NAME

mcoder - perl method generator from common templates

SYNOPSIS

package MyClass;

use mcoder [qw(get set)] => [qw(color sound height)], \
         proxy => [qw(runner run walk stop)], \
         calculated => weight;

sub _calculate_weight { shift->ask_weight }

ABSTRACT

generate common templated methods like accessors, proxies, etc.

DESCRIPTION

mcoder usage is:

use mcoder $type1 => $arg1, $type2 => $arg2, ...;
use mcoder [$type11, $type12, $type13,...] => $arg1, ...;

where $type/$arg pairs can be:

get

use mcoder get => $name;
use mcoder get => { $name1 => $attr1, $name2 => $attr2, ... };
use mcoder get => [$name1, $name2, $name3, ...];

generate read accessors that returns the value in $self->{$name} or $self->{$attr} or $self->$attr.

set

use mcoder set => $name;
use mcoder set => { $name1 => $attr1, $name2 => $attr2, ... };
use mcoder set => [$name1, $name2, $name3, ...];

generate write accessors named as set_$name.

calculated

use mcoder calculated => $name;
use mcoder calculated => { $name1 => $attr1, $name2 => $attr2, ... };
use mcoder calculated => [$name1, $name2, $name3, ...];

similar to read accessors (set) but when the value is unexistant, method _calculate_$name is called and its result cached.

array_calculated

similar to calculated but caches an array of values instead of a single value.

proxy

use mcoder proxy => [$delegate, $name1, $name2, $name3];
use mcoder proxy => [$delegate, { $name1 => $del_method1,
                                $name2 => $del_method2, ... } ];

forward method calls to $self->$delegate->$del_method

delete

use mcoder delete => $name;
use mcoder delete => { $name1 => $attr1, $name2 => $attr2, ... };
use mcoder delete => [$name1, $name2, $name3, ...];

undef

use mcoder undef => $name;
use mcoder undef => { $name1 => $attr1, $name2 => $attr2, ... };
use mcoder undef => [$name1, $name2, $name3, ...];

new

use mcoder new => $name;

generates a simple constructor for a hash based object

bool_set

bool_unset

use mcoder bool_unset => $name;
use mcoder bool_unset => { $name1 => $attr1, $name2 => $attr2, ... };
use mcoder bool_unset => [$name1, $name2, $name3, ...];
use mcoder bool_unset => $name;
use mcoder bool_unset => { $name1 => $attr1, $name2 => $attr2, ... };
use mcoder bool_unset => [$name1, $name2, $name3, ...];

generates methods that set or unset a boolean property

virtual

use mcoder virtual => $name;
use mcoder virtual => [$name, ...];

the method throws an error when called.

EXPORT

whatever you ask ;-)

ALTERNATIVES FROM CPAN

Somebody asked me why he should prefer mcoder over any other similar package from CPAN. Well, there are mostly two reasons:

1 - a matter of style

mcoder generates methods as I use to, following my personal style:

- different methods for read/write access, i.e. slot/set_slot

- boolean properties have set/unset methods that don't take arguments at all.

- calculated (or cached or lazy) attributes.

(mcoder is the result of a big application cleanup when at some point I notice that I was coding too many simple methods always the same. That's also why I didn't use any other module from CPAN: I need the generated methods to be drop in replacements for the old ones that I had manually coded)

2 - a short name and simple syntax

"mcoder" is a pretty short name, and you would like it even if it is a little cryptic.

The "sugar" sub-modules allow for a simpler syntax, i.e.:

use mcoder::proxy sleeper => qw(weakup sleep);

Other similar modules from CPAN that you would like to considered are:

• Class::MethodMaker

  This module is able to generate everything you would ever need!

• Class::MakeMethods

  This module is too complex for what it does. In my opinion it doesn't worth the trouble of learning to use it.

• Class::AccessorMaker

  -

• Class::Accessor

  -

• accessors

  very simple, and has yet another different style for accessors!

SEE ALSO

mcoder::set, mcoder::get, mcoder::calculated, mcoder::proxy are syntactic sugar for this module.

Class::MethodMaker has a similar functionality.

AUTHOR

Salvador Fandiño, <sfandino@yahoo.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2003 by Salvador Fandiño

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