NAME

Module::Generic - Generic Module to inherit from

SYNOPSIS

    package MyModule;
    BEGIN
    {
        use strict;
        use warnings;
        use parent qw( Module::Generic );
    };

    sub init
    {
        my $self = shift( @_ );
        # Requires parameters provided to have their equivalent method
        $self->{_init_strict_use_sub} = 1;
        # Smartly accepts key-value pairs as list or hash reference
        $self->SUPER::init( @_ );
        # This won't be affected by parameters provided during instantiation
        $self->{_private_param} = 'some value';
        return( $self );
    }
    
    sub active { return( shift->_set_get_boolean( 'active', @_ ) ); }
    sub address { return( shift->_set_get_object( 'address', 'My::Address', @_ ) ); }
    sub age { return( shift->_set_get_number( 'age', @_ ) ); }
    sub name { return( shift->_set_get_scalar( 'name', @_ ) ); }
    sub discount
    {
        return( shift->_set_get_class_array( 'discount',
        {
        amount      => { type => 'number' },
        discount    => { type => 'object', class => 'My::Discount' },
        }, @_ ) );
    }
    sub settings 
    {
        return( shift->_set_get_class( 'settings',
        {
        # Will create a Module::Generic::Array array object of objects of class MY::Item
        items => { type => 'object_array_object', class => 'My::Item' },
        notify => { type => 'boolean' },
        resumes_at => { type => 'datetime' },
        timeout => { type => 'integer' },
        customer => {
                definition => {
                    billing_address => { package => "My::Address", type => "object" },
                    email => { type => "scalar" },
                    name => { type => "scalar" },
                    shipping_address => { package => "My::Address", type => "object" },
                },
                type => "class",
            },
        }, @_ ) );
    }

VERSION

    v0.15.4

DESCRIPTION

Module::Generic as its name says it all, is a generic module to inherit from. It is designed to provide a useful framework and speed up coding and debugging. It contains standard and support methods that may be superseded by your module.

It also contains an AUTOLOAD transforming any hash object key into dynamic methods and also recognize the dynamic routine a la AutoLoader. The reason is that while AutoLoader provides the user with a convenient AUTOLOAD, I wanted a way to also keep the functionnality of Module::Generic AUTOLOAD that were not included in AutoLoader. So the only solution was a merger.

METHODS

import

import() is used for the AutoLoader mechanism and hence is not a public method. It is just mentionned here for info only.

new

new will create a new object for the package, pass any argument it might receive to the special standard routine init that must exist. Then it returns what returns "init".

To protect object inner content from sneaking by third party, you can declare the package global variable OBJECT_PERMS and give it a Unix permission, but only 1 digit. It will then work just like Unix permission. That is, if permission is 7, then only the module who generated the object may read/write content of the object. However, if you set 5, the, other may look into the content of the object, but may not modify it. 7, as you would have guessed, allow other to modify the content of an object. If OBJECT_PERMS is not defined, permissions system is not activated and hence anyone may access and possibly modify the content of your object.

If the module runs under mod_perl, it is recognised and a clean up registered routine is declared to Apache to clean up the content of the object.

as_hash

This will recursively transform the object into an hash suitable to be encoded in json.

It does this by calling each method of the object and build an hash reference with the method name as the key and the method returned value as the value.

If the method returned value is an object, it will call its "as_hash" method if it supports it.

It returns the hash reference built

clear

Alias for "clear_error"

clear_error

Clear all error from the object and from the available global variable $ERROR.

This is a handy method to use at the beginning of other methods of calling package, so the end user may do a test such as:

    $obj->some_method( 'some arguments' );
    die( $obj->error() ) if( $obj->error() );

    ## some_method() would then contain something like:
    sub some_method
    {
        my $self = shift( @_ );
        ## Clear all previous error, so we may set our own later one eventually
        $self->clear_error();
        ## ...
    }

This way the end user may be sure that if $obj-error()> returns true something wrong has occured.

clone

Clone the current object if it is of type hash or array reference. It returns an error if the type is neither.

It returns the clone.

colour_close

The marker to be used to set the closing of a command line colour sequence.

Defaults to ">"

colour_closest

Provided with a colour, this returns the closest standard one supported by terminal.

A colour provided can be a colour name, or a 9 digits rgb value or an hexadecimal value

colour_format

Provided with a hash reference of parameters, this will return a string properly formatted to display colours on the command line.

Parameters are:

text or message

This is the text to be formatted in colour.

bgcolour or bgcolor or bg_colour or bg_color

The value for the background colour.

colour or color or fg_colour or fg_color or fgcolour or fgcolor

The value for the foreground colour.

Valid value can be a colour name, an rgb value like 255255255, a rgb annotation like rgb(255, 255, 255) or a rgba annotation like rgba(255,255,255,0.5)

A colour can be preceded by the words light or bright to provide slightly lighter colour where supported.

Similarly, if an rgba value is provided, and the opacity is less than 1, this is equivalent to using the keyword light

It returns the text properly formatted to be outputted in a terminal.

style

The possible values are: bold, italic, underline, blink, reverse, conceal, strike

colour_open

The marker to be used to set the opening of a command line colour sequence.

