feat: add share code utility to program using 2 new flags on the users cli command

still need to add it to the TUI utility as a command

src/cmd/users.go

@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 package cmd
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
+	"maps"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
+	"slices"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -28,6 +31,39 @@ func UsersCmd() *cobra.Command {
 				update_msg()
 			}
 
+			s, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool("share")
+			if s && len(args) == 0 {
+				encoded := utils.SerealizeUsers(slices.Collect(maps.Values(utils.Users)))
+				fmt.Print(encoded)
+				os.Exit(0)
+			} else if s && len(args) >= 1 {
+				var users []utils.User
+				for _, name := range args {
+					users = append(users, utils.Users[name])
+				}
+				encoded := utils.SerealizeUsers(users)
+				fmt.Print(encoded)
+				os.Exit(0)
+			}
+
+			i, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool("import")
+			if i && len(args) == 1 {
+				added_users := utils.UnserealizeUsers(args[0])
+				if len(added_users) == 0 {
+					fmt.Println("\033[33mNo authors added (authors probably already existed or corrupted \"share code\")\033[0m")
+					os.Exit(0)
+				}
+
+				fmt.Println("\033[32mAuthors added:\033[0m")
+				for _, usr := range added_users {
+					fmt.Println("\033[32m+\033[0m ", usr)
+				}
+				os.Exit(0)
+			} else {
+				fmt.Println("\033[33mNo \"share code\", please run the flag with a valid \"share code\"\033[0m")
+				os.Exit(0)
+			}
+
 			//TODO: make this print a bit prettier (sort it and maybe use a table)
 			// check if the no pretty print flag is set
 			np, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool("np")
@@ -63,4 +99,6 @@ func init() {
 	usersCmd := UsersCmd()
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(usersCmd)
 	usersCmd.Flags().BoolP("np", "n", false, "No pretty print of the users")
+	usersCmd.Flags().BoolP("share", "s", false, "Shares one or more users as a \"share code\" (encoded json)")
+	usersCmd.Flags().BoolP("import", "i", false, "Imports users from \"share code\" (encoded json)")
 }

src/cmd/utils/author_file_utils.go

@@ -136,6 +136,58 @@ func CreateAuthor(user User) {
 		Define_users(Find_authorfile())
 }
 
+func CreateMultipleAuthors(users []User) []string {
+	if len(users) == 0 {
+		return []string{}
+	}
+
+	var added_users []string
+
+	for _, usr := range users {
+		if _, ok := Users[usr.Shortname]; !ok {
+			added_users = append(added_users, (usr.Username + " - " + usr.Email + "\n"))
+			Users[usr.Shortname] = usr
+			Users[usr.Longname] = usr
+			Authors.Authors[usr.Longname] = usr
+
+			group_info := usr.Groups
+			if len(group_info) > 0 {
+				for _, group := range group_info {
+					if Groups[group] == nil {
+						Groups[group] = []User{usr}
+					} else {
+						usr_lst := Groups[group]
+						usr_lst = append(usr_lst, usr)
+						Groups[group] = usr_lst
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	data, err := json.MarshalIndent(Authors, "", "    ")
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("Error marshalling json: %v", err))
+	}
+
+	author_file := Find_authorfile()
+	f, err := os.OpenFile(author_file, os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE|os.O_TRUNC, 0600)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	// write the data to the file
+	f.Truncate(0)
+	f.Seek(0, 0)
+	f.Write(data)
+	f.Close()
+
+	Define_users(Find_authorfile())
+
+	return added_users
+}
+
 func DeleteOneAuthor(author string) {
 	// check that users aren't empty
 	if len(Users) < 1 {

src/cmd/utils/user_util.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"slices"
 
+	"encoding/base64"
 	"encoding/json"
 )
 
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ type User struct {
 	Email     string   `json:"email"`
 	Ex        bool     `json:"ex"`
 	Groups    []string `json:"groups"`
-	From_git  bool
+	From_git  bool     `json:"from_git,omitempty"`
 }
 
 type Author struct {
@@ -134,3 +135,25 @@ func TempAddUser(username, email string) {
 
 	Users[username] = usr
 }
+
+func SerealizeUsers(users []User) string {
+	bytes, err := json.Marshal(users)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	encoded := base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(bytes)
+
+	return encoded
+}
+
+func UnserealizeUsers(encoded string) []string {
+	users := []User{}
+
+	raw, _ := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(encoded)
+	json.Unmarshal(raw, &users)
+
+	added_users := CreateMultipleAuthors(users)
+
+	return added_users
+}