package Method::Delegation; use 5.006; use strict; use warnings; use Carp; use Sub::Install; use base 'Exporter'; our @EXPORT = qw(delegate); ## no critic our $VERSION = '0.03'; sub delegate { my %arg_for = @_; my ( $package, undef, undef ) = caller; my $delegate = delete $arg_for{to}; my $methods = delete $arg_for{methods}; my $args = delete $arg_for{args}; my $if_true = delete $arg_for{if_true}; my $else_return = delete $arg_for{else_return}; my $override = delete $arg_for{override}; my $maybe_to = delete $arg_for{maybe_to}; if ( keys %arg_for ) { my $unknown = join ', ' => sort keys %arg_for; croak("Unknown keys supplied to delegate(): $unknown"); } if ($maybe_to) { if ($delegate) { croak( "You supplied both 'maybe_to' and 'to'. I don't know which to use."); } if ($if_true) { croak( "You supplied both 'maybe_to' and 'if_true'. I don't know which to use." ); } ( $delegate, $if_true ) = ($maybe_to) x 2; } $delegate or croak("You must supply a 'to' argument to delegate()"); $methods or croak("You must supply a 'methods' argument to delegate()"); $methods = _normalize_methods( $methods, $delegate ); if ( defined $else_return && !defined $if_true ) { croak( "You must supply a 'if_true' argument if 'else_return' is defined"); } _assert_valid_method_name($delegate); _assert_valid_method_name($if_true) if defined $if_true; while ( my ( $method, $to ) = each %$methods ) { _assert_valid_method_name($method); _assert_valid_method_name($to); my $coderef; if ($if_true) { if ($args) { $coderef = sub { my $self = shift; if ( $self->$if_true ) { return $self->$delegate->$to(@_); } return defined $else_return ? $else_return : (); }; } else { $coderef = sub { my $self = shift; if ( $self->$if_true ) { return $self->$delegate->$to; } return defined $else_return ? $else_return : (); }; } } else { if ($args) { $coderef = sub { my $self = shift; return $self->$delegate->$to(@_); }; } else { $coderef = sub { my $self = shift; return $self->$delegate->$to; }; } } { no strict 'refs'; ## no critic if ( !$override && defined *{"${package}::$method"}{CODE} ) { croak( "Package '$package' already has a method named '$method'"); } } _install_delegate( $coderef, $package, $method ); } } sub _normalize_methods { my ( $methods, $delegate ) = @_; if ( 'ARRAY' eq ref $methods ) { $methods = { map { $_ => $_ } @$methods }; } elsif ( !ref $methods ) { $methods = { $methods => $methods }; } elsif ( 'HASH' ne ref $methods ) { croak("I don't know how to delegate to '$delegate' from '$methods'"); } unless ( keys %$methods ) { croak("You have not provideed any methods to delegate"); } return $methods; } sub _install_delegate { my ( $coderef, $package, $method ) = @_; Sub::Install::install_sub( { code => $coderef, into => $package, as => $method, } ); } sub _assert_valid_method_name { my $name = shift; if ( $name =~ /^[a-z_][a-z0-9_]*$/i ) { return $name; } croak("Illegal method name: '$name'"); } 1; __END__ =head1 NAME Method::Delegation - Easily delegate methods to another object =head1 VERSION Version 0.03 =cut =head1 SYNOPSIS package Order; use Method::Delegation; delegate( methods => [qw/name customer_number/], to => 'customer', ); =head1 EXPORT =head2 delegate Calling C<delegate(%args)> installs one or more methods into the current package's namespace. These methods will delegate to the object returned by C<to>. Arguments to C<delegate> are as follows (examples will be after): =over 4 =item * C<to> This is the name of the method that, when called, returns the object we delegate to. It is assumed that it will I<always> return an object, unless the I<if_true> argument is also supplied. =item * C<maybe_to> (optional) If the object you wish to delegate to might not exist, you can use C<maybe_to> instead. This is a shorthand for using both C<to> and C<if_true>. Do not provide C<to> and C<if_true> if you also provide C<maybe_to>. =item * C<methods> These are the names of the methods we can call and what they can delegate to. If a scalar is supplied, this will be the name of the method of both the calling package and the delegated package. If an array refererence, this will contain a list of names of the method of the both the calling package and the delegated package. If a hash reference, the keys will be the methods of the calling package and the values will be the names of the method of the delegated package. =item * C<args> (optional) By default, we assume that these delegations are read-only. If you pass C<args> and give it a true value, the method created in the delegation will attempt to pass your args to the method we're delegating to. =item * C<if_true> (optional) The name of a method to call to see if we can perform