NAME

DBIx::Class::DynamicSubclass - Convenient way to use dynamic subclassing.

SYNOPSIS

    package My::Schema::Game;

    __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/DynamicSubclass Core/);
    __PACKAGE__->add_column(qw/id name data type/);

    __PACKAGE__->typecast_map(type => {
        1 => 'My::Schema::Game::Online',
        2 => 'My::Schema::Game::Shareware',
        3 => 'My::Schema::Game::PDA',
    });

    $game = $schema->resultset('Game')->new({..., type => 1});
    #  ref $game = 'My::Schema::Game::Online'

    @games = $game->search({type => 2});
    # @games are all of class My::Schema::Game::Shareware

    $game->type(3); # game is now of class My::Schema::Game::PDA

    $game =  $schema->resultset('Game')->new({});
    # or
    $game->type(undef);
    # game is now of type My::Schema::Game


    #Dynamic properties with DBIx::Class::FrozenColumns
    package My::Schema::Game;
    __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/... FrozenColumns .../);

    package My::Schema::Game::Online;
    use base 'My::Schema::Game';
    __PACKAGE__->add_frozen_columns(data => qw/flash server_host server_port/);

    package My::Schema::Game::Shareware;
    use base 'My::Schema::Game';
    __PACKAGE__->add_frozen_columns(data => qw/price download_url/);

    ...

    $game->type(1); #game would have now additional columns 'flash', 'server_host', etc.
    $game->server_host('...'); #(stored in 'data')

    $game->type(2);
    $game->server_host; #error
    $game->price('$3.00'); #ok

    $game = $rs->new({
        type  => 1,
        flash => 'game.swf',
    }); #ok

    #More flexible way

    package My::Schema::Game;
    __PACKAGE__->typecast_column('type');

    sub classify { #called each time the object gets or losses its 'type'
        my $self = shift;
        #decide which class do you want
        bless $self, $class;
    }

DESCRIPTION

This plugin implements methodics described here "Dynamic_Sub-classing_DBIx::Class_proxy_classes_(AKA_multi-class_object_inflation_from_one_table)" in DBIx::Class::Manual::Cookbook.

DynamicSubclass has 2 ways to work: static defining and dynamic defining.

Static defining is used in most cases. This is when you define

    __PACKAGE__->typecast_map(defining_column => {column_value => 'subclass', ...});

The plugin preloads all of the subclasses and changes the class of the row object when you are creating new object or fetching it from a database or changing 'defining_column' value. If the value is not exists in the 'typecast_map' then object is blessed into the base class and losses all of its additional methods/columns/etc.

Dynamic defining is when you only say

    __PACKAGE__->typecast_column('defining_column');

and define a method 'classify' that would bless a row object into proper class. This method is called when object is created, fetched or have its 'defining_column' value changed.

METHODS

typecast_map

Arguments: $column, %typecast_hash

%typecast_hash is a hash with keys equal to possible $column values and with subclasses as values.

classify

A standart method for static subclassing. You should redefine this method in your result source in order to use dynamic subclassing (second way).

OVERLOADED METHODS

new, inflate_result, store_column

SEE ALSO

DBIx::Class, DBIx::Class::FrozenColumns.

AUTHOR

Pronin Oleg <syber@cpan.org>

LICENSE

You may distribute this code under the same terms as Perl itself.