NAME

Config::Model::Backend::IniFile - Read and write config as a INI file

VERSION

version 2.070

SYNOPSIS

 use Config::Model;
 use Log::Log4perl qw(:easy);
 Log::Log4perl->easy_init($WARN);

 my $model = Config::Model->new;
 $model->create_config_class (
    name    => "IniClass",
    element => [ 
        [qw/foo bar/] => {
            type => 'list',
            cargo => {qw/type leaf value_type string/}
        } 
    ]
 );

 # model for free INI class name and constrained class parameters
 $model->create_config_class(
    name => "MyClass",

    element => [
        'ini_class' => {
            type   => 'hash',
            index_type => 'string',
            cargo => { 
                type => 'node',
                config_class_name => 'IniClass' 
                },
            },
    ],

   read_config  => [
        { 
            backend => 'IniFile',
            config_dir => '/tmp',
            file  => 'foo.conf',
            store_class_in_hash => 'ini_class',
            auto_create => 1,
        }
    ],
 );

 my $inst = $model->instance(root_class_name => 'MyClass' );
 my $root = $inst->config_root ;

 $root->load('ini_class:ONE foo=FOO1 bar=BAR1 - 
              ini_class:TWO foo=FOO2' );

 $inst->write_back ;

Now /tmp/foo.conf will contain:

 ## file written by Config::Model
 [ONE]
 foo=FOO1

 bar=BAR1

 [TWO]
 foo=FOO2

DESCRIPTION

This module is used directly by Config::Model to read or write the content of a configuration tree written with INI syntax in Config::Model configuration tree.

This INI file can have arbitrary comment delimiter. See the example in the SYNOPSIS that sets a semi-column as comment delimiter. By default the comment delimiter is '#' like in Shell or Perl.

Note that undefined values are skipped for list element. I.e. if a list element contains ('a',undef,'b'), the data structure will contain 'a','b'.

Comments

This backend tries to read and write comments from configuration file. The comments are stored as annotation within the configuration tree. Bear in mind that comments extraction is based on best estimation as to which parameter the comment may apply. Wrong estimations are possible.

CONSTRUCTOR

new ( node => $node_obj, name => 'inifile' ) ;

Inherited from Config::Model::Backend::Any. The constructor will be called by Config::Model::BackendMgr.

Parameters

Optional parameters declared in the model:

comment_delimiter

Change the character that starts comments in the INI file. Default is '#'.

store_class_in_hash

See "Arbitrary class name"

section_map

Is a kind of exception of the above rule. See also "Arbitrary class name"

force_lc_section

Boolean. When set, sections names are converted to lowercase.

force_lc_key

Idem for key name

force_lc_value

Idem for all values.

split_list_value

Some INI values are in fact a list of items separated by a space or a comma. This parameter specifies the regex to use to split the value into a list. This applies only to list elements.

join_list_value

Conversely, the list element split with split_list_value needs to be written back with a string to join them. Specify this string (usually ' ' or ', ') with join_list_value.

write_boolean_as

Array ref. Reserved for boolean value. Specify how to write a boolean value. Default is [0,1] which may not be the most readable. write_boolean_as can be specified as ['false','true'] or ['no','yes'].

Mapping between INI structure and model

INI file typically have the same structure with 2 different conventions. The class names can be imposed by the application or may be chosen by user.

Imposed class name

In this case, the class names must match what is expected by the application. The elements of each class can be different. For instance:

  foo = foo_v
  [ A ]
  bar = bar_v
  [ B ]
  baz = baz_v

In this case, class A and class B will not use the same configuration class.

The model will have this structure:

 Root class 
 |- leaf element foo
 |- node element A of class_A
 |  \- leaf element bar
 \- node element B of class_B
    \-  leaf element baz

Arbitrary class name

In this case, the class names can be chosen by the end user. Each class will have the same elements. For instance:

  foo = foo_v
  [ A ]
  bar = bar_v1
  [ B ]
  bar = bar_v2

In this case, class A and class B will not use the same configuration class. The model will have this structure:

 Root class 
 |- leaf foo
 \- hash element my_class_holder
    |- key A (value is node of class_A)
    |  \- element-bar
    \- key B (value is node of class_A)
       \- element-bar

In this case, the my_class_holder name is specified in read_config with store_class_in_hash parameter:

    read_config  => [
        { 
            backend => 'IniFile',
            config_dir => '/tmp',
            file  => 'foo.ini',
            store_class_in_hash => 'my_class_holder',
        }
    ],

Of course they are exceptions. For instance, in Multistrap, the [General] INI class must be mapped to a specific node object. This can be specified with the section_map parameter:

    read_config  => [
        { 
            backend => 'IniFile',
            config_dir => '/tmp',
            file  => 'foo.ini',
            store_class_in_hash => 'my_class_holder',
            section_map => { 
                General => 'general_node',
            }
        }
    ],

section_map can also map an INI class to the root node:

    read_config => [
        {
            backend => 'ini_file',
            store_class_in_hash => 'sections',
            section_map => {
                General => '!'
            },
        }
    ],

Methods

read ( io_handle => ... )

Of all parameters passed to this read call-back, only io_handle is used. This parameter must be IO::File object already opened for read.

It can also be undef. In this case, read() will return 0.

When a file is read, read() will return 1.

write ( io_handle => ... )

Of all parameters passed to this write call-back, only io_handle is used. This parameter must be IO::File object already opened for write.

write() will return 1.

AUTHOR

Dominique Dumont, (ddumont at cpan dot org); Krzysztof Tyszecki, (krzysztof.tyszecki at gmail dot com)

SEE ALSO

Config::Model, Config::Model::BackendMgr, Config::Model::Backend::Any,

AUTHOR

Dominique Dumont

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is Copyright (c) 2015 by Dominique Dumont.

This is free software, licensed under:

  The GNU Lesser General Public License, Version 2.1, February 1999

cpanm Config::Model

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Config::Model