conf_files conf_files returns your conf_files array.
my @conf_files = $class->conf_files();
You can also programmatically add a new conf_file this way.
$class->conf_files('/path/to/new/conf.file', '/path/to/other/conf.file'); #, etc
However, it'd be better to specify your conf file at use time.
use Mail::Bulkmail::Object 3.00 "/path/to/conf.file";
This also (naturally) works in all subclasses.
use Mail::Bulkmail 3.00 "/path/to/conf.file";
use Mail::Bulkmail::Dynamic 3.00 "/path/to/conf/file";
and so on.
Note that adding on via ->conf_files or importing puts onto the FRONT of the @conf_files
array, i.e., those conf files are more significant.
So,
@conf_files = qw(/path/to/file /path/to/file2);
use Mail::Bulkmail::Object 3.00 "/path/to/file3" "/path/to/file4";
Mail::Bulkmail::Object->conf_files("/path/to/file5", "/path/to/file6");
print Mail::Bulkmail::Object->conf_files;
#prints out /path/to/file5 /path/to/file6 /path/to/file3 /path/to/file4 /path/to/file path/to/file2
Note that you don't *need* conf files, you can still specify all information at construction
time, or via mutators, or whatever. But a conf file can make your life a lot easier.
add_attr add_attr adds object attributes to the class.
Okay, now we're going to get into some philosophy. First of all, let me state that I *love*
Perl's OO implementation. I usually get smacked upside the head when I say that, but I find
it really easy to use, work with, manipulate, and so on. And there are things that you can do
in Perl's OO that you can't in Java or C++ or the like. Perl, for example, can have *totally*
private values that are completely inaccessible (lexicals, natch). private vars in the other
languages can be redefined or tweaked or subclassed or otherwise gotten around in some form.
Not Perl.
And I obviously just adore Perl anyway. I get funny looks when I tell people that I like perl
so much because it works the way I think. That bothers people for some reason.
Anyway, as much as I like how it works, I don't like the fact that there's no consistent
object type. An object is, of course, a blessed ((thingie)) (scalar, array, code, hash, etc)
reference. And there are merits to using any of those things, depending upon the situation.
Hashes are easy to work with and most similar to traditional objects.
$object->{$attribute} = $value;
And whatnot. Arrays are much faster (typically 33% in tests I've done), but they suck to work
with.
$object->[15] = $value; #the hell is '15'?
(
by the way, you can make this easier with variables defined to return the value, i.e.
$object->[$attribute] = $value; #assuming $attribute == 15
)
Scalars are speciality and coderefs are left to the magicians. Don't get me wrong, coderefs as
objects are nifty, but they can be tricky to work with.
So, I wanted a consistent interface. I'm not going to claim credit for this idea, since I
think I originally read it in Object Oriented Programming in Perl (Damien's book). In fact, I
think the error reporting method I use was also originally detailed in there. Anyway, I liked
it a lot and decided I'd implement my own version of it.
Basically, attributes are accessed and mutated via methods.
$object->attribute($value);
For all attributes. This way, the internal object can be whatever you'd like. I used to use
mainly arrays for the speed boost, but lately I use hashes a lot because of the ease of
dumping and reading the structure for debugging purposes. But, with this consistent interface
of using methods to wrapper the attributes, I can change the implementation of the object
(scalar, array, hash, code, whatever) up in this module and *nothing* else needs to change.
Say you implemented a giant system in OO perl. And you chose hashrefs as your "object". But
then you needed a big speed boost later, which you could easily get by going to arrays. You'd
have to go through your code and change all instances of $object->{$attribute} to
$object->[15] or whatever. That's an awful lot of work.
With everything wrappered up this way, changes can be made in the super object class and then
automagically populate out everywhere with no code changes. Spiffy stuff.
There are some disadvantages, there is a little more overhead for doing the additional method
call, but it's usually negligible. And you can't do nice things like:
$object->{$attribute}++;
you'd have to do
$object->attribute($object->attribute + 1);
Which is annoying. But I think it's offset by the consistent interface regardless of what your
underlying object is.
