NAME

Badger::Config - configuration module

SYNOPSIS

use Badger::Config;

my $config = Badger::Config->new(
    user => {
        name => {
            given  => 'Arthur',
            family => 'Dent',
        },
        email => [
            'arthur@dent.org',
            'dent@heart-of-gold.com',
        ],
    },
    planet => {
        name        => 'Earth',
        description => 'Mostly Harmless',
    },
);

# fetch top-level data item - these both do the same thing
my $user = $config->user;                       # shortcut method
my $user = $config->get('user');                # generic get() method

# fetch nested data item - these all do the same thing
print $config->get('user', 'name', 'given');    # Arthur
print $config->get('user.name.family');         # Dent
print $config->get('user/email/0');             # arthur@dent.org
print $config->get('user email 1');             # dent@heart-of-gold.com

DESCRIPTION

This is a quick hack to implement a placeholder for the Badger::Config module. A config object is currently little more than a blessed hash with an AUTOLOAD method which allows you to get/set items via methods.

Update: this has been improved a little since the above was written. It's still incomplete, but it's being worked on.

METHODS

new()

Constructor method to create a new Badger::Config object. Configuration data can be specified as the data named parameter:

my $config = Badger::Config->new(
    data => {
        name  => 'Arthur Dent',
        email => 'arthur@dent.org',
    },
);

The items parameter can be used to specify the names of other valid configuration values that this object supports.

my $config = Badger::Config->new(
    data => {
        name  => 'Arthur Dent',
        email => 'arthur@dent.org',
    },
    items => 'planet friends',
);

Any data items defined in either data or items can be accessed via methods.

print $config->name;                # Arthur Dent
print $config->email;               # arthur@dent.org
print $config->planet || 'Earth';   # Earth

As a shortcut you can also specify configuration data direct to the method.

my $config = Badger::Config->new(
    name  => 'Arthur Dent',
    email => 'arthur@dent.org',
);

You should avoid this usage if there is any possibility that your configuration data might contain the data or items items.

get($name)

Method to retrieve a value from the configuration.

my $name = $config->get('name');

This can also be used to fetch nested data. You can specify each element as a separate argument, or as a string delimited with any non-word characters. For example, given the following configuration data:

my $config = Badger::Config->new(
    user => {
        name => {
            given  => 'Arthur',
            family => 'Dent',
        },
        email => [
            'arthur@dent.org',
            'dent@heart-of-gold.com',
        ],
    },
);

You can then access data items using any of the following syntax:

print $config->get('user', 'name', 'given');    # Arthur
print $config->get('user.name.family');         # Dent
print $config->get('user/email/0');             # arthur@dent.org
print $config->get('user email 1');             # dent@heart-of-gold.com

In addition to accessing list and hash array items, the get() will call subroutine references and object methods, as shown in this somewhat contrived example:

# a trivial object class
package Example;
use base 'Badger::Base';

sub wibble {
    return 'wobble';
}

package main;

# a config with a function that returns a hash containing an object
my $config = Badger::Config->new(
    function => sub {
        return {
            object => Example->new(),
        }
    }
);
print $config->get('function.object.wibble');   # wobble

set($name,$value)

Method to store a value in the configuration.

$config->set( friend  => 'Ford Prefect' );
$config->set( friends => ['Ford Prefect','Trillian','Marvin'] );

At present this does not allow you to set nested data items in the way that the get() method does.

INTERNAL METHODS

can_configure($name)

Internal method used to generate accessor methods on demand. This is installed using the auto_can hook in Badger::Class.

AUTHOR

Andy Wardley http://wardley.org/

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2001-2009 Andy Wardley. All Rights Reserved.

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

cpanm Badger

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Badger