NAME

Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList - Base class for themes with multiple lists

SYNOPSIS

    package Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits;
    use Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList;
    our @ISA = ( Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList );
    __PACKAGE__->init();
    1;

    =head1 NAME
    
    Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits - The numbers theme
    
    =head1 DESCRIPTION
    
    You can count on this module. Almost.

    =cut
    
    __DATA__
    # default
    :all
    # names primes even
    two
    # names primes odd
    three five seven
    # names composites even
    four six eight
    # names composites odd
    nine
    # names other
    zero one

DESCRIPTION

"Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList" is the base class for all themes that are meant to return a random excerpt from a predefined list divided in categories.

The category is selected at construction time from:

1.: the given "category" parameter,
2.: the default category for the selected theme.

Categories and sub-categories are separated by a "/" character.

METHODS

Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList offers several methods, so that the subclasses are easy to write (see full example in SYNOPSIS):

new( category => $category )

The constructor of a single instance. An instance will not repeat items until the list is exhausted.

    $meta = Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits->new( category => 'primes' );
    $meta = Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits->new( category => 'primes/odd' );

The special category ":all" will use all the items in all categories.

    $meta = Acme::MetaSyntactic::digits->new( category => ':all' );

If no "category" parameter is given, "Acme::MetaSyntactic::MultiList" will use the class default. If the class doesn't define a default, then ":all" is used.

init()

init() must be called when the subclass is loaded, so as to read the __DATA__ section and fully initialise it.

name( $count )

Return $count names (default: 1).

Using 0 will return the whole list in list context, and the size of the list in scalar context (according to the "category" parameter passed to the constructor).

category()

Return the selected category for this instance.

categories()

Return the categories supported by the theme (except ":all").

has_category( $category )

Return a boolean value indicating if the theme contains the given category.

theme()

Return the theme name.

AUTHOR

Philippe 'BooK' Bruhat, "<book@cpan.org>"

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

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