CONTENTS

• NAME
• VERSION
• SYNOPSIS
• DESCRIPTION
• PERL VERSION
• METHODS FOR WRITING CONFIG
  • write_file
  • write_string
  • write_handle
• METHODS FOR SUBCLASSING
  • preprocess_input
  • validate_section_name
  • is_valid_property_name
  • is_valid_value
  • validate_input
  • change_section
  • current_section
  • finish_section
  • done_sections
  • stringify_section
  • stringify_section_data
  • stringify_value_assignment
  • stringify_value
  • stringify_section_header
  • starting_section
  • explicit_starting_header
  • new
• AUTHOR
• COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

#NAME

Config::INI::Writer - a subclassable .ini-file emitter

#VERSION

version 0.029

#SYNOPSIS

If $hash contains:

{
  '_'  => { admin => 'rjbs' },
  rjbs => {
    awesome => 'yes',
    height  => q{5' 10"},
  },
  mj   => {
    awesome => 'totally',
    height  => '23"',
  },
}

Then when your program contains:

Config::INI::Writer->write_file($hash, 'family.ini');

family.ini will contains:

admin = rjbs

[rjbs]
awesome = yes
height = 5' 10"

[mj]
awesome = totally
height = 23"

#DESCRIPTION

Config::INI::Writer is yet another config module implementing yet another slightly different take on the undeniably easy to read ".ini" file format. Its default behavior is quite similar to that of Config::Tiny, on which it is based.

The chief difference is that Config::INI::Writer is designed to be subclassed to allow for side-effects and self-reconfiguration to occur during the course of reading its input.

#PERL VERSION

This library should run on perls released even a long time ago. It should work on any version of perl released in the last five years.

Although it may work on older versions of perl, no guarantee is made that the minimum required version will not be increased. The version may be increased for any reason, and there is no promise that patches will be accepted to lower the minimum required perl.

#METHODS FOR WRITING CONFIG

There are three writer methods, write_string, write_file, and write_handle. The first two are implemented in terms of the third. It iterates over a collection of data, emitting lines to the filehandle as it goes. The lines are generated by events produced by iterating over the data. Those events are detailed below in the "METHODS FOR SUBCLASSING" section.

The given data should be a hashref of hashrefs:

{
  section_name_1 => { prop1 => 'value1', prop2 => 'value2' },
  section_name_2 => ...
}

...or an arrayref of section name and arrayref pairs:

[
  section_name_1 => [ prop1 => 'value1', prop2 => 'value2' ],
  section_name_2 => ...
]

...or a combination of those:

[
  section_name_1 => { prop1 => 'value1', prop2 => 'value2' },
  section_name_2 => [ prop3 => 'value3', prop4 => 'value4' ],
  section_name_3 => ...
]

All the reader methods throw an exception when they encounter an error.

#write_file

Config::INI::Writer->write_file($input, $filename);

This method writes out the configuration represented by $data to the file named by $filename. If a file by that name exists, it is overwritten.

This method will either succeed or raise an exception. (Its return value is not defined.)

#write_string

my $string = Config::INI::Writer->write_string($input);

This method returns a string containing the INI content describing the given data.

#write_handle

Config::INI::Writer->write_handle($input, $handle);

This method writes the data in $data to the IO::Handle-like object in $handle. This method should either succeed or throw an exception.

#METHODS FOR SUBCLASSING

These are the methods you need to understand and possibly change when subclassing Config::INI::Reader to handle a different format of input.

#preprocess_input

my $processed_input = $writer->preprocess_input($input_data);

This method is called to ensure that the data given to the write_* methods are in a canonical form for processing and emitting. The default implementation converts hashrefs to arrayrefs and, if the input is a hashref, moves the "starting_section" to the beginning of the produced arrayref.

In other words, given:

{
  section_1 => { a => 1, b => 2 },
  section_2 => { c => 3, c => 4 },
  _         => { d => 5, e => 6 },
}

This method will return:

[
  _         => [ d => 5, e => 6 ],
  section_2 => [ c => 3, c => 4 ],
  section_1 => [ a => 1, b => 2 ],
]

The only guaranteed ordering when hashes are provided as input is that the starting section will appear first.

#validate_section_name

Carp::croak "section name contains illegal character"
  if not $writer->is_valid_section_name($name);

#is_valid_property_name

Carp::croak "property name contains illegal character"
  if not $writer->is_valid_property_name($name);

#is_valid_value

Carp::croak "value contains illegal character"
  if not $writer->is_valid_value($name);

#validate_input

$writer->validate_input($input);

This method is called on the input data once they've been preprocessed by "preprocess_input".

It ensures that the processed input is structurally sound before beginning to output it. For example, it ensures that no property is ever assigned more than once in a given section.

This method either raises an exception or it doesn't.

#change_section

$writer->change_section($section_name);

This method is called each time a new section is going to be written out. If the same section appears twice in a row in the input, this method will still be called between instances of that section.

In other words, given this input:

[
  section_1 => [ a => 1 ],
  section_1 => [ b => 2 ],
]

change_section will be called twice: once before the first section_1 and once before the second section_1.

#current_section

$writer->current_section

This method returns the section currently being written out.

#finish_section

$writer->finish_section

This method is called after all of the current section's properties have been written.

#done_sections

my @names = $writer->done_sections;

This method returns a list of all sections that have been written out and finished. The fact that a section name is returned by done_sections does not mean that there will be no more data for that section, but that at least one entire set of data has been written out for it.

#stringify_section

my $string = $writer->stringify_section($props);

This method returns a string assigning all the properties set in the given data. This still will include the section header, if needed. (The only case in which it is not needed is when the "explicit_starting_header" method returns false, no other sections have been done, and the section about to be stringified is the "starting_section".

This method is implemented in terms of "stringify_section_header" and "stringify_section_data".

#stringify_section_data

my $string = $writer->stringify_section_data($props)

This method returns a string containing a series of lines, each containing a value assignment for the given properties.

#stringify_value_assignment

my $string = $writer->stringify_value_assignment($name => $value);

This method returns a string that assigns a value to a named property. If the value is undefined, an empty string is returned.

#stringify_value

my $string = $writer->stringify_value($value);

This method returns the string that will represent the given value in a property assignment.

#stringify_section_header

my $string = $writer->stringify_section_header($section_name);

This method returns the string (a line) that represents the given section name. Basically, this returns:

[section_name]

#starting_section

This method returns the name of the starting section. If this section appears first (as it will, when given a hashref as input) and if "explicit_starting_header" returns false, its section header can be omitted.

#explicit_starting_header

If this method returns true (which it does not, by default), then the section header for the starting section will be emitted, even if it appears first.

#new

my $reader = Config::INI::Writer->new;

This method returns a new writer. This generally does not need to be called by anything but the various write_* methods, which create a writer object only ephemerally.

#AUTHOR

Ricardo Signes <cpan@semiotic.systems>

#COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2007 by Ricardo Signes.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

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