Enough with the philosophy, though. You need to know how this works.
It's easy enough:
package Some::Class;
Some::Class->add_attr('foo');
Now your Some::Class objects have a foo attribute, which can be accessed as above. If called
with a value, it's the mutator which sets the attribute to the new value and returns the new
value. If called without one, it's the accessor which returns the value.
my $obj = Some::Class->new();
$obj->foo('bar');
print $obj->foo(); #prints bar
print $obj->foo('boo'); #prints boo
print $obj->foo(); #prints boo
add_attr calls should only be in your module. Neverinyourprogram. And they really should be
defined up at the top.
Internally, an add_attr call creates a function inside your package of the name of the
attribute which reflects through to the internal _accessor method which handles the mutating
and accessing.
There is another syntax for add_attr, to define a different internal accessor:
Some::Class->add_attr(['foo', 'other_accessor']);
This creates method called 'foo' which talks to a separate accessor, in this case
"other_accessor" instead of going to _accessor. This is useful if you want to create a
validating method on your attribute.
Additionally, it creates a normal method going to _accessor called '_foo', which is assumed to
be the internal attribute slot your other accessor with use. In generall, for a given
"attribute", "_attribute" will be created for internal use.
"other_accessor" will get the object as the first arg (as always) and the name of the internal
method as the second.
Example:
Some::Class->add_attr(['foo', 'other_accessor']);
$obj->foo('bee');
sub other_accessor {
my $self = shift;
my $method = shift; # "_foo", in this example
if (@_){
my $val = shift; # "bee", in this example
if ($val == 7){
return $self->$method($val);
}
else {
return $self->error("Cannot store value...foo must be 7!");
};
}
else {
return $self->$method();
};
};
And, finally, you can also pass in additional arguments as static args if desired.
Some::Class->add_attr(['foo', 'other_accessor'], 'bar');
$obj->foo('bee');
sub other_accessor {
my $self = shift;
my $method = shift;
my $static = shift; #'bar' in our example
my $value = shift; #'bee' in our example
.
.
.
};
All easy enough. Refer to any subclasses of this class for further examples.
add_class_attr
This is similar to add_attr, but instead of adding object attributes, it adds class
attributes. You cannot have object and class attributes with the same name. This is by design.
(error is a special case)
Some::Class->add_attr('foo'); #object attribute foo
Some::Class->add_class_attr('bar'): #class attribute bar
print $obj->foo();
print Some::Class->bar();
Behaves the same as an object method added with add_attr, mutating with a value, accessing
without one. Note that add_class_attr does not have the capability for additional internal
methods or static values. If you want those on a class method, you'll have to wrapper the
class attribute yourself on a per case basis.
Note that you can access class attributes via an object (as expected), but it's frowned upon
since it may be confusing.
class attributes are automatically initialized to any values in the conf file upon adding, if
present.
add_tricke_class_attr
It's things like this why I really love Perl.
add_trickle_class_attr behaves the same as add_class_attr with the addition that it will
trickle the attribute down into any class as it is called. This is useful for subclasses.
Watch:
package SuperClass;
SuperClass->add_class_attr('foo');
SuperClass->foo('bar');
package SubClass;
@ISA = qw(SuperClass);
print SubClass->foo(); #prints bar
print SuperClass->foo(); #prints bar
print SuperClass->foo('baz'); #prints baz
print SubClass->foo(); #prints baz
print SubClass->foo('dee'); #prints dee
print SuperClass->foo(); #prints dee
See? The attribute is still stored in the super class, so changing it in a subclass changes it
in the super class as well. Usually, this behavior is fine, but sometimes you don't want that
to happen. That's where add_trickle_class_attr comes in. Its first call will snag the value
from the SuperClass, but then it will have its own attribute that's separate.