Defaults to "<"

colour_parse

Provided with a string, this will parse the string for colour formatting. Formatting can be encapsulated in another formatting, and can be expressed in 2 different ways. For example:

    $self->colour_parse( "And {style => 'i|b', color => green}what about{/} {style => 'blink', color => yellow}me{/} ?" );

would result with the words what about in italic, bold and green colour and the word me in yellow colour blinking (if supported).

Another way is:

    $self->colour_parse( "And {bold light red on white}what about{/} {underline yellow}me too{/} ?" );

would return a string with the words what about in light red bold text on a white background, and the words me too in yellow with an underline.

    $self->colour_parse( "Hello {bold red on white}everyone! This is {underline rgb(0,0,255)}embedded{/}{/} text..." );

would return a string with the words everyone! This is in bold red characters on white background and the word embedded in underline blue color

The idea for this syntax, not the code, is taken from Term::ANSIColor

colour_to_rgb

Convert a human colour keyword like red, green into a rgb equivalent.

coloured

Provided with a colouring preference expressed as the first argument as string, and followed by 1 or more arguments that are concatenated to form the text string to format. For example:

    print( $o->coloured( 'bold white on red', "Hello it's me!\n" ) );

A colour can be expressed as a rgb, such as :

    print( $o->coloured( 'underline rgb( 0, 0, 255 ) on white', "Hello everyone!" ), "\n" );

rgb can also be rgba with the last decimal, normally an opacity used here to set light color if the value is less than 1. For example :

    print( $o->coloured( 'underline rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5)', "Hello everyone!" ), "\n" );

debug

Set or get the debug level. This takes and return an integer.

Based on the value, "message" will or will not print out messages. For example :

    $self->debug( 2 );
    $self->message( 2, "Debugging message here." );

Since 2 used in "message" is equal to the debug value, the debugging message is printed.

If the debug value is switched to 1, the message will be silenced.

dump

Provided with some data, this will return a string representation of the data formatted by Data::Printer

dump_print

Provided with a file to write to and some data, this will format the string representation of the data using Data::Printer and save it to the given file.

dumper

Provided with some data, and optionally an hash reference of parameters as last argument, this will create a string representation of the data using Data::Dumper and return it.

This sets Data::Dumper to be terse, to indent, to use qq and optionally to not exceed a maximum depth if it is provided in the argument hash reference.

dumpto

Alias for "dumpto_dumper"

printer

Same as "dumper", but using Data::Printer to format the data.

dumpto_printer

Same as "dump_print" above that is an alias of this method.

dumpto_dumper

Same as "dumpto_printer" above, but using Data::Dumper

errno

Sets or gets an error number.

error

Set the current error issuing a Module::Generic::Exception object, call "warn" in perlfunc, or $r-warn> under Apache2 modperl, and returns undef() or an empty list in list context:

    if( $some_condition )
    {
        return( $self->error( "Some error." ) );
    }

Note that you do not have to worry about a trailing line feed sequence. error() takes care of it.

The script calling your module could write calls to your module methods like this:

    my $cust_name = $object->customer->name ||
        die( "Got an error in file ", $object->error->file, " at line ", $object->error->line, ": ", $object->error->trace, "\n" );
    # or simply:
    my $cust_name = $object->customer->name ||
        die( "Got an error: ", $object->error, "\n" );

Note also that by calling error() it will not clear the current error. For that you have to call clear_error() explicitly.

Also, when an error is set, the global variable ERROR is set accordingly. This is especially usefull, when your initiating an object and that an error occured. At that time, since the object could not be initiated, the end user can not use the object to get the error message, and then can get it using the global module variable ERROR, for example:

    my $obj = Some::Package->new ||
    die( $Some::Package::ERROR, "\n" );

If the caller has disabled warnings using the pragma no warnings, "error" will respect it and not call warn. Calling warn can also be silenced if the object has a property quiet set to true.

The error message can be split in multiple argument. "error" will concatenate each argument to form a complete string. An argument can even be a reference to a sub routine and will get called to get the resulting string, unless the object property _msg_no_exec_sub is set to false. This can switched off with the method "noexec"

If perl runs under Apache2 modperl, and an error handler is set with "error_handler", this will call the error handler with the error string.

If an Apache2 modperl log handler has been set, this will also be called to log the error.

If the object property fatal is set to true, this will call die instead of "warn" in perlfunc.

Last, but not least since "error" returns undef in scalar context or an empty list in list context, if the method that triggered the error is chained, it would normally generate a perl error that the following method cannot be called on an undefined value. To solve this, when an object is expected, "error" returns a special object from module Module::Generic::Null that will enable all the chained methods to be performed and return the error when requested to. For example :

    my $o = My::Package->new;
    my $total $o->get_customer(10)->products->total || die( $o->error, "\n" );

Assuming this method here get_customer returns an error, the chaining will continue, but produce nothing and ultimately returns undef.

error_handler

Sets or gets a code reference that will be called to handle errors that have been triggered when calling "error"

errors

Used by error() to store the error sent to him for history.

