Attribute::Handlers - Simpler definition of attribute handlers
This document describes version 0.85 of Attribute::Handlers, released June 11, 2009.
- package MyClass;
- require 5.006;
- use Attribute::Handlers;
- no warnings 'redefine';
- sub Good : ATTR(SCALAR) {
- my ($package, $symbol, $referent, $attr, $data) = @_;
- # Invoked for any scalar variable with a :Good attribute,
- # provided the variable was declared in MyClass (or
- # a derived class) or typed to MyClass.
- # Do whatever to $referent here (executed in CHECK phase).
- ...
- }
- sub Bad : ATTR(SCALAR) {
- # Invoked for any scalar variable with a :Bad attribute,
- # provided the variable was declared in MyClass (or
- # a derived class) or typed to MyClass.
- ...
- }
- sub Good : ATTR(ARRAY) {
- # Invoked for any array variable with a :Good attribute,
- # provided the variable was declared in MyClass (or
- # a derived class) or typed to MyClass.
- ...
- }
- sub Good : ATTR(HASH) {
- # Invoked for any hash variable with a :Good attribute,
- # provided the variable was declared in MyClass (or
- # a derived class) or typed to MyClass.
- ...
- }
- sub Ugly : ATTR(CODE) {
- # Invoked for any subroutine declared in MyClass (or a
- # derived class) with an :Ugly attribute.
- ...
- }
- sub Omni : ATTR {
- # Invoked for any scalar, array, hash, or subroutine
- # with an :Omni attribute, provided the variable or
- # subroutine was declared in MyClass (or a derived class)
- # or the variable was typed to MyClass.
- # Use ref($_[2]) to determine what kind of referent it was.
- ...
- }
- use Attribute::Handlers autotie => { Cycle => Tie::Cycle };
- my $next : Cycle(['A'..'Z']);
This module, when inherited by a package, allows that package's class to
define attribute handler subroutines for specific attributes. Variables
and subroutines subsequently defined in that package, or in packages
derived from that package may be given attributes with the same names as
the attribute handler subroutines, which will then be called in one of
the compilation phases (i.e. in a BEGIN
, CHECK
, INIT
, or END
block). (UNITCHECK
blocks don't correspond to a global compilation
phase, so they can't be specified here.)
To create a handler, define it as a subroutine with the same name as
the desired attribute, and declare the subroutine itself with the
attribute :ATTR
. For example:
- package LoudDecl;
- use Attribute::Handlers;
- sub Loud :ATTR {
- my ($package, $symbol, $referent, $attr, $data, $phase, $filename, $linenum) = @_;
- print STDERR
- ref($referent), " ",
- *{$symbol}{NAME}, " ",
- "($referent) ", "was just declared ",
- "and ascribed the ${attr} attribute ",
- "with data ($data)\n",
- "in phase $phase\n",
- "in file $filename at line $linenum\n";
- }
This creates a handler for the attribute :Loud
in the class LoudDecl.
Thereafter, any subroutine declared with a :Loud
attribute in the class
LoudDecl:
causes the above handler to be invoked, and passed:
the name of the package into which it was declared;
a reference to the symbol table entry (typeglob) containing the subroutine;
a reference to the subroutine;
the name of the attribute;
any data associated with that attribute;
the name of the phase in which the handler is being invoked;
the filename in which the handler is being invoked;
the line number in this file.
Likewise, declaring any variables with the :Loud
attribute within the
package:
will cause the handler to be called with a similar argument list (except,
of course, that $_[2]
will be a reference to the variable).
The package name argument will typically be the name of the class into which the subroutine was declared, but it may also be the name of a derived class (since handlers are inherited).
If a lexical variable is given an attribute, there is no symbol table to
which it belongs, so the symbol table argument ($_[1]
) is set to the
string 'LEXICAL'
in that case. Likewise, ascribing an attribute to
an anonymous subroutine results in a symbol table argument of 'ANON'
.
The data argument passes in the value (if any) associated with the
attribute. For example, if &foo
had been declared:
then a reference to an array containing the string
"turn it up to 11, man!"
would be passed as the last argument.
