Provided by: libappconfig-perl_1.71-2_all bug

NAME

       AppConfig::State - application configuration state

SYNOPSIS

           use AppConfig::State;

           my $state = AppConfig::State->new(\%cfg);

           $state->define("foo");            # very simple variable definition
           $state->define("bar", \%varcfg);  # variable specific configuration
           $state->define("foo|bar=i@");     # compact format

           $state->set("foo", 123);          # trivial set/get examples
           $state->get("foo");

           $state->foo();                    # shortcut variable access
           $state->foo(456);                 # shortcut variable update

OVERVIEW

       AppConfig::State is a Perl5 module to handle global configuration variables for perl
       programs.  It maintains the state of any number of variables, handling default values,
       aliasing, validation, update callbacks and option arguments for use by other AppConfig::*
       modules.

       AppConfig::State is distributed as part of the AppConfig bundle.

DESCRIPTION

   USING THE AppConfig::State MODULE
       To import and use the AppConfig::State module the following line should appear in your
       Perl script:

            use AppConfig::State;

       The AppConfig::State module is loaded automatically by the new() constructor of the
       AppConfig module.

       AppConfig::State is implemented using object-oriented methods.  A new AppConfig::State
       object is created and initialised using the new() method.  This returns a reference to a
       new AppConfig::State object.

           my $state = AppConfig::State->new();

       This will create a reference to a new AppConfig::State with all configuration options set
       to their default values.  You can initialise the object by passing a reference to a hash
       array containing configuration options:

           $state = AppConfig::State->new( {
               CASE      => 1,
               ERROR     => \&my_error,
           } );

       The new() constructor of the AppConfig module automatically passes all parameters to the
       AppConfig::State new() constructor.  Thus, any global configuration values and variable
       definitions for AppConfig::State are also applicable to AppConfig.

       The following configuration options may be specified.

       CASE
           Determines if the variable names are treated case sensitively.  Any non-zero value
           makes case significant when naming variables.  By default, CASE is set to 0 and thus
           "Variable", "VARIABLE" and "VaRiAbLe" are all treated as "variable".

       CREATE
           By default, CREATE is turned off meaning that all variables accessed via set() (which
           includes access via shortcut such as "$state->variable($value)" which delegates to
           set()) must previously have been defined via define().  When CREATE is set to 1,
           calling set($variable, $value) on a variable that doesn't exist will cause it to be
           created automatically.

           When CREATE is set to any other non-zero value, it is assumed to be a regular
           expression pattern.  If the variable name matches the regex, the variable is created.
           This can be used to specify configuration file blocks in which variables should be
           created, for example:

               $state = AppConfig::State->new( {
                   CREATE => '^define_',
               } );

           In a config file:

               [define]
               name = fred           # define_name gets created automatically

               [other]
               name = john           # other_name doesn't - warning raised

           Note that a regex pattern specified in CREATE is applied to the real variable name
           rather than any alias by which the variables may be accessed.

       PEDANTIC
           The PEDANTIC option determines what action the configuration file (AppConfig::File) or
           argument parser (AppConfig::Args) should take on encountering a warning condition
           (typically caused when trying to set an undeclared variable).  If PEDANTIC is set to
           any true value, the parsing methods will immediately return a value of 0 on
           encountering such a condition.  If PEDANTIC is not set, the method will continue to
           parse the remainder of the current file(s) or arguments, returning 0 when complete.

           If no warnings or errors are encountered, the method returns 1.

           In the case of a system error (e.g. unable to open a file), the method returns undef
           immediately, regardless of the PEDANTIC option.

       ERROR
           Specifies a user-defined error handling routine.  When the handler is called, a format
           string is passed as the first parameter, followed by any additional values, as per
           printf(3C).

       DEBUG
           Turns debugging on or off when set to 1 or 0 accordingly.  Debugging may also be
           activated by calling _debug() as an object method ("$state->_debug(1)") or as a
           package function (AppConfig::State::_debug(1)), passing in a true/false value to set
           the debugging state accordingly.  The package variable $AppConfig::State::DEBUG can
           also be set directly.