the delegation. If it returns false, we return false. Usually this is the same name as the C<to> argument, meaning if if the method named in C<to> does not return an object, simply return false instead of attempting to delegate. As a convenience, the number (or string) "1" has been special-cased to mean the current delegate method name. =item * C<else_return> (optional) If C<if_true> is supplied, you may also provide C<else_return>. This must point to a scalar value that will be returned if C<if_true> is false. =item * C<override> By default, we will not install a delegated method if the package already has a method of that name. By providing a true value to C<override>, we will install these methods anyway. =back =cut =head1 EXAMPLES =head2 Basic Usage Delegating a single method: delegate( methods => 'name', to => 'customer', ); # equivalent to: sub name { my $self = shift; return $self->customer->name; } Delegating several methods: delegate( methods => [/name rank serial_number/], to => 'soldier', ); # equivalent to: sub name { my $self = shift; return $self->soldier->name; } sub rank { my $self = shift; return $self->soldier->rank; } sub serial_number { my $self = shift; return $self->soldier->serial_number; } Delegating, but renaming a method: delegate( methods => { customer_name => 'name', customer_number => 'number, }, to => 'customer', ); # equivalent to: sub customer_name { my $self = shift; return $self->customer->name; } sub customer_number { my $self = shift; return $self->customer->number; } =head2 Advanced Usage Delegating to an object that might not exist is sometimes necessary. For example, in L<DBIx::Class>, you might have an atttribute pointing to a relationship with no corresponding entry in another table. Use C<if_true> for that: delegate( methods => 'current_ship', to => 'character_ship', if_true => 'character_ship', ); # equivalent to: sub current_ship { my $self = shift; if ( $self->character_ship ) { return $self->character_ship; } return; } As an optimization for the common case, you can use C<maybe_to> if the object you're delegating to might not exist. delegate( methods => 'current_ship', maybe_to => 'character_ship', ); Note: the C<if_true> attribute doesn't need to point to the same method, but usually it does. If it points to another method, it simply checks the truth value of the response to determine if the original delegate will be called. Sometimes, if the object you're delegating to another object, you want a different value than C<undef> being returned if the object isn't there. Use the C<else_return> attribute. The following will return C<0> (zero) instead of undef if C<current_weapon> isn't found: delegate( methods => { weapon_damage => 'damage', weapon_accurace => 'accuracy', }, to => 'current_weapon', if_true => 'current_weapon', else_return => 0, ); =head1 AUTHOR Curtis "Ovid" Poe, C<< <curtis.poe at gmail.com> >> =head1 BUGS Please report any bugs or feature fequests via the Web interface at L<https://github.com/Ovid/method-delegation/issues>. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes. =head1 SUPPORT You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command. perldoc Method::Delegation You can also look for information at: =over 4 =item * Bug Tracker L<https://github.com/Ovid/method-delegation/issues> =item * Search CPAN L<https://metacpan.org/release/Method-Delegation> =back =head1 SEE ALSO C<Method::Delegation> was developed for the narrative sci-fi game L<Tau Station|https://taustation.space>. We like it because the syntax is simple, clear, and intuitive (to us). However, there are a few alternatives on the CPAN that you might find useful: =over 4 =item * L<Class::Delegation|https://metacpan.org/pod/Class::Delegation> =item * L<Class::Delegation::Simple|https://metacpan.org/pod/Class::Delegation::Simple> =item * L<Class::Delegate|https://metacpan.org/pod/Class::Delegate> =item * L<Class::Method::Delegate|https://metacpan.org/pod/Class::Method::Delegate> =back =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This code was written to help reduce the complexity of the narrative sci-fi adventure, L<Tau Station|https://taustation.space>. As of this writing, it's around 1/3 of a million lines of code (counting front-end, back-end, tests, etc.), and anything to reduce that complexity is a huge win. Thanks to L<ilmari|https://twitter.com/TokenScandi/status/1135533624110047234> for the C<< if_true => 1 >> shortcut suggestion. =head1 LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT This software is Copyright (c) 2019 by Curtis "Ovid" Poe. This is free software, licensed under: The Artistic License 2.0 (GPL Compatible) =cut 1;