Again, watch:
package SuperClass;
SuperClass->add_trickle_class_attr('foo');
SuperClass->foo('bar');
package SubClass;
@ISA = qw(SuperClass);
print SubClass->foo(); #prints bar
print SuperClass->foo(); #prints bar
print SuperClass->foo('baz'); #prints baz
print SubClass->foo(); #prints bar
print SubClass->foo('dee'); #prints dee
print SuperClass->foo(); #prints baz
This is useful if you have an attribute that should be unique to a class and all subclasses.
These are equivalent:
package SuperClass;
SuperClass->add_class_attr('foo');
package SubClass
SubClass->add_class_attr('foo');
and
package SuperClass;
SuperClass->add_trickle_class_attr('foo');
You'll usually just use add_class_attr. Only use trickle_class_attr if you know you need to,
since you rarely would. There is a *slight* bit of additional processing required for
trickled accessors.
trickled class attributes are automatically initialized to any values in the conf file upon
adding, if present.
error and errcode
error rocks. All error reporting is set and relayed through error. It's a standard accessor,
and an *almost* standard mutator. The difference is that when used as a mutator, it returns
undef (or an empty list) instead of the value mutated to.
If a method fails, it is expected to return undef (or an empty list) and set error.
example:
sub someMethod {
my $self = shift;
my $value = shift;
if ($value > 10){
return 1; #success
}
else {
return $self->error("Values must be greater than 10");
};
};
$object->someMethod(15) || die $object->error; #succeeds
$object->someMethod(5) || die $object->error; #dies with an error..."Values must be greater than 10"
Be warned if your method can return '0', this is a valid successful return and shouldn't give
an error. But most of the time, you're fine with "true is success, false is failure"
As you can see in the example, we mutate the error attribute to the value passed, but it
returns undef.
However, error messages can change and can be difficult to parse. So we also have an error
code, accessed by errcode. This is expected to be consistent and machine parseable. It is
mutated by the second argument to ->error
example:
sub someMethod {
my $self = shift;
my $value = shift;
if ($value > 10){
return 1; #success
}
else {
return $self->error("Values must be greater than 10", "ERR77");
};
};
$object->someMethod(15) || die $object->error; #succeeds
$object->someMethod(5) || die $object->errcode; #dies with an error code ... "ERR77"
If your code is looking for an error, read the errcode. if a human is looking at it, display
the error. Easy as pie.
Both classes and objects have error methods.
my $obj = Some::Class->new() || die Some::Class->error();
$obj->foo() || die $obj->error();
Note that error is a special method, and not just a normal accessor or class attribute. As
such:
my $obj = Some::Class->new();
Some::Class->error('foo');
print $obj->error(); #prints undef
print Some::Class->error(); #prints foo
i.e., you will not get a class error message by calling ->error on an object.
There is also an optional third paramenter..."not logged", which sounds horribly ugly, I know.
But it is a bit of an after-market hack, so it's to be expected. The third argument does what
you'd think, it prevents the error message from being logged.
$self->error("This is an error message", "code", "not logged");
Any true value may be passed for the 3rd argument, but something that makes it obvious what
it's doing is recommended, hence my use of 'not logged'. This is useful for bubbling up
errors.
$class->error($self->error, $self->errcode, 'not logged');
The reason is that the error was already logged when it was stored in $self. So you'd end up
logging it twice in your error file, which is very confusing. So it's recommended to use the
three argument form for errors that are bubbling up, but not elsewhere.
As of 3.06, if an error is returned in a list context, an empty list will be returned instead
of undef. undef is still returned in a scalar context.
errcode errcode is an accessor ONLY. You can only mutate the errcode via error, see above.
print $obj->errcode;
Both objects and classes have errcode methods.
my $obj = Some::Class->new() || die Some::Class->errcode();
$obj->foo() || die $obj->errcode();
Where possible, the pod will note errors that a method is known to be able to return. Please
note that this will never be an all inclusive list of all error codes that may possibly ever
be returned by this method. Only error codes generated by a particular method will be listed.
errstring errstring is just a quick alias for:
$bulk->error . ": " . $bulk->errcode;
Nothing more.
errvals similar to errstring, but returns the error and errcode in an array. This is great for
bubbling up error messages.
