {
-                JacksonUtils.write(versionedFlowSnapshot, resultOut);
-            }
+            outputFile = properties.getProperty(CommandOption.OUTPUT_FILE.getLongName());
         } else {
-            final OutputStream output = getContext().getOutput();
-            JacksonUtils.write(versionedFlowSnapshot, output);
+            outputFile = null;
         }
+
+        return new VersionedFlowSnapshotResult(versionedFlowSnapshot, outputFile);
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/flow/ImportFlowVersion.java

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.StringResult;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.util.JacksonUtils;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -40,16 +41,16 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Imports a version of a flow to specific bucket and flow in a given registry.
  */
-public class ImportFlowVersion extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class ImportFlowVersion extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<StringResult> {
 
     public ImportFlowVersion() {
-        super("import-flow-version");
+        super("import-flow-version", StringResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
     public String getDescription() {
-        return "Imports a version of a flow from a local file, or a URL. The imported version automatically becomes " +
-                "the next version of the given flow.";
+        return "Imports a version of a flow from a local file, or a public URL. " +
+                "The imported version automatically becomes the next version of the given flow.";
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ public class ImportFlowVersion extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public StringResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws ParseException, IOException, NiFiRegistryException {
         final String flowId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.FLOW_ID);
         final String inputFile = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.INPUT_SOURCE);
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ public class ImportFlowVersion extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
         final VersionedFlowSnapshot createdSnapshot = snapshotClient.create(snapshot);
         final VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata createdMetadata = createdSnapshot.getSnapshotMetadata();
 
-        println(String.valueOf(createdMetadata.getVersion()));
-}
+        return new StringResult(String.valueOf(createdMetadata.getVersion()));
+    }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/flow/ListFlowVersions.java

@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryException;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -33,10 +33,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Lists the metadata for the versions of a specific flow in a specific bucket.
  */
-public class ListFlowVersions extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class ListFlowVersions extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult> {
 
     public ListFlowVersions() {
-        super("list-flow-versions");
+        super("list-flow-versions", VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -50,15 +50,14 @@ public class ListFlowVersions extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws ParseException, IOException, NiFiRegistryException {
         final String flow = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.FLOW_ID);
         final String bucket = getBucketId(client, flow);
 
         final FlowSnapshotClient snapshotClient = client.getFlowSnapshotClient();
         final List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> snapshotMetadata = snapshotClient.getSnapshotMetadata(bucket, flow);
-
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeSnapshotMetadata(snapshotMetadata, getContext().getOutput());
+        return new VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult(getResultType(properties), snapshotMetadata);
     }
+
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/flow/ListFlows.java

@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryException;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlow;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandOption;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VersionedFlowsResult;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -33,10 +33,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Lists all flows in the registry.
  */
-public class ListFlows extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class ListFlows extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<VersionedFlowsResult> {
 
     public ListFlows() {
-        super("list-flows");
+        super("list-flows", VersionedFlowsResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -50,15 +50,13 @@ public class ListFlows extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+    public VersionedFlowsResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
             throws ParseException, IOException, NiFiRegistryException {
         final String bucketId = getRequiredArg(properties, CommandOption.BUCKET_ID);
 
         final FlowClient flowClient = client.getFlowClient();
         final List<VersionedFlow> flows = flowClient.getByBucket(bucketId);
-
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeFlows(flows, getContext().getOutput());
+        return new VersionedFlowsResult(getResultType(properties), flows);
     }
 
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/registry/user/CurrentUser.java

@@ -16,12 +16,11 @@
  */
 package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.user;
 
-import org.apache.commons.cli.ParseException;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryException;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.UserClient;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.CurrentUserResult;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Properties;
@@ -29,10 +28,10 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 /**
  * Command to get info about the current user access NiFi Registry.
  */
-public class CurrentUser extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
+public class CurrentUser extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand<CurrentUserResult> {
 
     public CurrentUser() {
-        super("current-user");
+        super("current-user", CurrentUserResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -42,10 +41,10 @@ public class CurrentUser extends AbstractNiFiRegistryCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
-            throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException, ParseException {
+    public CurrentUserResult doExecute(final NiFiRegistryClient client, final Properties properties)
+            throws IOException, NiFiRegistryException {
         final UserClient userClient = client.getUserClient();
-        final ResultWriter resultWriter = getResultWriter(properties);
-        resultWriter.writeCurrentUser(userClient.getAccessStatus(), getContext().getOutput());
+        final org.apache.nifi.registry.authorization.CurrentUser currentUser = userClient.getAccessStatus();
+        return new CurrentUserResult(getResultType(properties), currentUser);
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/session/ClearSession.java

@@ -20,11 +20,12 @@ import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.SessionException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 
-public class ClearSession extends AbstractCommand {
+public class ClearSession extends AbstractCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public ClearSession() {
-        super("clear");
+        super("clear", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -33,9 +34,10 @@ public class ClearSession extends AbstractCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void execute(final CommandLine cli) throws CommandException {
+    public VoidResult execute(final CommandLine cli) throws CommandException {
         try {
             getContext().getSession().clear();
+            return VoidResult.getInstance();
         } catch (SessionException se) {
             throw new CommandException(se.getMessage(), se);
         }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/session/GetVariable.java

@@ -22,14 +22,15 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Session;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.SessionException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.StringResult;
 
 /**
  * Gets a the value of a variable from the session.
  */
-public class GetVariable extends AbstractCommand {
+public class GetVariable extends AbstractCommand<StringResult> {
 
     public GetVariable() {
-        super("get");
+        super("get", StringResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ public class GetVariable extends AbstractCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void execute(final CommandLine commandLine) throws CommandException {
+    public StringResult execute(final CommandLine commandLine) throws CommandException {
         final String[] args = commandLine.getArgs();
 
         if (args == null || args.length != 1 || StringUtils.isBlank(args[0])) {
@@ -49,9 +50,9 @@ public class GetVariable extends AbstractCommand {
         try {
             final String value = session.get(args[0]);
             if (value == null) {
-                println();
+                return new StringResult("");
             } else {
-                println(value);
+                return new StringResult(value);
             }
         } catch (SessionException se) {
             throw new CommandException(se.getMessage(), se);

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/session/RemoveVariable.java

@@ -21,14 +21,15 @@ import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.SessionException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 
 /**
  * Removes a variable from the session.
  */
-public class RemoveVariable extends AbstractCommand {
+public class RemoveVariable extends AbstractCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public RemoveVariable() {
-        super("remove");
+        super("remove", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ public class RemoveVariable extends AbstractCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void execute(final CommandLine commandLine) throws CommandException {
+    public VoidResult execute(final CommandLine commandLine) throws CommandException {
         final String[] args = commandLine.getArgs();
 
         if (args == null || args.length != 1 || StringUtils.isBlank(args[0])) {
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ public class RemoveVariable extends AbstractCommand {
 
         try {
             getContext().getSession().remove(args[0]);
+            return VoidResult.getInstance();
         } catch (SessionException se) {
             throw new CommandException(se.getMessage(), se);
         }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/session/SetVariable.java

@@ -21,16 +21,17 @@ import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.SessionException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 
 /**
  * Sets a variable in the session.
  */
-public class SetVariable extends AbstractCommand {
+public class SetVariable extends AbstractCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public static final String NAME = "set";
 
     public SetVariable() {
-        super(NAME);
+        super(NAME, VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ public class SetVariable extends AbstractCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void execute(final CommandLine commandLine) throws CommandException {
+    public VoidResult execute(final CommandLine commandLine) throws CommandException {
         final String[] args = commandLine.getArgs();
 
         if (args == null || args.length < 2 || StringUtils.isBlank(args[0]) || StringUtils.isBlank(args[1])) {
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ public class SetVariable extends AbstractCommand {
 
         try {
             getContext().getSession().set(args[0], args[1]);
+            return VoidResult.getInstance();
         } catch (SessionException se) {
             throw new CommandException(se.getMessage(), se);
         }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/session/ShowKeys.java

