NAME
Module::Pluggable - automatically give your module the ability to have plugins
SYNOPSIS
Simple use Module::Pluggable -
package MyClass;
use Module::Pluggable;and then later ...
use MyClass;
my $mc = MyClass->new();
# returns the names of all plugins installed under MyClass::Plugin::*
my @plugins = $mc->plugins(); DESCRIPTION
Provides a simple but, hopefully, extensible way of having 'plugins' for your module. Obviously this isn't going to be the be all and end all of solutions but it works for me.
Essentially all it does is export a method into your namespace that looks through a search path for .pm files and turn those into class names.
Optionally it instantiates those classes for you.
ADVANCED USAGE
Alternatively, if you don't want to use 'plugins' as the method ...
package MyClass;
use Module::Pluggable (sub_name => 'foo');and then later ...
my @plugins = $mc->foo();Or if you want to look in another namespace
package MyClass;
use Module::Pluggable (search_path => ['Acme::MyClass::Plugin', 'MyClass::Extend']);or directory
use Module::Pluggable (search_dirs => ['mylibs/Foo']);Or if you want to instantiate each plugin rather than just return the name
package MyClass;
use Module::Pluggable (instantiate => 'new');and then
# whatever is passed to 'plugins' will be passed
# to 'new' for each plugin
my @plugins = $mc->plugins(@options); alternatively you can just require the module without instantiating it
package MyClass;
use Module::Pluggable (require => 1);INNER PACKAGES
If you have, for example, a file lib/Something/Plugin/Foo.pm that contains package definitions for both Something::Plugin::Foo and Something::Plugin::Bar then as long as you either have either the require or instantiate option set then we'll also find Something::Plugin::Bar. Nifty!
OPTIONS
You can pass a hash of options when importing this module.
The options can be ...
sub_name
The name of the subroutine to create in your namespace.
By default this is 'plugins'
search_path
An array ref of namespaces to look in.
search_dirs
An array ref of directorys to look in before @INC.
instantiate
Call this method on the class. In general this will probably be 'new' but it can be whatever you want. Whatever arguments are passed to 'plugins' will be passed to the method.
The default is 'undef' i.e just return the class name.
require
Just require the class, don't instantiate (overrides 'instantiate');
only
Takes an array ref containing the names of the only plugins to return. Whilst this may seem perverse ... well, it is. But it also makes sense. Trust me.
except
Similar to only it takes an array ref of plugins to exclude from returning. This is slightly less perverse.
package
This is for use by extension modules which build on Module::Pluggable: passing a package option allows you to place the plugin method in a different package other than your own.
FUTURE PLANS
This does everything I need and I can't really think fo any other features I want to add. Finding multiple packages in one .pm file is probably too hard and AFAICS it should 'just work'[tm] with PAR.
However suggestions (and patches) are welcome.
AUTHOR
Simon Wistow <simon@thegestalt.org>
COPYING
Copyright, 2003 Simon Wistow
Distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.
BUGS
None known.
SEE ALSO
File::Spec, File::Find::Rule, File::Basename, Class::Factory::Util