NAME

       Cookbook - Examples of how to use Data::Serializer

DESCRIPTION

       Data::Serializer::Cookbook is a collection of solutions for using Data::Serializer.

CONVENTIONS

       Unless otherwise specified, all examples can be assumed to begin with:

         use Data::Serializer;

         my $serializer = Data::Serializer->new();

       Some examples will show different arguments to the new method, where specified simply use that line
       instead of the simple form above.

CONVENTIONS for Raw Access

       Fort hose who want a straight pass through to the underlying serializer, where nothing else is done (no
       encoding, encryption, compression, etc) there is Data::Serializer::Raw(3).

       These begin like this:

         use Data::Serializer::Raw;

         my $raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->new();

Encrypting your data

       You wish to encrypt your data structure, so that it can only be decoded by someone who shares the same
       key.

   Solution
         $serializer->secret('mysecret');

         my $encrypted_hashref = $serializer->serializer($hash);

         ... (in other program) ...

         $serializer->secret('mysecret');

         my $clear_hash = $serializer->deserializer($encrypted_hash);

       Note:  You will have to have the Crypt::CBC module installed for this to work.

Compressing your data

       You wish to compress your data structure to cut down on how much disk space it will take up.

   Solution
         $serializer->compress(1);

         my $compressed_hashref = $serializer->serializer($hash);

         ... (in other program) ...

         my $clear_hash = $serializer->deserializer($compressed_hash);

       Note:  You will have to have the Compress::Zlib module installed for this to work.  Your mileage will
       vary dramatically depending on what serializer you use.  Some serializers are already fairly compact.

You want to read in data serialized outside of Data::Serializer

       You need to write a program that can read in data serialized in a format other than Data::Serializer.
       For example you need to be able to be able to process data serialized by XML::Dumper.

   Solution
         use Data::Serializer::Raw;

         my $xml_raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->(serializer => 'XML::Dumper');

         my $hash_ref = $xml_raw_serializer->deserialize($xml_data);

You want to write serialized data in a form understood outside of Data::Serializer

       You need to write a program that can write out data in a format other than Data::Serializer.  Or said
       more generically you need to write out data in the format native to the underlying serializer.  For our
       example we will be exporting data using XML::Dumper format.

   Solution
         ues Data::Serializer::Raw;

         my $xml_raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->(serializer => 'XML::Dumper');

         my $xml_data = $xml_raw_serializer->serialize($hash_ref);

You want to convert data between two different serializers native formats

       You have data serialized by php that you want to convert to xml for use by other programs.

   Solution
         use Data::Serializer::Raw;

         my $xml_raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->(serializer => 'XML::Dumper');

         my $php_raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->(serializer => 'PHP::Serialization');

         my $hash_ref = $php_raw_serializer->deserialize($php_data);

         my $xml_data = $xml_raw_serializer->serialize($hash_ref);

Keeping data persistent between executions of a program.

       You have a program that you run every 10 minutes, it uses SNMP to pull some counters from one of your
       routers.  You want your program to keep the counters from the last run so that it can see how much
       traffic has passed over a link since it last ran.

   Solution
         # path to store our serialized data
         # be paranoid, use full paths
         my $last_run_datafile = '/full/path/to/file/lastrun.data';

         #We keep our data as a hash reference
         my $last_data = $serializer->retrieve($last_run_datafile);

         #Pull in our new data through 'pull_data()';
         my $new_data = query_router($router);

         #run comparison code
         run_comparison($last_data,$new_data);

         $serializer->store($new_data);

AUTHOR

       Neil Neely <neil@neely.cx>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2001-2011 Neil Neely.  All rights reserved.

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

SEE ALSO

       Data::Serializer(3)
       Data::Serializer::Raw(3)