NAME
    Cookbook - Examples of how to use Data::Serializer

DESCRIPTION
    Data::Serializer::Cookbook is a collection of solutions for using
    Data::Serializer.

CONVENTIONS
    Unless otherwise specified, all examples can be assumed to begin with:

      use Data::Serializer;

      my $serializer = Data::Serializer->new();

    Some examples will show different arguments to the new method, where
    specified simply use that line instead of the simple form above.

CONVENTIONS for Raw Access
    Fort hose who want a straight pass through to the underlying serializer,
    where nothing else is done (no encoding, encryption, compression, etc)
    there is Data::Serializer::Raw(3).

    These begin like this:

      use Data::Serializer::Raw;

      my $raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->new();

Encrypting your data
    You wish to encrypt your data structure, so that it can only be decoded
    by someone who shares the same key.

  Solution
      $serializer->secret('mysecret');

      my $encrypted_hashref = $serializer->serializer($hash);

      ... (in other program) ...

      $serializer->secret('mysecret');

      my $clear_hash = $serializer->deserializer($encrypted_hash);

    Note: You will have to have the Crypt::CBC module installed for this to
    work.

Compressing your data
    You wish to compress your data structure to cut down on how much disk
    space it will take up.

  Solution
      $serializer->compress(1);

      my $compressed_hashref = $serializer->serializer($hash);

      ... (in other program) ...

      my $clear_hash = $serializer->deserializer($compressed_hash);

    Note: You will have to have the Compress::Zlib module installed for this
    to work. Your mileage will vary dramatically depending on what
    serializer you use. Some serializers are already fairly compact.

You want to read in data serialized outside of Data::Serializer
    You need to write a program that can read in data serialized in a format
    other than Data::Serializer. For example you need to be able to be able
    to process data serialized by XML::Dumper.

  Solution
      use Data::Serializer::Raw;

      my $xml_raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->(serializer => 'XML::Dumper');

      my $hash_ref = $xml_raw_serializer->deserialize($xml_data);

You want to write serialized data in a form understood outside of Data::Serializer
    You need to write a program that can write out data in a format other
    than Data::Serializer. Or said more generically you need to write out
    data in the format native to the underlying serializer. For our example
    we will be exporting data using XML::Dumper format.

  Solution
      ues Data::Serializer::Raw;

      my $xml_raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->(serializer => 'XML::Dumper');

      my $xml_data = $xml_raw_serializer->serialize($hash_ref);

You want to convert data between two different serializers native formats
    You have data serialized by php that you want to convert to xml for use
    by other programs.

  Solution
      use Data::Serializer::Raw;

      my $xml_raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->(serializer => 'XML::Dumper');

      my $php_raw_serializer = Data::Serializer::Raw->(serializer => 'PHP::Serialization');

      my $hash_ref = $php_raw_serializer->deserialize($php_data);

      my $xml_data = $xml_raw_serializer->serialize($hash_ref); 

Keeping data persistent between executions of a program.
    You have a program that you run every 10 minutes, it uses SNMP to pull
    some counters from one of your routers. You want your program to keep
    the counters from the last run so that it can see how much traffic has
    passed over a link since it last ran.

  Solution
      # path to store our serialized data
      # be paranoid, use full paths
      my $last_run_datafile = '/full/path/to/file/lastrun.data';

      #We keep our data as a hash reference
      my $last_data = $serializer->retrieve($last_run_datafile);
  
      #Pull in our new data through 'pull_data()';
      my $new_data = query_router($router);

      #run comparison code
      run_comparison($last_data,$new_data);

      $serializer->store($new_data);

AUTHOR
    Neil Neely <neil@neely.cx>.

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (c) 2001-2011 Neil Neely. All rights reserved.

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

SEE ALSO
    Data::Serializer(3)
    Data::Serializer::Raw(3)