NAME

MooseX::CustomInitArgs - define multiple init args with custom processing

SYNOPSIS

   package Circle {
      use Moose;
      use MooseX::CustomInitArgs;
      
      has radius => (
         is        => 'ro',
         isa       => 'Num',
         required  => 1,
         init_args => [
            'r',
            'diameter' => sub { $_ / 2 },
         ],
      );
   }
   
   # All three are equivalent...
   my $circle = Circle->new(radius => 1);
   my $circle = Circle->new(r => 1);
   my $circle = Circle->new(diameter => 2);

DESCRIPTION

MooseX::CustomInitArgs allows Moose attributes to be initialized from alternative initialization arguments. If you find yourself wishing that Moose's built-in init_arg option took an arrayref, then this is what you want.

MooseX::MultiInitArg also does this, but MooseX::CustomInitArgs has an additional feature: it can optionally pre-process each initialization argument. This happens prior to type coercian and constraint checks.

(Also at the time of writing, MooseX::MultiInitArg suffers from a bug where it breaks when a class is immutablized.)

The constructor cannot be called with multiple initialization arguments for the same attribute. Given the class in the example, this would throw an error:

   my $circle = Circle->new(radius => 1, diameter => 100);

The following would also throw an error, even though it's slightly more sensible:

   my $circle = Circle->new(radius => 1, diameter => 2);

The init_args attribute option is conceptually a hash mapping initialization argument names to methods which pre-process them. The methods can be given as coderefs, or the names of class methods as strings (or scalar refs).

You can provide this hash mapping as an actual hashref, or (as in the "SYNOPSIS") as an arrayref suitable for input to Data::OptList. In either case it will be coerced to MooseX::CustomInitArgs's internal representation which is a Data::OptList-style arrayref of arrayrefs.

Interaction with type constraints and coercion

Normally, custom init arg coderefs run before the value has been through type constraint checks and coercions. This allows the coderef to massage the value into passing its type constraint checks.

However, if you wish to run type constraint checks before the coderef, use the after_typecheck helper:

   init_args => [
      'r',
      'diameter' => after_typecheck { $_ / 2 },
   ],

(There's a corresponding before_typecheck helper for clarity.)

After the coderef has been run, type constraint checks and coercions will happen again on the result.

CAVEATS

init_args cannot be used on attributes with init_arg => undef. MooseX::CustomInitArgs will throw an error if you do.

BUGS

Please report any bugs to http://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=MooseX-CustomInitArgs.

SEE ALSO

MooseX::MultiInitArg, MooseX::FunkyAttributes.

AUTHOR

Toby Inkster <tobyink@cpan.org>.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

This software is copyright (c) 2013 by Toby Inkster.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

cpanm MooseX::CustomInitArgs

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install MooseX::CustomInitArgs