NAME

       CGI::Application::Plugin::ConfigAuto - Easy config file management for CGI::Application

SYNOPSIS

        use CGI::Application::Plugin::ConfigAuto (qw/cfg/);

       In your instance script:

        my $app = WebApp->new(PARAMS => { cfg_file => 'config.pl' });
        $app->run();

       In your application module:

        sub my_run_mode {
           my $self = shift;

           # Access a config hash key directly
           $self->cfg('field');

           # Return config as hash
           %CFG = $self->cfg;

        }

DESCRIPTION

       CGI::Application::Plugin::ConfigAuto adds easy access to config file variables to your
       CGI::Application modules.  Lazy loading is used to prevent the config file from being
       parsed if no configuration variables are accessed during the request.  In other words, the
       config file is not parsed until it is actually needed. The Config::Auto package provides
       the framework for this plugin.

RATIONALE

       "CGI::Application" promotes re-usable applications by moving a maximal amount of code into
       modules. For an application to be fully re-usable without code changes, it is also
       necessary to store configuration variables in a separate file.

       This plugin supports multiple config files for a single application, allowing config files
       to override each other in a particular order. This covers even complex cases, where you
       have a global config file, and second local config file which overrides a few variables.

       It is recommended that you to declare your config file locations in the instance scripts,
       where it will have minimum impact on your application. This technique is ideal when you
       intend to reuse your module to support multiple configuration files. If you have an
       application with multiple instance scripts which share a single config file, you may
       prefer to call the plugin from the setup() method.

DECLARING CONFIG FILE LOCATIONS

        # In your instance script
        # value can also be an arrayref of config files
        my $app = WebApp->new(PARAMS => { cfg_file => 'config.pl' })

        # OR ...

        # Pass in an array of config files, and they will be processed in order.
        $app->cfg_file('../../config/config.pl');

       Your config files should be referenced using the syntax example above. Note that the key
       "config_files" can be used as alternative to cfg_file.

       The format is detected automatically using Config::Auto. It it known to support the
       following formats: colon separated, space separated, equals separated, XML, Perl code, and
       Windows INI. See that modules documentation for complete details.

METHODS

   cfg()
        # Access a config hash key directly
        $self->cfg('field');

        # Return config as hash
        my %CFG = $self->cfg;

        # return as hashref
        my $cfg_href = $self->cfg;

       A method to access project configuration variables. The config file is parsed on the first
       call with a perl hash representation stored in memory.  Subsequent calls will use this
       version, rather than re-reading the file.

       In list context, it returns the configuration data as a hash.  In scalar context, it
       returns the configuration data as a hashref.

   config()
       "config()" in CGI::Application::Standard::Config is provided as an alias to cfg() for
       compliance with CGI::Application::Standard::Config. It always exported by default per the
       standard.

   std_config()
       "std_config()" in CGI::Application::Standard::Config is implemented to comply with
       CGI::Application::Standard::Config. It's for developers. Users can ignore it.

   cfg_file()
        # Usual
        $self->cfg_file('my_config_file.pl');

        # Supply the first format, guess the second
        $self->cfg_file('my_config_file.pl',{ format => 'perl' } );

       Supply an array of config files, and they will be processed in order.  If a hash reference
       if found it, will be used to supply the format for the previous file in the array.

FILE FORMAT HINTS

   Perl
       Here's a simple example of my favorite config file format: Perl.  Having the "shebang"
       line at the top helps "Config::Auto" to identify it as a Perl file. Also, be sure that
       your last statement returns a hash reference.

           #!/usr/bin/perl

           my %CFG = ();

           # directory path name
           $CFG{DIR} = '/home/mark/www';

           # website URL
           $CFG{URL} = 'http://mark.stosberg.com/';

           \%CFG;

SEE ALSO

       CGI::Application CGI::Application::Plugin::ValidateRM CGI::Application::Plugin::DBH
       CGI::Application::Standard::Config.  perl(1)

AUTHOR

       Mark Stosberg "mark@summersault.com"

LICENSE

       Copyright (C) 2004 - 2011 Mark Stosberg "mark@summersault.com"

       This library is free software. You can modify and or distribute it under the same terms as
       Perl itself.