NAME

       Sub::Exporter::Cookbook - useful, demonstrative, or stupid Sub::Exporter tricks

VERSION

       version 0.986

OVERVIEW

       Sub::Exporter is a fairly simple tool, and can be used to achieve some very simple goals.
       Its basic behaviors and their basic application (that is, "traditional" exporting of
       routines) are described in Sub::Exporter::Tutorial and Sub::Exporter.  This document
       presents applications that may not be immediately obvious, or that can demonstrate how
       certain features can be put to use (for good or evil).

THE RECIPES

   Exporting Methods as Routines
       With Exporter.pm, exporting methods is a non-starter.  Sub::Exporter makes it simple.  By
       using the "curry_method" utility provided in Sub::Exporter::Util, a method can be exported
       with the invocant built in.

         package Object::Strenuous;

         use Sub::Exporter::Util 'curry_method';
         use Sub::Exporter -setup => {
           exports => [ objection => curry_method('new') ],
         };

       With this configuration, the importing code may contain:

         my $obj = objection("irrelevant");

       ...and this will be equivalent to:

         my $obj = Object::Strenuous->new("irrelevant");

       The built-in invocant is determined by the invocant for the "import" method.  That means
       that if we were to subclass Object::Strenuous as follows:

         package Object::Strenuous::Repeated;
         @ISA = 'Object::Strenuous';

       ...then importing "objection" from the subclass would build-in that subclass.

       Finally, since the invocant can be an object, you can write something like this:

         package Cypher;
         use Sub::Exporter::Util 'curry_method';
         use Sub::Exporter -setup => {
           exports => [ encypher => curry_method ],
         };

       with the expectation that "import" will be called on an instantiated Cypher object:

         BEGIN {
           my $cypher = Cypher->new( ... );
           $cypher->import('encypher');
         }

       Now there is a globally-available "encypher" routine which calls the encypher method on an
       otherwise unavailable Cypher object.

   Exporting Methods as Methods
       While exporting modules usually export subroutines to be called as subroutines, it's easy
       to use Sub::Exporter to export subroutines meant to be called as methods on the importing
       package or its objects.

       Here's a trivial (and naive) example:

         package Mixin::DumpObj;

         use Data::Dumper;

         use Sub::Exporter -setup => {
           exports => [ qw(dump) ]
         };

         sub dump {
           my ($self) = @_;
           return Dumper($self);
         }

       When writing your own object class, you can then import "dump" to be used as a method,
       called like so:

         $object->dump;

       By assuming that the importing class will provide a certain interface, a method-exporting
       module can be used as a simple plugin:

         package Number::Plugin::Upto;
         use Sub::Exporter -setup => {
           into    => 'Number',
           exports => [ qw(upto) ],
           groups  => [ default => [ qw(upto) ] ],
         };

         sub upto {
           my ($self) = @_;
           return 1 .. abs($self->as_integer);
         }

       The "into" line in the configuration says that this plugin will export, by default, into
       the Number package, not into the "use"-ing package.  It can be exported anyway, though,
       and will work as long as the destination provides an "as_integer" method like the one it
       expects.  To import it to a different destination, one can just write:

         use Number::Plugin::Upto { into => 'Quantity' };

   Mixing-in Complex External Behavior
       When exporting methods to be used as methods (see above), one very powerful option is to
       export methods that are generated routines that maintain an enclosed reference to the
       exporting module.  This allows a user to import a single method which is implemented in
       terms of a complete, well-structured package.

       Here is a very small example:

         package Data::Analyzer;

         use Sub::Exporter -setup => {
           exports => [ analyze => \'_generate_analyzer' ],
         };

         sub _generate_analyzer {
           my ($mixin, $name, $arg, $col) = @_;

           return sub {
             my ($self) = @_;

             my $values = [ $self->values ];

             my $analyzer = $mixin->new($values);
             $analyzer->perform_analysis;
             $analyzer->aggregate_results;

             return $analyzer->summary;
           };
         }

       If imported by any package providing a "values" method, this plugin will provide a single
       "analyze" method that acts as a simple interface to a more complex set of behaviors.