$attribute = $obj->foo() || return $self->error($obj->errvals);
read_conf_file
read_conf_file will read in the conf files specified in the @conf_files array up at the top.
You can also pass in a list of conf files to read, in most to least significant order, same as
the @conf_files array.
my $conf = Mail::Bulkmail::Object->read_conf_file();
or
my $conf = Mail::Bulkmail::Object->read_conf_file('/other/conf.file');
If you pass in a list of conf files, then the internal @conf_files array is bypassed.
$conf is a hashref of hashrefs. the main keys are the package names, the values are the hashes
of the values for that object.
Example:
#conf file
define package Mail::Bulkmail
use_envelope = 1
Trusting @= duplicates
define package Mail::Bulkmail::Server
Smtp = your.smtp.com
Port = 25
$conf = {
'Mail::Bulkmail' => {
'use_envelope' => 1,
'Trusting' => ['duplicates']
},
'Mail::Bulkmail::Server' => {
'Smtp' => 'your.smtp.com',
'Port' => 25
}
};
read_conf_file is called at object initialization. Any defaults for your object are read in at
this time. You'll rarely need to read the conf file yourself, since at object creation it is
read and parsed and the values passed on.
Besuretoreadupontheconffilestructure,below
The conf file is only re-read if it has been modified since the last time it was read.
this method is known to be able to return MBO002 - Invalid conf file
gen_handle returns a filehandle in a different package. Useful for when you need to open filehandles and
pass 'em around.
my $handle = Mail::Bulkmail->gen_handle();
open ($handle, "/path/to/my/list");
my $bulk = Mail::Bulkmail->new(
'LIST' => $handle
);
You never need to use gen_handle if you don't want to. It's used extensively internally,
though.
new Finally! The constructor. It's very easy, for a minimalist object, do this:
my $obj = Class->new() || die Class->error();
Ta da! You have an object. Any attributes specified in the conf file will be loaded into your
object. So if your conf file defines 'foo' as 'bar', then $obj->foo will now equal 'bar'.
If you'd like, you can also pass in method/value pairs to the constructor.
my $obj = Class->new(
'attribute' => '17',
'foo' => 'baz',
'method' => '88'
) || die Class->error();
This is (roughly) the same as:
my $obj = Class->new() || die Class->error();
$obj->attribute(17) || die $obj->error();
$obj->foo('baz') || die $obj->error();
$obj->method(88) || die $obj->error();
Any accessors or methods you'd like may be passed to the constructor. Any unknown pairs will
be silently ignored. If you pass a method/value pair to the constructor, it will override any
equivalent method/value pair in the conf file.
Additionally, if you need to set up values in your object, this is the place to do it. Note
that setting default values should probably be done in the conf file, but if you need to
populate a data structure into a method, do it here.
package SubClass;
@ISA = qw(SuperClass);
sub new {
return shift->new(
'servers' => [],
'connections' => {},
@_
);
};
This will cause your SubClass to use the normal constructor, but get default values of the
empty data structures specified.
init The object initializer. Arguably more important than the constructor, but not something you
need to worry about. The constructor calls it internally, and you really shouldn't touch it
or override it. But I wanted it here so you know what it does.
