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NAME

Reflex::Role::Writing - add buffered non-blocking syswrite() to a class

VERSION

This document describes version 0.097, released on March 15, 2012.

SYNOPSIS

TODO - Changed again. It would be stellar if I could include a different bit of code as a synopsis or something, huh?

        package OutputStreaming;
        use Reflex::Role;

        attribute_parameter handle       => "handle";
        callback_parameter  cb_error     => qw( on handle error );
        method_parameter    method_put   => qw( put handle _ );
        method_parameter    method_stop  => qw( stop handle _ );
        method_parameter    method_flush => qw( _flush handle writable );

        role {
                my $p = shift;

                my $att_handle         = $p->handle();
                my $cb_error  = $p->cb_error();

                with 'Reflex::Role::Writing' => {
                        handle        => $att_handle,
                        cb_error      => $p->cb_error(),
                        method_put    => $p->method_put(),
                        method_flush  => $p->method_flush(),
                };

                with 'Reflex::Role::Writable' => {
                        handle        => $att_handle,
                        cb_ready      => $p->method_flush(),
                };

DESCRIPTION

Reflex::Role::Readable implements a standard nonblocking sysread() feature so that it may be added to classes as needed.

There's a lot going on in the SYNOPSIS.

Reflex::Role::Writing defines methods that will perform non-blocking, buffered syswrite() on a named "handle". It has a single callback, "cb_error", that is invoked if syswrite() ever returns an error. It defines a method, "method_put", that is used to write new data to the handle---or buffer data if it can't be written immediately. "method_flush" is defined to flush buffered data when possible.

Reflex::Role::Writable implements the other side of the Writable/Writing contract. It wastches a "handle" and invokes "cb_ready" whenever the opportunity to write new data arises. It defines a few methods, two of which allow the watcher to be paused and resumed.

The Writable and Writing roles are generally complementary. Their defaults allow them to fit together more succinctly than (and less understandably than) shown in the SYNOPSIS.

Attribute Role Parameters

handle

handle names an attribute holding the handle to be watched for writable readiness.

Callback Role Parameters

cb_error

cb_error names the $self method that will be called whenever the stream produces an error. By default, this method will be the catenation of "on_", the handle name, and "_error". As in on_XYZ_error(), if the handle is named "XYZ". The role defines a default callback that will emit an "error" event with cb_error()'s parameters, then will call stopped() so that streams managed by Reflex::Collection will be automatically cleaned up after stopping.

cb_error callbacks receive two parameters, $self and an anonymous hashref of named values specific to the callback. Reflex error callbacks include three standard values. errfun contains a single word description of the function that failed. errnum contains the numeric value of $! at the time of failure. errstr holds the stringified version of $!.

Values of $! are passed as parameters since the global variable may change before the callback can be invoked.

When overriding this callback, please be sure to call stopped(), which is provided by Reflex::Role::Collectible. Calling stopped() is vital for collectible objects to be released from memory when managed by Reflex::Collection.

Method Role Parameters

method_put

This role genrates a method to write data to the handle in the "handle" attribute. The "method_put" role parameter specifies the name of this generated method. The method's name will be "put_${handle_name}" by default.

The generated method will immediately attempt to write data if the role's buffer is empty. If the buffer contains data, however, then the new data will be appended there to maintain the ordering of data in the stream. Any data that could not be written during "method_put" will be added to the buffer as well.

The "method_put" implementation will call "method_resume_writable" to enable background flushing, as needed.

The generated "method_put" will return a numeric code representing the current state of the role's output buffer. Undef if syswrite failed, after "cb_error" has been called. It returns 0 if the buffer is still empty after the syswrite(). It returns 1 if the buffer begins to contain data, or 2 if the buffer already contained data and now holds more.

The return code is intended to control Reflex::Role::Writable, via some glue code in the class or role that consumes both. When "method_put" returns 1, the consumer should begin triggering "method_flush" calls on writability callbacks. The consumer should stop writability callbacks when "method_flush" returns 0 (no more octets in the buffer).

method_flush

This role generates a method to flush data that had to be buffered by previous "method_put" calls. It's designed to be used with some kind of callback system, such as Reflex::Role::Writable's callbacks.

The "method_flush" implementation returns undef on error. It will return the number of octets remaining in the buffer, or zero if the buffer has been completely flushed.

The "method_flush" return value may be used to disable writability watchers, such as the one provided by Reflex::Role::Writable. See the source for Reflex::Role::Streaming for an up-to-date example.

TODO

There's always something.

EXAMPLES

Reflex::Role::Streaming is an up-to-date example.

SEE ALSO

Please see those modules/websites for more information related to this module.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

No bugs have been reported.

Please report any bugs or feature requests through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Reflex.

AUTHOR

Rocco Caputo <rcaputo@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2012 by Rocco Caputo.

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

AVAILABILITY

The latest version of this module is available from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN). Visit http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ to find a CPAN site near you, or see http://search.cpan.org/dist/Reflex/.

The development version lives at http://github.com/rcaputo/reflex and may be cloned from git://github.com/rcaputo/reflex.git. Instead of sending patches, please fork this project using the standard git and github infrastructure.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

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