@@ -19,15 +19,16 @@ package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.session;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractCommand;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariables;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariable;
 
 /**
  * Command for listing available variables.
  */
-public class ShowKeys extends AbstractCommand {
+public class ShowKeys extends AbstractCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public ShowKeys() {
-        super("keys");
+        super("keys", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -36,11 +37,13 @@ public class ShowKeys extends AbstractCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void execute(CommandLine cli) throws CommandException {
+    public VoidResult execute(CommandLine cli) throws CommandException {
         println();
-        for (final SessionVariables variable : SessionVariables.values()) {
+        for (final SessionVariable variable : SessionVariable.values()) {
             println("\t" + variable.getVariableName());
         }
         println();
+
+        return VoidResult.getInstance();
     }
 }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/command/session/ShowSession.java

@@ -21,16 +21,17 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Session;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.SessionException;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.AbstractCommand;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.VoidResult;
 
 import java.io.PrintStream;
 
 /**
  * Command to list all variables and their values.
  */
-public class ShowSession extends AbstractCommand {
+public class ShowSession extends AbstractCommand<VoidResult> {
 
     public ShowSession() {
-        super("show");
+        super("show", VoidResult.class);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -39,11 +40,12 @@ public class ShowSession extends AbstractCommand {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void execute(final CommandLine cli) throws CommandException {
+    public VoidResult execute(final CommandLine cli) throws CommandException {
         try {
             final Session session = getContext().getSession();
             final PrintStream printStream = getContext().getOutput();
             session.printVariables(printStream);
+            return VoidResult.getInstance();
         } catch (SessionException se) {
             throw new CommandException(se.getMessage(), se);
         }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/context/StandardContext.java

@@ -20,15 +20,10 @@ import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
 import org.apache.nifi.registry.client.NiFiRegistryClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ClientFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Session;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 
 import java.io.PrintStream;
-import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.HashMap;
-import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
  * Context for the CLI which will be passed to each command.
@@ -40,7 +35,6 @@ public class StandardContext implements Context {
     private final Session session;
     private final PrintStream output;
     private final boolean isInteractive;
-    private final Map<ResultType,ResultWriter> resultWriters;
 
     private StandardContext(final Builder builder) {
         this.niFiClientFactory = builder.niFiClientFactory;
@@ -48,21 +42,11 @@ public class StandardContext implements Context {
         this.session = builder.session;
         this.output = builder.output;
         this.isInteractive = builder.isInteractive;
-        this.resultWriters = Collections.unmodifiableMap(
-                builder.resultWriters == null ? Collections.emptyMap() : new HashMap<>(builder.resultWriters));
 
         Validate.notNull(this.niFiClientFactory);
         Validate.notNull(this.niFiRegistryClientFactory);
         Validate.notNull(this.session);
         Validate.notNull(this.output);
-        Validate.notNull(this.resultWriters);
-
-        // ensure every ResultType has a provided writer
-        for (final ResultType resultType : ResultType.values()) {
-            if (!resultWriters.containsKey(resultType)) {
-                throw new IllegalStateException("ResultWriter not found for " + resultType.name());
-            }
-        }
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -90,18 +74,6 @@ public class StandardContext implements Context {
         return isInteractive;
     }
 
-    @Override
-    public ResultWriter getResultWriter(final ResultType resultType) {
-        if (resultType == null) {
-            if (isInteractive()) {
-                return resultWriters.get(ResultType.SIMPLE);
-            } else {
-                return resultWriters.get(ResultType.JSON);
-            }
-        } else {
-            return resultWriters.get(resultType);
-        }
-    }
 
     public static class Builder {
         private ClientFactory<NiFiClient> niFiClientFactory;
@@ -109,7 +81,6 @@ public class StandardContext implements Context {
         private Session session;
         private PrintStream output;
         private boolean isInteractive;
-        private Map<ResultType,ResultWriter> resultWriters = new HashMap<>();
 
         public Builder nifiClientFactory(final ClientFactory<NiFiClient> niFiClientFactory) {
             this.niFiClientFactory = niFiClientFactory;
@@ -136,11 +107,6 @@ public class StandardContext implements Context {
             return this;
         }
 
-        public Builder resultWriter(final ResultType resultType, final ResultWriter writer) {
-            resultWriters.put(resultType, writer);
-            return this;
-        }
-
         public StandardContext build() {
             return new StandardContext(this);
         }

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/AbstractWritableResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.WritableResult;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.util.JacksonUtils;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+/**
+ * Base class for writable results that have either JSON or simple output.
+ *
+ * @param <T> the type of results
+ */
+public abstract class AbstractWritableResult<T> implements WritableResult<T> {
+
+    protected final ResultType resultType;
+
+    public AbstractWritableResult(final ResultType resultType) {
+        this.resultType = resultType;
+        Validate.notNull(resultType);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void write(final PrintStream output) throws IOException {
+        if (resultType == ResultType.JSON) {
+            writeJsonResult(output);
+        } else {
+            writeSimpleResult(output);
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected abstract void writeSimpleResult(PrintStream output)
+            throws IOException;
+
+    protected void writeJsonResult(PrintStream output) throws IOException {
+        JacksonUtils.write(getResult(), output);
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/BucketsResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.bucket.Bucket;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ReferenceResolver;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Referenceable;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.DynamicTableWriter;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.Table;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.TableWriter;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+
+/**
+ * Result for a list of buckets.
+ */
+public class BucketsResult extends AbstractWritableResult<List<Bucket>> implements Referenceable {
+
+    private final List<Bucket> buckets;
+
+    public BucketsResult(final ResultType resultType, final List<Bucket> buckets) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.buckets = buckets;
+        Validate.notNull(buckets);
+
+        // NOTE: it is important that the order the buckets are printed is the same order for the ReferenceResolver
+        this.buckets.sort(Comparator.comparing(Bucket::getName));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public List<Bucket> getResult() {
+        return buckets;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) {
+        if (buckets.isEmpty()) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final Table table = new Table.Builder()
+                .column("#", 3, 3, false)
+                .column("Name", 20, 36, true)
+                .column("Id", 36, 36, false)
+                .column("Description", 11, 40, true)
+                .build();
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < buckets.size(); ++i) {
+            final Bucket bucket = buckets.get(i);
+            table.addRow(String.valueOf(i + 1), bucket.getName(), bucket.getIdentifier(), bucket.getDescription());
+        }
+
+        final TableWriter tableWriter = new DynamicTableWriter();
+        tableWriter.write(table, output);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public ReferenceResolver createReferenceResolver(final Context context) {
+        final Map<Integer,Bucket> backRefs = new HashMap<>();
+        final AtomicInteger position = new AtomicInteger(0);
+        buckets.forEach(b -> backRefs.put(position.incrementAndGet(), b));
+
+        return new ReferenceResolver() {
+            @Override
+            public String resolve(final Integer position) {
+                final Bucket bucket = backRefs.get(position);
+                if (bucket != null) {
+                    if (context.isInteractive()) {
+                        context.getOutput().printf("Using a positional back-reference for '%s'%n", bucket.getName());
+                    }
+                    return bucket.getIdentifier();
+                } else {
+                    return null;
+                }
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public boolean isEmpty() {
+                return backRefs.isEmpty();
+            }
+        };
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/CurrentUserEntityResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.CurrentUserEntity;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+/**
+ * Result for CurrentUserEntity from NiFi.
+ */
+public class CurrentUserEntityResult extends AbstractWritableResult<CurrentUserEntity> {
+
+    private final CurrentUserEntity currentUserEntity;
+
+    public CurrentUserEntityResult(final ResultType resultType, final CurrentUserEntity currentUserEntity) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.currentUserEntity = currentUserEntity;
+        Validate.notNull(this.currentUserEntity);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public CurrentUserEntity getResult() {
+        return currentUserEntity;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) {
+        output.println(currentUserEntity.getIdentity());
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/CurrentUserResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.authorization.CurrentUser;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+/**
+ * Result for CurrentUser from registry.
+ */
+public class CurrentUserResult extends AbstractWritableResult<CurrentUser> {
+
+    private final CurrentUser currentUser;
+
+    public CurrentUserResult(final ResultType resultType, final CurrentUser currentUser) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.currentUser = currentUser;
+        Validate.notNull(this.currentUser);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public CurrentUser getResult() {
+        return currentUser;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) {
+        output.println(currentUser.getIdentity());
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/JsonResultWriter.java

