NAME
Mixin::ExtraFields::Driver - a backend for extra field storage
VERSION
version 0.008
SYNOPSIS
This is really not something you'd use on your own, it's just used by Mixin::ExtraFields, but if you insist...
my $driver = Mixin::ExtraFields::Driver::Phlogiston->from_args(\%arg);
$driver->set($obj, $obj_id, flammable => "very!");DESCRIPTION
Mixin::ExtraFields::Driver is a base class for drivers used by Mixin::ExtraFields -- hence the name. A driver is expected to store and retrieve data keyed to an object and a name or key. It can store this in any way it likes, and does not need to guarantee persistence across processes.
SUBCLASSING
All drivers must implement the four methods listed below. The base class has implementations of these methods which will die noisily (confess-ing) when called.
Almost all methods are passed the same data as their first two arguments: $object, the object for which the driver is to find or alter data, and $id, that object's unique id. While this may be slighly redundant, it keeps the id-finding call in one place.
from_args
my $driver = Mixin::ExtraFields::Driver::Subclass->from_args(\%arg);This method must return a driver object appropriate to the given args. It is not called new because it need not return a new object for each call to it. Returning identical objects for identical configurations may be safe for some driver implementations, and it is expressly allowed.
The arguments passed to this method are those given as the driver option to the fields import group in Mixin::ExtraFields, less the class option.
get_all_detailed_extra
my %extra = $driver->get_all_detailed_extra($object, $id);This method must return all available information about all existing extra fields for the given object. It must be returned as a list of name/value pairs. The values must be references to hashes. Each hash must have an entry for the key value giving the value for that name.
set_extra
$driver->set_extra($object, $id, $name, $value);This method must set the named extra to the given value.
delete_extra
$driver->delete_extra($object, $id, $name);This method must delete the named extra, causing it to cease to exist.
OPTIMIZING
The methods below can all be implemented in terms of those above. If they are not provided by the subclass, basic implementations exist. These implementations may be less efficient than implementations crafted for the specifics of the storage engine behind the driver, so authors of driver subclasses should consider implementing these methods.
get_all_extra
my %extra = $driver->get_all_extra($object, $id);This method behaves like get_all_detailed_extra, above, but provides the entry's value, not a detailed hashref, as the value for each entry.
get_extra
get_detailed_extra
my $value = $driver->get_extra($object, $id, $name);
my $hash = $driver->get_detailed_extra($object, $id, $name);These methods return a single value requested by name, either as the value itself or a detailed hashref describing it.
get_all_extra_names
my @names = $driver->get_all_extra_names($object, $id);This method returns the names of all existing extras for the given object.
exists_extra
if ($driver->exists_extra($object, $id, $name)) { ... }This method returns true if an entry exists for the given name and false otherwise.
delete_all_extra
$driver->delete_all_extra($object, $id);This method deletes all extras for the object, as per the delete_extra method.
AUTHOR
This code was written by Ricardo SIGNES. His code in 2006 was sponsored by Listbox.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2006, Ricardo SIGNES. This code is free software, and is available under the same terms as perl itself.