# PODNAME: Moose::Cookbook::Meta::GlobRef_InstanceMetaclass # ABSTRACT: Creating a glob reference meta-instance class __END__ =pod =encoding UTF-8 =head1 NAME Moose::Cookbook::Meta::GlobRef_InstanceMetaclass - Creating a glob reference meta-instance class =head1 VERSION version 2.2207 =head1 SYNOPSIS package My::Meta::Instance; use Scalar::Util qw( weaken ); use Symbol qw( gensym ); use Moose::Role; sub create_instance { my $self = shift; my $sym = gensym(); bless $sym, $self->_class_name; } sub clone_instance { my ( $self, $instance ) = @_; my $new_sym = gensym(); %{*$new_sym} = %{*$instance}; bless $new_sym, $self->_class_name; } sub get_slot_value { my ( $self, $instance, $slot_name ) = @_; return *$instance->{$slot_name}; } sub set_slot_value { my ( $self, $instance, $slot_name, $value ) = @_; *$instance->{$slot_name} = $value; } sub deinitialize_slot { my ( $self, $instance, $slot_name ) = @_; delete *$instance->{$slot_name}; } sub is_slot_initialized { my ( $self, $instance, $slot_name ) = @_; exists *$instance->{$slot_name}; } sub weaken_slot_value { my ( $self, $instance, $slot_name ) = @_; weaken *$instance->{$slot_name}; } sub inline_create_instance { my ( $self, $class_variable ) = @_; return 'do { my $sym = Symbol::gensym(); bless $sym, ' . $class_variable . ' }'; } sub inline_slot_access { my ( $self, $instance, $slot_name ) = @_; return '*{' . $instance . '}->{' . $slot_name . '}'; } package MyApp::User; use Moose; Moose::Util::MetaRole::apply_metaroles( for => __PACKAGE__, class_metaroles => { instance => ['My::Meta::Instance'], }, ); has 'name' => ( is => 'rw', isa => 'Str', ); has 'email' => ( is => 'rw', isa => 'Str', ); =head1 DESCRIPTION This recipe shows how to build your own meta-instance. The meta instance is the metaclass that creates object instances and helps manages access to attribute slots. In this example, we're creating a meta-instance that is based on a glob reference rather than a hash reference. This example is largely based on the Piotr Roszatycki's L module. Our extension is a role which will be applied to L, which creates hash reference based objects. We need to override all the methods which make assumptions about the object's data structure. The first method we override is C: sub create_instance { my $self = shift; my $sym = gensym(); bless $sym, $self->_class_name; } This returns an glob reference which has been blessed into our meta-instance's associated class. We also override C to create a new array reference: sub clone_instance { my ( $self, $instance ) = @_; my $new_sym = gensym(); %{*$new_sym} = %{*$instance}; bless $new_sym, $self->_class_name; } After that, we have a series of methods which mediate access to the object's slots (attributes are stored in "slots"). In the default instance class, these expect the object to be a hash reference, but we need to change this to expect a glob reference instead. sub get_slot_value { my ( $self, $instance, $slot_name ) = @_; *$instance->{$slot_name}; } This level of indirection probably makes our instance class I than the default. However, when attribute access is inlined, this lookup will be cached: sub inline_slot_access { my ( $self, $instance, $slot_name ) = @_; return '*{' . $instance . '}->{' . $slot_name . '}'; } The code snippet that the C method returns will get C'd once per attribute. Finally, we use this meta-instance in our C class: Moose::Util::MetaRole::apply_metaroles( for => __PACKAGE__, class_metaroles => { instance => ['My::Meta::Instance'], }, ); We actually don't recommend the use of L directly in your class in most cases. Typically, this would be provided by a L-based module which handles applying the role for you. =head1 CONCLUSION This recipe shows how to create your own meta-instance class. It's unlikely that you'll need to do this yourself, but it's interesting to take a peek at how Moose works under the hood. =head1 SEE ALSO There are a few meta-instance class extensions on CPAN: =over 4 =item * L This module extends the instance class in order to ensure that the object is a singleton. The instance it uses is still a blessed hash reference. =item * L This module makes the instance a blessed glob reference. This lets you use a handle as an object instance. =back =begin testing { package MyApp::Employee; use Moose; extends 'MyApp::User'; has 'employee_number' => ( is => 'rw' ); } for my $x ( 0 .. 1 ) { MyApp::User->meta->make_immutable if $x; my $user = MyApp::User->new( name => 'Faye', email => 'faye@example.com', ); ok( eval { *{$user} }, 'user object is an glob ref with some values' ); is( $user->name, 'Faye', 'check name' ); is( $user->email, 'faye@example.com', 'check email' ); $user->name('Ralph'); is( $user->name, 'Ralph', 'check name after changing it' ); $user->email('ralph@example.com'); is( $user->email, 'ralph@example.com', 'check email after changing it' ); } for my $x ( 0 .. 1 ) { MyApp::Employee->meta->make_immutable if $x; my $emp = MyApp::Employee->new( name => 'Faye', email => 'faye@example.com', employee_number => $x, ); ok( eval { *{$emp} }, 'employee object is an glob ref with some values' ); is( $emp->name, 'Faye', 'check name' ); is( $emp->email, 'faye@example.com', 'check email' ); is( $emp->employee_number, $x, 'check employee_number' ); $emp->name('Ralph'); is( $emp->name, 'Ralph', 'check name after changing it' ); $emp->email('ralph@example.com'); is( $emp->email, 'ralph@example.com', 'check email after changing it' ); $emp->employee_number(42); is( $emp->employee_number, 42, 'check employee_number after changing it' ); } =end testing =head1 AUTHORS =over 4 =item * Stevan Little =item * Dave Rolsky =item * Jesse Luehrs =item * Shawn M Moore =item * יובל קוג'מן (Yuval Kogman) =item * Karen Etheridge =item * Florian Ragwitz =item * Hans Dieter Pearcey =item * Chris Prather =item * Matt S Trout =back =head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This software is copyright (c) 2006 by Infinity Interactive, Inc. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself. =cut