NAME

       Template::Plugins - Plugin provider module

SYNOPSIS

           use Template::Plugins;

           $plugin_provider = Template::Plugins->new(\%options);

           ($plugin, $error) = $plugin_provider->fetch($name, @args);

DESCRIPTION

       The "Template::Plugins" module defines a provider class which can be used to load and instantiate
       Template Toolkit plugin modules.

METHODS

   new(\%params)
       Constructor method which instantiates and returns a reference to a "Template::Plugins" object.  A
       reference to a hash array of configuration items may be passed as a parameter.  These are described
       below.

       Note that the Template front-end module creates a "Template::Plugins" provider, passing all configuration
       items.  Thus, the examples shown below in the form:

           $plugprov = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => 'MyTemplate::Plugin',
               LOAD_PERL   => 1,
               ...
           });

       can also be used via the Template module as:

           $ttengine = Template->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => 'MyTemplate::Plugin',
               LOAD_PERL   => 1,
               ...
           });

       as well as the more explicit form of:

           $plugprov = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => 'MyTemplate::Plugin',
               LOAD_PERL   => 1,
               ...
           });

           $ttengine = Template->new({
               LOAD_PLUGINS => [ $plugprov ],
           });

   fetch($name, @args)
       Called to request that a plugin of a given name be provided. The relevant module is first loaded (if
       necessary) and the load() class method called to return the factory class name (usually the same package
       name) or a factory object (a prototype).  The new() method is then called as a class or object method
       against the factory, passing all remaining parameters.

       Returns a reference to a new plugin object or "($error, STATUS_ERROR)" on error.  May also return
       "(undef, STATUS_DECLINED)" to decline to serve the request.  If "TOLERANT" is set then all errors will be
       returned as declines.

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

       The following list summarises the configuration options that can be provided to the "Template::Plugins"
       new() constructor.  Please consult Template::Manual::Config for further details and examples of each
       configuration option in use.

   PLUGINS
       The PLUGINS option can be used to provide a reference to a hash array that maps plugin names to Perl
       module names.

           my $plugins = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGINS => {
                   cgi => 'MyOrg::Template::Plugin::CGI',
                   foo => 'MyOrg::Template::Plugin::Foo',
                   bar => 'MyOrg::Template::Plugin::Bar',
               },
           });

   PLUGIN_BASE
       If a plugin is not defined in the PLUGINS hash then the PLUGIN_BASE is used to attempt to construct a
       correct Perl module name which can be successfully loaded.

           # single value PLUGIN_BASE
           my $plugins = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => 'MyOrg::Template::Plugin',
           });

           # multiple value PLUGIN_BASE
           my $plugins = Template::Plugins->new({
               PLUGIN_BASE => [   'MyOrg::Template::Plugin',
                                  'YourOrg::Template::Plugin'  ],
           });

   LOAD_PERL
       The LOAD_PERL option can be set to allow you to load regular Perl modules (i.e. those that don't reside
       in the "Template::Plugin" or another user-defined namespace) as plugins.

       If a plugin cannot be loaded using the PLUGINS or PLUGIN_BASE approaches then, if the LOAD_PERL is set,
       the provider will make a final attempt to load the module without prepending any prefix to the module
       path.

       Unlike regular plugins, modules loaded using LOAD_PERL do not receive a Template::Context reference as
       the first argument to the "new()" constructor method.

   TOLERANT
       The TOLERANT flag can be set to indicate that the "Template::Plugins" module should ignore any errors
       encountered while loading a plugin and instead return "STATUS_DECLINED".

   DEBUG
       The DEBUG option can be used to enable debugging messages for the "Template::Plugins" module by setting
       it to include the "DEBUG_PLUGINS" value.

           use Template::Constants qw( :debug );

           my $template = Template->new({
               DEBUG => DEBUG_FILTERS | DEBUG_PLUGINS,
           });

TEMPLATE TOOLKIT PLUGINS

       Please see Template::Manual::Plugins For a complete list of all the plugin modules distributed with the
       Template Toolkit.

AUTHOR

       Andy Wardley <abw@wardley.org> <http://wardley.org/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 1996-2007 Andy Wardley.  All Rights Reserved.

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

SEE ALSO

       Template::Manual::Plugins, Template::Plugin, Template::Context, Template.