           The _debug() method returns the current debug value.  If a new value is passed in, the
           internal value is updated, but the previous value is returned.

           Note that any AppConfig::File or App::Config::Args objects that are instantiated with
           a reference to an App::State will inherit the DEBUG (and also PEDANTIC) values of the
           state at that time.  Subsequent changes to the AppConfig::State debug value will not
           affect them.

       GLOBAL
           The GLOBAL option allows default values to be set for the DEFAULT, ARGCOUNT, EXPAND,
           VALIDATE and ACTION options for any subsequently defined variables.

               $state = AppConfig::State->new({
                   GLOBAL => {
                       DEFAULT  => '<undef>',     # default value for new vars
                       ARGCOUNT => 1,             # vars expect an argument
                       ACTION   => \&my_set_var,  # callback when vars get set
                   }
               });

           Any attributes specified explicitly when a variable is defined will override any
           GLOBAL values.

           See "DEFINING VARIABLES" below which describes these options in detail.

   DEFINING VARIABLES
       The "define()" function is used to pre-declare a variable and specify its configuration.

           $state->define("foo");

       In the simple example above, a new variable called "foo" is defined.  A reference to a
       hash array may also be passed to specify configuration information for the variable:

           $state->define("foo", {
                   DEFAULT   => 99,
                   ALIAS     => 'metavar1',
               });

       Any variable-wide GLOBAL values passed to the new() constructor in the configuration hash
       will also be applied.  Values explicitly specified in a variable's define() configuration
       will override the respective GLOBAL values.

       The following configuration options may be specified

       DEFAULT
           The DEFAULT value is used to initialise the variable.

               $state->define("drink", {
                       DEFAULT => 'coffee',
                   });

               print $state->drink();        # prints "coffee"

       ALIAS
           The ALIAS option allows a number of alternative names to be specified for this
           variable.  A single alias should be specified as a string.  Multiple aliases can be
           specified as a reference to an array of alternatives or as a string of names separated
           by vertical bars, '|'.  e.g.:

               # either
               $state->define("name", {
                       ALIAS  => 'person',
                   });

               # or
               $state->define("name", {
                       ALIAS => [ 'person', 'user', 'uid' ],
                   });

               # or
               $state->define("name", {
                       ALIAS => 'person|user|uid',
                   });

               $state->user('abw');     # equivalent to $state->name('abw');

       ARGCOUNT
           The ARGCOUNT option specifies the number of arguments that should be supplied for this
           variable.  By default, no additional arguments are expected for variables
           (ARGCOUNT_NONE).

           The ARGCOUNT_* constants can be imported from the AppConfig module:

               use AppConfig ':argcount';

               $state->define('foo', { ARGCOUNT => ARGCOUNT_ONE });

           or can be accessed directly from the AppConfig package:

               use AppConfig;

               $state->define('foo', { ARGCOUNT => AppConfig::ARGCOUNT_ONE });

           The following values for ARGCOUNT may be specified.

           ARGCOUNT_NONE (0)
               Indicates that no additional arguments are expected.  If the variable is
               identified in a confirguration file or in the command line arguments, it is set to
               a value of 1 regardless of whatever arguments follow it.

           ARGCOUNT_ONE (1)
               Indicates that the variable expects a single argument to be provided.  The
               variable value will be overwritten with a new value each time it is encountered.

           ARGCOUNT_LIST (2)
               Indicates that the variable expects multiple arguments.  The variable value will
               be appended to the list of previous values each time it is encountered.

           ARGCOUNT_HASH (3)
               Indicates that the variable expects multiple arguments and that each argument is
               of the form "key=value".  The argument will be split into a key/value pair and
               inserted into the hash of values each time it is encountered.

       ARGS
           The ARGS option can also be used to specify advanced command line options for use with
           AppConfig::Getopt, which itself delegates to Getopt::Long.  See those two modules for
           more information on the format and meaning of these options.

