NAME

pastorize - Generate Perl classes with XML bindings starting from a W3C XSD Schema

SYNOPSIS

pastorize [options] schema1 schema2 ...

Options:  --help, --man, --verbose, --debug, --mode, --style, --module, --destination, --class_prefix, --complex_isa, --simple_isa

OPTIONS

ARGUMENTS

Argument is a file name or the URL to the W3C XSD schema file to be processed.

Be careful about the paths that are mentioned for any included schemas though. If these are relative, they will be taken relative to the current schema being processed. In the case of a schema string, the resolution of relative paths for the included schemas is undefined.

Currently, it is also possible to pass multiple schemas, in which case the schemas will be processed in order and merged to the same model for code generation. Just make sure you don't have name collisions in the schemas though.

THE OPTIONS

mode

This parameter effects what actually will be done by the method. Either offline code generation, or run-time code evaluation, or just returning the generated code.

offline

Default.

In this mode, the code generation is done 'offline', that is, similar to Java's Castor way of doing things, the generated code will be written to disk on module files under the path given by the "destination" parameter.

In 'offline' mode, it is possible to generate a single module with all the generated clasess or multiple modules one for each class, depending on the value of the "style" parameter.

The typical use of the offline mode is during a 'make' process, where you have a set of XSD schemas and you generate your modules to be later installed by 'make install'. This is very similar to Java Castor's behaviour. This way your XSD schemas don't have to be accessible during run-time and you don't have a performance penalty.

# Generate MULTIPLE modules, one module for each class, and put them under destination.
pastorize --mode offline --style multiple --destination /tmp/lib/perl --class_prefix MyApp::Data /some/path/to/schema.xsd 
  

eval

In 'eval' (run-time) mode, the XSD schema is processed at run-time giving much more flexibility to the user. In this mode, no code will be written to disk. Instead, the generated code (which is necessarily a "single" block) will be evaluated before returning to the caller.

The added flexibility has a price on the other hand, namely a performance penalty and the fact that the XSD schema needs to be accessible at run-time. Note that the performance penalty applies only to the code genereration (pastorize) phase; the generated classes perform the same as if they were generated offline.

Note that 'eval' mode forces the "style" parameter to have a value of 'single';

# Generate classes in MEMORY, and EVALUATE the generated code on the fly.
pastorize --mode eval --class_prefix MyApp::Data /some/path/to/schema.xsd 
  

return

In 'return' mode, the XSD schema is processed but no code is written to disk or evaluated. In this mode, the method just returns the generated block of code as a string, so that you may use it to your liking. You would typically be evaluating it though.

Note that 'return' mode forces the "style" parameter to have a value of 'single';

print

Like 'return' mode, but also prints the resulting string on STDOUT.

style

This parameter determines if XML::Pastor will generate a single module where all classes reside ("single"), or multiple modules one for each class ("multiple").

Some modes (such as "eval" and "return")force the style argument to be 'single'.

Possible values are :

single

One block of code containg all the generated classes will be produced.

multiple

A separate piece of code for each class will be produced.

class_prefix

If present, the names of the generated classes will be prefixed by this value. You may end the value with '::' or not, it's up to you. It will be autocompleted. In other words both 'MyApp::Data' and 'MyApp::Data::' are valid.

destination

This is the directory prefix where the produced modules will be written in offline mode. In other modes (eval and return), it is ignored.

Note that the trailing slash ('/') is optional. The default value for this parameter is '/tmp/lib/perl/'.

module

This parameter has sense only when generating one big chunk of code ("style" => "single") in offline "mode".

It denotes the name of the module (without the .pm extension) that will be written to disk in this case.

complex_isa

Via this parameter, it is possible to indicate a common ancestor (or ancestors) of all complex types that are generated by XML::Pastor. The generated complex types will still have XML::Pastor::ComplexType as their last ancestor in their @ISA, but they will also have the class whose name is given by this parameter as their first ancestor. Handy if you would like to add common behaviour to all your generated classes.

This parameter can have a string value (the usual case) or an array reference to strings. In the array case, each item is added to the @ISA array (in that order) of the generated classes.

simple_isa

Via this parameter, it is possible to indicate a common ancestor (or ancestors) of all simple types that are generated by XML::Pastor. The generated simple types will still have XML::Pastor::SimpleType as their last ancestor in their @ISA, but they will also have the class whose name is given by this parameter as their first ancestor. Handy if you would like to add common behaviour to all your generated classes.

This parameter can have a string value (the usual case) or an array reference to strings. In the array case, each item is added to the @ISA array (in that order) of the generated classes.

verbose

This parameter indicates the desired level of verbosity of the output. A value of zero (0), which is the default, indicates 'silent' operation where only a fatal error will result in a 'die' which will in turn write on STDERR. A higher value of 'verbose' indicates more and more chatter on STDERR. Setting 'debug' will currently put 'verbose' to level 9.

debug

Currently all that this option does is to put the verbose level to 9.

BUGS & CAVEATS

There no known bugs at this time, but this doesn't mean there are aren't any. Note that, although some testing was done prior to releasing the module, this should still be considered alpha code. So use it at your own risk.

There are known limitations however:

• Namespaces

  The namespace support is somewhat shaky. Currently at most one targetNamspace is supported. Multiple target namespaces are not supported. That's why schema 'import' facility does not work.

• Schema import

  The 'import' element of W3C XSD schema is not supported at this time. This is basically because of namespace complexities. If you think of a way to support the 'import' feature, please let me know.

• 'mixed' elements

  Elements with 'mixed' content (text and child elements) are not supported at this time.

• substitution groups

  Substitution groups are not supported at this time.

• Encoding

  Only the UTF-8 encoding is supported. You should make sure that your data is in UTF-8 format. It may be possible to read (but not write) XML from other encodings. But this feature is not tested at this time.

• Default values for attributes

  Default values for attributes are not supported at this time. If you can think of a simple way to support this, please let me know.

Note that there may be other bugs or limitations that the author is not aware of.

AUTHOR

Ayhan Ulusoy <dev@ulusoy.name>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2006-2008 Ayhan Ulusoy. All Rights Reserved.

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

DISCLAIMER

BECAUSE THIS SOFTWARE IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE SOFTWARE, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE SOFTWARE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE SOFTWARE AS PERMITTED BY THE ABOVE LICENCE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE SOFTWARE TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

SEE ALSO

See also XML::Pastor, XML::Pastor::Pastorize

If you are curious about the implementation, see also XML::Pastor::Schema::Parser, XML::Pastor::Schema::Model, XML::Pastor::Generator.