NAME

       Proc::InvokeEditor - Perl extension for starting a text editor

SYNOPSIS

         use Proc::InvokeEditor;
         my $edited_text = Proc::InvokeEditor->edit($unedited_text);

DESCRIPTION

       This module provides the ability to supply some text to an external text editor, have it
       edited by the user, and retrieve the results.

       The File::Temp module is used to provide secure, safe temporary files, and File::Temp is
       set to its highest available level of security. This may cause problems on some systems
       where no secure temporary directory is available.

       When the editor is started, no subshell is used. Your path will be scanned to find the
       binary to use for each editor if the string given does not exist as a file, and if a named
       editor contains whitespace, eg) if you try to use the editor "xemacs -nw", then the string
       will be split on whitespace and anything after the editor name will be passed as arguments
       to your editor. A shell is not used but this should cover most simple cases.

METHODS

   new(editors => [ editor list ], cleanup => 1)
       This method creates a new Proc::InvokeEditor object. It takes two optional arguments in
       key => value form:

       "editors"
           This should be a reference to an array of possible editor filenames to use. Each
           editor listed will be tried in turn until a working editor is found. If this argument
           is not supplied, an internal default list will be used.

       "cleanup"
           This specifies whether the temporary file created should be unlinked when the program
           exits. The default is to unlink the file.

       "keep_file"
           This specifies whether to reuse the same temporary file between invocations of "edit"
           on the same Proc::InvokeEditor object. The default is to use a new file each time.

   editors()
       This method gets or sets the list of editors to use.  If no argument is supplied, it
       returns the current value from the object, if an argument is supplied, it changes the
       value and returns the new value.  The argument should be a reference to a list of text
       editor filenames.

   editors_env($arrayref)
       Takes a reference to an array of %ENV keys to use as possible editors.  Each $ENV{$key}
       value is only used if that key exits in %ENV and the value is defined. The new values are
       prepended to the currently stored list of editors to use.

   editors_prepend($arrayref)
       Takes a reference to an array of editors to use, and prepends them to the currently stored
       list.

   cleanup()
       This method gets or sets whether to cleanup temporary files after the program exits. If no
       argument is supplied, it returns the current value from the object. If an argument is
       supplied, it changes the value and returns the new object. The argument should be any true
       or false value.

   keep_file()
       This method gets or sets whether to reuse temporary files. If no argument is supplied, it
       returns the current value from the object. If an argument is supplied, it changes the
       value and returns the new object. The argument should be any true or false value.

   first_usable()
       This method can be called either as a class method, in which it returns the first usable
       editor of the default list of editors, or as an object method, in which case it returns
       the first usable editor of the currently configured list.

       The return is a reference to an array, the first element of which is a filename, and the
       other elements of which are appropriate arguments to the the command.

       If this method can not find any usable editor, it will die.

   edit($unedited_text)
       This can be called as either a class method or an object method.

       When called as a class method, it starts an external text editor in the text supplied, and
       returns the result to you. The text to edit can be supplied either as a scalar, in which
       case it will be treated as a simple string, or as a reference to an array, in which case
       it will be treated as an array of lines.

       Example use of this form is as follows:

         my $result = Proc::InvokeEditor->edit($string);

         my @lines = Proc::InvokeEditor->edit(\@unedited_lines);

         my @lines = Proc::InvokeEditor->edit($string);

       When called as an object method, it behaves identically, but uses configuration parameters
       from the object:

         my $editor = new Proc::InvokeEditor(editors => [ '/usr/bin/emacs' ]);
         $editor->cleanup(0);
         my $result = $editor->edit($string);

       A optional second argument is available $suff - example usage:

               my $reuslt = Proc::InvokeEditor->edit($string, '.xml');

       This specifies a filename suffix to be used when the editor is launched - this can be
       useful if the data in the file is of a particular type and you want to trigger an editor's
       syntax highlighting mode.

TODO

       •   Write a test suite.

AUTHOR

       Michael Stevens <mstevens@etla.org>. Also incorporating suggestions and feedback from Leon
       Brocard and Phil Pennock.

       Patches supplied by Tim Booth.

SEE ALSO

       perl.