NAME

       Data::Phrasebook::Generic - Base class for Phrasebook Models

SYNOPSIS

           use Data::Phrasebook;

           my $q = Data::Phrasebook->new(
               class  => 'Fnerk',
               loader => 'XML',
               file   => 'phrases.xml',
               dict   => 'English',
           );

DESCRIPTION

       This module provides a base class for phrasebook implementations.

CONSTRUCTOR

   new
       "new" takes an optional hash of arguments. Each value in the hash is given as an argument to a method of
       the same name as the key.

       This constructor should never need to be called directly as Phrasebook creation should go through the
       Data::Phrasebook factory.

       Subclasses should provide at least an accessor method to retrieve values for a named key. Further methods
       can be overloaded, but must retain a standard API to the overloaded method.

       All, or at least most, phrasebook implementations should inherit from this class.

METHODS

   loader
       Set, or get, the loader class. Uses a default if none have been specified. See Data::Phrasebook::Loader.

   unload
       Called by the file() and dict() methods when a fresh file or dictionary is specified, and reloading is
       required.

   loaded
       Accessor to determine whether the current dictionary has been loaded

   file
       A description of a file that is passed to the loader. In most cases, this is a file. A loader that gets
       its data from a database could conceivably have this as a hash like thus:

          $q->file( {
              dsn => "dbi:SQLite:dbname=bookdb",
              table => 'phrases',
          } );

       That is, which loader you use determines what your "file" looks like.

       The default loader takes just an ordinary filename.

   dict
       Accessor to store the dictionary to be used.

   dicts
       Having instantiated the "Data::Phrasebook" object class, and using the "file" attribute as a directory
       path, the object can return a list of the current dictionaries available (provided the plugin supports
       it) as:

         my $pb = Data::Phrasebook->new(
           loader => 'Text',
           file   => '/tmp/phrasebooks',
         );

         my @dicts = $pb->dicts;

       or

         my @dicts = $pb->dicts( $path );

   keywords
       Having instantiated the "Data::Phrasebook" object class, using the "dict" attribute as required, the
       object can return a list of the current keywords available (provided the plugin supports it) as:

         my $pb = Data::Phrasebook->new(
           loader => 'Text',
           file   => '/tmp/phrasebooks',
           dict   => 'TEST',
         );

         my @keywords = $pb->keywords;

       or

         my @keywords = $pb->keywords( $dict );

       Note the list will be a combination of the default and any named dictionary.  However, not all Loader
       plugins may support the second usage.

   data
       Loads the data source, if not already loaded, and returns the data block associated with the given key.

           my $data = $self->data($key);

       This is typically only used internally by implementations, not the end user.

   delimiters
       Returns or sets the current delimiters for substitution variables. Must be a regular expression with at
       least one capture group.

       The example below shows the default ':variable' style regex.

          $q->delimiters( qr{ :(\w+) }x );

       The example below shows a Template Toolkit style regex.

          $q->delimiters( qr{ \[% \s* (\w+) \s* %\] }x );

       In addition to the delimiter pattern, an optional setting to suppress missing value errors can be passed
       after the pattern. If set to a true value, will turn any unmatched delimiter patterns to an empty string.

SEE ALSO

       Data::Phrasebook, Data::Phrasebook::Loader.

SUPPORT

       Please see the README file.

AUTHOR

         Original author: Iain Campbell Truskett (16.07.1979 - 29.12.2003)
         Maintainer: Barbie <barbie@cpan.org> since January 2004.
         for Miss Barbell Productions <http://www.missbarbell.co.uk>.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

         Copyright (C) 2003 Iain Truskett.
         Copyright (C) 2004-2013 Barbie for Miss Barbell Productions.

         This distribution is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
         modify it under the Artistic License v2.