@@ -1,111 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
- * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
- * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
- * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
- * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
-
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.authorization.CurrentUser;
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.bucket.Bucket;
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlow;
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.util.JacksonUtils;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.CurrentUserEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.ProcessGroupEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientsEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VariableRegistryEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionControlInformationEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.OutputStream;
-import java.io.PrintStream;
-import java.util.List;
-
-/**
- * ResultWriter implementation that uses Jackson to serialize to JSON.
- */
-public class JsonResultWriter implements ResultWriter {
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeBuckets(List<Bucket> buckets, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(buckets, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeBucket(Bucket bucket, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(bucket, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeFlows(List<VersionedFlow> versionedFlows, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(versionedFlows, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeFlow(VersionedFlow versionedFlow, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(versionedFlow, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeSnapshotMetadata(List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> versions, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(versions, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeSnapshotMetadata(VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata version, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(version, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeRegistryClients(RegistryClientsEntity clientsEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(clientsEntity, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeVariables(VariableRegistryEntity variableRegistryEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(variableRegistryEntity, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeSnapshotMetadata(VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeVersionControlInfo(VersionControlInformationEntity versionControlInformationEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(versionControlInformationEntity, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeProcessGroups(List<ProcessGroupEntity> processGroupEntities, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(processGroupEntities, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeCurrentUser(CurrentUserEntity currentUserEntity, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(currentUserEntity, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeCurrentUser(CurrentUser currentUser, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        write(currentUser, output);
-    }
-
-    private void write(final Object result, final OutputStream output) throws IOException {
-        JacksonUtils.write(result, output);
-    }
-
-}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/ProcessGroupsResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.ProcessGroupDTO;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.ProcessGroupEntity;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+/**
+ * Result for a list of ProcessGroupEntities.
+ */
+public class ProcessGroupsResult extends AbstractWritableResult<List<ProcessGroupEntity>> {
+
+    private final List<ProcessGroupEntity> processGroupEntities;
+
+    public ProcessGroupsResult(final ResultType resultType, final List<ProcessGroupEntity> processGroupEntities) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.processGroupEntities = processGroupEntities;
+        Validate.notNull(this.processGroupEntities);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public List<ProcessGroupEntity> getResult() {
+        return processGroupEntities;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) {
+        final List<ProcessGroupDTO> dtos = processGroupEntities.stream()
+                .map(e -> e.getComponent()).collect(Collectors.toList());
+
+        Collections.sort(dtos, Comparator.comparing(ProcessGroupDTO::getName));
+
+        dtos.stream().forEach(dto -> output.println(dto.getName() + " - " + dto.getId()));
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/RegistryClientIDResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.RegistryDTO;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+public class RegistryClientIDResult extends AbstractWritableResult<RegistryDTO> {
+
+    private final RegistryDTO registryDTO;
+
+    public RegistryClientIDResult(final ResultType resultType, final RegistryDTO registryDTO) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.registryDTO = registryDTO;
+        Validate.notNull(this.registryDTO);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) {
+        output.println(registryDTO.getId());
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public RegistryDTO getResult() {
+        return registryDTO;
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/RegistryClientsResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.DynamicTableWriter;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.Table;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.TableWriter;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.RegistryDTO;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientEntity;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientsEntity;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+/**
+ * Result for a RegistryClientsEntity.
+ */
+public class RegistryClientsResult extends AbstractWritableResult<RegistryClientsEntity> {
+
+    final RegistryClientsEntity registryClients;
+
+    public RegistryClientsResult(final ResultType resultType, final RegistryClientsEntity registryClients) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.registryClients = registryClients;
+        Validate.notNull(this.registryClients);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public RegistryClientsEntity getResult() {
+        return this.registryClients;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) {
+        final Set<RegistryClientEntity> clients = registryClients.getRegistries();
+        if (clients == null || clients.isEmpty()) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final List<RegistryDTO> registries = clients.stream().map(RegistryClientEntity::getComponent)
+                .sorted(Comparator.comparing(RegistryDTO::getName))
+                .collect(Collectors.toList());
+
+        final Table table = new Table.Builder()
+                .column("#", 3, 3, false)
+                .column("Name", 20, 36, true)
+                .column("Id", 36, 36, false)
+                .column("Uri", 3, Integer.MAX_VALUE, false)
+                .build();
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < registries.size(); i++) {
+            RegistryDTO r = registries.get(i);
+            table.addRow("" + (i+1), r.getName(), r.getId(), r.getUri());
+        }
+
+        final TableWriter tableWriter = new DynamicTableWriter();
+        tableWriter.write(table, output);
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/SimpleResultWriter.java

