Evented::Configuration

Evented::Configuration is an event-driven objective configuration class and parser for Perl software built upon EventedObject.

Features

• Blocks: Evented::Configuration's configuration is block-styled, with all keys and values associated with a block. Blocks can be "named," meaning there are several blocks of one type with different names, or they can be "unnamed," meaning there is only one block of that type.

• Objective: Evented::Configuration's objective interface allows you to store nothing more than the configuration object. Then, make the object accessible where you need it.

• Event-driven: Evented::Configuration is based upon the EventedObject framework, firing events each time a configuration changes. This allows software to respond immediately to changes of user settings, etc.

• Convenience: Most configuration parsers spit out nothing more than a hash reference of keys and values. Evented::Configuration instead supplies several convenient methods for fetching configuration data.

Format

# Comments

# Hello, I am a comment.
# I am also a comment.

# Unnamed blocks

[ someBlock ]

someKey  = "some string"
otherKey = 12
another  = ['hello', 'there']
evenMore = ['a'..'z']

# Named blocks

[ cookies: sugar ]

favorites = ['sugar cookie', 'snickerdoodle']

[ cookies: chocolate ]

favorites = ['chocolate macadamia nut', 'chocolate chip']

Methods

Evented::Configuration provides several convenient methods for fetching configuration values.

Evented::Configuration->new(%options)

Creates a new instance of Evented::Configuration.

my $conf = Evented::Configuration->new(conffile => 'etc/some.conf');

Parameters

• options: a hash of constructor options.

%options - constructor options

• conffile: file location of a configuration file.
• hashref: optional, a hash ref to store configuration values in.

$conf->parse_config()

Parses the configuration file. Used also to rehash configuration.

$conf->parse_config();

$conf->get($block, $key)

Fetches a single configuration value.

my $value = $conf->get('unnamedBlock', 'someKey');
my $other = $conf->get(['blockType', 'namedBlock'], 'someKey');

Parameters

• block: for unnamed blocks, should be the string block type. for named blocks, should be an array reference in the form of [block type, block name].
• key: the key of the configuration value being fetched.

$conf->names_of_block($block_type)

Returns an array of the names of all blocks of the specified type.

foreach my $block_name ($conf->names_of_block('cookies')) {
    print "name of this cookie block: $block_name\n";
}

Parameters

• block_type: the type of the named block.

$conf->keys_of_block($block)

Returns an array of all the keys in the specified block.

foreach my $key ($conf->keys_of_block('someUnnamedBlock')) {
    print "someUnnamedBlock unnamed block has key: $key\n";
}

foreach my $key ($conf->keys_of_block('someNamedBlock', 'someName')) {
    print "someNamedBlock:someName named block has key: $key\n";
}

Parameters

• block: for unnamed blocks, should be the string block type. for named blocks, should be an array reference in the form of [block type, block name].

$conf->on_change($block, $key, $code, %opts)

Attaches an event listener for the configuration change event. This event will be fired even if the value never existed. If you want a listener to be called the first time the configuration is parsed, simply add the listener before calling ->parse_config(). Otherwise, add listeners later.

# an example with an unnamed block
$conf->on_change('myUnnamedBlock', 'myKey', sub {
    my ($event, $old, $new) = @_;
    ...
});

# an example with a name block.
$conf->on_change(['myNamedBlockType', 'myBlockName'], 'someKey', sub {
    my ($event, $old, $new) = @_;
    ...
});

# an example with an unnamed block and ->register_event() options.
$conf->on_change('myUnnamedBlock', 'myKey', sub {
    my ($event, $old, $new) = @_;
    ...
}, priority => 100, name => 'myCallback');

Parameters

• block: for unnamed blocks, should be the string block type. for named blocks, should be an array reference in the form of [block type, block name].
• key: the key of the configuration value being listened for.
• code: a code reference to be called when the value is changed.
• opts: optional, a hash of any other options to be passed to EventedObject's ->register_event().

Events

Evented::Configuration fires events when configuration values are changed.

In any case, events are fired with arguments (old value, new value).

Say you have an unnamed block of type myBlock. If you changed the key myKey in myBlock, Evented::Configuration would fire the event eventedConfiguration.change:myBlock:myKey.

Now assume you have a named block of type myBlock with name myName. If you changed the key myKey in myBlock:myName, Evented::Configuration would fire event eventedConfiguration.change:myBlock/myName:myKey.

However, it is recommended that you use the ->on_change() method rather than directly attaching event callbacks. This will insure compatibility for later versions that could possibly change the way events are fired.

History

The Evented::Configuration parser first appeared procedurally in juno-ircd version 2. The format has not changed since. The parser was used in several other IRC softwares, including foxy-java IRC bot and ntirc IRC client. It was also included in all versions of juno-ircd succeeding juno2: juno3, juno-mesh, and juno5. In the Arinity IRC services package, the parser had a basic objective interface. However, Evented::Configuration was not based on this interface. Evented::Configuration appeared initially in UICd, the Universal Internet Chat server daemon.

See also

• EventedObject - an event framework and the base class of Evented::Configuration.
• Evented::Database - a database built upon Evented::Configuration with seamless database functionality added to a configuration class.