NAME
Data::JavaScript::Anon - Create big, dumb and/or anonymous data structures in JavaScript
SYNOPSIS
# Dump an arbitrary structure to javascript
Data::JavaScript::Anon->anon_dump( [ 'a', 'b', { a => 1, b => 2 } ] );DESCRIPTION
Data::JavaScript::Anon provides the ability to dump large simple data structures to JavaScript. That is, things that don't need to be a class, or have special methods or whatever.
The method it uses is to write anonymous variables, in the same way you would in Perl. The following shows some examples.
# Perl anonymous array
[ 1, 'a', 'Foo Bar' ]
# JavaScript equivalent ( yes, it's exactly the same )
[ 1, 'a', 'Foo Bar' ]
# Perl anonymous hash
{ foo => 1, bar => 'bar' }
# JavaScript equivalent
{ foo: 1, bar: 'bar' }One advantage of doing it in this method is that you do not have to co-ordinate variable names between your HTML templates and Perl. You could use a simple Template Toolkit phrase like the following to get data into your HTML templates.
var javascript_data = [% data $];In this way, it doesn't matter WHAT the HTML template calls a particular variables, the data dumps just the same. This could help you keep the work of JavaScript and Perl programmers ( assuming you were using different people ) seperate, without creating work cross dependencies.
The variables you dump can also be of arbitrary depth and complexity, with a few limitations.
- ARRAY and HASH only
-
Since arrays and hashs are all that is supported by JavaScript, they are the only things you can use in your structs. Although not supported, they will be detected, and an error returned.
- No Circular References
-
Since circular references can't be defined in a single anonymous struct, they are not allowed. Try something like Data::JavaScript instead. Although not supported, they will be detected, and an error returned.
MAIN METHODS
All methods are called as methods directly, in the form Data::JavaScript::Anon->anon_dump( [ 'etc' ] ).
anon_dump( struct )
The main method of the class, anon_dump takes a single arbitrary data struct, and converts it into an anonymous JavaScript struct.
If needed, the argument can even be a normal text string, although it wouldn't do a lot to it. :)
Returns a string containing the JavaScript struct on success, or undef if an error is found.
var_dump( $name, struct )
As above, but the var_dump method allows you to specify a variable name, with the resulting JavaScript being var name = struct;. Note that the method WILL put the trailing semi-colon on the string.
script_wrap( $javascript )
The script_wrap method is a quick way of wrapping a normal JavaScript html tag around your JavaScript.
SECONDARY METHODS
The following are a little less general, but may be of some use.
var_scalar( $name, \$scalar )
Creates a named variable from a scalar reference.
var_array( $name, \@array )
Creates a named variable from an array reference.
var_hash( $name, \%hash )
Creates a named variable from a hash reference.
anon_scalar( \$scalar )
Creates an anonymous JavaScript value from a scalar reference.
anon_array( \@array )
Creates an anonymous JavaScript array from an array reference.
anon_hash( \%hash )
Creates an anonymous JavaScript object from a hash reference.
anon_hash_key( $value )
Applys the formatting for a key in a JavaScript object
SUPPORT
Contact the author or file a bug at
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Data%3A%3AJavaScript%3A%3AAnon
AUTHOR
Adam Kennedy
cpan@ali.as
http//ali.as/COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2003 Adam Kennedy. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.