It returns an array of all error that have occured in lsit context, and the last error in scalar context.

errstr

Set/get the error string, period. It does not produce any warning like error would do.

get

Uset to get an object data key value:

    $obj->set( 'verbose' => 1, 'debug' => 0 );
    ## ...
    my $verbose = $obj->get( 'verbose' );
    my @vals = $obj->get( qw( verbose debug ) );
    print( $out "Verbose level is $vals[ 0 ] and debug level is $vals[ 1 ]\n" );

This is no more needed, as it has been more conveniently bypassed by the AUTOLOAD generic routine with which you may say:

    $obj->verbose( 1 );
    $obj->debug( 0 );
    ## ...
    my $verbose = $obj->verbose();

Much better, no?

init

This is the "new" package object initializer. It is called by "new" and is used to set up any parameter provided in a hash like fashion:

    my $obj My::Module->new( 'verbose' => 1, 'debug' => 0 );

You may want to superseed "init" to have suit your needs.

"init" needs to returns the object it received in the first place or an error if something went wrong, such as:

    sub init
    {
        my $self = shift( @_ );
        my $dbh  = DB::Object->connect() ||
        return( $self->error( "Unable to connect to database server." ) );
        $self->{ 'dbh' } = $dbh;
        return( $self );
    }

In this example, using "error" will set the global variable $ERROR that will contain the error, so user can say:

    my $obj = My::Module->new() || die( $My::Module::ERROR );

If the global variable VERBOSE, DEBUG, VERSION are defined in the module, and that they do not exist as an object key, they will be set automatically and accordingly to those global variable.

The supported data type of the object generated by the "new" method may either be a hash reference or a glob reference. Those supported data types may very well be extended to an array reference in a near future.

When provided with an hash reference, and when object property _init_strict_use_sub is set to true, "init" will call each method corresponding to the key name and pass it the key value and it will set an error and skip it if the corresponding method does not exist. Otherwise if the object property _init_strict is set to true, it will check the object property matching the hash key for the default value type and set an error and return undef if it does not match. Foe example, "init" in your module could be like this:

    sub init
    {
        my $self = shift( @_ );
        $self->{_init_strict} = 1;
        $self->{products} = [];
        return( $self->SUPER::init( @_ ) );
    }

Then, if init is called like this:

    $object->init({ products => $some_string_but_not_array }) || die( $object->error, "\n" );

This would cause your script to die, because products value is a string and not an array reference.

Otherwise, if none of those special object properties are set, the init will create an object property matching the key of the hash and set its value accordingly. For example :

    sub init
    {
        my $self = shift( @_ );
        return( $self->SUPER::init( @_ ) );
    }

Then, if init is called like this:

    $object->init( products => $array_ref, first_name => 'John', last_name => 'Doe' });

The object would then contain the properties products, first_name and last_name and can be accessed as methods, such as :

    my $fname = $object->first_name;

log_handler

Provided a reference to a sub routine or an anonymous sub routine, this will set the handler that is called by "message"

It returns the current value set.

message

message() is used to display verbose/debug output. It will display something to the extend that either verbose or debug are toggled on.

If so, all debugging message will be prepended by ## by default or the prefix string specified with the prefix option, to highlight the fact that this is a debugging message.

Addionally, if a number is provided as first argument to message(), it will be treated as the minimum required level of debugness. So, if the current debug state level is not equal or superior to the one provided as first argument, the message will not be displayed.

For example:

    ## Set debugness to 3
    $obj->debug( 3 );
    ## This message will not be printed
    $obj->message( 4, "Some detailed debugging stuff that we might not want." );
    ## This will be displayed
    $obj->message( 2, "Some more common message we want the user to see." );

Now, why debug is used and not verbose level? Well, because mostly, the verbose level needs only to be true, that is equal to 1 to be efficient. You do not really need to have a verbose level greater than 1. However, the debug level usually may have various level.

Also, the text provided can be separated by comma, and even be a code reference, such as:

    $self->message( 2, "I have found", "something weird here:", sub{ $self->dumper( $data ) } );

If the object has a property _msg_no_exec_sub set to true, then a code reference will not be called and instead be added to the string as is. This can be done simply like this:

    $self->noexec->message( 2, "I have found", "something weird here:", sub{ $self->dumper( $data ) } );

"message" also takes an optional hash reference as the last parameter with the following recognised options:

caller_info

This is a boolean value, which is true by default.

When true, this will prepend the debug message with information about the caller of "message"

level

An integer. Debugging level.

message

The text of the debugging message. This is optional since this can be provided as first or consecutive arguments like in a list as demonstrated in the example above. This allows you to do something like this:

    $self->message( 2, { message => "Some debug message here", prefix => ">>" });

    $self->message( { message => "Some debug message here", prefix => ">>", level => 2 });

no_encoding

Boolean value. If true and when the debugging is set to be printed to a file, this will not set the binmode to utf-8

prefix

By default this is set to ##. This value is used as the prefix used in debugging output.

type

Type of debugging

message_check

This is called by "message"

Provided with a list of arguments, this method will check if the first argument is an integer and find out if a debug message should be printed out or not. It returns the list of arguments as an array reference.

message_color

Alias for "message_colour"

message_colour

This is the same as "message", except this will check for colour formatting, which "message" does not do. For example:

    $self->message_colour( 3, "And {bold light white on red}what about{/} {underline green}me again{/} ?" );

"message_colour" can also be called as message_color

See also "colour_format" and "colour_parse"

message_frame

Return the optional hash reference of parameters, if any, that can be provided as the last argument to "message"

messagef

This works like "sprintf" in perlfunc, so provided with a format and a list of arguments, this print out the message. For example :

    $self->messagef( 1, "Customer name is %s", $cust->name );

Where 1 is the debug level set with "debug"

messagef_colour

This method is same as "message_colour" and messagef combined.

