NAME

Class::MOP::Package - Package Meta Object

DESCRIPTION

The Package Protocol provides an abstraction of a Perl 5 package. A package is basically namespace, and this module provides methods for looking at and changing that namespace's symbol table.

METHODS

Class::MOP::Package->initialize($package_name)

This method creates a new Class::MOP::Package instance which represents specified package. If an existing metaclass object exists for the package, that will be returned instead.

Class::MOP::Package->reinitialize($package)

This method forcibly removes any existing metaclass for the package before calling initialize. In contrast to initialize, you may also pass an existing Class::MOP::Package instance instead of just a package name as $package.

Do not call this unless you know what you are doing.

$metapackage->name

This is returns the package's name, as passed to the constructor.

$metapackage->namespace

This returns a hash reference to the package's symbol table. The keys are symbol names and the values are typeglob references.

$metapackage->add_package_symbol($variable_name, $initial_value)

This method accepts a variable name and an optional initial value. The $variable_name must contain a leading sigil.

This method creates the variable in the package's symbol table, and sets it to the initial value if one was provided.

$metapackage->get_package_symbol($variable_name)

Given a variable name, this method returns the variable as a reference or undef if it does not exist. The $variable_name must contain a leading sigil.

$metapackage->get_or_add_package_symbol($variable_name)

Given a variable name, this method returns the variable as a reference. If it does not exist, a default value will be generated if possible. The $variable_name must contain a leading sigil.

$metapackage->has_package_symbol($variable_name)

Returns true if there is a package variable defined for $variable_name. The $variable_name must contain a leading sigil.

$metapackage->remove_package_symbol($variable_name)

This will remove the package variable specified $variable_name. The $variable_name must contain a leading sigil.

$metapackage->remove_package_glob($glob_name)

Given the name of a glob, this will remove that glob from the package's symbol table. Glob names do not include a sigil. Removing the glob removes all variables and subroutines with the specified name.

$metapackage->list_all_package_symbols($type_filter)

This will list all the glob names associated with the current package. These names do not have leading sigils.

You can provide an optional type filter, which should be one of 'SCALAR', 'ARRAY', 'HASH', or 'CODE'.

$metapackage->get_all_package_symbols($type_filter)

This works much like list_all_package_symbols, but it returns a hash reference. The keys are glob names and the values are references to the value for that name.

Class::MOP::Package->meta

This will return a Class::MOP::Class instance for this class.

AUTHORS

Stevan Little <stevan@iinteractive.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2006-2010 by Infinity Interactive, Inc.

http://www.iinteractive.com

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