@@ -1,354 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
- * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
- * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
- * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
- * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
-
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.authorization.CurrentUser;
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.bucket.Bucket;
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlow;
-import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultWriter;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.ProcessGroupDTO;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.RegistryDTO;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VariableDTO;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VariableRegistryDTO;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VersionControlInformationDTO;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.CurrentUserEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.ProcessGroupEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientsEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VariableRegistryEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionControlInformationEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataEntity;
-import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.PrintStream;
-import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
-import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.Comparator;
-import java.util.Date;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Optional;
-import java.util.Set;
-import java.util.stream.Collectors;
-
-/**
- * ResultWriter implementation that writes simple human-readable output, primarily for use in the interactive CLI.
- */
-public class SimpleResultWriter implements ResultWriter {
-
-    public static final String DATE_FORMAT = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss (EEE)";
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeBuckets(List<Bucket> buckets, PrintStream output) {
-        if (buckets == null || buckets.isEmpty()) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        buckets.sort(Comparator.comparing(Bucket::getName));
-
-        output.println();
-
-        final int nameLength = buckets.stream().mapToInt(b -> b.getName().length()).max().orElse(20);
-        final int idLength = buckets.stream().mapToInt(b -> b.getIdentifier().length()).max().orElse(36);
-        // description can be empty
-        int descLength = buckets.stream().map(b -> Optional.ofNullable(b.getDescription()))
-                                               .filter(b -> b.isPresent())
-                                               .mapToInt(b -> b.get().length())
-                                               .max()
-                                               .orElse(40);
-        descLength = descLength < 40 ? 40 : descLength;
-
-        String headerPattern = String.format("#     %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", nameLength, idLength, descLength);
-        final String header = String.format(headerPattern, "Name", "Id", "Description");
-        output.println(header);
-
-        // a little clunky way to dynamically create a nice header line, but at least no external dependency
-        final String headerLinePattern = String.format("---   %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds",
-                                                       nameLength, idLength, descLength);
-        final String headerLine = String.format(headerLinePattern,
-                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(nameLength, "-")),
-                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(idLength, "-")),
-                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(descLength, "-")));
-        output.println(headerLine);
-
-        String rowPattern = String.format("%%-3d   %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", nameLength, idLength, descLength);
-
-        for (int i = 0; i < buckets.size(); ++i) {
-            Bucket bucket = buckets.get(i);
-            String s = String.format(rowPattern,
-                    i + 1,
-                    bucket.getName(),
-                    bucket.getIdentifier(),
-                    Optional.ofNullable(bucket.getDescription()).orElse("(empty)"));
-            output.println(s);
-
-        }
-
-        output.println();
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeBucket(Bucket bucket, PrintStream output) {
-        // this method is not used really, need context of List<Bucket>
-        if (bucket == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-        output.println(bucket.getName() + " - " + bucket.getIdentifier());
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeFlows(List<VersionedFlow> versionedFlows, PrintStream output) {
-        if (versionedFlows == null || versionedFlows.isEmpty()) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        versionedFlows.sort(Comparator.comparing(VersionedFlow::getName));
-
-        output.println();
-
-        final int nameLength = versionedFlows.stream().mapToInt(f -> f.getName().length()).max().orElse(20);
-        final int idLength = versionedFlows.stream().mapToInt(f -> f.getIdentifier().length()).max().orElse(36);
-        // description can be empty
-        int descLength = versionedFlows.stream().map(b -> Optional.ofNullable(b.getDescription()))
-                .filter(b -> b.isPresent())
-                .mapToInt(b -> b.get().length())
-                .max()
-                .orElse(40);
-        descLength = descLength < 40 ? 40 : descLength;
-
-        String headerPattern = String.format("#     %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", nameLength, idLength, descLength);
-        final String header = String.format(headerPattern, "Name", "Id", "Description");
-        output.println(header);
-
-        // a little clunky way to dynamically create a nice header line, but at least no external dependency
-        final String headerLinePattern = String.format("---   %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds",
-                nameLength, idLength, descLength);
-        final String headerLine = String.format(headerLinePattern,
-                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(nameLength, "-")),
-                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(idLength, "-")),
-                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(descLength, "-")));
-        output.println(headerLine);
-
-        String rowPattern = String.format("%%-3d   %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", nameLength, idLength, descLength);
-
-        for (int i = 0; i < versionedFlows.size(); ++i) {
-            VersionedFlow flow = versionedFlows.get(i);
-            String s = String.format(rowPattern,
-                    i + 1,
-                    flow.getName(),
-                    flow.getIdentifier(),
-                    Optional.ofNullable(flow.getDescription()).orElse("(empty)"));
-            output.println(s);
-
-        }
-
-        output.println();
-
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    // TODO drop as unused?
-    public void writeFlow(VersionedFlow versionedFlow, PrintStream output) {
-        if (versionedFlow == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-        output.println(versionedFlow.getName() + " - " + versionedFlow.getIdentifier());
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeSnapshotMetadata(List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> versions, PrintStream output) {
-        if (versions == null || versions.isEmpty()) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        versions.sort(Comparator.comparing(VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata::getVersion));
-
-        output.println();
-
-        // The following section will construct a table output with dynamic column width, based on the actual data.
-        // We dynamically create a pattern with item width, as Java's formatter won't process nested declarations.
-
-        // date length, with locale specifics
-        final String datePattern = "%1$ta, %<tb %<td %<tY %<tR %<tZ";
-        final int dateLength = String.format(datePattern, new Date()).length();
-
-        // anticipating LDAP long entries
-        final int authorLength = versions.stream().mapToInt(v -> v.getAuthor().length()).max().orElse(20);
-
-        // truncate comments if too long
-        int commentsLength = versions.stream().mapToInt(v -> v.getComments().length()).max().orElse(60);
-        commentsLength = commentsLength < 40 ? 40 : commentsLength;
-
-        String headerPattern = String.format("Ver   %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", dateLength, authorLength, commentsLength);
-        final String header = String.format(headerPattern, "Date", "Author", "Message");
-        output.println(header);
-
-        // a little clunky way to dynamically create a nice header line, but at least no external dependency
-        final String headerLinePattern = String.format("---   %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", dateLength, authorLength, commentsLength);
-        final String headerLine = String.format(headerLinePattern,
-                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(dateLength, "-")),
-                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(authorLength, "-")),
-                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(commentsLength, "-")));
-        output.println(headerLine);
-
-        String rowPattern = String.format("%%3d   %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", dateLength, authorLength, commentsLength);
-        versions.forEach(vfs -> {
-            String row = String.format(rowPattern,
-                    vfs.getVersion(),
-                    String.format(datePattern, new Date(vfs.getTimestamp())),
-                    vfs.getAuthor(),
-                    Optional.ofNullable(vfs.getComments()).orElse("(empty)"));
-            output.println(row);
-        });
-        output.println();
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    // TODO drop as unused?
-    public void writeSnapshotMetadata(VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata version, PrintStream output) {
-        if (version == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        final Date date = new Date(version.getTimestamp());
-        final SimpleDateFormat dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat(DATE_FORMAT);
-        output.println(version.getVersion() + " - " + dateFormatter.format(date) + " - " + version.getAuthor());
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeRegistryClients(RegistryClientsEntity clientsEntity, PrintStream output) {
-        if (clientsEntity == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        final Set<RegistryClientEntity> clients = clientsEntity.getRegistries();
-        if (clients == null || clients.isEmpty()) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        output.println();
-
-        final List<RegistryDTO> registries = clients.stream().map(RegistryClientEntity::getComponent)
-                                                            .sorted(Comparator.comparing(RegistryDTO::getName))
-                                                            .collect(Collectors.toList());
-
-        final int nameLength = registries.stream().mapToInt(r -> r.getName().length()).max().orElse(20);
-        final int idLength = registries.stream().mapToInt(r -> r.getId().length()).max().orElse(36);
-        final int uriLength = registries.stream().mapToInt(r -> r.getUri().length()).max().orElse(36);
-
-        String headerPattern = String.format("#     %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", nameLength, idLength, uriLength);
-        final String header = String.format(headerPattern, "Name", "Id", "Uri");
-        output.println(header);
-
-        // a little clunky way to dynamically create a nice header line, but at least no external dependency
-        final String headerLinePattern = String.format("---   %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", nameLength, idLength, uriLength);
-        final String headerLine = String.format(headerLinePattern,
-                                                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(nameLength, "-")),
-                                                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(idLength, "-")),
-                                                String.join("", Collections.nCopies(uriLength, "-")));
-        output.println(headerLine);
-
-        String rowPattern = String.format("%%3d   %%-%ds   %%-%ds   %%-%ds", nameLength, idLength, uriLength);
-        for (int i = 0; i < registries.size(); i++) {
-            RegistryDTO r = registries.get(i);
-            String row = String.format(rowPattern,
-                                       i + 1,
-                                       r.getName(),
-                                       r.getId(),
-                                       r.getUri());
-            output.println(row);
-        }
-
-        output.println();
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeVariables(VariableRegistryEntity variableRegistryEntity, PrintStream output) {
-        if (variableRegistryEntity == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        final VariableRegistryDTO variableRegistryDTO = variableRegistryEntity.getVariableRegistry();
-        if (variableRegistryDTO == null || variableRegistryDTO.getVariables() == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        final List<VariableDTO> variables = variableRegistryDTO.getVariables().stream().map(v -> v.getVariable()).collect(Collectors.toList());
-        Collections.sort(variables, Comparator.comparing(VariableDTO::getName));
-        variables.stream().forEach(v -> output.println(v.getName() + " - " + v.getValue()));
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeSnapshotMetadata(VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity, PrintStream output) {
-        if (versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        final Set<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataEntity> entities = versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity.getVersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSet();
