Suppose I have two files: a module file that looks like this:
package myPackage;
use Bio::Seq;
and another file that looks like this:
use lib "path/to/lib";
use myPackage;
use Bio::Seq;
How can i prevent that Bio::Seq is included twice? Thanx
It won't be included twice. use semantics could be described like that:
require the module
call module's import
As the documentation says, it's equivalent to:
BEGIN { require Module; Module−>import( LIST ); }
require mechanism, on the other hand, assures modules' code is compiled and executed only once, the first time some require it. This mechanism is based on the special variable %INC. You can find further details in the documentation for use, require, and in the perlmod page.
use Foo
is mostly equivalent to
# perldoc -f use
BEGIN {
require "Foo.pm";
Foo->import();
}
And require "Foo" is mostly equivalent to
# perldoc -f require
sub require {
my ($filename) = #_;
if (exists $INC{$filename}) {
return 1 if $INC{$filename};
die "Compilation failed in require";
}
# .... find $filename in #INC
# really load
return do $realfilename;
}
So
No, the code won't be "Loaded" more than once, only "imported" more than once.
If you have code such as
package Bio::Seq;
...
sub import {
# fancy stuff
}
And you wanted to make sure a library was loaded, but not call import on it,
#perldoc -f use
use Bio::Seq ();
Modules aren't "included" in Perl like they are in C. They are "loaded", by which I mean "executed".
A module will only be loaded/executed once, no matter how many use statements specify it.
The only thing that happens for every use of a module is the call to the module's import method. That is typically used to export symbols to the using namespace.
I guess, you want to optimize the loading(usage) of Module.
For optimizing, dynamic loading may be helpful.
For dynamically loading a Perl Module, we use Class::Autouse.
For more details you can visit this link.
I guess the OP may look for a way of avoiding a long list of use statement boilerplate at the beginning of his/her Perl script. In this case, I'd like to point everyone to Import::Into. It works like the keyword import in Java and Python. Also, this blog post provides a wonderful demo of Import::Into.
Related
I know specific instances of this question have been answered before:
How can I dynamically include Perl modules without using eval?
How do I use a Perl package known only in runtime?
There are also good answers at Perl Monks:
Writing a Perl module that dynamically loads other modules.
Creating subroutines on the fly
But I would like a robust way to add functionallity to a Perl application that will be:
Efficient: if the code is not needed it should not be compiled.
Easy to debug: error reporting if something goes wrong at the dynamic code, should point at the right place at the dynamic code.
Easy to extend: adding new code should be as easy as adding a new file or directory+file.
Easy to invoke: the main application should be able to use an "add on" without much trouble. An efficient mechanism to check if the "add on" has already been loaded and if not load it, would be a plus.
To illustrate the point, here are some examples that would benefit from a good solution:
A set of scripts that move data from different applications. For instance, moving data from OpenCart to Prestashop, where each entity in the data model has a specific "add on" that deals with the input or output; then an intermediate data model takes care of the transformation of the data. This could be used to move data in any direction or even between different versions of the same ecommerce.
A web application that needs to render different types of HTML in different places. Each "module" knows how to handle a certain information and accepts parameters to do it. A module outputs HTML, another a list of documents, another a document, another a banner, and so on.
Here are some examples that I have used and that work.
Load a function at run time and output the possible compile errors:
eval `cat $file_with_function`;
if( $# ) {
print STDERR $#, "\n";
die "Errors at file $file_with_function\n";
}
Or more robust using File::Slurp:
eval read_file("$file_with_function", binmode => ':utf8');
Check that a certain function has been defined:
if( !defined &myfunction ) {
die "myfunction is not defined\n";
}
The function may be called from there on. This is fine with one function, but not for many.
If the function is put in a module:
require $file_with_function; # needs the ".pm" extension, i.e. addon/func.pm
$name_of_module->import(); # need to know the module name, i.e. Addon::Func
$name_of_module->myfunction(...);
Where the require may be protected inside an eval and then use $# as before.
With Module::Load:
load $name_of_module;
Followed by the import and used in the same way. Security should not be a concern as it may be assumed that the dynamic code comes from a trusted place. Are there better ways? Which way would be considered good practice?
In case it helps, I will be using the solution (among other places, but not exclusively) within the Dancer framework.
EDIT: Given the comments, I add some more info. All cases that I have in mind have in common:
There is more than one dynamic piece of code. Probably many to start with.
Each bit of code has the same interface.
Given the comments and the lack of responses, I have done some research to answer my own question. Comments or other answers are welcome!
Dynamic code
By dynamic code I mean code that is evaluated at run-time. In general, I consider better to compile an application so that you have all the error checking the Perl compiler can offer before starting to execute. Added to use strict and use warnings, you can catch many common mistakes that way. So why using dynamic code at all? These are the reasons I consider:
An application performs many different actions that are chosen depending on the context of execution. For instance, an application extracts certain properties from a file. The way to extract them depends on the file type and we want to deal with many file types, but we do not want to change the application for each new file type we add. We also want the application to start quickly.
An application needs to be expanded on the fly in a way that does not require the application to restart.
We have a large application that contains a number of features. When we deploy the application, we do not want to provide all the possible features all the time, maybe because we licence them separately, maybe because not all of them are able to run under all platforms. By throwing in only the files with the features we want, we have a distribution that does not require changing any code or config files.
