NAME

App::Followme::Module - Base class for modules invoked from configuration

SYNOPSIS

    use Cwd;
    use App::Followme::Module;
    my $obj = App::Followme::Module->new();
    my $directory = getcwd();
    $obj->run($directory);

DESCRIPTION

This module serves as the basis of all the computations performed by App::Followme, and thus is used as the base class for all its modules. It contains a few methods used by the modules and is not meant to be invoked itself.

METHODS

Packages loaded as modules get a consistent behavior by subclassing App::Followme:Module. It is not invoked directly. It provides methods for i/o, handling templates and prototypes.

A template is a file containing commands and variables for making a web page. First, the template is compiled into a subroutine and then the subroutine is called with a metadata object as an argument to fill in the variables and produce a web page. A prototype is the most recently modified web page in a directory. It is combined with the template so that the web page has the same look as the other pages in the directory.

$flag = $self->check_error($error, $folder);

Provides common error formatting and checking for modules. It generates a warning message if $error is set. $folder is the name of the file or folder that the operation that generated the error was invoked on. The return value is Perl true if $error was set.

$filename = $self->find_prototype($directory, $uplevel);

Return the name of the most recently modified web page in a directory. If $uplevel is defined, search that many directory levels up from the directory passed as the first argument.

$filename = $self->get_template_name($template_file);

Searches in the standard places for a template file and returns the full filename if it is found. Throws an error if the template is not found.

%configuration = $self->read_configuration($filename, %configuration);

Update the configuraion parameters by reading the contents of a configuration file.

$page = $self->reformat_file(@files);

Reformat a file using one or more prototypes. The first file is the prototype, the second, the subprototype, and the last file is the file to be updated.

$page = $self->render_file($template_file, $file);

Render a file as html using a template. The data subpackage is used to retrieve the data from the file.

$file = $self->to_file($file);

A convenience method that converts a folder name to an index file name, otherwise pass the file name unchanged.

CONFIGURATION

The following fields in the configuration file are used in this class and every class based on it:

template_file

The name of the template file used by this module.

exclude_index

Do not include index file when searching for the file most recently changed in a directory.

web_extension

The extension used by web files. The default value is 'html'.

configuration_file

The name of the file containing the configuration. The default value is 'followme.cfg'.

template_directory

The name of the directory containing the template files. The name is relative to the top directory of the web site. The default value is '_templates'.

data_pkg

The name of the Perl module that generates data to be put into the template. It should be a subclass of App::Followme::BaseData. The default value is 'App::Followme::WebData'.

template_pkg

The name of the Perl Module used to generate web pages from templates. The default value is 'App::Followme::Template'.

LICENSE

Copyright (C) Bernie Simon.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

AUTHOR

Bernie Simon <bernie.simon@gmail.com>