NAME Class::Ref - Automatic OO wrapping of container references SYNOPSIS $o = Class::Ref->new({ foo => { bar => 'Hello World!' } }); $o->foo->bar; # returns "Hello World!" $o->baz({ blah => 123 }); $o->baz->blah; # returns 123 $o = Class::Ref->new({ foo => [{ bar => 'Hello Again!' }] }); $o->foo->[0]->bar; # returns "Hello Again!" DESCRIPTION Class::Ref provides an OO wrapping layer around Hash and Array references. Part of the magic is that it does this deeply and across array/hash boundaries. OPTIONS Some of the behavior of the encapsulation can be modified by the following options: $raw_access (Default: 0) $o = Class::Ref->new({ foo => { bar => 1 } }); { $Class::Ref::raw_access = 1; $o->foo; # returns { bar => 1 } } Should you ever need to work with the raw contents of the data structure, setting $raw_access with cause every member retrieval to just the referenced data rather than a wrapped form of it. The observant reader will note that this does not provide access to the base data. In order to access that, you must dereference the object: $$o; # returns { foo => { bar => 1 } } unblessed See GUTS for more information. $allow_undef (Default: 0) $o = Class::Ref->new({ foo => { bar => 1 } }); { $Class::Ref::allow_undef = 1; $o->not_here; # returns undef } $o->not_here; # raises exception By default, an excpetion will be raised if you try read from a HASH key that is non-existent. METHODS There is only the constructor. new $o = Class::Ref->new({...}); $o = Class::Ref->new([...]); Wrap the provided reference in OO getters and setters. PHILOSOPHY A lot of effort has been made to ensure that the only code that changes your wrapped data is your code. There is no blessing of any of the data wrapped by Class::Ref. With that being said, the goal has been to reduce the syntax need to access values deep inside a HASH/ARRAY reference. HASH Refs Wrapping a HASH is a fairly straightforward process. All keys of the hash will be made available as a method call. There is a bit more here however. If, for example, you accessed the actual hash, Class::Ref will still encapsulate the return value if that value is a HASH or an ARRAY: $o = Class::Ref->new({ foo => { bar => 1 } }); $o->{foo}->bar; # works But all without modifying, blessing, or otherwise messing with the value. The data referenced with $o remains the same as when it originally wrapped. ARRAY Refs Wrapping ARRAYs is much less straightforward. Using an "AUTOLOAD" method doesn't help because perl symbols cannot begin with a number. Makes it a little difficult to do the following: $o->0; # compile error So for the purpose of this module, wrapped ARRAYs exactly like an ARRAY reference: $o->[0]; # ahh, much better The tricky part comes in wanting to make sure that values returned from such a call would still be wrapped: $o->[0]->foo; # $o = [{ foo => 'bar' }] See GUTS for more discussion on how this is done. I am still debating if adding formal accessors moethods would be helpful in this context. GUTS All objects created and returned by Class::Ref are blessed REF types. This is what protects the original reference from being blessed into an unwanted package. The "ref" type of the given value is what determines what package the REF is blessed into. HASHes go into "Class::Ref::HASH" and ARRAYs go into "Class::Ref::ARRAY". The use of the overload pragma to overload the dereference operators allows the REF object to still be accesed as HASH refs and ARRAY refs. When these REFs are coerced into their approriate type, they are wrapped in a tie mechanism to retain control over the return of member values. The only way to fully bypass all of this is to manually dereference the REF object: $o = Class::Ref->new({ foo => 1 }); $$o->{foo}; CAVEATS When dealing with a wrapped HASH, there is no way to access keys named "isa" and "can". They are core methods perl uses to interact with OO values. Accessing HASH members with invalid perl symbols is possible with a little work: my $method = '0) key'; $o->$method; # access $o->{'0) key'}; SEE ALSO I've always wanted to have this kind of functionality for hashes that really needed a more formal interface. However, I found myself wanting more from the existing modules out there in the wild. So I borrowed some the great ideas out there and brewed my own implementation to have the level of flexibility that I desire. And if it helps others, that's awesome too. * Class::Hash Probably the defacto module for creating accessors to a hash. However, it only provides a single layer of encapsulation. * Class::ConfigHash Provides a deeper implementaion but takes (avoids) steps to make the hash read-only. * Hash::AsObject Also provides a deep implemetation. Goes further to provide access to methods like "AUTOLOAD" and "DESTROY". AUTHOR William Cox LICENSE This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. See