It enables to pass sprintf-like parameters while enabling colours.

message_log

This is called from "message".

Provided with a message to log, this will check if "message_log_io" returns a valid file handler, presumably to log file, and if so print the message to it.

If no file handle is set, this returns undef, other it returns the value from $io-print>

message_log_io

Set or get the message log file handle. If set, "message_log" will use it to print messages received from "message"

If no argument is provided bu your module has a global variable LOG_DEBUG set to true and global variable DEB_LOG set presumably to the file path of a log file, then this attempts to open in write mode the log file.

It returns the current log file handle, if any.

new_array

Instantiate a new Module::Generic::Array object. If any arguments are provided, it will pass it to "new" in Module::Generic::Array and return the object.

new_file

Instantiate a new Module::Generic::File object. If any arguments are provided, it will pass it to "new" in Module::Generic::File and return the object.

new_hash

Instantiate a new Module::Generic::Hash object. If any arguments are provided, it will pass it to "new" in Module::Generic::Hash and return the object.

new_null

Returns a null value based on the expectations of the caller and thus without breaking the caller's call flow.

If the caller wants an hash reference, it returns an empty hash reference.

If the caller wants an array reference, it returns an empty array reference.

If the caller wants a code reference, it returns an anonymous subroutine that returns undef or an empty list.

If the caller is calling another method right after, this means this is an object context and "new_null" will instantiate a new Module::Generic::Null object. If any arguments were provided to "new_null", they will be passed along to "new" in Module::Generic::Null and the new object will be returned.

In any other context, undef is returned or an empty list.

Without using "new_null", if you return simply undef, like:

    my $val = $object->return_false->[0];
    
    sub return_false{ return }

The above would trigger an error that the value returned by return_false is not an array reference. Instead of checking on the recipient end what kind of returned value was returned, the caller only need to check if it is defined or not, no matter the context in which it is called.

For example:

    my $this = My::Object->new;
    my $val  = $this->call1;
    # return undef)
    
    # object context
    $val = $this->call1->call_again;
    # $val is undefined
    
    # hash reference context
    $val = $this->call1->fake->{name};
    # $val is undefined
    
    # array reference context
    $val = $this->call1->fake->[0];
    # $val is undefined

    # code reference context
    $val = $this->call1->fake->();
    # $val is undefined

    # scalar reference context
    $val = ${$this->call1->fake};
    # $val is undefined

    # simple scalar
    $val = $this->call1->fake;
    # $val is undefined

    package My::Object;
    use parent qw( Module::Generic );

    sub call1
    {
        return( shift->call2 );
    }

    sub call2 { return( shift->new_null ); }

    sub call_again
    {
        my $self = shift( @_ );
        print( "Got here in call_again\n" );
        return( $self );
    }

This technique is also used by "error" to set an error object and return undef but still allow chaining beyond the error. See "error" and Module::Generic::Exception for more information.

new_number

Instantiate a new Module::Generic::Number object. If any arguments are provided, it will pass it to "new" in Module::Generic::Number and return the object.

new_scalar

Instantiate a new Module::Generic::Scalar object. If any arguments are provided, it will pass it to "new" in Module::Generic::Scalar and return the object.

new_tempdir

Returns a new temporary directory by calling "tempdir" in Module::Generic::File

new_tempfile

Returns a new temporary directory by calling "tempfile" in Module::Generic::File

noexec

Sets the module property _msg_no_exec_sub to true, so that any call to "message" whose arguments include a reference to a sub routine, will not try to execute the code. For example, imagine you have a sub routine such as:

    sub hello
    {
        return( "Hello !" );
    }

And in your code, you write:

    $self->message( 2, "Someone said: ", \&hello );

If _msg_no_exec_sub is set to false (by default), then the above would print out the following message:

    Someone said Hello !

But if _msg_no_exec_sub is set to true, then the same would rather produce the following :

    Someone said CODE(0x7f9103801700)

pass_error

Provided with an error, typically a Module::Generic::Exception object, but it could be anything as long as it is an object, hopefully an exception object, this will set the error value to the error provided, and without issuing any new warning nor creating a new Module::Generic::Exception object.

