NAME
    Module::Modular - Create optional plugins for your module

DESCRIPTION
    Module::Modular allows you, or others, to create plugins for your
    modules. They are not loaded by default - only when you want them to be.
    This means you can even load them further on down in your module if you
    wish. The idea is to have your plugins handle certain tasks you don't
    want cluttering the core code of your module. I started writing this
    before I came across another plugin module called Module::Pluggable. So
    if you like how that one works better, or even prefer the name (I do),
    then go check it out. This one is different in the sense you explicitly
    tell your module what plugins to load, and each plugin may have an
    initialiser ("__init") that will get run once it has been loaded, which
    I found pretty neat. This module is modular itself. By importing "with"
    followed by an array of options you can extend the functionality of
    Module::Modular. Currently just the one option is available
    ("Accessors") which provides methods for accessing meta data of your
    plugins. A plugin can only be loaded if it's within the same namespace
    and within your path (ie: YourModule::Plugin::*)

SYNOPSIS
        # MyModule.pm
    
        package MyModule;

        use Module::Modular;
        load_plugins qw<Foo Bar>;
    
        sub load_another_plugin {
            load_plugins 'DifferentOne';
        }

        # MyModule::Plugin::Foo
        package MyModule::Plugin::Foo;

        sub __init {
            my ($class, $name) = @_;
            # $class = MyModule::Plugin::Foo
            # $name  = Foo

            # some code here to be run when loaded
        }

        sub foo {
            print "You have been foo'd!\n";
        }

    Now, when you "use MyModule", the Foo plugin will get loaded and run
    "__init" from "MyModule::Plugin::Foo". Simple. The initialiser is
    completely optional. It's quite simple to get a list of plugins, or you
    can get hold of a single plugin to do stuff with.

        # Run the foo() method within the Foo plugin
        my $foo_plugin = $module->plugin('Foo')->foo();

    Calling the "plugins" method will return an array of your loaded
    plugins. Each one will be blessed, so you have objects to work with
    which makes things easier.

        # call the foo() method on every loaded plugin
        for my $plugin ($module->plugins) {
            $plugin->foo();
        }

METHODS
    "Module::Modular" exports only a few functions into your module. They
    are...

  load_plugins
      void load_plugins(@list)

    Takes an array of plugins (Not their entire path, just the name of the
    plugin. For example, if I wanted to load "MyModule::Plugin::Foo" I would
    only have to use "load_plugins 'Foo'". If it can't load the module for
    any reason it will print out a warnings and move onto the next one if
    it's specified.

  plugins
      @array plugins(void)

    Returns an array of your loaded plugins. It will only register those
    introduced by "load_plugins", just having one in the right namespace and
    loaded by any other means will do nothing.

  plugin
      $object plugin(string)

    Returns a blessed reference of a plugin (ie: The plugin object). You
    only need to supply the name, not the entire path. For example

        my $plugin = $module->plugin('Foo');

  OPTIONS
    When you "use Module::Modular" you can pass a key called "with" as an
    array of options. There's only the one at the moment, and that is
    "Accessors". What this does is give you accessor methods for the loaded
    plugins meta information, so you can do stuff like this

        # MyModule.pm
        use Module::Modular
            with => 'Accessors';

        load_plugins qw<Foo Bar>;

        # test.pl
        for my $plugin ($module->plugins) {
            say "Name: " . $plugin->name;
            say "Version: " . $plugin->version;
        }

    Currently that's all there is, but it shows that this module itself is
    extremely modular. It will only load what you want, when you want.

AUTHOR
    Brad Haywood <brad@perlpowered.com>

LICENSE
    This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
    the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.