-        if (entities == null || entities.isEmpty()) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        final List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> snapshots = entities.stream().map(v -> v.getVersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata()).collect(Collectors.toList());
-        writeSnapshotMetadata(snapshots, output);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeVersionControlInfo(VersionControlInformationEntity versionControlInformationEntity, PrintStream output) {
-        if (versionControlInformationEntity == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        final VersionControlInformationDTO dto = versionControlInformationEntity.getVersionControlInformation();
-        if (dto == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        output.println(dto.getRegistryName() + " - " + dto.getBucketName() + " - " + dto.getFlowName() + " - " + dto.getVersion());
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeProcessGroups(List<ProcessGroupEntity> processGroupEntities, PrintStream output) throws IOException {
-        if (processGroupEntities == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        final List<ProcessGroupDTO> dtos = processGroupEntities.stream().map(e -> e.getComponent()).collect(Collectors.toList());
-        Collections.sort(dtos, Comparator.comparing(ProcessGroupDTO::getName));
-
-        dtos.stream().forEach(dto -> output.println(dto.getName() + " - " + dto.getId()));
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeCurrentUser(CurrentUserEntity currentUserEntity, PrintStream output) {
-        if (currentUserEntity == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        output.println(currentUserEntity.getIdentity());
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void writeCurrentUser(CurrentUser currentUser, PrintStream output) {
-        if (currentUser == null) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        output.println(currentUser.getIdentity());
-    }
-}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/StringResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.WritableResult;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+/**
+ * Result for a single string value.
+ */
+public class StringResult implements WritableResult<String> {
+
+    private final String value;
+
+    public StringResult(final String value) {
+        this.value = value;
+        Validate.notNull(this.value);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getResult() {
+        return value;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void write(final PrintStream output) {
+        output.println(value);
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/VariableRegistryResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VariableDTO;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VariableRegistryDTO;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VariableRegistryEntity;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+/**
+ * Result for a VariableRegistryEntity.
+ */
+public class VariableRegistryResult extends AbstractWritableResult<VariableRegistryEntity> {
+
+    final VariableRegistryEntity variableRegistryEntity;
+
+    public VariableRegistryResult(final ResultType resultType, final VariableRegistryEntity variableRegistryEntity) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.variableRegistryEntity = variableRegistryEntity;
+        Validate.notNull(this.variableRegistryEntity);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public VariableRegistryEntity getResult() {
+        return variableRegistryEntity;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) {
+        final VariableRegistryDTO variableRegistryDTO = variableRegistryEntity.getVariableRegistry();
+        if (variableRegistryDTO == null || variableRegistryDTO.getVariables() == null) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final List<VariableDTO> variables = variableRegistryDTO.getVariables().stream().map(v -> v.getVariable()).collect(Collectors.toList());
+        Collections.sort(variables, Comparator.comparing(VariableDTO::getName));
+        variables.stream().forEach(v -> output.println(v.getName() + " - " + v.getValue()));
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/VersionControlInfoResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.VersionControlInformationDTO;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionControlInformationEntity;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+/**
+ * Result for VersionControlInformationEntity.
+ */
+public class VersionControlInfoResult extends AbstractWritableResult<VersionControlInformationEntity> {
+
+    private final VersionControlInformationEntity versionControlInformationEntity;
+
+    public VersionControlInfoResult(final ResultType resultType,
+                                    final VersionControlInformationEntity versionControlInformationEntity) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.versionControlInformationEntity = versionControlInformationEntity;
+        Validate.notNull(this.versionControlInformationEntity);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public VersionControlInformationEntity getResult() {
+        return versionControlInformationEntity;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) {
+        final VersionControlInformationDTO dto = versionControlInformationEntity.getVersionControlInformation();
+        if (dto == null) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        output.println(dto.getRegistryName() + " - " + dto.getBucketName() + " - " + dto.getFlowName() + " - " + dto.getVersion());
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.DynamicTableWriter;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.Table;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.TableWriter;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * Result for a list of VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata.
+ */
+public class VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult extends AbstractWritableResult<List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata>> {
+
+    private final List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> versions;
+
+    public VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult(final ResultType resultType, final List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> versions) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.versions = versions;
+        Validate.notNull(this.versions);
+        this.versions.sort(Comparator.comparing(VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata::getVersion));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> getResult() {
+        return this.versions;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) {
+        if (versions == null || versions.isEmpty()) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        // date length, with locale specifics
+        final String datePattern = "%1$ta, %<tb %<td %<tY %<tR %<tZ";
+        final int dateLength = String.format(datePattern, new Date()).length();
+
+        final Table table = new Table.Builder()
+                .column("Ver", 3, 3, false)
+                .column("Date", dateLength, dateLength, false)
+                .column("Author", 20, 200, true)
+                .column("Message", 8, 40, true)
+                .build();
+
+        versions.forEach(vfs -> {
+            table.addRow(
+                    String.valueOf(vfs.getVersion()),
+                    String.format(datePattern, new Date(vfs.getTimestamp())),
+                    vfs.getAuthor(),
+                    vfs.getComments()
+            );
+        });
+
+        final TableWriter tableWriter = new DynamicTableWriter();
+        tableWriter.write(table, output);
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.WritableResult;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataEntity;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+/**
+ * Result for VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity.
+ */
+public class VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetResult extends AbstractWritableResult<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity> {
+
+    private final VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity;
+
+    public VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetResult(final ResultType resultType,
+                                                  final VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity = versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity;
+        Validate.notNull(this.versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity getResult() {
+        return versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(final PrintStream output) throws IOException {
+        final Set<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataEntity> entities = versionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSetEntity.getVersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataSet();
+        if (entities == null || entities.isEmpty()) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> snapshots = entities.stream()
+                .map(v -> v.getVersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata()).collect(Collectors.toList());
+
+        final WritableResult<List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata>> result = new VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult(resultType, snapshots);
+        result.write(output);
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/VersionedFlowSnapshotResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshot;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.WritableResult;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.util.JacksonUtils;
+
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+/**
+ * Result for a VersionedFlowSnapshot.
+ *
+ * If this result was created with a non-null exportFileName, then the write method will ignore
+ * the passed in PrintStream, and will write the serialized snapshot to the give file.
+ *
+ * If this result was created with a null exportFileName, then the write method will write the
+ * serialized snapshot to the given PrintStream.
+ */
+public class VersionedFlowSnapshotResult implements WritableResult<VersionedFlowSnapshot> {
+
+    private final VersionedFlowSnapshot versionedFlowSnapshot;
+
+    private final String exportFileName;
+
+    public VersionedFlowSnapshotResult(final VersionedFlowSnapshot versionedFlowSnapshot, final String exportFileName) {
+        this.versionedFlowSnapshot = versionedFlowSnapshot;
+        this.exportFileName = exportFileName;
+        Validate.notNull(this.versionedFlowSnapshot);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public VersionedFlowSnapshot getResult() {
+        return versionedFlowSnapshot;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void write(final PrintStream output) throws IOException {
+        if (exportFileName != null) {
+            try (final OutputStream resultOut = new FileOutputStream(exportFileName)) {
+                JacksonUtils.write(versionedFlowSnapshot, resultOut);
+            }
+        } else {
+            JacksonUtils.write(versionedFlowSnapshot, output);
+        }
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/VersionedFlowsResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlow;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ReferenceResolver;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Referenceable;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.DynamicTableWriter;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.Table;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer.TableWriter;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+
+/**
+ * Result for a list of VersionedFlows.
+ */
+public class VersionedFlowsResult extends AbstractWritableResult<List<VersionedFlow>> implements Referenceable {
+
+    private final List<VersionedFlow> versionedFlows;
+
+    public VersionedFlowsResult(final ResultType resultType, final List<VersionedFlow> flows) {
+        super(resultType);
+        this.versionedFlows = flows;
+        Validate.notNull(this.versionedFlows);
+
+        // NOTE: it is important that the order the flows are printed is the same order for the ReferenceResolver
+        this.versionedFlows.sort(Comparator.comparing(VersionedFlow::getName));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public List<VersionedFlow> getResult() {
+        return versionedFlows;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void writeSimpleResult(PrintStream output) {
+        if (versionedFlows.isEmpty()) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final Table table = new Table.Builder()
+                .column("#", 3, 3, false)
+                .column("Name", 20, 36, true)
+                .column("Id", 36, 36, false)
+                .column("Description", 11, 40, true)
+                .build();
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < versionedFlows.size(); ++i) {
+            final VersionedFlow flow = versionedFlows.get(i);
+            table.addRow(String.valueOf(i + 1), flow.getName(), flow.getIdentifier(), flow.getDescription());
+        }
+
+        final TableWriter tableWriter = new DynamicTableWriter();
+        tableWriter.write(table, output);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public ReferenceResolver createReferenceResolver(final Context context) {
+        final Map<Integer,VersionedFlow> backRefs = new HashMap<>();
+        final AtomicInteger position = new AtomicInteger(0);
+        versionedFlows.forEach(f -> backRefs.put(position.incrementAndGet(), f));
+
+        return new ReferenceResolver() {
+            @Override
+            public String resolve(final Integer position) {
+                final VersionedFlow versionedFlow = backRefs.get(position);
+                if (versionedFlow != null) {
+                    if (context.isInteractive()) {
+                        context.getOutput().printf("Using a positional backreference for '%s'%n", versionedFlow.getName());
+                    }
+                    return versionedFlow.getIdentifier();
+                } else {
+                    return null;
+                }
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public boolean isEmpty() {
+                return backRefs.isEmpty();
+            }
+        };
+
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/Void.java

