Class::Container - Glues object frameworks together transparently
package Car;
use Class::Container;
@ISA = qw(Class::Container);
__PACKAGE__->valid_params
(
paint => {default => 'burgundy'},
style => {default => 'coupe'},
windshield => {isa => 'Glass'},
radio => {isa => 'Audio::Device'},
);
__PACKAGE__->contained_objects
(
windshield => 'Glass::Shatterproof',
wheel => { class => 'Vehicle::Wheel',
delayed => 1 },
radio => 'Audio::MP3',
);
sub new {
my $package = shift;
# 'windshield' and 'radio' objects are created automatically by
# SUPER::new()
my $self = $package->SUPER::new(@_);
$self->{right_wheel} = $self->create_delayed_object('wheel');
... do any more initialization here ...
return $self;
}
This class facilitates building frameworks of several classes that
inter-operate. It was first designed and built for HTML::Mason, in
which the Compiler, Lexer, Interpreter, Resolver, Component, Buffer,
and several other objects must create each other transparently,
passing the appropriate parameters to the right class, possibly
substituting other subclasses for any of these objects.
The main features of Class::Container are:
Suppose you've got a class called Parent, which contains an object of
the class Child, which in turn contains an object of the class
GrandChild. Each class creates the object that it contains.
Each class also accepts a set of named parameters in its
new() method. Without using Class::Container, Parent will
have to know all the parameters that Child takes, and Child will
have to know all the parameters that GrandChild takes. And some of
the parameters accepted by Parent will really control aspects of
Child or GrandChild. Likewise, some of the parameters accepted
by Child will really control aspects of GrandChild. So, what
happens when you decide you want to use a GrandDaughter class
instead of the generic GrandChild? Parent and Child must be
modified accordingly, so that any additional parameters taken by
GrandDaughter can be accommodated. This is a pain - the kind of
pain that object-oriented programming was supposed to shield us from.
Now, how can Class::Container help? Using Class::Container,
each class (Parent, Child, and GrandChild) will declare what
arguments they take, and declare their relationships to the other
classes (Parent creates/contains a Child, and Child
creates/contains a GrandChild). Then, when you create a Parent
object, you can pass Parent->new() all the parameters for all
three classes, and they will trickle down to the right places.
Furthermore, Parent and Child won't have to know anything about
the parameters of its contained objects. And finally, if you replace
GrandChild with GrandDaughter, no changes to Parent or
Child will likely be necessary.
Any class that inherits from Class::Container should also inherit
its new() method. You can do this simply by omitting it in your
class, or by calling SUPER::new(@_) as indicated in the SYNOPSIS.
The new() method ensures that the proper parameters and objects are
passed to the proper constructor methods.
At the moment, the only possible constructor method is new(). If
you need to create other constructor methods, they should call
new() internally.
This class method is used to register what other objects, if any, a given class creates. It is called with a hash whose keys are the parameter names that the contained class's constructor accepts, and whose values are the default class to create an object of.
For example, consider the HTML::Mason::Compiler class, which uses
the following code:
__PACKAGE__->contained_objects( lexer => 'HTML::Mason::Lexer' );
This defines the relationship between the HTML::Mason::Compiler
class and the class it creates to go in its lexer slot. The
HTML::Mason::Compiler class "has a" lexer. The HTML::Mason::Compiler->new() method will accept a lexer
parameter and, if no such parameter is given, an object of the
HTML::Mason::Lexer class should be constructed.
We implement a bit of magic here, so that if HTML::Mason::Compiler->new() is called with a lexer_class
parameter, it will load the indicated class (presumably a subclass of
HTML::Mason::Lexer), instantiate a new object of that class, and
use it for the Compiler's lexer object. We're also smart enough to
notice if parameters given to HTML::Mason::Compiler->new()
actually should go to the lexer contained object, and it will make
sure that they get passed along.
Furthermore, an object may be declared as "delayed", which means that
an object won't be created when its containing class is constructed.
Instead, these objects will be created "on demand", potentially more
than once. The constructors will still enjoy the automatic passing of
parameters to the correct class. See the create_delayed_object()
for more.
To declare an object as "delayed", call this method like this:
__PACKAGE__->contained_objects( train => { class => 'Big::Train',
delayed => 1 } );
Specifies the parameters accepted by this class's new() method as a
set of key/value pairs. Any parameters accepted by a
superclass/subclass will also be accepted, as well as any parameters
accepted by contained objects. This method is a get/set accessor
method, so it returns a reference to a hash of these key/value pairs.
As a special case, if you wish to set the valid params to an empty set
and you previously set it to a non-empty set, you may call
__PACKAGE__->valid_params(undef).
valid_params() is called with a hash that contains parameter names
as its keys and validation specifications as values. This validation
specification is largely the same as that used by the
Params::Validate module, because we use Params::Validate
internally.
