File Coverage

blib/lib/Pod/Abstract.pm

Criterion	Covered	Total	%
statement	29	36	80.5
branch			n/a
condition			n/a
subroutine	8	9	88.8
pod	3	3	100.0
total	40	48	83.3

package Pod::Abstract;
use strict;
use warnings;

use Pod::Abstract::Node;
use Pod::Abstract::Path;
use Pod::Abstract::Parser;
use IO::String;

our $VERSION = '0.20';

=head1 NAME

Pod::Abstract - Abstract document tree for Perl POD documents

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 use Pod::Abstract;
 use Pod::Abstract::BuildNode qw(node);

 # Get all the first level headings, and put them in a verbatim block
 # at the start of the document
 my $pa = Pod::Abstract->load_filehandle(\*STDIN);
 my @headings = $pa->select('/head1@heading');
 my @headings_text = map { $_->pod } @headings;
 my $headings_node = node->verbatim(join "\n",@headings_text);

 $pa->unshift( node->cut );
 $pa->unshift( $headings_node );
 $pa->unshift( node->pod );

 print $pa->pod;

=head1 DESCRIPTION

POD::Abstract provides a means to load a POD (or POD compatible)
document without direct reference to it's syntax, and perform
manipulations on the abstract syntax tree.

This can be used to support additional features for POD, to format
output, to compile into alternative formats, etc.

=head2 WHY?

If you've ever asked yourself "What does Pod do for me?", this module
is intended to answer that question.

While Pod looks like a simple format, the specification calls for a
number of special cases to be handled, and that makes any software
that works on Pod as text more complex than it needs to be.

In addition to this, Pod does not lend itself to a natural structured
model. This makes it difficult to manipulate without damaging the
validity of the document.

Pod::Abstract solves these problems by loading the document into a
structured tree, and providing consistent traversal, searching,
manpulation and re-serialisation. Pod related utilities are easy to
write using Pod::Abstract.

The design goal of Pod::Abstract is to do the hard work for the
programmer - the library should work for you, and as such it should be
significantly easier than string mashing what you want out of a Pod
document.

=head2 PROCESSING MODEL

The intent with POD::Abstract is to provide a means to decorate a
parse tree, rather than manipulate text, to allow other software to
add features and functionality to POD based documenation systems.

If you wish to write modules that interact nicely with other
POD::Abstract modules, then you should provide a POD::Abstract -E
POD::Abstract translation. Leave any document element that your
program is not interested in directly untouched in the parse tree, and
if you have data that could be useful to other packages, decorate the
parse tree with that data even if you don't see any direct way to use
it in the output.

In this way, when you want one more feature for POD, rather than write
or fork a whole translator, a single inline "decorator" can be added.

The C utility provides a good starting point, which also allows
you to hook in to an existing filter/transform library. Simply add a
C class to the namespace and it should start
working as a C command.

=head2 EXAMPLE

Suppose you are frustrated by the verbose list syntax used by regular
POD. You might reasonably want to define a simplified list format for
your own use, except POD formatters won't support it.

With Pod::Abstract you can write an inline filter to convert:

 * item 1
 * item 2
 * item 3

into:

 =over

 =item *

 item 1

 =item *

 item 2

 =item *

 item 3

 =back

This transformation can be simply performed on the document tree. If
your formatter does not use Pod::Abstract, you can simply pipe out POD
and use a regular formatter. If your formatter supports Pod::Abstract
though, then you can feed in the syntax tree directly without having
to re-serialise and parse the document.

In addition to this, because the source document is still valid Pod,
you aren't breaking compatibility with regular perldoc just by making
Pod::Abstract transformations.

=head2 POD SUPPORT

Pod::Abstract aims to support all POD rules defined in perlpodspec
(even the ones I don't like), except for those directly related to
formatting output, or which cannot be implemented generically.

=head1 COMPONENTS

Pod::Abstract is comprised of:

=over

=item *

The parser, which loads a document tree for you.

You should access this through C, not directly

=item *

The document tree, which is the root node you are given by the
parser. Calling B on the root node should always give you back
your original document.

See L

=item *

L, the node selection expression language. This
is generally called by doing
C<< $node->select(PATH_EXP) >>. Pod::Abstract::Path is the most complex
and powerful component of this module, and if you're not using it you
should be. ;)

This allows you to ask questions like:

"In the first head1 that starts with "A", find me the head2 matching
'foo' with bold text somewhere in the preceding paragraph or heading"

 /head1[@heading=~{^A}](0)/head2[@heading=~{foo}i]<

You probably don't need anything that complex, but it's there if you
do.

=item *

The node builder, L

=back

=head1 METHODS

=cut


=head2 load_file

 my $pa = Pod::Abstract->load_file( FILENAME );

Read the POD document in the named file. Returns the root node of the
document.

=cut

sub load_file {
    my $class = shift;
    my $filename = shift;

    my $p = Pod::Abstract::Parser->new;
    $p->parse_from_file($filename);
    $p->root->coalesce_body(":verbatim");
    $p->root->coalesce_body(":text");
    return $p->root;
}

=head2 load_filehandle

 my $pa = Pod::Abstract->load_file( FH );

Load a POD document from the provided filehandle reference. Returns
the root node of the document.

=cut

sub load_filehandle {
    my $class = shift;
    my $fh = shift;

    my $p = Pod::Abstract::Parser->new;
    $p->parse_from_filehandle($fh);
    $p->root->coalesce_body(":verbatim");
    $p->root->coalesce_body(":text");
    return $p->root;
}

=head2 load_string

 my $pa = Pod::Abstract->load_string( STRING );

Loads a POD document from a scalar string value. Returns the root node
of the document.

=cut

sub load_string {
    my $class = shift;
    my $str = shift;

    my $fh = IO::String->new($str);
    return $class->load_filehandle($fh);
}

=head1 AUTHOR

Ben Lilburne

=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2009 Ben Lilburne

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

=cut

1;