NAME

Mason::Plugin::DollarDot - Allow $. as substitution for $self-> and in attribute names

SYNOPSIS

    <%class>
    has 'name';
    has 'date';
    </%class>

    <%method greet>
    Hello, <% $.name %>. Today is <% $.date %>.
    </%method>

    ...
    % $.greet();

    <%init>
    # Set the date
    $.date(scalar(localtime));
    # or, if combined with LvalueAttributes
    $.date = scalar(localtime);
    </%init>

DESCRIPTION

This plugin substitutes "$.identifier" for "$self->identifier" in all Perl code inside components, so that $. can be used when referring to attributes and calling methods. The actual regex is

    s/ \$\.([^\W\d]\w*) / \$self->$1 /gx;

RATIONALE

In Mason 2, components have to write "$self->" a lot to refer to attributes that were simple scalars in Mason 1. This eases the transition pain. $. was chosen because of its similar use in Perl 6.

This plugin falls under the heading of gratuitous source filtering, which the author generally agrees is Evil. That said, this is a very limited filter, and seems unlikely to break any legitimate Perl syntax other than use of the $. special variable (input line number).

BUGS

Will not interpolate as expected inside double quotes:

    "My name is $.name"   # nope

instead you have to do

    "My name is " . $.name

AUTHOR

Jonathan Swartz <swartz@pobox.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

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