It makes it possible to pass the error along so the caller can retrieve it later. This is typically used by a method calling another one in another module that produced an error. For example :

    sub getCustomerInfo
    {
        my $self = shift( @_ );
        # Maybe a LWP::UserAgent sub class?
        my $client = $self->lwp_client_object;
        my $res = $client->get( $remote_api_endpoint ) ||
            return( $self->pass_error( $client->error ) );
    }

Then :

    my $client_info = $object->getCustomerInfo || die( $object->error, "\n" );

Which would return the http client error that has been passed along

quiet

Set or get the object property quiet to true or false. If this is true, no warning will be issued when "error" is called.

save

Provided with some data and a file path, or alternatively an hash reference of options with the properties data, encoding and file, this will write to the given file the provided data using the encoding encoding.

This is designed to simplify the tedious task of write to files.

If it cannot open the file in write mode, or cannot print to it, this will set an error and return undef. Otherwise this returns the size of the file in bytes.

set

set() sets object inner data type and takes arguments in a hash like fashion:

    $obj->set( 'verbose' => 1, 'debug' => 0 );

subclasses

Provided with a CLASS value, this method try to guess all the existing sub classes of the provided CLASS.

If CLASS is not provided, the class into which was blessed the calling object will be used instead.

It returns an array of subclasses in list context and a reference to an array of those subclasses in scalar context.

If an error occured, undef is returned and an error is set accordingly. The latter can be retrieved using the error method.

true

Returns a true variable from Module::Generic::Boolean

false

Returns a false variable from Module::Generic::Boolean

verbose

Set or get the verbosity level with an integer.

will

This will try to find out if an object supports a given method call and returns the code reference to it or undef if none is found.

AUTOLOAD

The special AUTOLOAD() routine is called by perl when no matching routine was found in the module.

AUTOLOAD() will then try hard to process the request. For example, let's assue we have a routine foo.

It will first, check if an equivalent entry of the routine name that was called exist in the hash reference of the object. If there is and that more than one argument were passed to this non existing routine, those arguments will be stored as a reference to an array as a value of the key in the object. Otherwise the single argument will simply be stored as the value of the key of the object.

Then, if called in list context, it will return a array if the value of the key entry was an array reference, or a hash list if the value of the key entry was a hash reference, or finally the value of the key entry.

If this non existing routine that was called is actually defined, the routine will be redeclared and the arguments passed to it.

If this fails too, it will try to check for an AutoLoadable file in auto/PackageName/routine_name.al

If the filed exists, it will be required, the routine name linked into the package name space and finally called with the arguments.

If the require process failed or if the AutoLoadable routine file did not exist, AUTOLOAD() will check if the special routine EXTRA_AUTOLOAD() exists in the module. If it does, it will call it and pass it the arguments. Otherwise, AUTOLOAD will die with a message explaining that the called routine did not exist and could not be found in the current class.

SPECIAL METHODS

__instantiate_object

Provided with an object property name, and a class/package name, this will attempt to load the module if it is not already loaded. It does so using "load_class" in Class::Load. Once loaded, it will init an object passing it the other arguments received. It returns the object instantiated upon success or undef and sets an "error"

This is a support method used by "_instantiate_object"

_instantiate_object

This does the same thing as "__instantiate_object" and the purpose is for this method to be potentially superseded in your own module. In your own module, you would call "__instantiate_object"

_get_args_as_array

Provided with arguments and this support method will return the arguments provided as an array reference irrespective of whether they were initially provided as array reference or a simple array.

For example:

    my $array = $self->_get_args_as_array(qw( those are arguments ));
    # returns an array reference containing: 'those', 'are', 'arguments'
    my $array = $self->_get_args_as_array( [qw( those are arguments )] );
    # same result as previous example
    my $array = $self->_get_args_as_array(); # no args provided
    # returns an empty array reference

_get_args_as_hash

Provided with arguments and this support method will return the arguments provided as hash reference irrespective of whether they were initially provided as hash reference or a simple hash.

For example:

    my $ref = $self->_get_args_as_hash( first => 'John', last => 'Doe' );
    # returns hash reference { first => 'John', last => 'Doe' }
    my $ref = $self->_get_args_as_hash({ first => 'John', last => 'Doe' });
    # same result as previous example
    my $res = $self->_get_args_as_hash(); # no args provided
    # returns an empty hash reference

However, this will return empty:

    my $ref = $self->_get_args_as_hash( { age => 42, city => 'Tokyo' }, some_other => 'parameter' );

This returns an empty hash reference, because although the first parameter is an hash reference, there is more than on parameter.

_is_a

Provided with an object and a package name and this will return true if the object is a blessed object from this package name (or a sub package of it), or false if not.

The value of this is to reduce the burden of having to check whether the object actually exists, i.e. is not null or undef, if it is an object and if it is from that class. This allows to do it in just one method call like this:

    if( $self->_is_a( $obj, 'My::Package' ) )
    {
        # Do something
    }

Of course, if you are sure the object is actually an object, then you can directly do:

    if( $obj->isa( 'My::Package' ) )
    {
        # Do something
    }

_is_class_loadable

Takes a module name and an optional version number and this will check if the module exist and can be loaded by looking at the @INC and using version to compare required version and existing version.

It returns true if the module can be loaded or false otherwise.

_is_class_loaded

Provided with a class/package name, this returns true if the module is already loaded or false otherwise.

