/ 
Archlinux-Messages-0.01
/ Archlinux::Messages

NAME

Archlinux::Messages - Display messages on the terminal Archlinux style!

VERSION

0.01

SYNOPSIS

use Archlinux::Messages;

status( 'This is a status message' );
substatus( 'This is a substatus message' );
warning( 'This is a warning message' );
error( 'This is a fatal error message' ); # Also exits the program
msg( 'This is just an indented message' );

Outputs:

==> This is a status message
  -> This is a substatus message
==> WARNING: This is a warning message
==> ERROR: This is a fatal error message
    This is just an indented message
EXAMPLE: ==> This is a status message -> This is a substatus message ==> WARNING: This is a warning message ==> ERROR: This is a fatal error message This is just an indented message

DESCRIPTION

Archlinux has a distinctive and simple style for displaying messages on the terminal. This style is used in the init scripts and Archlinux programs like pacpan to give a cohesive look to Archlinux's terminal. Now you can easily conform to this simple colorful style and fit right in!

FUNCTIONS

All functions are exported by default. This is a little sloppy, but its easier when you're writing a quick script! If you don't want to pollute the namespace then just explicitly import nothing into your namespace:

use Archlinux::Messages qw();

Every function takes multiple arguments which are joined together, word-wrapped and printed to the screen. If a message goes past the screen limit it is wordwrapped and indented past the prefix.

msg( text1 [ , text2, ... ] )

Prints a simple message. There is no coloring it is merely wordwrapped and indented by four spaces.

status( text1 [ , text2, ... ] )

Prints a status message. These are basically like major headings in a document. The message is prefixed with a green arrow:

substatus( text1 [ , text2, ... ] )

Prints a sub-status message. These are like minor headings in a document. The message is prefixed with a little blue arrow.

warning( text1 [ , text2, ... ] )

Prints a warning message. These are non-fatal warning messages; the program will keep running. Warnings are printed to STDERR by using warn. The message is prefixed with a yellow arrow and capital WARNING.

error( text1 [ , text2, ... ] )

Prints a fatal error message AND DIES, EXITING. There is no line number appended to the die message. $@ or $EVAL_ERROR is the colorized output. Errors are printed to STDERR by using die. The message is prefixed with a red arrow and capital ERROR.

The error can be caught with an enclosing eval block. If the error isn't caught it is displayed on the screen and the program exits.

Example

eval {
    if ( $stuff eq 'bad' ) {
        error( q{Stuff went bad!} )
    }
};

if ( $@ =~ /Stuff went bad!/ ) {
    warning( q{Stuff went bad, but it's okay now!} );
}

TWEAKING

You can change the default settings of Archlinux::Messages by changing some package variables:

Word-wrap columns

$Archlinux::Messages::Columns Determines at which column word-wrapping occurs. However, if it is set to a false or negative value, it will turn off word-wrapping all-together.

Monochrome

If $Archlinux::Messages::Mono is set to a true value then ANSI terminal colors are disabled.

Example

 use Archlinux::Messages;

 sub mysub
 {
     # It's usually a good idea to use local for this stuff...
     local $Archlinux::Messages::Columns = 144;
     local $Archlinux::Messages::Mono    = 1;

     status( 'Here is an uncolorful really long status message ... '  .
             'no it's not over with yet!  We wrap at 144 characters ' .
             'so I have to keep typing.' );

 }

AUTHOR

Justin Davis <juster at cpan dot org>

LICENSE

Copyright 2010 Justin Davis, all rights reserved.

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