Re: processing configuration (was) RE: Organisation filtering RE:[Nms-cgi-devel] Anyone...Anyone...?

[Nick C. <ni...@cl...>]

On Tue, Feb 18, 2003 at 01:07:27PM +0000, Simon Wilcox wrote:
> > 
> > Right now, the interface only requires the following methods:
> > $scalar = $cfg->get( 'key' );
> > $bool = $cfg->is_true( 'key' );
> > $bool = $cfg->is_false( 'key' );
> > 
> > If it's desired, we could add get_array and/or get_hash to the interface,
> > but I really don't think that's necessary considering how simple it is to
> > get a comma separated list into an array. I'm also not sure that it could be
> > done safely without making the configuration file format more complex for
> > the user, either.
> 
> I see. I would like to see a get_array method. I admit that this
> separation of concerns is a bit of a thing with me. I just don't like to
> see processing of variables in otherwise unrelated code. It just makes
> life difficult when you want to change something, remembering all the
> places where you split the scalar.

Me too.  Splitting a string into a list of values has nothing to do
with the fact that the string came from a file.

IMO we should be looking to end up somewhere like:

CGI::NMS::Config

  Defines the get(), is_true() and get_list() methods.  Provides
  default implementations for is_true() and get_list(), implemented
  in terms of get().

CGI::NMS::Config::File

  Inherits from CGI::NMS::Config

  Implements new() to read in and parse the file, and get() to
  fetch a value.

--
Nick