File Coverage

blib/lib/Sentinel.pm

Criterion	Covered	Total	%
statement	15	35	42.8
branch	0	12	0.0
condition	0	12	0.0
subroutine	5	9	55.5
pod			n/a
total	20	68	29.4

#  You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public License
#  or the Artistic License (the same terms as Perl itself)
#
#  (C) Paul Evans, 2011-2012 -- [e-mail]

package Sentinel;

use strict;
use warnings;

our $VERSION = '0.06';

use Exporter 'import';
our @EXPORT = qw( sentinel );

eval {
   require XSLoader;
   XSLoader::load( __PACKAGE__, $VERSION );
} or do {
   # pureperl fallback
   no warnings 'redefine';
   *sentinel = \&Sentinel::PP::sentinel;
};

=head1 NAME

C - create lightweight SCALARs with get/set callbacks

=head1 SYNOPSIS

   package Some::Class;

   use Sentinel;

   sub foo :lvalue
   {
      my $self = shift;
      sentinel get => sub { return $self->get_foo },
               set => sub { $self->set_foo( $_[0] ) };
   }

   sub bar :lvalue
   {
      my $self = shift;
      sentinel value => $self->get_bar,
               set   => sub { $self->set_bar( $_[0] ) };
   }

   sub splot :lvalue
   {
      sentinel obj => shift, get => \&get_splot, set => \&set_splot;
   }

   sub wibble :lvalue
   {
      sentinel obj => shift, get => "get_wibble", set => "set_wibble";
   }

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module provides a single lvalue function, C, which yields a
scalar that invoke callbacks to get or set its value. Primarily this is useful
to create lvalue object accessors or other functions, to invoke actual code
when a new value is set, rather than simply updating a scalar variable.

=cut

=head1 FUNCTIONS

=head2 sentinel

   $scalar = sentinel %args

Returns (as an lvalue) a scalar with magic attached to it. This magic is used
to get the value of the scalar, or to inform of a new value being set, by
invoking callback functions supplied to the sentinel. Takes the following
named arguments:

=over 8

=item get => CODE

A C reference or C method name to invoke when the value of the
scalar is read, to obtain its value. The value returned from this code will
appear as the value of the scalar.

=item set => CODE

A C reference or C method name to invoke when a new value for the
scalar is written. The code will be passed the new value as its only argument.

=item value => SCALAR

If no C callback is provided, this value is given as the initial value of
the scalar. If the scalar manages to survive longer than a single assignment,
its value on read will retain the last value set to it.

=item obj => SCALAR

Optional value to pass as the first argument into the C and C
callbacks. If this value is provided, then the C and C callbacks may
be given as direct sub references to object methods, or simply method names,
rather than closures that capture the referent object. This avoids the runtime
overhead of creating lots of small one-use closures around the object.

=back

=head1 MUTATION ACCESSORS

A useful behaviour of this module is generation of mutation accessor methods
that automatically wrap C/C accessor/mutator pairs:

   foreach (qw( name address age height )) {
      my $name = $_;

      no strict 'refs';
      *$name = sub :lvalue {
         sentinel obj => shift, get => "get_$name", set => "set_$name";
      };
   }

This is especially useful for methods whose values are simple strings or
numbers, because they allow Perl's rich set of mutation operators to be
applied to the object's values.

   $obj->name =~ s/-/_/g;

   substr( $obj->address, 100 ) = "";

   $obj->age++;

   $obj->height /= 100;

=head1 XS vs PUREPERL

If an XS compiler is available at build time, this module is implemented using
XS. If not, it falls back on an implementation using a Cd scalar. A
pureperl installation can also be requested at build time by passing the
C<--pp> argument to F:

   $ perl Build.PL --pp
   $ ./Build

=head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With thanks to C, C, and others from C for
assisting with trickier bits of XS logic. Thanks to C for suggesting a
pureperl implementation for XS-challenged systems.

=head1 AUTHOR

Paul Evans

=cut

package # Hide from CPAN
   Sentinel::PP;

sub sentinel :lvalue
{
   my %args = @_;
   tie my $scalar, "Sentinel::PP", $args{value}, $args{get}, $args{set}, $args{obj};
   $scalar;
}

use constant { VALUE => 0, GET => 1, SET => 2, OBJ => 3 };
sub TIESCALAR
{
   my $class = shift;
   bless [ @_ ], $class;
}

sub FETCH
{
   my $self = shift;
   my $get = $self->[GET];
   my $obj = $self->[OBJ];
   if( defined $get and !ref $get and defined $obj ) {
      # Method
      return $obj->$get;
   }
   elsif( defined $get ) {
      return $get->( defined $obj ? ( $obj ) : () );
   }
   else {
      return $self->[VALUE];
   }
}

sub STORE
{
   my $self = shift;
   my ( $value ) = @_;
   my $set = $self->[SET];
   my $obj = $self->[OBJ];
   if( defined $set and !ref $set and defined $obj ) {
      # Method
      $obj->$set( $value );
   }
   elsif( defined $set ) {
      $set->( defined $obj ? ( $obj ) : (), $value );
   }

   $self->[VALUE] = $value;
}

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