NAME

Data::ShortNameProvider - Generate short names with style

SYNOPSIS

Create a name provider:

    my $np = Data::ShortNameProvider->new(
        style           => 'Basic',       # default
        timestamp_epoch => 1400023019,    # defaults to time()
        max_name_length => 32,            # croak if a longer name is generated

        # style-specific arguments
        prefix  => 'dbit',
        version => 1,
    );

Generate a shortname:

    $short_name = $np->generate_name('foo');   # returns "dbit1_140513__foo"

Parse a generated shortname:

    $hash = $np->parse_generated_name($short_name);

$hash contains something like:

    # depends on the style
    {
        prefix          => 'dbit',
        version         => 1,
        timestamp       => '140513',
        timestamp_epoch => 1400023019,
        name            => 'foo',
    }

or undef if $short_name could not be parsed as a short name generated with that style.

Check if a string is parsable:

    my @names = grep { $np->is_generated_name($_) } @names;

DESCRIPTION

Create short names that encode a timestamp and a fixed label in a format that's unlikely to match normal names.

A typical use-case would be the creation of database table names or file names in situations where you need to minimize the risk of clashing with existing items.

The generated names can be detected and parsed to extract the timestamp and other components.

ATTRIBUTES

style

The fully-qualified name of the style class that actually generates the short names.

If the constructor argument does not contain the :: package separator, the style name is considered to be a short-cut and will be prefixed with Data::ShortNameProvider::Style:: to produce the fully-qualified style class name.

max_name_length

A maximum length constraint on the generated short names.

"generate_name" will die if the "short name" returned by the style is longer than max_name_length.

Setting max_name_length to 0 removes this constraint.

provider

The instance of "style" to which most of the actual work is delegated.

METHODS

generate_name

    my $short_name = $dsnp->generate_name($name);

Delegated to the "provider" object, but enforces some additional restrictions ("max_name_length").

parse_generated_name

    my $hash = $dsnp->parse_generated_name($short_name);

Parses a name that was generated by the "provider" class, and returns its constituents as a hash reference.

Delegates to the "provider" object, and add the "style" and "max_name_length" keys, so that one is always be able to make a copy of the object by doing:

    my $clone = Data::ShortNameProvider->new($hash);

is_generated_name

    if( $dsnp->is_generated_name( $name ) ) { ... }

Return a boolean indicating if the $name string could have been generated by this provider.

Delegated to the "provider" object.

timestamp_epoch

This is a read-write accessor to the provider's timestamp_epoch attribute.

Delegated to the "provider" object.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This module is based on an idea and proposal by Tim Bunce, on the dbi-dev mailing-list.

The initial thread about Test::Database shortcomings: http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.dbi.dev/2014/04/msg7792.html

Tim's proposal for a short name provider: http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.dbi.dev/2014/05/msg7815.html

The first implementaion of the module was written during the first two days of the Perl QA Hackathon 2015 in Berlin (with Tim Bunce providing extensive feedback on IRC). Many thanks to TINITA for organizing this event!

AUTHOR

Philippe Bruhat (BooK), <book@cpan.org>.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2014-2015 Philippe Bruhat (BooK), all rights reserved.

LICENSE

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

cpanm Data::ShortNameProvider

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Data::ShortNameProvider