NAME

       DBIx::Class::IntrospectableM2M - Introspect many-to-many shortcuts

SYNOPSIS

       In your DBIx::Class Result class (sometimes erroneously referred to as the 'table' class):

         __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/IntrospectableM2M ... Core/);

         #Digest encoder with hex format and SHA-1 algorithm
         __PACKAGE__->many_to_many(roles => user_roles => 'role);

       When you want to introspect this data

          my $metadata = $result_class->_m2m_metadata->{roles};
          #  $metadata->{accessor} method name e.g. 'roles'
          #  $metadata->{relation} maping relation e.g. 'user_roles'
          #  $metadata->{foreign_relation} far-side relation e.g. 'role
          #  $metadata->{attrs}  relationship attributes, if any
          # Convenience methods created by DBIx::Class
          #  $metadata->{rs_method}     'roles_rs'
          #  $metadata->{add_method}    'add_to_roles',
          #  $metadata->{set_method}    'set_roles',
          #  $metadata->{remove_method} 'remove_from_roles'

       Note: The component needs to be loaded before Core.

COMPATIBILITY NOTICE

       This module is fairly esoteric and, unless you are dynamically creating something out of a
       DBIC Schema, is probably the wrong solution for whatever it is you are trying to do.
       Please be advised that compatibility is not guaranteed for DBIx::Class 0.09000+. We will
       try to manitain all compatibility, but internal changes might make it impossible.

DESCRIPTION

       Because the many-to-many relationships are not real relationships, they can not be
       introspected with DBIx::Class. Many-to-many relationships are actually just a collection
       of convenience methods installed to bridge two relationships.  This DBIx::Class component
       can be used to store all relevant information about these non-relationships so they can
       later be introspected and examined.

METHODS

   many_to_many
       Extended to store all relevant information in the "_m2m_metadata" HASH ref.

   _m2m_metadata
       Accessor to a HASH ref where the keys are the names of m2m relationships and the value is
       a HASH ref as described in the SYNOPSIS.

AUTHOR

       Guillermo Roditi (groditi) <groditi@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       Copyright (C) 2008 by Guillermo Roditi

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