Provided by: libclass-makemethods-perl_1.01-7_all 
NAME
Class::MakeMethods::Composite::Array - Basic array methods
SYNOPSIS
package MyObject;
use Class::MakeMethods::Composite::Array (
new => 'new',
scalar => [ 'foo', 'bar' ],
array => 'my_list',
hash => 'my_index',
);
...
my $obj = MyObject->new( foo => 'Foozle' );
print $obj->foo();
$obj->bar('Barbados');
print $obj->bar();
$obj->my_list(0 => 'Foozle', 1 => 'Bang!');
print $obj->my_list(1);
$obj->my_index('broccoli' => 'Blah!', 'foo' => 'Fiddle');
print $obj->my_index('foo');
DESCRIPTION
The Composite::Array suclass of MakeMethods provides a basic constructor and accessors for
blessed-array object instances.
Class::MakeMethods Calling Conventions
When you "use" this package, the method declarations you provide as arguments cause
subroutines to be generated and installed in your module.
You can also omit the arguments to "use" and instead make methods at runtime by passing
the declarations to a subsequent call to "make()".
You may include any number of declarations in each call to "use" or "make()". If methods
with the same name already exist, earlier calls to "use" or "make()" win over later ones,
but within each call, later declarations superceed earlier ones.
You can install methods in a different package by passing "-TargetClass => package" as
your first arguments to "use" or "make".
See Class::MakeMethods for more details.
Class::MakeMethods::Basic Declaration Syntax
The following types of Basic declarations are supported:
• generator_type => "method_name"
• generator_type => "name_1 name_2..."
• generator_type => [ "name_1", "name_2", ...]
See the "METHOD GENERATOR TYPES" section below for a list of the supported values of
generator_type.
For each method name you provide, a subroutine of the indicated type will be generated and
installed under that name in your module.
Method names should start with a letter, followed by zero or more letters, numbers, or
underscores.
Class::MakeMethods::Composite Declaration Syntax
The Composite syntax also provides several ways to optionally associate a hash of
additional parameters with a given method name.
• generator_type => [ "name_1" => { param=>value... }, ... ]
A hash of parameters to use just for this method name.
(Note: to prevent confusion with self-contained definition hashes, described below,
parameter hashes following a method name must not contain the key 'name'.)
• generator_type => [ [ "name_1", "name_2", ... ] => { param=>value... } ]
Each of these method names gets a copy of the same set of parameters.
• generator_type => [ { "name"=>"name_1", param=>value... }, ... ]
By including the reserved parameter "name", you create a self contained declaration
with that name and any associated hash values.
Basic declarations, as described above, are treated as having an empty parameter hash.
Positional Accessors and %FIELDS
Each accessor method is assigned the next available array index at which to store its
value.
The mapping between method names and array positions is stored in a hash named %FIELDS in
the declaring package. When a package declares its first positional accessor, its %FIELDS
are initialized by searching its inheritance tree.
Warning: Subclassing packages that use positional accessors is somewhat fragile, since you
may end up with two distinct methods assigned to the same position. Specific cases to
avoid are:
• If you inherit from more than one class with positional accessors, the positions used
by the two sets of methods will overlap.
• If your superclass adds additional positional accessors after you declare your first,
they will overlap yours.
METHOD GENERATOR TYPES
new - Constructor
For each method name passed, returns a subroutine with the following characteristics:
• Has a reference to a sample item to copy. This defaults to a reference to an empty
array, but you may override this with the "'defaults' =" array_ref> method parameter.
• If called as a class method, makes a new array containing values from the sample item,
and blesses it into that class.
• If called on an array-based instance, makes a copy of it and blesses the copy into the
same class as the original instance.
• If passed a list of method-value pairs, calls each named method with the associated
value as an argument.
• Returns the new instance.
Sample declaration and usage:
package MyObject;
use Class::MakeMethods::Composite::Array (
new => 'new',
);
...
# Bare constructor
my $empty = MyObject->new();
# Constructor with initial sequence of method calls
my $obj = MyObject->new( foo => 'Foozle', bar => 'Barbados' );
# Copy with overriding sequence of method calls
my $copy = $obj->new( bar => 'Bob' );
new_with_values - Constructor
For each method name passed, returns a subroutine with the following characteristics:
• May be called as a class method, or (equivalently) on any existing object of that
class.
• Creates an array, blesses it into the class, and returns the new instance.
• If no arguments are provided, the returned array will be empty. If passed a single
array-ref argument, copies its contents into the new array. If called with multiple
arguments, copies them into the new array. (Note that this is a "shallow" copy, not a
"deep" clone.)
Sample declaration and usage:
package MyObject;
use Class::MakeMethods::Composite::Array (
new => 'new',
);
...
# Bare constructor
my $empty = MyObject->new();
# Constructor with initial sequence of method calls
my $obj = MyObject->new( foo => 'Foozle', bar => 'Barbados' );
# Copy with overriding sequence of method calls
my $copy = $obj->new( bar => 'Bob' );
scalar - Instance Accessor
For each method name passed, uses a closure to generate a subroutine with the following
characteristics:
• Must be called on an array-based instance.
• Determines the array position associated with the method name, and uses that as an
index into each instance to access the related value. This defaults to the next
available slot in %FIELDS, but you may override this with the "'array_index' ="
number> method parameter, or by pre-filling the contents of %FIELDS.
• If called without any arguments returns the current value (or undef).
• If called with an argument, stores that as the value, and returns it,
• If called with multiple arguments, stores a reference to a new array with those
arguments as contents, and returns that array reference.
