NAME

       HTML::Mason::Tools - Function library used internally in Mason

DESCRIPTION

       This module contains exportable functions that are intended to be used by other Mason
       modules.

       The documentation here is primarily intended to be used by Mason core developers.

       Others who choose to use these functions do so at their own risk, as they may change from
       release to release.  You have been warned.

FUNCTIONS

       read_file
           This function takes a file name and an optional argument indicating whether or not to
           open the final in binary mode.  It will return the entire contents of the file as a
           scalar.

       paths_eq
           Given to paths, this function indicates whether they represent the same location on
           the filesystem.  It does not account for symlinks.

       compress_path
           This turns a component path into a filesystem-friendly path by escaping potentially
           meaningful characters.

       absolute_comp_path
           Given a component path and a directory path, this function returns the absolute
           component path, prepending the directory path if needed.

       mason_canonpath
           This function cleans up a component path and returns its canonical version.  It is
           largely the same as File::Spec::Unix::canonpath, with a few additional cleanups.

       pkg_installed
           Given a module name, this function returns true or false to indicate whether or not a
           corresponding .pm file exists.

       pkg_loaded
           Given a module name, this function returns true or false to indicate whether or not
           the module has been loaded into memory.

       load_pkg
           Given a module name, this function attempts to load it.  It takes an additional
           boolean parameter indicating whether or not to throw an exception if the module cannot
           be found.  By default, if the module cannot be found, this function simply returns
           false.

           All errors generate exceptions no matter what.

           If the module is loaded successfully, this function returns true.

       taint_is_on
           Returns a boolean value indicating whether taint mode is on or not.

       coerce_to_array
           Given a scalar, which may be a reference, this function attempts to return an array.
           It throws an HTML::Mason::Exception::Params exception if this can't be done.

           This function is called from the generated component code as part of a component's
           argument handling.

       coerce_to_hash
           Given a scalar, which may be a reference, this function attempts to return a hash.  It
           throws an HTML::Mason::Exception::Params exception if this can't be done.

           This function is called from the generated component code as part of a component's
           argument handling.

       checksum
           Computes a simple checksum of a string. Used for Compiler::object_id.