NAMES

    Class::Attribute

DESCRIPTION
    
    This module allows automatic definition of class attributes, validations
    types and defaults. You can define attributes as shown below:


    package MyUser;

    use DateTime;
    use YAML;
    # exports symbols into the MyUser namespace and then
    # pushes itself into @MyUser::ISA.
    use Class::Attribute;

    attribute 'id',      is_int, protected, default => 1;
    attribute 'name',    is_string(10, 40, 'a name of 10 - 40 chars');
    attribute 'sex',     is_in( ['M', 'F'], 'sex (M/F)' ), private;
    attribute 'age',     is_int, default => 18;
    attribute 'email',   is_email;
    attribute 'dob',     is_date;
    attribute 'updated', isa => 'DateTime', default => sub { DateTime->now };

    sub new {
        my $self = shift->SUPER::new(@_);
        my %args = @_;
        $self->set_sex($args{sex}) if exists $args{sex};

        return $self;
    }

    sub serialize {
        my ($self) = @_;
        if ($self->is_updated) {
            $self->set_id(time) unless defined $self->get_id;
            $self->set_updated(DateTime->now);
            my %attrs = $self->_get_all_attributes;
            return Dump(\%attrs);
        }
    }

    1;

    # and now in your script ...

    use MyUser;
    my $user = MyUser->new(sex => 'M');

    # should return FALSE.
    print $user->has_email;

    $user->set_name('foo bar baz');
    $user->set_email('foo@bar.com');

    # should return TRUE.
    print $user->has_email;

    # should return 18.
    print $user->get_age, "\n";

    $user->set_age('2009-123-1');
    # returns validation errors.
    my @errors = $user->validate;

    # should throw a permission error.
    $user->set_id(1);

    # should serialize the fields including ones set by default.
    print $user->serialize, "\n";


INSTALLATION

To install this module, run the following commands:

	perl Build.PL
	./Build
	./Build test
	./Build install

SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION

After installing, you can find documentation for this module with the
perldoc command.

    perldoc Class::Attribute

You can also look for information at:

    RT, CPAN's request tracker
        http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Class-Attribute

    AnnoCPAN, Annotated CPAN documentation
        http://annocpan.org/dist/Class-Attribute

    CPAN Ratings
        http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Class-Attribute

    Search CPAN
        http://search.cpan.org/dist/Class-Attribute


COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (C) 2009 Bharanee Rathna

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