Sample declaration and usage:
package MyObject;
use Class::MakeMethods::Composite::Array (
scalar => 'foo',
);
...
# Store value
$obj->foo('Foozle');
# Retrieve value
print $obj->foo;
array - Instance Ref Accessor
For each method name passed, uses a closure to generate a subroutine with the following
characteristics:
• Must be called on an array-based instance.
• Determines the array position associated with the method name, and uses that as an
index into each instance to access the related value. This defaults to the next
available slot in %FIELDS, but you may override this with the "'array_index' ="
number> method parameter, or by pre-filling the contents of %FIELDS.
• The value for each instance will be a reference to an array (or undef).
• If called without any arguments, returns the current array-ref value (or undef).
• If called with a single non-ref argument, uses that argument as an index to retrieve
from the referenced array, and returns that value (or undef).
• If called with a single array ref argument, uses that list to return a slice of the
referenced array.
• If called with a list of argument pairs, each with a non-ref index and an associated
value, stores the value at the given index in the referenced array. If the instance's
value was previously undefined, a new array is autovivified. The current value in each
position will be overwritten, and later arguments with the same index will override
earlier ones. Returns the current array-ref value.
• If called with a list of argument pairs, each with the first item being a reference to
an array of up to two numbers, loops over each pair and uses those numbers to splice
the value array.
The first controlling number is the position at which the splice will begin. Zero will
start before the first item in the list. Negative numbers count backwards from the end
of the array.
The second number is the number of items to be removed from the list. If it is
omitted, or undefined, or zero, no items are removed. If it is a positive integer,
that many items will be returned.
If both numbers are omitted, or are both undefined, they default to containing the
entire value array.
If the second argument is undef, no values will be inserted; if it is a non-reference
value, that one value will be inserted; if it is an array-ref, its values will be
copied.
The method returns the items that removed from the array, if any.
Sample declaration and usage:
package MyObject;
use Class::MakeMethods::Composite::Array (
array => 'bar',
);
...
# Clear and set contents of list
print $obj->bar([ 'Spume', 'Frost' ] );
# Set values by position
$obj->bar(0 => 'Foozle', 1 => 'Bang!');
# Positions may be overwritten, and in any order
$obj->bar(2 => 'And Mash', 1 => 'Blah!');
# Retrieve value by position
print $obj->bar(1);
# Direct access to referenced array
print scalar @{ $obj->bar() };
There are also calling conventions for slice and splice operations:
# Retrieve slice of values by position
print join(', ', $obj->bar( undef, [0, 2] ) );
# Insert an item at position in the array
$obj->bar([3], 'Potatoes' );
# Remove 1 item from position 3 in the array
$obj->bar([3, 1], undef );
# Set a new value at position 2, and return the old value
print $obj->bar([2, 1], 'Froth' );
hash - Instance Ref Accessor
For each method name passed, uses a closure to generate a subroutine with the following
characteristics:
• Must be called on an array-based instance.
• Determines the array position associated with the method name, and uses that as an
index into each instance to access the related value. This defaults to the next
available slot in %FIELDS, but you may override this with the "'array_index' ="
number> method parameter, or by pre-filling the contents of %FIELDS.
• The value for each instance will be a reference to a hash (or undef).
• If called without any arguments, returns the contents of the hash in list context, or
a hash reference in scalar context (or undef).
• If called with one non-ref argument, uses that argument as an index to retrieve from
the referenced hash, and returns that value (or undef).
• If called with one array-ref argument, uses the contents of that array to retrieve a
slice of the referenced hash.
• If called with one hash-ref argument, sets the contents of the referenced hash to
match that provided.
• If called with a list of key-value pairs, stores the value under the given key in the
referenced hash. If the instance's value was previously undefined, a new hash is
autovivified. The current value under each key will be overwritten, and later
arguments with the same key will override earlier ones. Returns the contents of the
hash in list context, or a hash reference in scalar context.
Sample declaration and usage:
package MyObject;
use Class::MakeMethods::Composite::Array (
hash => 'baz',
);
...
# Set values by key
$obj->baz('foo' => 'Foozle', 'bar' => 'Bang!');
# Values may be overwritten, and in any order
$obj->baz('broccoli' => 'Blah!', 'foo' => 'Fiddle');
# Retrieve value by key
print $obj->baz('foo');
# Retrieve slice of values by position
print join(', ', $obj->baz( ['foo', 'bar'] ) );
# Direct access to referenced hash
print keys %{ $obj->baz() };
# Reset the hash contents to empty
@{ $obj->baz() } = ();
object - Instance Ref Accessor
For each method name passed, uses a closure to generate a subroutine with the following
characteristics:
• Must be called on an array-based instance.
• Determines the array position associated with the method name, and uses that as an
index into each instance to access the related value. This defaults to the next
available slot in %FIELDS, but you may override this with the "'array_index' ="
number> method parameter, or by pre-filling the contents of %FIELDS.
• The value for each instance will be a reference to an object (or undef).
• If called without any arguments returns the current value.
• If called with an argument, stores that as the value, and returns it,
Sample declaration and usage:
package MyObject;
use Class::MakeMethods::Composite::Hash (
object => 'foo',
);
...
# Store value
$obj->foo( Foozle->new() );
# Retrieve value
print $obj->foo;
SEE ALSO
See Class::MakeMethods for general information about this distribution.
See Class::MakeMethods::Composite for more about this family of subclasses.