NAME

       User::Identity::Item - general base class for User::Identity

INHERITANCE

        User::Identity::Item is extended by
          Mail::Identity
          User::Identity
          User::Identity::Archive
          User::Identity::Collection
          User::Identity::Location
          User::Identity::System

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

       The "User::Identity::Item" base class is extended into useful modules: it has no use by
       its own.

METHODS

   Constructors
       User::Identity::Item->new( [NAME], OPTIONS )
            -Option     --Default
             description  undef
             name         <required>
             parent       undef

           description => STRING
             Free format description on the collected item.

           name => STRING
             A simple name for this item.  Try to give a useful name in the context of the item
             time.  Each time when you lookup items, you need to specify this name, so it should
             be unique and not to hard to handle in your program.  For instance, when a person is
             addressed, you usually will give him/her this a nickname.

           parent => OBJECT
             The encapsulating object: the object which collects this one.

   Attributes
       $obj->description()
           Free format description on this item.  Please do not add any significance to the
           content of this field: if you are in need for an extra attribute, please contact the
           author of the module to implement it, or extend the object to suit your needs.

       $obj->name( [NEWNAME] )
           The name of this item.  Names are unique within a collection... a second object with
           the same name within any collection will destroy the already existing object with that
           name.

           Changing the name of an item is quite dangerous.  You probably want to call
           User::Identity::Collection::renameRole() instead.

   Collections
       $obj->add(COLLECTION, ROLE)
           The ROLE is added to the COLLECTION.  The COLLECTION is the name of a collection,
           which will be created automatically with addCollection() if needed.  The COLLECTION
           can also be specified as existing collection object.

           The ROLE is anything what is acceptable to User::Identity::Collection::addRole() of
           the collection at hand, and is returned.  ROLE typically is a list of parameters for
           one role, or a reference to an array containing these values.

           example:

            my $ui   = User::Identity->new(...);
            my $home = $ui->add(location => [home => street => '27 Roadstreet', ...] );
            my $work = $ui->add(location => work, tel => '+31-2231-342-13', ... );

            my $travel = User::Identity::Location->new(travel => ...);
            $ui->add(location => $travel);

            my $system = User::Identity::Collection::System->new(...);
            $ui->add($system => 'localhost');

       $obj->addCollection(OBJECT | ([TYPE], OPTIONS))
           Add a new collection of roles to an item.  This can be achieved in two ways: either
           create an User::Identity::Collection OBJECT yourself and then pass that to this
           method, or supply all the OPTIONS needed to create such an object and it will be
           created for you.  The object which is added is returned, and can be used for many
           methods directly.

           For OPTIONS, see the specific type of collection.  Additional options are listed
           below.

            -Option--Default
             type    <required>

           type => STRING|CLASS
             The nickname of a collection class or the CLASS name itself of the object to be
             created.  Required if an object has to be created.  Predefined type nicknames are
             "email", "system", and "location".

           example:

            my $me   = User::Identity->new(...);
            my $locs = User::Identity::Collection::Locations->new();
            $me->addCollection($locs);

            my $email = $me->addCollection(type => 'email');
            my $email = $me->addCollection('email');

       $obj->collection(NAME)
           In scalar context the collection object with the NAME is returned.  In list context,
           all the roles within the collection are returned.

           example:

            my @roles = $me->collection('email');        # list of collected items
            my @roles = $me->collection('email')->roles; # same of collected items
            my $coll  = $me->collection('email');        # a User::Identity::Collection

       $obj->find(COLLECTION, ROLE)
           Returns the object with the specified ROLE within the named collection.  The
           collection can be specified as name or object.

           example:

            my $role  = $me->find(location => 'work');       # one location
            my $role  = $me->collection('location')->find('work'); # same

            my $email = $me->addCollection('email');
            $me->find($email => 'work');
            $email->find('work');   # same

       $obj->parent( [PARENT] )
           Returns the parent of an Item (the enclosing item).  This may return "undef" if the
           object is stand-alone.

       $obj->removeCollection(OBJECT|NAME)
       $obj->type()
       User::Identity::Item->type()
           Returns a nice symbolic name for the type.

       $obj->user()
           Go from this object to its parent, to its parent, and so on, until a User::Identity is
           found or the top of the object tree has been reached.

           example:

            print $email->user->fullName;

DIAGNOSTICS

       Error: $object is not a collection.
           The first argument is an object, but not of a class which extends
           User::Identity::Collection.

       Error: Cannot load collection module for $type ($class).
           Either the specified $type does not exist, or that module named $class returns
           compilation errors.  If the type as specified in the warning is not the name of a
           package, you specified a nickname which was not defined.  Maybe you forgot the
           'require' the package which defines the nickname.

       Error: Creation of a collection via $class failed.
           The $class did compile, but it was not possible to create an object of that class
           using the options you specified.

       Error: Don't know what type of collection you want to add.
           If you add a collection, it must either by a collection object or a list of options
           which can be used to create a collection object.  In the latter case, the type of
           collection must be specified.

       Error: Each item requires a name
           You have to specify a name for each item.  These names need to be unique within one
           collection, but feel free to give the same name to an e-mail address and a location.

       Warning: No collection $name
           The collection with $name does not exist and can not be created.

       Warning: Unknown option $name for a $class
           One used option is not defined.  Check the manual page of the class to see which
           options are accepted.

       Warning: Unknown options @names for a $class
           More than one option is not defined.

SEE ALSO

       This module is part of User-Identity distribution version 0.94, built on January 24, 2014.
       Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/userid/

LICENSE

       Copyrights 2003-2014 by [Mark Overmeer <perl@overmeer.net>]. For other contributors see
       Changes.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
       terms as Perl itself.  See http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html