Attribute::Handlers makes strenuous efforts to convert
the data argument ($_[4]
) to a useable form before passing it to
the handler (but see Non-interpretive attribute handlers).
If those efforts succeed, the interpreted data is passed in an array
reference; if they fail, the raw data is passed as a string.
For example, all of these:
causes it to pass ['till','ears','are','bleeding']
as the handler's
data argument. While:
causes it to pass [ ['till','ears','are','bleeding'] ]
; the array
reference specified in the data being passed inside the standard
array reference indicating successful interpretation.
However, if the data can't be parsed as valid Perl, then it is passed as an uninterpreted string. For example:
cause the strings 'my,ears,are,bleeding'
and
'qw/my ears are bleeding'
respectively to be passed as the
data argument.
If no value is associated with the attribute, undef
is passed.
Regardless of the package in which it is declared, if a lexical variable is ascribed an attribute, the handler that is invoked is the one belonging to the package to which it is typed. For example, the following declarations:
causes the LoudDecl::Loud handler to be invoked (even if OtherClass also
defines a handler for :Loud
attributes).
If an attribute handler is declared and the :ATTR
specifier is
given the name of a built-in type (SCALAR
, ARRAY
, HASH
, or CODE
),
the handler is only applied to declarations of that type. For example,
the following definition:
- package LoudDecl;
- sub RealLoud :ATTR(SCALAR) { print "Yeeeeow!" }
creates an attribute handler that applies only to scalars:
You can, of course, declare separate handlers for these types as well
(but you'll need to specify no warnings 'redefine'
to do it quietly):
You can also explicitly indicate that a single handler is meant to be used for all types of referents like so:
(I.e. ATTR(ANY)
is a synonym for :ATTR
).
Occasionally the strenuous efforts Attribute::Handlers makes to convert
the data argument ($_[4]
) to a useable form before passing it to
the handler get in the way.
You can turn off that eagerness-to-help by declaring
an attribute handler with the keyword RAWDATA
. For example:
Then the handler makes absolutely no attempt to interpret the data it receives and simply passes it as a string:
- my $power : Raw(1..100); # handlers receives "1..100"
By default, attribute handlers are called at the end of the compilation
phase (in a CHECK
block). This seems to be optimal in most cases because
most things that can be defined are defined by that point but nothing has
been executed.
However, it is possible to set up attribute handlers that are called at other points in the program's compilation or execution, by explicitly stating the phase (or phases) in which you wish the attribute handler to be called. For example:
As the last example indicates, a handler may be set up to be (re)called in two or more phases. The phase name is passed as the handler's final argument.
Note that attribute handlers that are scheduled for the BEGIN
phase
are handled as soon as the attribute is detected (i.e. before any
subsequently defined BEGIN
blocks are executed).
tie
interfacesAttributes make an excellent and intuitive interface through which to tie variables. For example:
- use Attribute::Handlers;
- use Tie::Cycle;
- sub UNIVERSAL::Cycle : ATTR(SCALAR) {
- my ($package, $symbol, $referent, $attr, $data, $phase) = @_;
- $data = [ $data ] unless ref $data eq 'ARRAY';
- tie $$referent, 'Tie::Cycle', $data;
- }
- # and thereafter...
- package main;
- my $next : Cycle('A'..'Z'); # $next is now a tied variable
- while (<>) {
- print $next;
- }
Note that, because the Cycle
attribute receives its arguments in the
$data
variable, if the attribute is given a list of arguments, $data
will consist of a single array reference; otherwise, it will consist of the
single argument directly. Since Tie::Cycle requires its cycling values to
be passed as an array reference, this means that we need to wrap
non-array-reference arguments in an array constructor:
- $data = [ $data ] unless ref $data eq 'ARRAY';
Typically, however, things are the other way around: the tieable class expects its arguments as a flattened list, so the attribute looks like:
This software pattern is so widely applicable that Attribute::Handlers
provides a way to automate it: specifying 'autotie'
in the
use Attribute::Handlers
statement. So, the cycling example,
could also be written:
- use Attribute::Handlers autotie => { Cycle => 'Tie::Cycle' };
- # and thereafter...
