NAME

Badger::Factory - base class factory module

SYNOPSIS

This module is designed to be subclassed to create factory classes that automatically load modules and instantiate objects on demand.

    package My::Widgets;
    use base 'Badger::Factory';
    
    # tell the base class factory what we create
    our $ITEM        = 'widget';
    our $ITEMS       = 'widgets';
    
    # define module search path for widgets
    our $WIDGET_PATH = ['My::Widget', 'Your::Widget'];
    
    # lookup table for any non-standard spellings/capitalisations/paths
    our $WIDGETS     = {
        url   => 'My::Widget::URL',       # non-standard capitalisation
        color => 'My::Widget::Colour',    # different spelling
        amp   => 'Nigels::Amplifier',     # different path
    };

You can then use it like this:

    use My::Widgets;
    
    # class methods (note: widget() is singular)
    $w = My::Widgets->widget( foo => { msg => 'Hello World' } );
    
    # same as:
    use My::Widget::Foo;
    $w = My::Widget::Foo({ msg => 'Hello World' });

    # add/update widgets lookup table (note: widgets() is plural)
    My::Widgets->widgets(
        extra => 'Another::Widget::Module',
        super => 'Golly::Gosh',
    );
    
    # now load and instantiate new widget modules
    $w = My::Widgets->widget( extra => { msg => 'Hello Badger' } );

You can also create factory objects:

    my $factory = My::Widgets->new(
        widget_path => ['His::Widget', 'Her::Widget'],
        widgets     => {
            extra => 'Another::Widget::Module',
            super => 'Golly::Gosh',
        }
    );
    
    $w = $factory->widget( foo => { msg => 'Hello World' } );

The Badger::Factory::Class module can be used to simplify the process of defining factory subclasses.

    package My::Widgets;
    
    use Badger::Factory::Class
        item    => 'widget',
        path    => 'My::Widget Your::Widget';
        widgets => {
            extra => 'Another::Widget::Module',
            super => 'Golly::Gosh',
        };

DESCRIPTION

This module implements a base class factory object for loading modules and instantiating objects on demand.

TODO: the rest of the documentation

METHODS

path($path)

Mutator method to get/set the factory module path.

TODO: examples

items(%items)

TODO: Method to fetch or update the lookup table for mapping names to modules

item($name, %params)

TODO: Method to load a module and insantiate an object.

type_args(@args)

TODO: Method to perform any manipulation on the argument list before passing to object constructor

load($type)

TODO: Method to load a module for an object type

module_names($type)

TODO: Method to expand an object type into a candidate list of module names.

found_ref_ARRAY($item,\@array)

TODO: Method hook to handle the case of a factory entry defined as an array reference. It is assumed to be [$module, $class]. The $module is loaded and the $class instantiated.

Subclasses can re-define this to change this behaviour.