Parse::Method::Signatures(3)

NAME
Parse::Method::Signatures - Perl6 like method signature parser

DESCRIPTION
Inspired by Perl6::Signature but streamlined to just support the subset deemed useful for TryCatch and MooseX::Method::Signatures.

TODO

•   Document the parameter return types.

•   Probably lots of other things

METHODS
There are only two public methods to this module, both of which should be called as class methods. Both methods accept either a single (non-ref) scalar as the value for the "input" attribute, or normal new style arguments (hash or hash-ref).

  signature
 my $sig = Parse::Method::Signatures->signature( '(Str $foo)' )

Attempts to parse the (bracketed) method signature. Returns a value or croaks on error.

  param
  my $param = Parse::Method::Signatures->param( 'Str $foo where { length($_) < 10 }')

Attempts to parse the specification for a single parameter. Returns value or croaks on error.

ATTRIBUTES
All the attributes on this class are read-only.

  input
Type: Str

The string to parse.

  offset
Type: Int

Offset into "input" at which to start parsing. Useful for using with Devel::Declare linestring

  signature_class
Default: Parse::Method::Signatures::Sig

Type: Str (loaded on demand class name)

  param_class
Default: Parse::Method::Signatures::Param

Type: Str (loaded on demand class name)

  type_constraint_class
Default: Parse::Method::Signatures::TypeConstraint

Type: Str (loaded on demand class name)

Class that is used to turn the parsed type constraint into an actual Moose::Meta::TypeConstraint object.

  from_namespace
Type: ClassName

Let this module know which package it is parsing signatures form. This is entirely optional, and the only effect is has is on parsing type constraints.

If this attribute is set it is passed to "type_constraint_class" which can use it to introspect the package (commmonly for MooseX::Types exported types). See "find_registered_constraint" in Parse::Method::Signature::TypeConstraints for more details.

  type_constraint_callback
Type: CodeRef

Passed to the constructor of "type_constraint_class". Default implementation of this callback asks Moose for a type constrain matching the name passed in. If you have more complex requirements, such as parsing types created by MooseX::Types then you will want a callback similar to this:

 # my $target_package defined elsewhere.
 my $tc_cb = sub {
   my ($pms_tc, $name) = @_;
   my $code = $target_package->can($name);
   $code ? eval { $code->() }
         : $pms_tc->find_registered_constraint($name);
 }

Note that the above example is better provided by providing the "from_namespace" attribute.

CAVEATS
Like Perl6::Signature, the parsing of certain constructs is currently only a 'best effort' - specifically default values and where code blocks might not successfully for certain complex cases. Patches/Failing tests welcome.

Additionally, default value specifications are not evaluated which means that no such lexical or similar errors will not be produced by this module. Constant folding will also not be performed.

There are certain constructs that are simply too much hassle to avoid when the work around is simple. Currently the only cases that are known to parse wrong are when using anonymous variables (i.e. just sigils) in unpacked arrays. Take the following example:

 method foo (ArrayRef [$, $], $some_value_we_care_about) {

In this case the $] is treated as one of perl's magic variables (specifically, the patch level of the Perl interpreter) rather than a "$" followed by a "]" as was almost certainly intended. The work around for this is simple: introduce a space between the charcters:

 method foo (ArrayRef [ $, $ ], $some_value_we_care_about) {

The same applies

AUTHOR
Ash Berlin <ash@cpan.org>.

Thanks to Florian Ragwitz <rafl@debian.org>.

Many thanks to Piers Cawley to showing me the way to refactor my spaghetti code into something more manageable.

SEE ALSO
Devel::Declare which is used by most modules that use this (currently by all modules known to the author.)

<http://github.com/ashb/trycatch/tree>.

LICENSE
Licensed under the same terms as Perl itself.

This distribution copyright 2008-2009, Ash Berlin <ash@cpan.org>