NAME

SYNOPSIS

   #your package should inherit from AbstractEntity.

   package WebService::GData::Node::AuthorEntity;
   use base 'WebService::GData::Node::AbstractEntity';
   
   use WebService::GData::Node::Author();
   use WebService::GData::Node::Uri();
   use WebService::GData::Node::Name();

   our $VERSION = 0.01_01;

   sub __init {
            my ($this,$params) = @_;
        
        #the entity is the root node used
        
            $this->_entity(new WebService::GData::Node::Author());
            
            #and its children:
            $this->{_name}   = new WebService::GData::Node::Name($params->{name});
            $this->{_uri}    = new WebService::GData::Node::Uri ($params->{uri});
            
            $this->_entity->child($this->{_name})->child($this->{_uri});
    }

    1;
                
    
    my $author   = new WebService::GData::Node::AuthorEntity();
       $author->name('john doe');
       $author->uri('http://youtube.com/johndoe');

DESCRIPTION

This package is an abstract class used as a proxy to represent several nodes in one entity. A node containing text node and attributes will require to access the data in such a manner:

   my $name   = new WebService::GData::Node::Name(text=>'john doe');
      $name->text;

If it does make sense at the node level and in an xml context, it does sound a bit unnatural when using nodes with children:

            my $author = new WebService::GData::Node::Author();
            my $name   = new WebService::GData::Node::Name(text=>'john doe');
            $author->child($name);
            
            $author->name->text;#john doe

In an xml context, attributes vs text node do make sense but less in a object oriented context that abstract the underlying xml structure:

            my $author = new WebService::GData::Node::AuthorEntity(name=>'john doe');
               $author->name;#john doe

This class serves as a proxy to redispatch the call for name to name->text or an attribute and therefore limit the xml node/object entity mismatch. It is obviously a helper factory in combining multiple common nodes together in one entity. This class should be inherited to offer a concrete entity representation. The main container node should be store via the _entity method. All other children should be stored in the instance by prefixing the tag name with an underscore. All access to attributes or text node representation will be redispatched via __set and __get methods by following the above convention.

See also WebService::GData::Node.

    AuthorEntity                #map author > name,uri
    PointEntity                 #map georss:where > gml:Point > gml:pos 
    Media::GroupEntity          #map all the nodes used in the media:group tag

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

AUTHOR

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT