NAME

Config::Entities - An multi-level overridable perl based configuration module

VERSION

version 1.07

SYNOPSIS

use Config::Entities;

# Assuming this directory structure:
#
# /project/config/entities
# |_______________________/a
# |_________________________/b.pm
# | { e => 'f' }
# |
# |_______________________/c.pm
# | { g => 'h' }
# |
# |_______________________/c
# |_________________________/d.pm
# | { i => 'j' };
my $entities = Config::Entities->new( '/project/config/entities' );
my $abe = $entities->{a}{b}{e};    # 'f'
my $ab = $entities->{a}{b};        # '{e=>'f'}
my $ab_e = $ab->{e};               # 'f'
my $cg = $entities->{c}{g};        # 'h'
my $cd = $entities->{c}{d};        # {i=>'j'}
my $cdi = $entities->{c}{d}{i};    # 'j'
my $c = $entities->{c};            # {g=>'h',d=>{i=>'j'}}

# Entities can be constructed with a set of properties to be used by configs.
# Assuming this directory structure:
#
# /project/config/entities
# |_______________________/a.pm
# | { 
# |     file => $properties{base_folder}
# |         . '/sub/folder/file.txt'
# | }
my $entities = Config::Entities->new( '/project/config/entities',
    { properties => { base_folder => '/project' } } );
my $file = $entities->{a}{file}; # /project/sub/folder/file.txt

# You can also supply multiple entities folders
# Assuming this directory structure:
#
# /project/config
# |______________/entities
# |_______________________/a.pm
# | { b => 'c' } 
# |
# |______________/more_entities
# |____________________________/d.pm
# | { e => $properties{f} } 
my $entities = Config::Entities->new( 
    '/project/config/entities',
    '/project/config/more_entities',
    { properties => {f => 'g'} } );     # { b => 'c', e => 'g' }

# You can also specify a properties file  
# Assuming this directory structure:
#
# /project/config
# |______________/entities
# |_______________________/a.pm
# | { b => $properties{e} } 
# |
# |______________/properties.pl
# | { e => 'f' } 
my $entities = Config::Entities->new( 
    '/project/config/entities',
    { properties_file => '/project/config/properties.pl } );
my $ab = $entities->{a}{b}; # 'f'

# Assuming:
#
# {
#     a => {
#         b => {
#             c => 'd',
#             e => 'f'
#         },
#         g => 'h'
#     }       
# }
#
# You can use dotted notation to refer to entities using get_entity
my $ab = $entities->get_entity( 'a.b' );    # {c=>'d',e=>'f'}
# You can fill a hash with many values at once using fill
my $ab_abc_abe = $entities->fill( 'a.b', 
    {c=>undef, e=>undef} );                 # {c=>'d',e=>'f'}
# Perhaps the most useful approach is filling a hash from a coordinate
# or its parents
my $ab_abc_abe_ag = $entities->fill( 'a.b',
    {c=>undef, e=>undef, g=>undef}, 
    ancestry => 1 );                        # {c=>'d',e=>'f',g=>'h'}

DESCRIPTION

In essense, this module will recurse a directory structure, running do FILE for each entry and merging its results into the Entities object which can be treated as a hash. Given that it runs do FILE, each config node is a fully capable perl script.

CONSTRUCTORS

new( $entities_root_dir [, $entities_root_dir, ...] \%options )

Recurses into each $entities_root_dir loading its contents into the entities map. The filesystem structure will be propagated to the map, each sub folder representing a sub hash. If both Xxx.pm and a folder Xxx are found, the Xxx.pm will be loaded first then the recursion will enter Xxx and merge its results over the top of what is already in the map. If properties are provided via properties or properties_file, they can be accessed using %properties in the individual config files. The currently available options are:

• entity

  A hashref containing configuration. Will be overriden by the contents of any $entities_root_dir's that are passed in.

• properties

  Properties to be loaded into %properties. Will override any properties with the same name loaded by properties_file.

• properties_file

  A file or array reference of files that will be loaded into %properties using do FILE

METHODS

as_hashref

Will return a hashref representation of the current entities. It will be a deep copy so changes to the hash will not affect the entities object.

fill( $coordinate, $hashref, [%options] )

Will iterate through the keys of $hashref setting the associated value to the value found at the same key in the entity matching $coordinate. If the supplied $hashref has a key whose value is 'Config::Entities::entity' and the key is not found in the entity at $coordinate the value in $hashref will be set to the entity itself. The currently available options are:

• ancestry

  If true, the search will continue up the ancestry until it finds a match.

get_entity( $coordinate, [%options] )

A simple dotted notation for indexing into the map. For example, $entities-get_entity( 'a.b.c' )> is equivalent to $entities-{a}{b}{c}. The currently available options are:

• ancestry

  If true, a list will be returned where the first element is the matching entity, and each successive entity is its parent, all the way up to $self.

AUTHOR

Lucas Theisen lucastheisen@pastdev.com

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2014 by Lucas Theisen.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.