NAME

Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList - Base class for themes with multiple lists

SYNOPSIS

package Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits;
use Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList;
our @ISA = ( Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList );
__PACKAGE__->init();
1;

=head1 NAME

Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits - The numbers theme

=head1 DESCRIPTION

You can count on this module. Almost.

=cut

__DATA__
# default
:all
# names primes even
two
# names primes odd
three five seven
# names composites even
four six eight
# names composites odd
nine
# names other
zero one

DESCRIPTION

Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList is the base class for all themes that are meant to return a random excerpt from a predefined list divided in categories.

The category is selected at construction time from:

1. the given category parameter,

2. the default category for the selected theme.

Categories and sub-categories are separated by a / character.

METHODS

Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList offers several methods, so that the subclasses are easy to write (see full example in SYNOPSIS):

new( category => $category )

The constructor of a single instance. An instance will not repeat items until the list is exhausted.

$meta = Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits->new( category => 'primes' );
$meta = Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits->new( category => 'primes/odd' );

The special category :all will use all the items in all categories.

$meta = Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits->new( category => ':all' );

If no category parameter is given, Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList will use the class default. If the class doesn't define a default, then :all is used.

init()

init() must be called when the subclass is loaded, so as to read the __DATA__ section and fully initialise it.

name( $count )

Return $count names (default: 1).

Using 0 will return the whole list in list context, and the size of the list in scalar context (according to the category parameter passed to the constructor).

category()

Return the selected category for this instance.

categories()

Return the categories supported by the theme (except :all).

theme()

Return the theme name.

AUTHOR

Philippe 'BooK' Bruhat, <book@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

Copyright 2006 Philippe 'BooK' Bruhat, All Rights Reserved.

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