NAME

       PPI::Transform - Abstract base class for document transformation classes

DESCRIPTION

       "PPI::Transform" provides an API for the creation of classes and objects that modify or
       transform PPI documents.

METHODS

   new
         my $transform = PPI::Transform->new(
             param1 => 'value1',
             param2 => 'value2',
         );

       The "new" constructor creates a new object for your "PPI::Transform" subclass. A default
       constructor is provided for you which takes no params and creates a basic, empty, object.

       If you wish to have your transform constructor take params, these must be in the form of a
       list of key/value pairs.

       Returns a new "PPI::Transform"-compatible object, or returns "undef" on error.

   document
       The "document" method should be implemented by each subclass, and takes a single argument
       of a PPI::Document object, modifying it in place as appropriate for the particular
       transform class.

       That's right, this method will not clone and should not clone the document object. If you
       do not want the original to be modified, you need to clone it yourself before passing it
       in.

       Returns the numbers of changes made to the document. If the transform is unable to track
       the quantity (including the situation where it cannot tell IF it made a change) it should
       return 1. Returns zero if no changes were made to the document, or "undef" if an error
       occurs.

       By default this error is likely to only mean that you passed in something that wasn't a
       PPI::Document, but may include additional errors depending on the subclass.

   apply
       The "apply" method is used to apply the transform to something. The argument must be a
       PPI::Document, or something which can be turned into a one and then be written back to
       again.

       Currently, this list is limited to a "SCALAR" reference, although a handler registration
       process is available for you to add support for additional types of object should you wish
       (see the source for this module).

       Returns true if the transform was applied, false if there is an error in the transform
       process, or may die if there is a critical error in the apply handler.

   file
         # Read from one file and write to another
         $transform->file( 'Input.pm' => 'Output.pm' );

         # Change a file in place
         $transform->file( 'Change.pm' );

       The "file" method modifies a Perl document by filename. If passed a single parameter, it
       modifies the file in-place. If provided a second parameter, it will attempt to save the
       modified file to the alternative filename.

       Returns true on success, or "undef" on error.

SUPPORT

       See the support section in the main module.

AUTHOR

       Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2001 - 2011 Adam Kennedy.

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

       The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.