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+public final class Void {
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/VoidResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Result;
+
+/**
+ * Represents a result that has no real results.
+ */
+public class VoidResult implements Result<Void> {
+
+    private static final Void VOID = new Void();
+
+    private static final VoidResult INSTANCE = new VoidResult();
+
+    public static VoidResult getInstance() {
+        return INSTANCE;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Void getResult() {
+        return VOID;
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/writer/DynamicTableWriter.java

@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+public class DynamicTableWriter implements TableWriter {
+
+    @Override
+    public void write(final Table table, final PrintStream output) {
+        if (table == null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Table cannot be null");
+        }
+
+        if (output == null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Output cannot be null");
+        }
+
+        if (table.getColumns().isEmpty()) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Table has no columns to write");
+        }
+
+        output.println();
+
+        final List<TableColumn> columns = table.getColumns();
+        final List<String[]> rows = table.getRows();
+
+        final int numColumns = columns.size();
+        final Integer[] columnLengths = determineColumnLengths(columns, rows);
+        final List<String> columnNames = columns.stream().map(c -> c.getName()).collect(Collectors.toList());
+
+        final Object[] columnLengthsObj = Arrays.copyOf(columnLengths, numColumns, Object[].class);
+        final Object[] columnNamesObj = columnNames.toArray(new Object[numColumns]);
+
+        final String columnsPatternFormat = String.join("", Collections.nCopies(numColumns, "%%-%ds   "));
+        final String columnsPattern = String.format(columnsPatternFormat, columnLengthsObj);
+
+        // format the header line which will include the column names
+        final String header = String.format(columnsPattern, columnNamesObj);
+        output.println(header);
+
+        // a little clunky way to dynamically create a nice header line, but at least no external dependency
+        final Object[] headerLineValues = new Object[numColumns];
+        for (int i=0; i < numColumns; i++) {
+            int length = columnLengths[i];
+            headerLineValues[i] =  String.join("", Collections.nCopies(length, "-"));
+        }
+
+        final String headerLine = String.format(columnsPattern, headerLineValues);
+        output.println(headerLine);
+
+        // format the rows and print them
+        for (String[] row : rows) {
+            // convert the row to an Object[] for the String.format and also abbreviate any values
+            final Object[] rowValues = new Object[row.length];
+            for (int i=0; i < row.length; i++) {
+                final TableColumn column = columns.get(i);
+                if (column.isAbbreviated()) {
+                    rowValues[i] = StringUtils.abbreviate(row[i], columnLengths[i]);
+                } else {
+                    rowValues[i] = row[i];
+                }
+            }
+
+            final String rowString = String.format(columnsPattern, rowValues);
+            output.println(rowString);
+        }
+
+        output.println();
+        output.flush();
+    }
+
+    private Integer[] determineColumnLengths(final List<TableColumn> columns, final List<String[]> rows) {
+        final Integer[] columnLengths = new Integer[columns.size()];
+
+        for (int i=0; i < columns.size(); i++) {
+            final TableColumn column = columns.get(i);
+
+            int maxLengthInColumn = -1;
+
+            // find the max length of the values in the column
+            for (String[] row : rows) {
+                final String colVal = row[i];
+                if (colVal != null && colVal.length() > maxLengthInColumn) {
+                    maxLengthInColumn = colVal.length();
+                }
+            }
+
+            // if there were values for the column, then start with the min length of the column
+            if (maxLengthInColumn < 0) {
+                maxLengthInColumn = column.getMinLength();
+            }
+
+            // make sure the column length is at least as long as the column name
+            maxLengthInColumn = Math.max(maxLengthInColumn, column.getName().length());
+
+            // make sure the column length is not longer than the max length
+            columnLengths[i] = Math.min(maxLengthInColumn, column.getMaxLength());
+        }
+
+        return columnLengths;
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/writer/Table.java

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
+public class Table {
+
+    public static String EMPTY_VALUE = "(empty)";
+
+    private final List<TableColumn> columns;
+    private final List<String[]> rows = new ArrayList<>();
+
+    private Table(final Builder builder) {
+        this.columns = Collections.unmodifiableList(
+                builder.columns == null ? Collections.emptyList() : new ArrayList<>(builder.columns));
+
+        if (this.columns.isEmpty()) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot create a table with no columns");
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void addRow(String ... values) {
+        if (values == null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Values cannot be null");
+        }
+
+        if (values.length != columns.size()) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Row has " + values.length
+                    + " columns, but table has " + columns.size() + " columns");
+        }
+
+        // fill in any null values in the row with the empty value
+        for (int i=0; i < values.length; i++) {
+            if (values[i] == null) {
+                values[i] = EMPTY_VALUE;
+            }
+        }
+
+        this.rows.add(values);
+    }
+
+    public List<TableColumn> getColumns() {
+        return columns;
+    }
+
+    public List<String[]> getRows() {
+        return rows;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Builder for a Table.
+     */
+    public static class Builder {
+
+        private final List<TableColumn> columns = new ArrayList<>();
+
+        public Builder column(final TableColumn column) {
+            if (column == null) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("TableColumn cannot be null");
+            }
+            this.columns.add(column);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        public Builder column(final String name, int minLength, int maxLength, boolean abbreviate) {
+            final TableColumn column = new TableColumn(name, minLength, maxLength, abbreviate);
+            return column(column);
+        }
+
+        public Table build() {
+            return new Table(this);
+        }
+
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/writer/TableColumn.java