_is_array

Provided with some data, this checks if the data is of type array, even if it is an object.

This uses "reftype" in Scalar::Util to achieve that purpose. So for example, an object such as :

    package My::Module;

    sub new
    {
        return( bless( [] => ( ref( $_[0] ) || $_[0] ) ) );
    }

This would produce an object like :

    My::Module=ARRAY(0x7f8f3b035c20)

When checked with "_is_array" this, would return true just like an ordinary array.

If you would use :

    ref( $object );

It would rather return the module package name: My::Module

_is_hash

Same as "_is_array", but for hash reference.

_is_object

Provided with some data, this checks if the data is an object. It uses "blessed" in Scalar::Util to achieve that purpose.

_is_scalar

Provided with some data, this checks if the data is of type scalar reference, e.g. SCALAR(0x7fc0d3b7cea0), even if it is an object.

_load_class

Provided with a class/package name and this will attempt to load the module. This uses "load_class" in Class::Load to achieve that purpose and return whatever value "load_class" in Class::Load returns.

_obj2h

This ensures the module object is an hash reference, such as when the module object is based on a file handle for example. This permits Module::Generic to work no matter what is the underlying data type blessed into an object.

_parse_timestamp

Provided with a string representing a date or datetime, and this will try to parse it and return a DateTime object. It will also create a DateTime::Format::Strptime to preserve the original date/datetime string representation and assign it to the DateTime object. So when the DateTime object is stringified, it displays the same string that was originally parsed.

_set_get

Provided with an object property name and some value and this will set or get that value for that property.

However, if the value stored is an array and is called in list context, it will return the array as a list and not the array reference. Same thing for an hash reference. It will return an hash in list context. In scalar context, it returns whatever the value is, such as array reference, hash reference or string, etc.

_set_get_array

Provided with an object property name and some data and this will store the data as an array reference.

It returns the current value stored, such as an array reference notwithstanding it is called in list or scalar context.

Example :

    sub products { return( shift->_set_get_array( 'products', @_ ) ); }

_set_get_array_as_object

Provided with an object property name and some data and this will store the data as an object of Module::Generic::Array

If this is called with no data set, an object is created with no data inside and returned

Example :

    # In your module
    sub products { return( shift->_set_get_array_as_object( 'products', @_ ) ); }

And using your method:

    printf( "There are %d products\n", $object->products->length );
    $object->products->push( $new_product );

_set_get_boolean

Provided with an object property name and some data and this will store the data as a boolean value.

If the data provided is a JSON::PP::Boolean or Module::Generic::Boolean object, the data is stored as is.

If the data is a scalar reference, its referenced value is check and "true" in Module::Generic::Boolean or "false" in Module::Generic::Boolean is set accordingly.

If the data is a string with value of true or val "true" in Module::Generic::Boolean or "false" in Module::Generic::Boolean is set accordingly.

Otherwise the data provided is checked if it is a true value or not and "true" in Module::Generic::Boolean or "false" in Module::Generic::Boolean is set accordingly.

If no value is provided, and the object property has already been set, this performs the same checks as above and returns either a JSON::PP::Boolean or a Module::Generic::Boolean object.

__create_class

Provided with an object property name and an hash reference representing a dictionary and this will produce a dynamically created class/module.

If a property _class exists in the dictionary, it will be used as the class/package name, otherwise a name will be derived from the calling object class and the object property name. For example, in your module :

    sub products { return( 'products', shift->_set_get_class(
    {
    name        => { type => 'scalar' },
    customer    => { type => 'object', class => 'My::Customer' },
    orders      => { type => 'array_as_object' },
    active      => { type => 'boolean' },
    created     => { type => 'datetime' },
    metadata    => { type => 'hash' },
    stock       => { type => 'number' },
    url         => { type => 'uri' },
    }, @_ ) ); }

Then calling your module method products such as :

    my $prod = $object->products({
        name => 'Cool product',
        customer => { first_name => 'John', last_name => 'Doe', email => 'john.doe@example.com' },
        orders => [qw( 123 987 456 654 )],
        active => 1,
        metadata => { transaction_id => 123, api_call_id => 456 },
        stock => 10,
        uri => 'https://example.com/p/20'
    });

Using the resulting object $prod, we can access this dynamically created class/module such as :

    printf( <<EOT, $prod->name, $prod->orders->length, $prod->customer->last_name,, $prod->url->path )
    Product name: %s
    No of orders: %d
    Customer name: %s
    Product page path: %s
    EOT

_set_get_class

Given an object property name, a dynamic class fiels definition hash (dictionary), and optional arguments, this special method will create perl packages on the fly by calling the support method "__create_class"

For example, consider the following:

    #!/usr/local/bin/perl
    BEGIN
    {
        use strict;
        use Data::Dumper;
    };

