NAME

       Template::Plugins - Plugin provider module

SYNOPSIS

           use Template::Plugins;

           $plugin_provider = Template::Plugins->new(\%options);

           ($plugin, $error) = $plugin_provider->fetch($name, @args);

DESCRIPTION

       The "Template::Plugins" module defines a provider class which can be used to load and
       instantiate Template Toolkit plugin modules.

METHODS

   new(\%params)
       Constructor method which instantiates and returns a reference to a "Template::Plugins"
       object.  A reference to a hash array of configuration items may be passed as a parameter.
       These are described below.

       Note that the Template front-end module creates a "Template::Plugins" provider, passing
       all configuration items.  Thus, the examples shown below in the form:

           $plugprov = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => 'MyTemplate::Plugin',
               LOAD_PERL   => 1,
               ...
           });

       can also be used via the Template module as:

           $ttengine = Template->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => 'MyTemplate::Plugin',
               LOAD_PERL   => 1,
               ...
           });

       as well as the more explicit form of:

           $plugprov = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => 'MyTemplate::Plugin',
               LOAD_PERL   => 1,
               ...
           });

           $ttengine = Template->new({
               LOAD_PLUGINS => [ $plugprov ],
           });

   fetch($name, @args)
       Called to request that a plugin of a given name be provided. The relevant module is first
       loaded (if necessary) and the load() class method called to return the factory class name
       (usually the same package name) or a factory object (a prototype).  The new() method is
       then called as a class or object method against the factory, passing all remaining
       parameters.

       Returns a reference to a new plugin object or "($error, STATUS_ERROR)" on error.  May also
       return "(undef, STATUS_DECLINED)" to decline to serve the request.  If "TOLERANT" is set
       then all errors will be returned as declines.

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

       The following list summarises the configuration options that can be provided to the
       "Template::Plugins" new() constructor.  Please consult Template::Manual::Config for
       further details and examples of each configuration option in use.

   PLUGINS
       The PLUGINS option can be used to provide a reference to a hash array that maps plugin
       names to Perl module names.

           my $plugins = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGINS => {
                   cgi => 'MyOrg::Template::Plugin::CGI',
                   foo => 'MyOrg::Template::Plugin::Foo',
                   bar => 'MyOrg::Template::Plugin::Bar',
               },
           });

   PLUGIN_BASE
       If a plugin is not defined in the PLUGINS hash then the PLUGIN_BASE is used to attempt to
       construct a correct Perl module name which can be successfully loaded.

           # single value PLUGIN_BASE
           my $plugins = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => 'MyOrg::Template::Plugin',
           });

           # multiple value PLUGIN_BASE
           my $plugins = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => [   'MyOrg::Template::Plugin',
                                  'YourOrg::Template::Plugin'  ],
           });

   LOAD_PERL
       The LOAD_PERL option can be set to allow you to load regular Perl modules (i.e. those that
       don't reside in the "Template::Plugin" or another user-defined namespace) as plugins.

       If a plugin cannot be loaded using the PLUGINS or PLUGIN_BASE approaches then, if the
       LOAD_PERL is set, the provider will make a final attempt to load the module without
       prepending any prefix to the module path.

       Unlike regular plugins, modules loaded using LOAD_PERL do not receive a Template::Context
       reference as the first argument to the "new()" constructor method.

   TOLERANT
       The TOLERANT flag can be set to indicate that the "Template::Plugins" module should ignore
       any errors encountered while loading a plugin and instead return "STATUS_DECLINED".

   DEBUG
       The DEBUG option can be used to enable debugging messages for the "Template::Plugins"
       module by setting it to include the "DEBUG_PLUGINS" value.

           use Template::Constants qw( :debug );

           my $template = Template->new({
               DEBUG => DEBUG_FILTERS | DEBUG_PLUGINS,
           });

TEMPLATE TOOLKIT PLUGINS

       Please see Template::Manual::Plugins For a complete list of all the plugin modules
       distributed with the Template Toolkit.

AUTHOR

       Andy Wardley <abw@wardley.org> <http://wardley.org/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 1996-2007 Andy Wardley.  All Rights Reserved.

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

SEE ALSO

       Template::Manual::Plugins, Template::Plugin, Template::Context, Template.