Re: [Module-build-general] [PATCH] Better Makefile.PLs. Property methods.

[Steve P. <sp...@qu...>]

On Monday, August 11, 2003, at 09:35  am, Michael G Schwern wrote:

> [snip]
> Part two stems from when I tried to replace
> $build->dist_name with $build->module_name I got an error, no such 
> method.
> Since it seems rather arbitrary whether or not one accesses a property
> as a method or as a hash element, I threw in a little bit of code to
> automaticly generate simple accessor methods for all the properties 
> which
> don't already have one.  So $build->module_name DWIM now.

Excellent idea - I've been wondering why there's so much direct access 
of instance variables in a module that's designed to be sub-classed.  
If there's no reason, maybe the next step is to replace all instances 
of $self->{<valid property>} ?

Can I also suggest a slight variation on the accessor methods to return 
$self in 'set' context, ie:

       *{$property} = sub {
           my $self = shift;
           if (@_) { $self->{$property} = $_[0]; return $self; }
           else    { return $self->{$property}; }
       };

       # means I can do this:
       $self->module_name( 'Foo' )
            ->install_base( '/home/foo' );

-Steve