    {
        my $o = MyClass->new( debug => 3 );
        $o->setup->age( 42 );
        print( "Age is: ", $o->setup->age, "\n" );
        print( "Setup object is: ", $o->setup, "\n" );
        $o->setup->billing->interval( 'month' );
        print( "Billing interval is: ", $o->setup->billing->interval, "\n" );
        print( "Billing object is: ", $o->setup->billing, "\n" );
        $o->setup->rgb( 255, 122, 100 );
        print( "rgb: ", join( ', ', @{$o->setup->rgb} ), "\n" );
        exit( 0 );
    }

    package MyClass;
    BEGIN
    {
        use strict;
        use lib './lib';
        use parent qw( Module::Generic );
    };

    sub setup 
    {
        return( shift->_set_get_class( 'setup',
        {
        name => { type => 'scalar' },
        age => { type => 'number' },
        metadata => { type => 'hash' },
        rgb => { type => 'array' },
        url => { type => 'uri' },
        online => { type => 'boolean' },
        created => { type => 'datetime' },
        billing => { type => 'class', definition =>
            {
            interval => { type => 'scalar' },
            frequency => { type => 'number' },
            nickname => { type => 'scalar' },
            }}
        }) );
    }

    1;

    __END__

This will yield:

    Age is: 42
    Setup object is: MyClass::Setup=HASH(0x7fa805abcb20)
    Billing interval is: month
    Billing object is: MyClass::Setup::Billing=HASH(0x7fa804ec3f40)
    rgb: 255, 122, 100

The advantage of this over _set_get_hash_as_object is that here one controls what fields / method are supported and with which data type.

_set_get_class_array

Provided with an object property name, a dictionary to create a dynamic class with "__create_class" and an array reference of hash references and this will create an array of object, each one matching a set of data provided in the array reference. So for example, imagine you had a method such as below in your module :

    sub products { return( shift->_set_get_class_array( 'products', 
    {
    name        => { type => 'scalar' },
    customer    => { type => 'object', class => 'My::Customer' },
    orders      => { type => 'array_as_object' },
    active      => { type => 'boolean' },
    created     => { type => 'datetime' },
    metadata    => { type => 'hash' },
    stock       => { type => 'number' },
    url         => { type => 'uri' },
    }, @_ ) ); }

Then your script would call this method like this :

    $object->products([
    { name => 'Cool product', customer => { first_name => 'John', last_name => 'Doe', email => 'john.doe@example.com' }, active => 1, stock => 10, created => '2020-04-12T07:10:30' },
    { name => 'Awesome tool', customer => { first_name => 'Mary', last_name => 'Donald', email => 'm.donald@example.com' }, active => 1, stock => 15, created => '2020-05-12T15:20:10' },
    ]);

And this would store an array reference containing 2 objects with the above data.

_set_get_code

Provided with an object property name and some code reference and this stores and retrieve the current value.

It returns under and set an error if the provided value is not a code reference.

_set_get_datetime

Provided with an object property name and asome date or datetime string and this will attempt to parse it and save it as a DateTime object.

If the data is a 10 digits integer, this will treat it as a unix timestamp.

Parsing also recognise special word such as now

The created DateTime object is associated a DateTime::Format::Strptime object which enables the DateTime object to be stringified as a unix timestamp using local time stamp, whatever it is.

Even if there is no value set, and this method is called in chain, it returns a Module::Generic::Null whose purpose is to enable chaining without doing anything meaningful. For example, assuming the property created of your object is not set yet, but in your script you call it like this:

    $object->created->iso8601

Of course, the value of iso8601 will be empty since this is a fake method produced by Module::Generic::Null. The return value of a method should always be checked.

_set_get_file

Provided with an object property name and a file and this will store the given file as a Module::Generic::File object.

It returns under and set an error if the provided value is not a proper file.

Note that the files does not need to exist and it can also be a directory or a symbolic link or any other file on the system.

_set_get_hash

Provided with an object property name and an hash reference and this set the property name with this hash reference.

You can even pass it an associative array, and it will be saved as a hash reference, such as :

    $object->metadata(
        transaction_id => 123,
        customer_id => 456
    );

    my $hash = $object->metadata;

_set_get_hash_as_mix_object

Provided with an object property name, and an optional hash reference and this returns a Module::Generic::Hash object, which allows to manipulate the hash just like any regular hash, but it provides on top object oriented method described in details in Module::Generic::Hash.

This is different from "_set_get_hash_as_object" below whose keys and values are accessed as dynamic methods and method arguments.

_set_get_hash_as_object

Provided with an object property name, an optional class name and an hash reference and this does the same as in "_set_get_hash", except it will create a class/package dynamically with a method for each of the hash keys, so that you can call the hash keys as method.

Also it does this recursively while handling looping, in which case, it will reuse the object previously created, and also it takes care of adapting the hash key to a proper field name, so something like 99more-options would become more_options. If the value itself is a hash, it processes it recursively transforming 99more-options to a proper package name MoreOptions prepended by $class_name provided as argument or whatever upper package was used in recursion processing.

