NAME

       Log::Log4perl::Config::BaseConfigurator - Configurator Base Class

SYNOPSIS

       This is a virtual base class, all configurators should be derived from it.

DESCRIPTION

   METHODS
       "new"
           Constructor, typically called like

               my $config_parser = SomeConfigParser->new(
                   file => $file,
               );

               my $data = $config_parser->parse();

           Instead of "file", the derived class "SomeConfigParser" may define any type of
           configuration input medium (e.g. "url => 'http://foobar'").  It just has to make sure
           its "parse()" method will later pull the input data from the medium specified.

           The base class accepts a filename or a reference to an array of text lines:

           "file"
               Specifies a file which the "parse()" method later parses.

           "text"
               Specifies a reference to an array of scalars, representing configuration records
               (typically lines of a file). Also accepts a simple scalar, which it splits at its
               newlines and transforms it into an array:

                   my $config_parser = MyYAMLParser->new(
                       text => ['foo: bar',
                                'baz: bam',
                               ],
                   );

                   my $data = $config_parser->parse();

           If either "file" or "text" parameters have been specified in the constructor call, a
           later call to the configurator's "text()" method will return a reference to an array
           of configuration text lines.  This will typically be used by the "parse()" method to
           process the input.

       "parse"
           Virtual method, needs to be defined by the derived class.

   Parser requirements
       •   If the parser provides variable substitution functionality, it has to implement it.

       •   The parser's "parse()" method returns a reference to a hash of hashes (HoH).  The top-
           most hash contains the top-level keywords ("category", "appender") as keys, associated
           with values which are references to more deeply nested hashes.

       •   The "log4perl." prefix (e.g. as used in the PropertyConfigurator class) is stripped,
           it's not part in the HoH structure.

       •   Each Log4perl config value is indicated by the "value" key, as in

               $data->{category}->{Bar}->{Twix}->{value} = "WARN, Logfile"

   EXAMPLES
       The following Log::Log4perl configuration:

           log4perl.category.Bar.Twix        = WARN, Screen
           log4perl.appender.Screen          = Log::Log4perl::Appender::File
           log4perl.appender.Screen.filename = test.log
           log4perl.appender.Screen.layout   = Log::Log4perl::Layout::SimpleLayout

       needs to be transformed by the parser's "parse()" method into this data structure:

           { appender => {
               Screen  => {
                 layout => {
                   value  => "Log::Log4perl::Layout::SimpleLayout" },
                   value  => "Log::Log4perl::Appender::Screen",
               },
             },
             category => {
               Bar => {
                 Twix => {
                   value => "WARN, Screen" }
               } }
           }

       For a full-fledged example, check out the sample YAML parser implementation in
       "eg/yamlparser". It uses a simple YAML syntax to specify the Log4perl configuration to
       illustrate the concept.

SEE ALSO

       Log::Log4perl::Config::PropertyConfigurator

       Log::Log4perl::Config::DOMConfigurator

       Log::Log4perl::Config::LDAPConfigurator (tbd!)

LICENSE

       Copyright 2002-2013 by Mike Schilli <m@perlmeister.com> and Kevin Goess <cpan@goess.org>.

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

AUTHOR

       Please contribute patches to the project on Github:

           http://github.com/mschilli/log4perl

       Send bug reports or requests for enhancements to the authors via our

       MAILING LIST (questions, bug reports, suggestions/patches):
       log4perl-devel@lists.sourceforge.net

       Authors (please contact them via the list above, not directly): Mike Schilli
       <m@perlmeister.com>, Kevin Goess <cpan@goess.org>

       Contributors (in alphabetical order): Ateeq Altaf, Cory Bennett, Jens Berthold, Jeremy
       Bopp, Hutton Davidson, Chris R. Donnelly, Matisse Enzer, Hugh Esco, Anthony Foiani, James
       FitzGibbon, Carl Franks, Dennis Gregorovic, Andy Grundman, Paul Harrington, Alexander
       Hartmaier  David Hull, Robert Jacobson, Jason Kohles, Jeff Macdonald, Markus Peter, Brett
       Rann, Peter Rabbitson, Erik Selberg, Aaron Straup Cope, Lars Thegler, David Viner, Mac
       Yang.