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📖 NAME

Class::Data::Inheritable — Inheritable, overridable class data

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
📦 Declare class data	Package->mk_classdata('name')	Create accessor/mutator for class data
✏️ Set class data value	Package->name('value')	Set inheritable class data
🔍 Get class data value	Package->name	Retrieve class data (inherited if not overridden)
🔄 Override inherited data	Subclass->name('new_value')	Override parent's class data in subclass
⚡ Declare with initial value	Package->mk_classdata(name => 'value')	One-shot declaration and initialization
🔧 Access original accessor	$self->_name_accessor(@_)	Access the original method when overriding

📝 SYNOPSIS

  package Stuff;
  use base qw(Class::Data::Inheritable);

  # Set up DataFile as inheritable class data.
  Stuff->mk_classdata('DataFile');

  # Declare the location of the data file for this class.
  Stuff->DataFile('/etc/stuff/data');

  # Or, all in one shot:
  Stuff->mk_classdata(DataFile => '/etc/stuff/data');

📚 DESCRIPTION

Class::Data::Inheritable is for creating accessor/mutators to class data. That is, if you want to store something about your class as a whole (instead of about a single object). This data is then inherited by your subclasses and can be overridden.

For example:

  Pere::Ubu->mk_classdata('Suitcase');

will generate the method Suitcase() in the class Pere::Ubu.

This new method can be used to get and set a piece of class data.

  Pere::Ubu->Suitcase('Red');
  $suitcase = Pere::Ubu->Suitcase;

The interesting part happens when a class inherits from Pere::Ubu:

  package Raygun;
  use base qw(Pere::Ubu);

  # Raygun's suitcase is Red.
  $suitcase = Raygun->Suitcase;

Raygun inherits its Suitcase class data from Pere::Ubu.

Inheritance of class data works analogous to method inheritance. As long as Raygun does not "override" its inherited class data (by using Suitcase() to set a new value) it will continue to use whatever is set in Pere::Ubu and inherit further changes:

  # Both Raygun's and Pere::Ubu's suitcases are now Blue
  Pere::Ubu->Suitcase('Blue');

However, should Raygun decide to set its own Suitcase() it has now "overridden" Pere::Ubu and is on its own, just like if it had overridden a method:

  # Raygun has an orange suitcase, Pere::Ubu's is still Blue.
  Raygun->Suitcase('Orange');

Now that Raygun has overridden Pere::Ubu further changes by Pere::Ubu no longer effect Raygun.

  # Raygun still has an orange suitcase, but Pere::Ubu is using Samsonite.
  Pere::Ubu->Suitcase('Samsonite');

🔧 Methods

🔨 mk_classdata

  Class->mk_classdata($data_accessor_name);
  Class->mk_classdata($data_accessor_name => $value);

This is a class method used to declare new class data accessors. A new accessor will be created in the Class using the name from $data_accessor_name, and optionally initially setting it to the given value.

To facilitate overriding, mk_classdata creates an alias to the accessor, _field_accessor(). So Suitcase() would have an alias _Suitcase_accessor() that does the exact same thing as Suitcase(). This is useful if you want to alter the behavior of a single accessor yet still get the benefits of inheritable class data. For example:

  sub Suitcase {
      my($self) = shift;
      warn "Fashion tragedy" if @_ and $_[0] eq 'Plaid';

      $self->_Suitcase_accessor(@_);
  }

👤 AUTHOR

Original code by Damian Conway.

Maintained by Michael G Schwern until September 2005.

Now maintained by Tony Bowden.

🐛 BUGS AND QUERIES

Please direct all correspondence regarding this module to:
bug-Class-Data-Inheritable AT rt.org

📄 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2000-2005, Damian Conway and Michael G Schwern. All Rights Reserved.

This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.

👁️ SEE ALSO

perltooc has a very elaborate discussion of class data in Perl.

📖 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📝 SYNOPSIS 📚 DESCRIPTION 🔧 Methods 👤 AUTHOR 🐛 BUGS AND QUERIES 📄 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE 👁️ SEE ALSO