- package main;
- my $next : Cycle(['A'..'Z']); # $next is now a tied variable
- while (<>) {
- print $next;
Note that we now have to pass the cycling values as an array reference,
since the autotie
mechanism passes tie
a list of arguments as a list
(as in the Tie::Whatever example), not as an array reference (as in
the original Tie::Cycle example at the start of this section).
The argument after 'autotie'
is a reference to a hash in which each key is
the name of an attribute to be created, and each value is the class to which
variables ascribed that attribute should be tied.
Note that there is no longer any need to import the Tie::Cycle module --
Attribute::Handlers takes care of that automagically. You can even pass
arguments to the module's import
subroutine, by appending them to the
class name. For example:
- use Attribute::Handlers
- autotie => { Dir => 'Tie::Dir qw(DIR_UNLINK)' };
If the attribute name is unqualified, the attribute is installed in the current package. Otherwise it is installed in the qualifier's package:
- package Here;
- use Attribute::Handlers autotie => {
- Other::Good => Tie::SecureHash, # tie attr installed in Other::
- Bad => Tie::Taxes, # tie attr installed in Here::
- UNIVERSAL::Ugly => Software::Patent # tie attr installed everywhere
- };
Autoties are most commonly used in the module to which they actually tie,
and need to export their attributes to any module that calls them. To
facilitate this, Attribute::Handlers recognizes a special "pseudo-class" --
__CALLER__
, which may be specified as the qualifier of an attribute:
- package Tie::Me::Kangaroo:Down::Sport;
- use Attribute::Handlers autotie => { '__CALLER__::Roo' => __PACKAGE__ };
This causes Attribute::Handlers to define the Roo
attribute in the package
that imports the Tie::Me::Kangaroo:Down::Sport module.
Note that it is important to quote the __CALLER__::Roo identifier because a bug in perl 5.8 will refuse to parse it and cause an unknown error.
tie
Occasionally it is important to pass a reference to the object being tied to the TIESCALAR, TIEHASH, etc. that ties it.
The autotie
mechanism supports this too. The following code:
has the same effect as:
But when "autotieref"
is used instead of "autotie"
:
the effect is to pass the tie
call an extra reference to the variable
being tied:
If the class shown in SYNOPSIS were placed in the MyClass.pm module, then the following code:
would cause the following handlers to be invoked:
- # my MyClass $slr :Good :Bad(1**1-1) :Omni(-vorous);
- MyClass::Good:ATTR(SCALAR)( 'MyClass', # class
- 'LEXICAL', # no typeglob
- \$slr, # referent
- 'Good', # attr name
- undef # no attr data
- 'CHECK', # compiler phase
- );
- MyClass::Bad:ATTR(SCALAR)( 'MyClass', # class
- 'LEXICAL', # no typeglob
- \$slr, # referent
- 'Bad', # attr name
- 0 # eval'd attr data
- 'CHECK', # compiler phase
- );
- MyClass::Omni:ATTR(SCALAR)( 'MyClass', # class
- 'LEXICAL', # no typeglob
- \$slr, # referent
- 'Omni', # attr name
- '-vorous' # eval'd attr data
- 'CHECK', # compiler phase
- );
- # sub fn :Ugly(sister) :Omni('po',tent()) {...}
- MyClass::UGLY:ATTR(CODE)( 'SomeOtherClass', # class
- \*SomeOtherClass::fn, # typeglob
- \&SomeOtherClass::fn, # referent
- 'Ugly', # attr name
- 'sister' # eval'd attr data
- 'CHECK', # compiler phase
- );
- MyClass::Omni:ATTR(CODE)( 'SomeOtherClass', # class
- \*SomeOtherClass::fn, # typeglob
- \&SomeOtherClass::fn, # referent
- 'Omni', # attr name
- ['po','acle'] # eval'd attr data
- 'CHECK', # compiler phase
- );
- # my @arr :Good :Omni(s/cie/nt/);
- MyClass::Good:ATTR(ARRAY)( 'SomeOtherClass', # class
- 'LEXICAL', # no typeglob
- \@arr, # referent
- 'Good', # attr name
- undef # no attr data
- 'CHECK', # compiler phase
