README
1NAME
2 CGI::Application::Plugin::ConfigAuto - Easy config file management for
3 CGI::Application
4
5SYNOPSIS
6 use CGI::Application::Plugin::ConfigAuto (qw/cfg/);
7
8 In your instance script:
9
10 my $app = WebApp->new(PARAMS => { cfg_file => 'config.pl' });
11 $app->run();
12
13 In your application module:
14
15 sub my_run_mode {
16 my $self = shift;
17
18 # Access a config hash key directly
19 $self->cfg('field');
20
21 # Return config as hash
22 %CFG = $self->cfg;
23
24 }
25
26DESCRIPTION
27 CGI::Application::Plugin::ConfigAuto adds easy access to config file
28 variables to your CGI::Application modules. Lazy loading is used to
29 prevent the config file from being parsed if no configuration variables
30 are accessed during the request. In other words, the config file is not
31 parsed until it is actually needed. The Config::Auto package provides
32 the framework for this plugin.
33
34RATIONALE
35 "CGI::Application" promotes re-usable applications by moving a maximal
36 amount of code into modules. For an application to be fully re-usable
37 without code changes, it is also necessary to store configuration
38 variables in a separate file.
39
40 This plugin supports multiple config files for a single application,
41 allowing config files to override each other in a particular order. This
42 covers even complex cases, where you have a global config file, and
43 second local config file which overrides a few variables.
44
45 It is recommended that you to declare your config file locations in the
46 instance scripts, where it will have minimum impact on your application.
47 This technique is ideal when you intend to reuse your module to support
48 multiple configuration files. If you have an application with multiple
49 instance scripts which share a single config file, you may prefer to
50 call the plugin from the setup() method.
51
52DECLARING CONFIG FILE LOCATIONS
53 # In your instance script
54 # value can also be an arrayref of config files
55 my $app = WebApp->new(PARAMS => { cfg_file => 'config.pl' })
56
57 # OR ...
58
59 # Pass in an array of config files, and they will be processed in order.
60 $app->cfg_file('../../config/config.pl');
61
62 Your config files should be referenced using the syntax example above.
63 Note that the key "config_files" can be used as alternative to cfg_file.
64
65 The format is detected automatically using Config::Auto. It it known to
66 support the following formats: colon separated, space separated, equals
67 separated, XML, Perl code, and Windows INI. See that modules
68 documentation for complete details.
69
70METHODS
71 cfg()
72 # Access a config hash key directly
73 $self->cfg('field');
74
75 # Return config as hash
76 my %CFG = $self->cfg;
77
78 # return as hashref
79 my $cfg_href = $self->cfg;
80
81 A method to access project configuration variables. The config file is
82 parsed on the first call with a perl hash representation stored in
83 memory. Subsequent calls will use this version, rather than re-reading
84 the file.
85
86 In list context, it returns the configuration data as a hash. In scalar
87 context, it returns the configuration data as a hashref.
88
89 config()
90 "config()" in CGI::Application::Standard::Config is provided as an alias
91 to cfg() for compliance with CGI::Application::Standard::Config. It
92 always exported by default per the standard.
93
94 std_config()
95 "std_config()" in CGI::Application::Standard::Config is implemented to
96 comply with CGI::Application::Standard::Config. It's for developers.
97 Users can ignore it.
98
99 cfg_file()
100 # Usual
101 $self->cfg_file('my_config_file.pl');
102
103 # Supply the first format, guess the second
104 $self->cfg_file('my_config_file.pl',{ format => 'perl' } );
105
106 Supply an array of config files, and they will be processed in order. If
107 a hash reference if found it, will be used to supply the format for the
108 previous file in the array.
109
110FILE FORMAT HINTS
111 Perl
112 Here's a simple example of my favorite config file format: Perl. Having
113 the "shebang" line at the top helps "Config::Auto" to identify it as a
114 Perl file. Also, be sure that your last statement returns a hash
115 reference.
116
117 #!/usr/bin/perl
118
119 my %CFG = ();
120
121 # directory path name
122 $CFG{DIR} = '/home/mark/www';
123
124 # website URL
125 $CFG{URL} = 'http://mark.stosberg.com/';
126
127 \%CFG;
128
129SEE ALSO
130 CGI::Application CGI::Application::Plugin::ValidateRM
131 CGI::Application::Plugin::DBH CGI::Application::Standard::Config.
132 perl(1)
133
134AUTHOR
135 Mark Stosberg "mark@summersault.com"
136
137LICENSE
138 Copyright (C) 2004 - 2011 Mark Stosberg "mark@summersault.com"
139
140 This library is free software. You can modify and or distribute it under
141 the same terms as Perl itself.
142
143