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+
+public class TableColumn {
+
+    private final String name;
+    private final int minLength;
+    private final int maxLength;
+    private final boolean abbreviate;
+
+    public TableColumn(final String name, final int minLength, final int maxLength) {
+        this(name, minLength, maxLength, false);
+    }
+
+    public TableColumn(final String name, final int minLength, final int maxLength, final boolean abbreviate) {
+        this.name = name;
+        this.minLength = minLength;
+        this.maxLength = maxLength;
+        this.abbreviate = abbreviate;
+        Validate.notBlank(this.name);
+        Validate.isTrue(this.minLength > 0);
+        Validate.isTrue(this.maxLength > 0);
+        Validate.isTrue(this.maxLength >= this.minLength);
+    }
+
+    public String getName() {
+        return name;
+    }
+
+    public int getMinLength() {
+        return minLength;
+    }
+
+    public int getMaxLength() {
+        return maxLength;
+    }
+
+    public boolean isAbbreviated() {
+        return abbreviate;
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/writer/TableWriter.java

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer;
+
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+/**
+ * A writer capable of printing a table to a stream.
+ */
+public interface TableWriter {
+
+    /**
+     * Writes the given table to the given PrintStream.
+     *
+     * @param table a table to write
+     * @param output the stream to write to
+     */
+    void write(Table table, PrintStream output);
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/session/SessionVariable.java

@@ -22,14 +22,14 @@ import java.util.List;
 /**
  * Possible variables that can be set in the session.
  */
-public enum SessionVariables {
+public enum SessionVariable {
 
     NIFI_CLIENT_PROPS("nifi.props"),
     NIFI_REGISTRY_CLIENT_PROPS("nifi.reg.props");
 
     private final String variableName;
 
-    SessionVariables(final String variableName) {
+    SessionVariable(final String variableName) {
         this.variableName = variableName;
     }
 
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ public enum SessionVariables {
         return this.variableName;
     }
 
-    public static SessionVariables fromVariableName(final String variableName) {
-        for (final SessionVariables variable : values()) {
+    public static SessionVariable fromVariableName(final String variableName) {
+        for (final SessionVariable variable : values()) {
             if (variable.getVariableName().equals(variableName)) {
                 return variable;
             }
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ public enum SessionVariables {
 
     public static List<String> getAllVariableNames() {
         final List<String> names = new ArrayList<>();
-        for (SessionVariables variable : values()) {
+        for (SessionVariable variable : values()) {
             names.add(variable.getVariableName());
         }
         return names;

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/NiFiCLIMainRunner.java

@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ClientFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandGroup;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Session;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.NiFiClientFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.NiFiRegistryClientFactory;
@@ -29,8 +28,6 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandProcessor;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.context.StandardContext;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.JsonResultWriter;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.SimpleResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.InMemorySession;
 
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -38,7 +35,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
 public class NiFiCLIMainRunner {
 
     public static void main(String[] args) {
-        final String[] cmdArgs = ("nifi-reg create-bucket -bn FOO -p src/test/resources/test.properties " +
+        final String[] cmdArgs = ("registry list-buckets help " +
                 "").split("[ ]");
 
         final Session session = new InMemorySession();
@@ -50,8 +47,6 @@ public class NiFiCLIMainRunner {
                 .session(session)
                 .nifiClientFactory(niFiClientFactory)
                 .nifiRegistryClientFactory(nifiRegClientFactory)
-                .resultWriter(ResultType.SIMPLE, new SimpleResultWriter())
-                .resultWriter(ResultType.JSON, new JsonResultWriter())
                 .build();
 
         final Map<String,Command> commands = CommandFactory.createTopLevelCommands(context);

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/TestCLICompleter.java

@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ClientFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Command;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.CommandGroup;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Context;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.Session;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.NiFiClientFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.NiFiRegistryClientFactory;
@@ -29,10 +28,8 @@ import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.client.nifi.NiFiClient;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.CommandFactory;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.command.registry.NiFiRegistryCommandGroup;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.context.StandardContext;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.JsonResultWriter;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.SimpleResultWriter;
 import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.InMemorySession;
-import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariables;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.session.SessionVariable;
 import org.jline.reader.Candidate;
 import org.jline.reader.LineReader;
 import org.jline.reader.impl.DefaultParser;
@@ -65,8 +62,6 @@ public class TestCLICompleter {
                 .session(session)
                 .nifiClientFactory(niFiClientFactory)
                 .nifiRegistryClientFactory(nifiRegClientFactory)
-                .resultWriter(ResultType.SIMPLE, new SimpleResultWriter())
-                .resultWriter(ResultType.JSON, new JsonResultWriter())
                 .build();
 
         final Map<String,Command> commands = CommandFactory.createTopLevelCommands(context);
@@ -195,7 +190,7 @@ public class TestCLICompleter {
         final List<Candidate> candidates = new ArrayList<>();
         completer.complete(lineReader, parsedLine, candidates);
         assertTrue(candidates.size() > 0);
-        assertEquals(SessionVariables.values().length, candidates.size());
+        assertEquals(SessionVariable.values().length, candidates.size());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -207,7 +202,7 @@ public class TestCLICompleter {
                 Arrays.asList(
                         topCommand,
                         subCommand,
-                        SessionVariables.NIFI_CLIENT_PROPS.getVariableName(),
+                        SessionVariable.NIFI_CLIENT_PROPS.getVariableName(),
                         "src/test/resources/"),
                 3, -1, -1);
 