               $state->define("name", {
                       ARGS => "=i@",
                   });

       EXPAND
           The EXPAND option specifies how the AppConfig::File processor should expand embedded
           variables in the configuration file values it reads.  By default, EXPAND is turned off
           (EXPAND_NONE) and no expansion is made.

           The EXPAND_* constants can be imported from the AppConfig module:

               use AppConfig ':expand';

               $state->define('foo', { EXPAND => EXPAND_VAR });

           or can be accessed directly from the AppConfig package:

               use AppConfig;

               $state->define('foo', { EXPAND => AppConfig::EXPAND_VAR });

           The following values for EXPAND may be specified.  Multiple values should be combined
           with vertical bars , '|', e.g. "EXPAND_UID | EXPAND_VAR").

           EXPAND_NONE
               Indicates that no variable expansion should be attempted.

           EXPAND_VAR
               Indicates that variables embedded as $var or $(var) should be expanded to the
               values of the relevant AppConfig::State variables.

           EXPAND_UID
               Indicates that '~' or '~uid' patterns in the string should be expanded to the
               current users ($<), or specified user's home directory.  In the first case, "~" is
               expanded to the value of the "HOME" environment variable.  In the second case, the
               "getpwnam()" method is used if it is available on your system (which it isn't on
               Win32).

           EXPAND_ENV
               Inidicates that variables embedded as ${var} should be expanded to the value of
               the relevant environment variable.

           EXPAND_ALL
               Equivalent to "EXPAND_VARS | EXPAND_UIDS | EXPAND_ENVS").

           EXPAND_WARN
               Indicates that embedded variables that are not defined should raise a warning.  If
               PEDANTIC is set, this will cause the read() method to return 0 immediately.

       VALIDATE
           Each variable may have a sub-routine or regular expression defined which is used to
           validate the intended value for a variable before it is set.

           If VALIDATE is defined as a regular expression, it is applied to the value and deemed
           valid if the pattern matches.  In this case, the variable is then set to the new
           value.  A warning message is generated if the pattern match fails.

           VALIDATE may also be defined as a reference to a sub-routine which takes as its
           arguments the name of the variable and its intended value.  The sub-routine should
           return 1 or 0 to indicate that the value is valid or invalid, respectively.  An
           invalid value will cause a warning error message to be generated.

           If the GLOBAL VALIDATE variable is set (see GLOBAL in DESCRIPTION above) then this
           value will be used as the default VALIDATE for each variable unless otherwise
           specified.

               $state->define("age", {
                       VALIDATE => '\d+',
                   });

               $state->define("pin", {
                       VALIDATE => \&check_pin,
                   });

       ACTION
           The ACTION option allows a sub-routine to be bound to a variable as a callback that is
           executed whenever the variable is set.  The ACTION is passed a reference to the
           AppConfig::State object, the name of the variable and the value of the variable.

           The ACTION routine may be used, for example, to post-process variable data, update the
           value of some other dependant variable, generate a warning message, etc.

           Example:

               $state->define("foo", { ACTION => \&my_notify });

               sub my_notify {
                   my $state = shift;
                   my $var   = shift;
                   my $val   = shift;

                   print "$variable set to $value";
               }

               $state->foo(42);        # prints "foo set to 42"

           Be aware that calling "$state->set()" to update the same variable from within the
           ACTION function will cause a recursive loop as the ACTION function is repeatedly
           called.

   DEFINING VARIABLES USING THE COMPACT FORMAT
       Variables may be defined in a compact format which allows any ALIAS and ARGS values to be
       specified as part of the variable name.  This is designed to mimic the behaviour of Johan
       Vromans' Getopt::Long module.

       Aliases for a variable should be specified after the variable name, separated by vertical
       bars, '|'.  Any ARGS parameter should be appended after the variable name(s) and/or
       aliases.