For example in your module :

    sub metadata { return( shift->_set_get_hash_as_object( 'metadata', @_ ) ); }

Then populating the data :

    $object->metadata({
        first_name => 'John',
        last_name => 'Doe',
        email => 'john.doe@example.com',
    });

    printf( "Customer name is %s\n", $object->metadata->last_name );

_set_get_lvalue

This helper method makes it very easy to implement a "Lvalue subroutines" in perlsub method.

    package MyObject;
    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use parent qw( Module::Generic );
    
    sub debug : lvalue { return( shift->_set_get_lvalue( 'debug', @_ ) ); }

And then, this method can be called either as a lvalue method:

    my $obj = MyObject->new;
    $obj->debug = 3;

But also as a regular method:

    $obj->debug( 1 );
    printf( "Debug value is %d\n", $obj->debug );

It uses Want to achieve this. See also Sentinel

_set_get_number

Provided with an object property name and a number, and this will create a Module::Generic::Number object and return it.

As of version v0.13.0 it also works as a lvalue method. See perlsub

In your module:

    package MyObject;
    use parent qw( Module::Generic );
    
    sub level : lvalue { return( shift->_set_get_number( 'level', @_ ) ); }

In the script using module MyObject:

    my $obj = MyObject->new;
    $obj->level = 3; # level is now 3
    # or
    $obj->level( 4 ) # level is now 4
    print( "Level is: ", $obj->level, "\n" ); # Level is 4
    print( "Is it an odd number: ", $obj->level->is_odd ? 'yes' : 'no', "\n" );
    # Is it an od number: no
    $obj->level++; # level is now 5

_set_get_number_or_object

Provided with an object property name and a number or an object and this call the value using "_set_get_number" or "_set_get_object" respectively

_set_get_object

Provided with an object property name, a class/package name and some data and this will initiate a new object of the given class passing it the data.

If you pass an undefined value, it will set the property as undefined, removing whatever was set before.

You can also provide an existing object of the given class. "_set_get_object" will check the object provided does belong to the specified class or it will set an error and return undef.

It returns the object currently set, if any.

_set_get_object_without_init

Sets or gets an object, but countrary to "_set_get_object" this method will not try to instantiate the object.

_set_get_object_array2

Provided with an object property name, a class/package name and some array reference itself containing array references each containing hash references or objects, and this will create an array of array of objects.

_set_get_object_array

Provided with an object property name and a class/package name and similar to "_set_get_object_array2" this will create an array reference of objects.

_set_get_object_array_object

Provided with an object property name, a class/package name and some data and this will create an array of object similar to "_set_get_object_array", except the array produced is a Module::Generic::Array

_set_get_object_variant

Provided with an object property name, a class/package name and some data, and depending whether the data provided is an hash reference or an array reference, this will either instantiate an object for the given hash reference or an array of objects with the hash references in the given array.

This means the value stored for the object property will vary between an hash or array reference.

_set_get_scalar

Provided with an object property name, and a string, possibly a number or anything really and this will set the property value accordingly. Very straightforward.

It returns the currently value stored.

_set_get_scalar_as_object

Provided with an object property name, and a string or a scalar reference and this stores it as an object of Module::Generic::Scalar

If there is already an object set for this property, the value provided will be assigned to it using "set" in Module::Generic::Scalar

If it is called and not value is set yet, this will instantiate a Module::Generic::Scalar object with no value.

So a call to this method can safely be chained to access the Module::Generic::Scalar methods. For example :

    sub name { return( shift->_set_get_scalar_as_object( 'name', @_ ) ); }

Then, calling it :

    $object->name( 'John Doe' );

Getting the value :

    my $cust_name = $object->name;
    print( "Nothing set yet.\n" ) if( !$cust_name->length );

_set_get_scalar_or_object

Provided with an object property name, and a class/package name and this stores the value as an object calling "_set_get_object" if the value is an object of class class or as a string calling "_set_get_scalar"

If no value has been set yet, this returns a Module::Generic::Null object to enable chaining.

_set_get_uri

Provided with an object property name, and an uri and this creates a URI object and sets the property value accordingly.

It accepts an URI object, an uri or urn string, or an absolute path, i.e. a string starting with /.

It returns the current value, if any, so the return value could be undef, thus it cannot be chained. Maybe it should return a Module::Generic::Null object ?

_to_array_object

Provided with arguments or not, and this will return a Module::Generic::Array object of those data.

    my $array = $self->_to_array_object( qw( Hello world ) ); # Becomes an array object of 'Hello' and 'world'
    my $array = $self->_to_array_object( [qw( Hello world )] ); # Becomes an array object of 'Hello' and 'world'

_warnings_is_enabled

Returns true of warnings are enabled, false otherwise.

__dbh

if your module has the global variables DB_DSN, this will create a database handler using DBI

It will also use the following global variables in your module to set the database object: DB_RAISE_ERROR, DB_AUTO_COMMIT, DB_PRINT_ERROR, DB_SHOW_ERROR_STATEMENT, DB_CLIENT_ENCODING, DB_SERVER_PREPARE

If DB_SERVER_PREPARE is provided and true, pg_server_prepare will be set to true in the database handler.

It returns the database handler object.

DEBUG

Return the value of your global variable DEBUG, if any.

VERBOSE

Return the value of your global variable VERBOSE, if any.

AUTHOR

Jacques Deguest <jack@deguest.jp>

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

You can use, copy, modify and redistribute this package and associated files under the same terms as Perl itself.

To install Module::Generic, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Module::Generic

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Module::Generic

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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