NOTE

       This is being merged in from Template::TT3::Type.  The documentation still refers to the
       old name and relates to TT-specific use.

NAME

       Badger::Data - base class for data object

SYNOPSIS

           # defining a subclass data type
           package Badger::Data::Thing;
           use base 'Badger::Data';

           our $METHODS = {
               wibble => \&wibble,
               wobble => \&wobble,
           };

           sub wibble {
               my $self = shift;
               # some wibble code...
           }

           sub wobble {
               my $self = shift;
               # some wobble code...
           }

PLEASE NOTE

       This module is being merged in from the prototype "Template-TT3" code. The implementation
       is subject to change and the documentation may be incomplete or incorrect in places.

DESCRIPTION

       The "Badger::Data" module implements a base class for the Badger::Data::Text,
       Badger::Data::List and Badger::Data::Hash data objects.

METHODS

       The following methods are defined in addition to those inherited from Badger::Prototype
       and Badger::Base.

   init(\%config)
       Initialialisation method to handle any per-object initialisation. This is called by the
       new() method inherited from Badger::Base . In this base class, the method simply copies
       all items in the $config hash array into the $self object.

   clone()
       Create a copy of the current object.

           my $clone = $object->clone();

       Additional named parameters can be provided.  These are merged with the items defined in
       the parent object and passed to the cloned object's init() method.

           my $clone = $object->clone( g => 0.577 );

   methods()
       Returns a reference to a hash array containing the content of the $METHODS package
       variable in the current class and any base classes.

           my $methods = $object->methods;

   method($name)
       Returns a reference to a particular method from the hash reference returned by the
       methods() method.

           my $method = $object->method('ref');

       When called without any arguments, it returns a reference to the entire hash reference, as
       per methods().

           my $method = $object->method->{ foo };

   metadata($name,$value)
       This method provides access to an out-of-band (i.e. stored separately from the data
       itself) hash array of metadata for the data item.  It returns a reference to a hash array
       when called without arguments.

           # fetch metadata hash and add an entry
           my $metadata = $data->metadata;
           $metadata->{ author } = 'Arthur Dent';

           # later... print the metadata
           print $data->metadata->{ author };

       It returns the value of an item in the metadata hash when called with a single argument.

           print $data->metadata('author');

       It sets the value of an item when called with two arguments.

           $data->metadata( author => 'Ford Prefect' );

   ref()
       Returns the name of the object type, e.g. "Template::TT3::Type",
       "Template::TT3::Type::Text", Template::TT3::Type::List, etc., exactly as Perl's "ref()"
       function does.

   defined()
       Returns a true/false (1/0) value to indicate if the target data is defined.

   undefined()
       Returns a true/false (1/0) value to indicate if the target data is undefined.

   true()
       Returns a true/false (1/0) value to indicate if the target data has a true value (using by
       Perl's definition of what constitutes truth).

   false()
       Returns a true/false (1/0) value to indicate if the target data has a false value (using
       by Perl's definition of what constitutes truth).

AUTHOR

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

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 1996-2008 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::TT3::Type::Text, Template::TT3::Type::List and Template::TT3::Type::Hash.