       The following examples are equivalent:

           $state->define("foo", {
                   ALIAS => [ 'bar', 'baz' ],
                   ARGS  => '=i',
               });

           $state->define("foo|bar|baz=i");

   READING AND MODIFYING VARIABLE VALUES
       AppConfig::State defines two methods to manipulate variable values:

           set($variable, $value);
           get($variable);

       Both functions take the variable name as the first parameter and "set()" takes an
       additional parameter which is the new value for the variable.  "set()" returns 1 or 0 to
       indicate successful or unsuccessful update of the variable value.  If there is an ACTION
       routine associated with the named variable, the value returned will be passed back from
       "set()".  The "get()" function returns the current value of the variable.

       Once defined, variables may be accessed directly as object methods where the method name
       is the same as the variable name.  i.e.

           $state->set("verbose", 1);

       is equivalent to

           $state->verbose(1);

       Without parameters, the current value of the variable is returned.  If a parameter is
       specified, the variable is set to that value and the result of the set() operation is
       returned.

           $state->age(29);        # sets 'age' to 29, returns 1 (ok)

   VARLIST
       The varlist() method can be used to extract a number of variables into a hash array.  The
       first parameter should be a regular expression used for matching against the variable
       names.

           my %vars = $state->varlist("^file");   # all "file*" variables

       A second parameter may be specified (any true value) to indicate that the part of the
       variable name matching the regex should be removed when copied to the target hash.

           $state->file_name("/tmp/file");
           $state->file_path("/foo:/bar:/baz");

           my %vars = $state->varlist("^file_", 1);

           # %vars:
           #    name => /tmp/file
           #    path => "/foo:/bar:/baz"

   INTERNAL METHODS
       The interal (private) methods of the AppConfig::State class are listed below.

       They aren't intended for regular use and potential users should consider the fact that
       nothing about the internal implementation is guaranteed to remain the same.  Having said
       that, the AppConfig::State class is intended to co-exist and work with a number of other
       modules and these are considered "friend" classes.  These methods are provided, in part,
       as services to them.  With this acknowledged co-operation in mind, it is safe to assume
       some stability in this core interface.

       The _varname() method can be used to determine the real name of a variable from an alias:

           $varname->_varname($alias);

       Note that all methods that take a variable name, including those listed below, can accept
       an alias and automatically resolve it to the correct variable name.  There is no need to
       call _varname() explicitly to do alias expansion.  The _varname() method will fold all
       variables names to lower case unless CASE sensititvity is set.

       The _exists() method can be used to check if a variable has been defined:

           $state->_exists($varname);

       The _default() method can be used to reset a variable to its default value:

           $state->_default($varname);

       The _expand() method can be used to determine the EXPAND value for a variable:

           print "$varname EXPAND: ", $state->_expand($varname), "\n";

       The _argcount() method returns the value of the ARGCOUNT attribute for a variable:

           print "$varname ARGCOUNT: ", $state->_argcount($varname), "\n";

       The _validate() method can be used to determine if a new value for a variable meets any
       validation criteria specified for it.  The variable name and intended value should be
       passed in.  The methods returns a true/false value depending on whether or not the
       validation succeeded:

           print "OK\n" if $state->_validate($varname, $value);

       The _pedantic() method can be called to determine the current value of the PEDANTIC
       option.

           print "pedantic mode is ", $state->_pedantic() ? "on" ; "off", "\n";

       The _debug() method can be used to turn debugging on or off (pass 1 or 0 as a parameter).
       It can also be used to check the debug state, returning the current internal value of
       $AppConfig::State::DEBUG.  If a new debug value is provided, the debug state is updated
       and the previous state is returned.

           $state->_debug(1);               # debug on, returns previous value

       The _dump_var($varname) and _dump() methods may also be called for debugging purposes.

           $state->_dump_var($varname);    # show variable state
           $state->_dump();                # show internal state and all vars

AUTHOR

       Andy Wardley, <abw@wardley.org>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 1997-2007 Andy Wardley.  All Rights Reserved.

       Copyright (C) 1997,1998 Canon Research Centre Europe Ltd.

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

SEE ALSO

       AppConfig, AppConfig::File, AppConfig::Args, AppConfig::Getopt