phpMan > perldoc > Data::Serializer

NAME
    Data::Serializer:: - Modules that serialize data structures

SYNOPSIS
      use Data::Serializer;

      $obj = Data::Serializer->new();

      $obj = Data::Serializer->new(
                              serializer => 'Storable',
                              digester   => 'MD5',
                              cipher     => 'DES',
                              secret     => 'my secret',
                              compress   => 1,
                            );

      $serialized = $obj->serialize({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});
      $deserialized = $obj->deserialize($serialized);
      print "$deserialized->{b}\n";

DESCRIPTION
    Provides a unified interface to the various serializing modules currently available. Adds the
    functionality of both compression and encryption.

    By default Data::Serializer(3) adds minor metadata and encodes serialized data structures in
    it's own format. If you are looking for a simple unified pass through interface to the
    underlying serializers then look into Data::Serializer::Raw(3) that comes bundled with
    Data::Serializer(3).

EXAMPLES
    Please see Data::Serializer::Cookbook(3)

METHODS
    new - constructor
          $obj = Data::Serializer->new();


          $obj = Data::Serializer->new(
                                 serializer => 'Data::Dumper',
                                 digester   => 'SHA-256',
                                 cipher     => 'Blowfish',
                                 secret     => undef,
                                 portable   => '1',
                                 compress   => '0',
                           serializer_token => '1',
                                   options  => {},
                                );

        new is the constructor object for Data::Serializer(3) objects.

        *   The default *serializer* is "Data::Dumper"

        *   The default *digester* is "SHA-256"

        *   The default *cipher* is "Blowfish"

        *   The default *secret* is "undef"

        *   The default *portable* is 1

        *   The default *encoding* is "hex"

        *   The default *compress* is 0

        *   The default *compressor* is "Compress::Zlib"

        *   The default *serializer_token* is 1

        *   The default *options* is "{}" (pass nothing on to serializer)

    serialize - serialize reference
          $serialized = $obj->serialize({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});

        Serializes the reference specified.

        Will compress if compress is a true value.

        Will encrypt if secret is defined.

    deserialize - deserialize reference
          $deserialized = $obj->deserialize($serialized);

        Reverses the process of serialization and returns a copy of the original serialized
        reference.

    freeze - synonym for serialize
          $serialized = $obj->freeze({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});

    thaw - synonym for deserialize
          $deserialized = $obj->thaw($serialized);

    raw_serialize - serialize reference in raw form
          $serialized = $obj->raw_serialize({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});

        This is a straight pass through to the underlying serializer, nothing else is done. (no
        encoding, encryption, compression, etc)

        If you desire this functionality you should look at Data::Serializer::Raw(3) instead, it is
        faster and leaner.

    raw_deserialize - deserialize reference in raw form
          $deserialized = $obj->raw_deserialize($serialized);

        This is a straight pass through to the underlying serializer, nothing else is done. (no
        encoding, encryption, compression, etc)

        If you desire this functionality you should look at Data::Serializer::Raw(3) instead, it is
        faster and leaner.

    secret - specify secret for use with encryption
          $obj->secret('mysecret');

        Changes setting of secret for the Data::Serializer(3) object. Can also be set in the
        constructor. If specified than the object will utilize encryption.

    portable - encodes/decodes serialized data
        Uses encoding method to ascii armor serialized data

        Aids in the portability of serialized data.

    compress - compression of data
        Compresses serialized data. Default is not to use it. Will compress if set to a true value
        $obj->compress(1);

    raw - all calls to serializer and deserializer will automatically use raw mode
        Setting this to a true value will force serializer and deserializer to work in raw mode (see
        raw_serializer and raw_deserializer). The default is for this to be off.

        If you desire this functionality you should look at Data::Serializer::Raw(3) instead, it is
        faster and leaner.

    serializer - change the serializer
        Currently supports the following serializers:

        Bencode(3)
        Convert::Bencode(3)
        Convert::Bencode_XS(3)
        Config::General(3)
        Data::Denter(3)
        Data::Dumper(3)
        Data::Taxi(3)
        FreezeThaw(3)
        JSON(3)
        JSON::Syck(3)
        PHP::Serialization(3)
        Storable(3)
        XML::Dumper(3)
        XML::Simple(3)
        YAML(3)
        YAML::Syck(3)

        Default is to use Data::Dumper.

