NAME

Workflow::Lite - A very simplistic workflow framework

SYNOPSIS

  package MyWorkflow;

  use namespace::clean;
  use Workflow::Lite;

  steps
    START => sub {
      my ( $self, $text ) = @_;

      print 'This is the START step: ', $text, "\n";
      $self->flow( 'foo' );

      reverse $text
    },

    foo => sub {
      my ( $self, $text ) = @_;

      print 'This is the foo step: ', $text, "\n";
      $self->flow( 'bar' );

      reverse $text
    },
  ;

  step bar => sub {
    my ( $self, $text ) = @_;

    print 'This is the bar step: ', $text, "\n";
    $self->end;

    reverse $text
  };

  1

  ...

  my $wf = MyWorkflow->new;

  my @words = qw( Bar Foo Start );

  while( $wf->is_flowing ) {
    my $rv = $wf->work( pop @words );
    print '  -> ', $rv, "\n";
  }

DESCRIPTION

Workflow::Lite is a very simple framework for defining and implementing workflows. This module is actually just a wrapper that provides helpers for implementing a workflow object.

Workflows are simply collections of steps that are able to flow to each other as necessary. They are implemented as Moose objects so that attributes can be defined to preserve stateful information between steps. The main functionality for workflows is implemented as a Moose role which is installed automatically when useing Workflow::Lite. This module also exports Moose for convenience.

Steps are simply named CodeRefs that perform the actions necessary when a workflow needs to execute a particular step. This module provides helpers to make it easy to define workflow steps. Steps are purposely not implemented as object methods to keep from cluttering up the class's method namespace.

When a workflow object is instantiated, it's initialized to work from the start step (the default is named 'START'). Calls to the work() method will execute step handlers which may call the flow() method to move to another step. The end() method is used to terminate a workflow. Subsequent calls to work() will result in an exception being thrown if a workflow has ended. The is_flowing() method can be used to check if a workflow is still active or not.

Arguments can be passed to individual step handlers by simply passing them to the work() method. The return from a step handler is passed through work() to the caller as-is.

EXPORTED FUNCTIONS

step $name => $code

Used to define a step named $name with the handler $code.

steps $name => $code, [...]

Same as above, but allows multiple steps to be defined at once.

BUGS

None are known at this time, but if you find one, please feel free to submit a report to the author.

AUTHOR

jason hord <pravus@cpan.org>

SEE ALSO

Workflow::Lite::Registry

Workflow::Lite::Role::Workflow

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2011-2014, jason hord

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.