NAME

       Class::DBI::Plugin - Abstract base class for Class::DBI plugins

SYNOPSIS

         use base 'Class::DBI::Plugin';

         sub init {
           my $class = shift;
           $class->set_sql( statement_name => ... );
           $class->add_trigger( ... );
           $class->columns( TEMP => ... );
         }

         sub method_name : Plugged {
           my $class = shift;
           $class->sql_statement_name( ... );
         }

         sub this_method_is_not_exported {}

DESCRIPTION

       Class::DBI::Plugin is an abstract base class for Class::DBI plugins. Its purpose is to
       make writing plugins easier. Writers of plugins should be able to concentrate on the
       functionality their module provides, instead of having to deal with the symbol table
       hackery involved when writing a plugin module.  Only three things must be remembered:

       1.  All methods which are to exported are given the "Plugged" attribute. All other methods
           are not exported to the plugged-in class.

       2.  Method calls which are to be sent to the plugged-in class are put in the init()
           method. Examples of these are set_sql(), add_trigger() and so on.

       3.  The class parameter for the init() method and the "Plugged" methods is the plugged-in
           class, not the plugin class.

CAVEATS

       So far this module only "sees" methods in the plugin module itself. If there is a class
       between the base class and the plugin class in the inheritance hierarchy, methods of this
       class will not be found. In other words, inherited methods will not be found. If
       requested, I will implement this behaviour.

TODO

       It may be useful for plugin users to be able to choose only the plugin methods they are
       interested in, if there are more than one. This is not implemented yet.

SEE ALSO

       ·   Class::DBI

AUTHOR

       Jean-Christophe Zeus, <mail@jczeus.com> with some help from Simon Cozens. Many thanks to
       Mark Addison for the idea with the init() method, and many thanks to Steven Quinney for
       the idea with the subroutine attributes.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       Copyright (C) 2004 by Jean-Christophe Zeus

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