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/TestBucketsResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.bucket.Bucket;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.UUID;
+
+public class TestBucketsResult {
+
+    private ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream;
+    private PrintStream printStream;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setup() {
+        this.outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        this.printStream = new PrintStream(outputStream, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWritingSimpleBucketsResult() throws IOException {
+        final Bucket b1 = new Bucket();
+        b1.setName("Bucket 1");
+        b1.setDescription("This is bucket 1");
+        b1.setIdentifier(UUID.fromString("ea752054-22c6-4fc0-b851-967d9a3837cb").toString());
+
+        final Bucket b2 = new Bucket();
+        b2.setName("Bucket 2");
+        b2.setDescription(null);
+        b2.setIdentifier(UUID.fromString("ddf5f289-7502-46df-9798-4b0457c1816b").toString());
+
+        final List<Bucket> buckets = new ArrayList<>();
+        buckets.add(b1);
+        buckets.add(b2);
+
+        final BucketsResult result = new BucketsResult(ResultType.SIMPLE, buckets);
+        result.write(printStream);
+
+        final String resultOut = new String(outputStream.toByteArray(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        //System.out.println(resultOut);
+
+        final String expected = "\n" +
+                "#   Name       Id                                     Description        \n" +
+                "-   --------   ------------------------------------   ----------------   \n" +
+                "1   Bucket 1   ea752054-22c6-4fc0-b851-967d9a3837cb   This is bucket 1   \n" +
+                "2   Bucket 2   ddf5f289-7502-46df-9798-4b0457c1816b   (empty)            \n" +
+                "\n";
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, resultOut);
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/TestRegistryClientResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.dto.RegistryDTO;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientEntity;
+import org.apache.nifi.web.api.entity.RegistryClientsEntity;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.UUID;
+
+public class TestRegistryClientResult {
+
+    private ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream;
+    private PrintStream printStream;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setup() {
+        this.outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        this.printStream = new PrintStream(outputStream, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWriteSimpleRegistryClientsResult() throws IOException {
+        final RegistryDTO r1 = new RegistryDTO();
+        r1.setName("Registry 1");
+        r1.setUri("http://thisisalonglonglonglonglonglonglonglonglonguri.com:18080");
+        r1.setId(UUID.fromString("ea752054-22c6-4fc0-b851-967d9a3837cb").toString());
+
+        final RegistryDTO r2 = new RegistryDTO();
+        r2.setName("Registry 2 with a longer than usual name");
+        r2.setUri("http://localhost:18080");
+        r2.setId(UUID.fromString("ddf5f289-7502-46df-9798-4b0457c1816b").toString());
+
+        final RegistryClientEntity clientEntity1 = new RegistryClientEntity();
+        clientEntity1.setId(r1.getId());
+        clientEntity1.setComponent(r1);
+
+        final RegistryClientEntity clientEntity2 = new RegistryClientEntity();
+        clientEntity2.setId(r2.getId());
+        clientEntity2.setComponent(r2);
+
+        final Set<RegistryClientEntity> clientEntities = new HashSet<>();
+        clientEntities.add(clientEntity1);
+        clientEntities.add(clientEntity2);
+
+        final RegistryClientsEntity registryClientsEntity = new RegistryClientsEntity();
+        registryClientsEntity.setRegistries(clientEntities);
+
+        final RegistryClientsResult result = new RegistryClientsResult(ResultType.SIMPLE, registryClientsEntity);
+        result.write(printStream);
+
+        final String resultOut = new String(outputStream.toByteArray(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        //System.out.println(resultOut);
+
+        final String expected = "\n" +
+                "#   Name                                   Id                                     Uri                                                               \n" +
+                "-   ------------------------------------   ------------------------------------   ---------------------------------------------------------------   \n" +
+                "1   Registry 1                             ea752054-22c6-4fc0-b851-967d9a3837cb   http://thisisalonglonglonglonglonglonglonglonglonguri.com:18080   \n" +
+                "2   Registry 2 with a longer than usu...   ddf5f289-7502-46df-9798-4b0457c1816b   http://localhost:18080                                            \n" +
+                "\n";
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, resultOut);
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/TestVersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.text.ParseException;
+import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+public class TestVersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult {
+
+    private ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream;
+    private PrintStream printStream;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setup() {
+        this.outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        this.printStream = new PrintStream(outputStream, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWriteSimpleVersionedFlowSnapshotResult() throws ParseException, IOException {
+        final SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss");
+
+        final VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata vfs1 = new VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata();
+        vfs1.setVersion(1);
+        vfs1.setAuthor("user1");
+        vfs1.setTimestamp(dateFormat.parse("2018-02-14T12:00:00").getTime());
+        vfs1.setComments("This is a long comment, longer than the display limit for comments");
+
+        final VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata vfs2 = new VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata();
+        vfs2.setVersion(2);
+        vfs2.setAuthor("user2");
+        vfs2.setTimestamp(dateFormat.parse("2018-02-14T12:30:00").getTime());
+        vfs2.setComments("This is v2");
+
+        final List<VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadata> versions = new ArrayList<>();
+        versions.add(vfs1);
+        versions.add(vfs2);
+
+        final VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult result = new VersionedFlowSnapshotMetadataResult(ResultType.SIMPLE, versions);
+        result.write(printStream);
+
+        final String resultOut = new String(outputStream.toByteArray(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        //System.out.println(resultOut);
+
+        final String expected = "\n" +
+                "Ver   Date                         Author   Message                                    \n" +
+                "---   --------------------------   ------   ----------------------------------------   \n" +
+                "1     Wed, Feb 14 2018 12:00 EST   user1    This is a long comment, longer than t...   \n" +
+                "2     Wed, Feb 14 2018 12:30 EST   user2    This is v2                                 \n" +
+                "\n";
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, resultOut);
+    }
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/TestVersionedFlowsResult.java

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result;
+
+import org.apache.nifi.registry.flow.VersionedFlow;
+import org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.api.ResultType;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.UUID;
+
+public class TestVersionedFlowsResult {
+
+    private ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream;
+    private PrintStream printStream;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setup() {
+        this.outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        this.printStream = new PrintStream(outputStream, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWriteSimpleVersionedFlowsResult() throws IOException {
+        final VersionedFlow f1 = new VersionedFlow();
+        f1.setName("Flow 1");
+        f1.setDescription("This is flow 1");
+        f1.setIdentifier(UUID.fromString("ea752054-22c6-4fc0-b851-967d9a3837cb").toString());
+
+        final VersionedFlow f2 = new VersionedFlow();
+        f2.setName("Flow 2");
+        f2.setDescription(null);
+        f2.setIdentifier(UUID.fromString("ddf5f289-7502-46df-9798-4b0457c1816b").toString());
+
+        final List<VersionedFlow> flows = new ArrayList<>();
+        flows.add(f1);
+        flows.add(f2);
+
+        final VersionedFlowsResult result = new VersionedFlowsResult(ResultType.SIMPLE, flows);
+        result.write(printStream);
+
+        final String resultOut = new String(outputStream.toByteArray(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        //System.out.println(resultOut);
+
+        final String expected = "\n" +
+                "#   Name     Id                                     Description      \n" +
+                "-   ------   ------------------------------------   --------------   \n" +
+                "1   Flow 1   ea752054-22c6-4fc0-b851-967d9a3837cb   This is flow 1   \n" +
+                "2   Flow 2   ddf5f289-7502-46df-9798-4b0457c1816b   (empty)          \n" +
+                "\n";
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, resultOut);
+    }
+
+}

nifi-toolkit/nifi-toolkit-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/toolkit/cli/impl/result/writer/TestDynamicTableWriter.java

@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.nifi.toolkit.cli.impl.result.writer;
+
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+
+public class TestDynamicTableWriter {
+
+    private Table table;
+    private TableWriter tableWriter;
+
+    private ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream;
+    private PrintStream printStream;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setup() {
+        this.table = new Table.Builder()
+                .column("#", 3, 3, false)
+                .column("Name", 20, 36, true)
+                .column("Id", 36, 36, false)
+                .column("Description", 11, 40, true)
+                .build();
+
+        this.tableWriter = new DynamicTableWriter();
+
+        this.outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        this.printStream = new PrintStream(outputStream, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWriteEmptyTable() {
+        tableWriter.write(table, printStream);
+
+        final String result = new String(outputStream.toByteArray(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        //System.out.println(result);
+
+        final String expected = "\n" +
+                "#     Name                   Id                                     Description   \n" +
+                "---   --------------------   ------------------------------------   -----------   \n" +
+                "\n";
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, result);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDynamicTableWriter() {
+        table.addRow(
+                "1",
+                "Bucket 1",
+                "12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345",
+                ""
+        );
+
+        table.addRow(
+                "2",
+                "Bucket 2 - This is a really really really long name",
+                "12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345",
+                "This is a really really really really really really really really really really long description"
+        );
+
+        table.addRow(
+                "3",
+                "Bucket 3",
+                "12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345",
+                null
+        );
+
+        tableWriter.write(table, printStream);
+
+        final String result = new String(outputStream.toByteArray(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        //System.out.println(result);
+
+        final String expected = "\n" +
+                "#   Name                                   Id                                    Description                                \n" +
+                "-   ------------------------------------   -----------------------------------   ----------------------------------------   \n" +
+                "1   Bucket 1                               12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345                                              \n" +
+                "2   Bucket 2 - This is a really reall...   12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345   This is a really really really really...   \n" +
+                "3   Bucket 3                               12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345   (empty)                                    \n" +
+                "\n";
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, result);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWhenAllDescriptionsAreEmpty() {
+        table.addRow("1", "Bucket 1", "12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345", null);
+        table.addRow("2", "Bucket 2", "12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345", null);
+        tableWriter.write(table, printStream);
+
+        final String result = new String(outputStream.toByteArray(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        //System.out.println(result);
+
+        final String expected ="\n" +
+                "#   Name       Id                                    Description   \n" +
+                "-   --------   -----------------------------------   -----------   \n" +
+                "1   Bucket 1   12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345   (empty)       \n" +
+                "2   Bucket 2   12345-12345-12345-12345-12345-12345   (empty)       \n" +
+                "\n";
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, result);
+    }
+
+}