- );
- MyClass::Omni:ATTR(ARRAY)( 'SomeOtherClass', # class
- 'LEXICAL', # no typeglob
- \@arr, # referent
- 'Omni', # attr name
- "" # eval'd attr data
- 'CHECK', # compiler phase
- );
- # my %hsh :Good(q/bye) :Omni(q/bus/);
- MyClass::Good:ATTR(HASH)( 'SomeOtherClass', # class
- 'LEXICAL', # no typeglob
- \%hsh, # referent
- 'Good', # attr name
- 'q/bye' # raw attr data
- 'CHECK', # compiler phase
- );
- MyClass::Omni:ATTR(HASH)( 'SomeOtherClass', # class
- 'LEXICAL', # no typeglob
- \%hsh, # referent
- 'Omni', # attr name
- 'bus' # eval'd attr data
- 'CHECK', # compiler phase
- );
Installing handlers into UNIVERSAL, makes them...err..universal. For example:
- package Descriptions;
- use Attribute::Handlers;
- my %name;
- sub name { return $name{$_[2]}||*{$_[1]}{NAME} }
- sub UNIVERSAL::Name :ATTR {
- $name{$_[2]} = $_[4];
- }
- sub UNIVERSAL::Purpose :ATTR {
- print STDERR "Purpose of ", &name, " is $_[4]\n";
- }
- sub UNIVERSAL::Unit :ATTR {
- print STDERR &name, " measured in $_[4]\n";
- }
Let's you write:
This module offers a single utility function, findsym()
.
- my $symbol = Attribute::Handlers::findsym($package, $referent);
The function looks in the symbol table of $package
for the typeglob for
$referent
, which is a reference to a variable or subroutine (SCALAR, ARRAY,
HASH, or CODE). If it finds the typeglob, it returns it. Otherwise, it returns
undef. Note that findsym
memoizes the typeglobs it has previously
successfully found, so subsequent calls with the same arguments should be
must faster.
Bad attribute type: ATTR(%s)
An attribute handler was specified with an :ATTR(ref_type)
, but the
type of referent it was defined to handle wasn't one of the five permitted:
SCALAR
, ARRAY
, HASH
, CODE
, or ANY
.
Attribute handler %s doesn't handle %s attributes
A handler for attributes of the specified name was defined, but not
for the specified type of declaration. Typically encountered whe trying
to apply a VAR
attribute handler to a subroutine, or a SCALAR
attribute handler to some other type of variable.
Declaration of %s attribute in package %s may clash with future reserved word
A handler for an attributes with an all-lowercase name was declared. An attribute with an all-lowercase name might have a meaning to Perl itself some day, even though most don't yet. Use a mixed-case attribute name, instead.
Can't have two ATTR specifiers on one subroutine
You just can't, okay?
Instead, put all the specifications together with commas between them
in a single ATTR(specification)
.
Can't autotie a %s
You can only declare autoties for types "SCALAR"
, "ARRAY"
, and
"HASH"
. They're the only things (apart from typeglobs -- which are
not declarable) that Perl can tie.
Internal error: %s symbol went missing
Something is rotten in the state of the program. An attributed subroutine ceased to exist between the point it was declared and the point at which its attribute handler(s) would have been called.
Won't be able to apply END handler
You have defined an END handler for an attribute that is being applied to a lexical variable. Since the variable may not be available during END this won't happen.
Damian Conway ([email protected]). The maintainer of this module is now Rafael Garcia-Suarez ([email protected]).
Maintainer of the CPAN release is Steffen Mueller ([email protected]). Contact him with technical difficulties with respect to the packaging of the CPAN module.
There are undoubtedly serious bugs lurking somewhere in code this funky :-) Bug reports and other feedback are most welcome.
- Copyright (c) 2001-2009, Damian Conway. All Rights Reserved.
- This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed
- and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.