        Each serializer has its own caveat's about usage especially when dealing with cyclical data
        structures or CODE references. Please see the appropriate documentation in those modules for
        further information.

    cipher - change the cipher method
        Utilizes Crypt::CBC(3) and can support any cipher method that it supports.

    digester - change digesting method
        Uses Digest(3) so can support any digesting method that it supports. Digesting function is
        used internally by the encryption routine as part of data verification.

    compressor - changes compresing module
        Currently Compress::Zlib(3) and Compress::PPMd(3) are the only options

    encoding - change encoding method
        Encodes data structure in ascii friendly manner. Currently the only valid options are hex,
        or b64.

        The b64 option uses Base64 encoding provided by MIME::Base64(3), but strips out newlines.

    serializer_token - add usage hint to data
        Data::Serializer(3) prepends a token that identifies what was used to process its data. This
        is used internally to allow runtime determination of how to extract serialized data.
        Disabling this feature is not recommended. (Use Data::Serializer::Raw(3) instead).

    options - pass options through to underlying serializer
        Currently is only supported by Config::General(3), and XML::Dumper(3).

          my $obj = Data::Serializer->new(serializer => 'Config::General',
                                          options    => {
                                                     -LowerCaseNames       => 1,
                                                     -UseApacheInclude     => 1,
                                                     -MergeDuplicateBlocks => 1,
                                                     -AutoTrue             => 1,
                                                     -InterPolateVars      => 1
                                                        },
                                                      ) or die "$!\n";

          or

          my $obj = Data::Serializer->new(serializer => 'XML::Dumper',
                                          options    => { dtd => 1, }
                                          ) or die "$!\n";

    store - serialize data and write it to a file (or file handle)
          $obj->store({a => [1,2,3],b => 5},$file, [$mode, $perm]);

          or

          $obj->store({a => [1,2,3],b => 5},$fh);

        Serializes the reference specified using the serialize method and writes it out to the
        specified file or filehandle.

        If a file path is specified you may specify an optional mode and permission as the next two
        arguments. See IO::File for examples.

        Trips an exception if it is unable to write to the specified file.

    retrieve - read data from file (or file handle) and return it after deserialization
          my $ref = $obj->retrieve($file);

          or

          my $ref = $obj->retrieve($fh);

        Reads first line of supplied file or filehandle and returns it deserialized.

AUTHOR
    Neil Neely <neil AT neely.cx>.

    Feature requests are certainly welcome.

    http://neil-neely.blogspot.com/

BUGS
    Please report all bugs here:

    http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Data-Serializer

TODO
    Extend the persistent framework. Perhaps Persistent::Base(3) framework would be useful to
    explore further. Volunteers for putting this together would be welcome.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    Copyright (c) 2001-2020 Neil Neely. All rights reserved.

    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as
    Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.2 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may
    have available.

    See http://www.perl.com/language/misc/Artistic.html

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    Gurusamy Sarathy and Raphael Manfredi for writing MLDBM(3), the module which inspired the
    creation of Data::Serializer(3).

    And thanks to all of you who have provided the feedback that has improved this module over the
    years.

    In particular I'd like to thank Florian Helmberger, for the numerous suggestions and bug fixes.

DEDICATION
    This module is dedicated to my beautiful wife Erica.

REPOSITORY
    <http://github.com/neilneely/Data-Serializer/>

SEE ALSO
    Bencode(3)
    Convert::Bencode(3)
    Convert::Bencode_XS(3)
    Config::General(3)
    Data::Denter(3)
    Data::Dumper(3)
    Data::Taxi(3)
    FreezeThaw(3)
    JSON(3)
    JSON::Syck(3)
    PHP::Serialization(3)
    Storable(3)
    XML::Dumper(3)
    XML::Simple(3)
    YAML(3)
    YAML::Syck(3)
    Compress::Zlib(3)
    Compress::PPMd(3)
    Digest(3)
    Digest::SHA(3)
    Crypt::CBC(3)
    MIME::Base64(3)
    IO::File(3)
    Data::Serializer::Config::Wrest(3) - adds supports for Config::Wrest(3)