As an example, consider the following situation:
use Class::Container;
use Params::Validate qw(:types);
__PACKAGE__->valid_params
(
allow_globals => { type => ARRAYREF, parse => 'list', default => [] },
default_escape_flags => { type => SCALAR, parse => 'string', default => '' },
lexer => { isa => 'HTML::Mason::Lexer' },
preprocess => { type => CODEREF, parse => 'code', optional => 1 },
postprocess_perl => { type => CODEREF, parse => 'code', optional => 1 },
postprocess_text => { type => CODEREF, parse => 'code', optional => 1 },
);
__PACKAGE__->contained_objects( lexer => 'HTML::Mason::Lexer' );
The type, default, and optional parameters are part of the
validation specification used by Params::Validate. The various
constants used, ARRAYREF, SCALAR, etc. are all exported by
Params::Validate. This means that any of these six parameter
names, plus the lexer_class parameter (because of the
contained_objects() specification given earlier), are valid
arguments to the Compiler's new() method.
Note that there are also some parse attributes declared. These
have nothing to do with Class::Container or Params::Validate -
any extra entries like this are simply ignored, so you are free to put
extra information in the specifications as long as it doesn't overlap
with what Class::Container or Params::Validate are looking for.
If a contained object was declared with delayed => 1, use this
method to create an instance of the object. Note that this is an
object method, not a class method:
my $foo = $self->create_delayed_object('foo', ...); # YES!
my $foo = __PACKAGE__->create_delayed_object('foo', ...); # NO!
The first argument should be a key passed to the
contained_objects() method. Any additional arguments will be
passed to the new() method of the object being created, overriding
any parameters previously passed to the container class constructor.
(Could I possibly be more alliterative? Veni, vedi, vici.)
Allows you to adjust the parameters that will be used to create any delayed objects in the future. The first argument specifies the "name" of the object, and any additional arguments are key-value pairs that will become parameters to the delayed object.
When called with only a $name argument and no list of parameters to
set, returns a hash reference containing the parameters that will be
passed when creating objects of this type.
Returns the class that will be used when creating delayed objects of the given name. Use this sparingly - in most situations you shouldn't care what the class is.
Version 0.09 of Class::Container added [as yet experimental] support
for so-called "decorator" relationships, using the term as defined in
Design Patterns by Gamma, et al. (the Gang of Four book). To
declare a class as a decorator of another class, simply set @ISA to
the class which will be decorated, and call the decorator class's
decorates() method.
Internally, this will ensure that objects are instantiated as decorators. This means that you can mix & match extra add-on functionality classes much more easily.
In the current implementation, if only a single decoration is used on an object, it will be instantiated as a simple subclass, thus avoiding a layer of indirection.
Returns a hash reference suitable for passing to the
Params::Validate validate function. Does not include any
arguments that can be passed to contained objects.
Returns a hash reference of every parameter this class will accept,
including parameters it will pass on to its own contained objects.
The keys are the parameter names, and the values are their
corresponding specifications from their valid_params() definitions.
If a parameter is used by both the current object and one of its
contained objects, the specification returned will be from the
container class, not the contained.
Because the parameters accepted by new() can vary based on the
parameters passed to new(), you can pass any parameters to the
allowed_params() method too, ensuring that the hash you get back is
accurate.
Returns the object that created you. This is remembered by storing a
reference to that object, so we use the Scalar::Utils weakref()
function to avoid persistent circular references that would cause
memory leaks. If you don't have Scalar::Utils installed, we don't
make these references in the first place, and calling container()
will result in a fatal error.
If you weren't created by another object via Class::Container,
container() returns undef.
In most cases you shouldn't care what object created you, so use this method sparingly.
This method returns a string meant to describe the containment relationships among classes. You should not depend on the specific formatting of the string, because I may change things in a future release to make it prettier.
For example, the HTML::Mason code returns the following when you do
$interp->show_containers:
HTML::Mason::Interp=HASH(0x238944)
resolver -> HTML::Mason::Resolver::File
compiler -> HTML::Mason::Compiler::ToObject
lexer -> HTML::Mason::Lexer
request -> HTML::Mason::Request (delayed)
buffer -> HTML::Mason::Buffer (delayed)
Currently, containment is shown by indentation, so the Interp object contains a resolver and a compiler, and a delayed request (or several delayed requests). The compiler contains a lexer, and each request contains a delayed buffer (or several delayed buffers).
Returns a hash reference containing a set of parameters that should be
sufficient to re-create the given object using its class's new()
method. This is done by fetching the current value for each declared
parameter (i.e. looking in $object for hash entries of the same
name), then recursing through all contained objects and doing the
same.
A few words of caution here. First, the dumped parameters represent the current state of the object, not the state when it was originally created.
Second, a class's declared parameters may not correspond exactly to its data members, so it might not be possible to recover the former from the latter. If it's possible but requires some manual fudging, you can override this method in your class, something like so:
sub dump_parameters {
my $self = shift;
my $dump = $self->SUPER::dump_parameters();
# Perform fudgery
$dump->{incoming} = $self->{_private};
delete $dump->{superfluous};
return $dump;
}
Originally by Ken Williams <ken@mathforum.org> and Dave Rolsky <autarch@urth.org> for the HTML::Mason project. Important feedback contributed by Jonathan Swartz <swartz@pobox.com>. Extended by Ken Williams for the AI::Categorizer project.
Currently maintained by Ken Williams.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.