Simply, it iterates through the conf file and mutates any of your object attributes to the
value specified in the conf file. It then iterates through the hash you passed to ->new() and
does the same thing, overriding any conf values, if necessary.
init is smart enough to use all super class values defined in the conf file, in hierarchy
order. So if your conf file contains:
define package SuperClass
foo = 'bar'
And you're creating a new SubClass object, then it will get the default of foo = 'bar' as in
the conf file, despite the fact that it was not defined for your own package. Naturally, the
more significant definition is used.
define package SuperClass
foo = 'bar'
define package SubClass
foo = 'baz'
SuperClass objects will default foo to 'bar', SubClass objects will default foo to 'baz'
this method is known to be able to return
MBO003 - could not initialize value to conf value
MBO004 - could not initialize value to constructor value
MBO006 - odd number of elements in hash assignment
isa_path This is mainly used by the conf reader, but I wanted to make it publicly accessible. Given a
class, it will return an arrayref containing all of the superclasses of that class, in
inheritance order.
Note that once a path is looked up for a class, it is cached. So if you dynamically change
@ISA, it won't be reflected in the return of isa_path. Obviously, dynamically changing @ISA
is frowned upon as a result.
getNextLine
getNextLine is called on either a filehandleref, an arrayref, or a coderef
$obj->getNextLine(\*FOO);
will return the next line off of FOO;
$obj->getNextLine(\@foo);
will shift the next line off of @foo and return it.
$obj->getNextLine(\&foo);
will call foo($obj) and return whatever the function returns.
Note that your bulkmail object is the first argument passed to your function. It's not called
as a method, but the object is still the first argument passed.
This is mainly used with attribues going through _file_accessor.
package SomeClass;
SomeClass->add_attr(['FOO', '_file_accessor'], "<");
my $obj = SomeClass->new(
FOO => \&foo
) || die SomeClass->error();
my $val = $obj->getNextLine($obj->FOO);
logToFile logToFile is the opposite of getNextLine, it writes out a value instead of reading it.
logToFile is called on either a filehandleref, an arrayref, or a coderef
$obj->logToFile(\*FOO, "bar");
will append a new line to FOO, "bar"
$obj->logToFile(\@foo, "bar");
will push the value "bar" onto the end of @foo
$obj->logToFile(\&foo, "bar");
will call foo($obj, "bar")
Note that your bulkmail object is the first argument passed to your function. It's not called
as a method, but the object is still the first argument passed.
This is mainly used with attribues going through _file_accessor.
package SomeClass;
SomeClass->add_attr(['FOO', '_file_accessor'], ">>");
my $obj = SomeClass->new(
FOO => \&foo
) || die SomeClass->error();
my $val = $obj->logToFile($obj->FOO, "valid address);
Internally, logToFile calls convert_to_scalar on the value it is called with.
This method is known to be able to return:
MBO005 - cannot log to file
convert_to_scalar
called by logToFile. used to convert the value passed to a scalar.
Mail::Bulkmail::Object's convert_to_scalar method will only handle scalars, it will
dereference scalarrefs, or return scalar values. This method will also strip out any carriage
returns or newlines within the scalar before returning it. If passed by reference, your
original variable will not be modified.
This is useful to subclass if you ever want to log values other than simple scalars
ERRFILE This is an optional log file to keep track of any errors that occur.
ERRFILE may be either a coderef, globref, arrayref, or string literal.
If a string literal, then Mail::Bulkmail::Object will attempt to open that file (in append
mode) as your log:
$bulk->ERRFILE("/path/to/my/error.file");
If a globref, it is assumed to be an open filehandle in append mode:
open (E, ">>/path/to/my/error.file");
$bulk->ERRFILE(\*E);
if a coderef, it is assumed to be a function to call with the address as an argument:
sub E { print "ERROR : ", shift, "\n"}; #or whatever your code is
$bulk->ERRFILE(\&E);
if an arrayref, then bad addresses will be pushed on to the end of it
$bulk->ERRFILE(\@errors);
Use whichever item is most convenient, and Mail::Bulkmail::Object will take it from there.
It is recommended you turn on ERRFILE in a debugging envrionment, and leave it off in
production. You probably shouldn't be getting errors in a production environment, but there
may be internal errors that you're not even aware of, so you'll end up filling up that file.
And there's the slight additional overhead.
Keep it on in production if you know what you're doing, off otherwise.
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