NAME

Association - abstract base class for Association types

SYNOPSIS

 my $assoc = Oryx::Association->new($meta, $source);
  
 $assoc->source;                # association from
 $assoc->class;                 # association to
 $assoc->role;                  # name of association accessor
 $assoc->type;                  # Array, Hash, Reference etc.
 $assoc->constraint;            # Aggregate or Composition
 $assoc->is_weak; 
 $assoc->update_backrefs;
 $assoc->link_table;

DESCRIPTION

This module represents an abstract base class for Oryx association types.

METHODS

new( $meta, $source )

The constructor returns the correct instance of the correct subclass based on the type field of the $meta hashref passed as an argument. The $source argument is the name of the class in which this association is defined (see Oryx::Class)

create

Abstract (see implementing subclasses)

retrieve

Abstract (see implementing subclasses)

update

Abstract (see implementing subclasses)

delete

Abstract (see implementing subclasses)

search

Abstract (see implementing subclasses)

construct

Abstract (see implementing subclasses)

source

Simple accessor to the source class in which this association is defined.

class

Simple accessor to the target class with which the source class has an associtation.

role

Simple accessor to the association accessor name defined in the source class. Defaults to the target class' table name.

type

Reference, Array or Hash... defaults to Reference.

is_weak

Simple accessor to the is_weak meta-attribute. This is used for stopping Reference association types from creating a column in the target class for storing a reverse association.

constraint

Simple accessor to the constraint meta-attribute. Values are: Aggregate or Composition ... Aggregate is the default, Composition causes deletes to cascade.

update_backrefs

Updates reverse Reference associations.

NOTE: Currently, reverse associations are made up of two unidirectional associations... link tables are therefore not shared. This will be fixed.

link_table

Returns a name for the link table for this association. Not relevant for Reference associations as these don't require a link table.

This is just a shortcut for:

     $self->source->table.'_'.$self->role.'_'.$self->class->table

Override for custom association types as needed.

AUTHOR

Richard Hundt <richard NO SPAM AT protea-systems.com>

THANKS TO

Andrew Sterling Hanencamp

LICENCE

This module is free software and may be used under the same terms as Perl itself.