       Even more importantly, because the $mixin value will be the invocant on which the "import"
       was actually called, one can subclass "Data::Analyzer" and replace only individual pieces
       of the complex behavior, making it easy to write complex, subclassable toolkits with
       simple single points of entry for external interfaces.

   Exporting Constants
       While Sub::Exporter isn't in the constant-exporting business, it's easy to export
       constants by using one of its sister modules, Package::Generator.

         package Important::Constants;

         use Sub::Exporter -setup => {
           collectors => [ constants => \'_set_constants' ],
         };

         sub _set_constants {
           my ($class, $value, $data) = @_;

           Package::Generator->assign_symbols(
             $data->{into},
             [
               MEANING_OF_LIFE => \42,
               ONE_TRUE_BASE   => \13,
               FACTORS         => [ 6, 9 ],
             ],
           );

           return 1;
         }

       Then, someone can write:

         use Important::Constants 'constants';

         print "The factors @FACTORS produce $MEANING_OF_LIFE in $ONE_TRUE_BASE.";

       (The constants must be exported via a collector, because they are effectively altering the
       importing class in a way other than installing subroutines.)

   Altering the Importer's @ISA
       It's trivial to make a collector that changes the inheritance of an importing package:

         use Sub::Exporter -setup => {
           collectors => { -base => \'_make_base' },
         };

         sub _make_base {
           my ($class, $value, $data) = @_;

           my $target = $data->{into};
           push @{"$target\::ISA"}, $class;
         }

       Then, the user of your class can write:

         use Some::Class -base;

       and become a subclass.  This can be quite useful in building, for example, a module that
       helps build plugins.  We may want a few utilities imported, but we also want to inherit
       behavior from some base plugin class;

         package Framework::Util;

         use Sub::Exporter -setup => {
           exports    => [ qw(log global_config) ],
           groups     => [ _plugin => [ qw(log global_config) ]
           collectors => { '-plugin' => \'_become_plugin' },
         };

         sub _become_plugin {
           my ($class, $value, $data) = @_;

           my $target = $data->{into};
           push @{"$target\::ISA"}, $class->plugin_base_class;

           push @{ $data->{import_args} }, '-_plugin';
         }

       Now, you can write a plugin like this:

         package Framework::Plugin::AirFreshener;
         use Framework::Util -plugin;

   Eating Exporter.pm's Brain
       You probably shouldn't actually do this in production.  It's offered more as a
       demonstration than a suggestion.

        sub exporter_upgrade {
          my ($pkg) = @_;
          my $new_pkg = "$pkg\::UsingSubExporter";

          return $new_pkg if $new_pkg->isa($pkg);

          Sub::Exporter::setup_exporter({
            as      => 'import',
            into    => $new_pkg,
            exports => [ @{"$pkg\::EXPORT_OK"} ],
            groups  => {
              %{"$pkg\::EXPORT_TAG"},
              default => [ @{"$pkg\::EXPORTS"} ],
            },
          });

          @{"$new_pkg\::ISA"} = $pkg;
          return $new_pkg;
        }

       This routine, given the name of an existing package configured to use Exporter.pm, returns
       the name of a new package with a Sub::Exporter-powered "import" routine.  This lets you
       import "Toolkit::exported_sub" into the current package with the name "foo" by writing:

         BEGIN {
           require Toolkit;
           exporter_upgrade('Toolkit')->import(exported_sub => { -as => 'foo' })
         }

       If you're feeling particularly naughty, this routine could have been declared in the
       UNIVERSAL package, meaning you could write:

         BEGIN {
           require Toolkit;
           Toolkit->exporter_upgrade->import(exported_sub => { -as => 'foo' })
         }

       The new package will have all the same exporter configuration as the original, but will
       support export and group renaming, including exporting into scalar references.  Further,
       since Sub::Exporter uses "can" to find the routine being exported, the new package may be
       subclassed and some of its exports replaced.

AUTHOR

       Ricardo Signes <rjbs@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       This software is copyright (c) 2007 by Ricardo Signes.

       This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as
       the Perl 5 programming language system itself.