Individual Configuration Methods

Find all the factory method-generators in all members of the inheritance tree for an SPOPS class, then run each of the generators and keep track of the slots each generator uses, a.k.a. the behavior map.

Return value is the behavior map, a hashref with keys as class names and values as arrayrefs of slot names. For instance:

 my $b_map = SPOPS::ClassFactory->find_behavior( 'My::SPOPS' );
 print "Behaviors retrieved for My::SPOPS\n";
 foreach my $class_name ( keys %{ $b_map } ) {
     print "  -- Retrieved from ($class_name): ",
           join( ', ' @{ $b_map->{ $class_name } } ), "\n";
 }

exec_behavior( $slot_name, $class )

Execute behavior rules in slot $slot_name collected by "find_behavior()" for $class.

Executing the behaviors in a slot succeeds if there are no behaviors to execute or if all the behaviors execute without returning an "ERROR".

If a behavior returns an "ERROR", the entire process is stopped and a SPOPS::Exception object is thrown with the message returned from the behavior.

If a behavior returns a "RESTART", we re-find all behaviors for the class and if they do not match up with what was found earlier, run the behaviors that were not previously run before.

For instance, if a behavior changes the @ISA of a class (by modifying the "{isa}" configuration key), we need to check that class to see if it has any additional behaviors for our class. In theory, you could get into some hairy situations with this recursion -- e.g., two behaviors keep adding each other -- but practically it will rarely occur. (At least we hope so.)

Return value: true if success, throws SPOPS::Exception on failure.

create_stub( \%config )

Creates the class specified by "\%config", sets its @ISA to what is set in "\%config" and ensures that all members of the @ISA are "require"d.

Return value: same as any behavior (OK or ERROR/NOTIFY plus message).

require_config_classes( \%config )

Runs a 'require' on all members of the 'isa' and 'rules_from' keys in "\%config".

Return value: same as a behavior (OK or ERROR/NOTIFY plus message).

install_configuration( $class, \%config )

Installs the configuration "\%config" to the class $class. This is a simple copy and we do not do any transformation of the data.

Return value: same as a behavior (OK or ERROR/NOTIFY plus message).

Multiple Configuration Methods

create_all_stubs( \%multiple_config, \%params )

Creates all the necessary classes and installs the available configuration to each class.

Calls "create_stub()" and "install_configuration()".

find_all_behavior( \%multiple_config, \%params )

Retrieves behavior routines from all necessary classes.

Calls "find_behavior()".

exec_all_behavior( \%multiple_config, \%params )

Executes behavior routines in all necessary classes.

Calls "exec_behavior()"

clean_all_behavior( \%multiple_config, \%params )

Removes behavior routines and tracking information from the configuration of all necessary classes.

Calls: nothing.

Utility Methods

Looks at the 'alias_list' key in "\%params" for an arrayref of aliases; if it does not exist, pulls out the keys in "\%multiple_config" that do not begin with '_'.

Returns: arrayref of alias names.

find_parent_methods( $class, \@added_classes, @method_list )

Walks through the inheritance tree for $class as well as each of the classes specified in "\@added_classes" and finds all instances of any member of @method_list. The first match wins, and only one match will be returned per class.

Returns: arrayref of two-element arrayrefs describing all the places that $method_name can be executed in the inheritance tree; the first item is the class name, the second a code reference.

Example:

 my $parent_info = SPOPS::ClassFactory->find_parent_methods(
                            'My::Class', [], 'method_factory', 'method_generate' );
 foreach my $method_info ( @{ $parent_info } ) {
     print "Class $method_info->[0] found sub which has the result: ",
           $method_info->[1]->(), "\n";
 }

sync_isa( $class )

Synchronize the @ISA in $class with the "{isa}" key in its configuration. Also "require"s all classes in the newly synchronized @ISA.

Returns true if there are no problems, throws a SPOPS::Exception object otherwise. (The only reason it would fail is if a recently added class cannot be "require"d.)

compare_behavior_map( \%behavior_map, \%behavior_map )

Returns true if the two are equivalent, false if not.