How do we do it?
Given the possibilities that Perl offers, solutions to adding dynamic code come in two flavors: using eval and using require. Then there are modules that may help do things in an easier or more maintainable way.
The quick and dirty way
The eval way uses the form eval EXPR to compile a piece of Perl code at run-time. The expression could be a string but I suggest putting the code in a file and grouping other similar files in a convenient place. Then, if possible using File::Slurp:
eval read_file("$file_with_code", binmode => ':utf8');
if( $# ) {
die "$file_with_code: error $#\n";
}
if( !defined &myfunction ) {
die "myfunction is not defined at $file_with_code\n";
}
Specifying the character set to read_file makes sure that the file will be interpreted correctly. It is also good to check that the compilation was correct and that the function we expect was defined. So in $file_with_code, we will have:
sub myfunction(...) {
# Do whatever; maybe return something
}
Then you may invoke the function normally. The function will be a different one depending on which file was loaded. Simple and dynamic.
The modular way (recommended)
The way I would do it with maintainability in mind would be using require. Unlike use, that is evaluated at compile-time, require may be used to load a module at run-time. Out of the various ways to invoke require, I would go for:
my $mymodule = 'MyCompany::MyModule'; # The module name ends up in $mymodule
require $mymodule;
Also unlike use, require will load the module but will not execute import. So we may use any functions inside the module and those function names will not polute the calling namespace. To access the function we will need to use:
$mymodule->myfunction($a, $b);
See below as to how the arguments get passed. This way of invoking a function will add an argument before $a and $b that is usually named $self. You may ignore it if you don´t know anything about object orientation.
As require will try to load a module and the module may not exist or it may not compile, to catch the error it will be better to use:
eval "require $mymodule";
Then $# may be used to check for an error in the loading+compiling process. We may also check that the function has been defined with:
if( $mymodule->can('myfunction') ) {
die "myfunction is not defined at module $mymodule\n";
}
In this case we will need to create a directory for the modules and a file with the .pm extension for each one:
MyCompany
MyModule.pm
Inside MyModule.pm we will have:
package MyCompany::MyModule;
sub myfunction {
my ($self, $a, $b);
# Do whatever; maybe return something
# $self will be 'MyCompany::MyModule'
}
1;
The package bit is essential and will make sure that whatever definitions we put inside will be at the MyCompany::MyModule namespace. The 1; at the end will tell require that the module initialization was correct.
In case we wanted to implement the module by using other libraries that could polute the caller namespace, we could use the namespace::clean module. This module will make sure the caller does not get any additions to the namespace coming from the module we are defining. It is used in this way:
package MyCompany::MyModule;
# Definitions by these modules will not be available to the code doing the require
use Library1 qw(def1 def2);
use Library2 qw(def3 def4);
...
# Private functions go here and will not be visible from the code doing the require
sub private_function1 {
...
}
...
use namespace::clean;
# myfunction will be available
sub myfunction {
# Do whatever; maybe return something
}
...
1;
What happens if we include a module more than once?
The short answer is nothing. Perl keeps track of which modules have been loaded and from where using the %INC variable. Both use and require will not load a library twice. use will add any exported names to the callers namespace. require will not do that either. In case you want to check that a module has been loaded already, you could use %INC or better yet, you could use module::loaded which is part of the core in modern Perl versions:
use Module::Loaded;
if( !is_loaded( $mymodule ) {
eval "require $mymodule" );
...
}
How do I make sure Perl finds my module files?
For use and require Perl uses the #INC variable to define the list of directories that will be used to look for libraries. Adding a new directory to it may be achieved (among other ways) by adding it to the PERL5LIB environment variable or by using:
use lib '/the/path/to/my/libs';
Helper libraries
I have found some libraries that may be used to make the code that uses the dynamic mechanism more maintainable. They are:
The if module: will load a module or not depending on a condition: use if CONDITION, MODULE => ARGUMENTS;. May also be used to unload a module.
Module::Load::Conditional: will not die on you while trying to load a module and may also be used to check the module version or its dependencies. It is also able to load a list of modules all at once even checking their versions before doing so.
Taken from the Module::Load::Conditional documentation:
use Module::Load::Conditional qw(can_load);
my $use_list = {
CPANPLUS => 0.05,
LWP => 5.60,
'Test::More' => undef,
};
print can_load( modules => $use_list )
? 'all modules loaded successfully'
: 'failed to load required modules';
I already asked a similar question, but it had more to do with using barewords for functions. Basically, I am refactoring some of my code as I have begun learning about "package" and OOP in perl. Since none of my modules used "package" I could just "require" them into my code, and I was able to use their variables and functions without any trouble. But now I have created a module that I will be using as a class for object manipulation, and I want to continue being able to use my functions in other modules in the same way. No amount of reading docs and tutorials has quite answered my question, so please, if someone can offer an explanation of how it works, and why, that would go a really long way, more than a "this is how you do it"-type answer.
Maybe this can illustrate the problem:
myfile.cgi:
require 'common.pm'
&func_c('hi');
print $done;
common.pm:
$done = "bye";
sub func_c {print #_;}
will print "hi" then "bye", as expected.
myfile_obj.cgi:
use common_obj;
&func_obj('hi');
&finish;
common_obj.pm:
package common_obj;
require 'common.pm';
sub func_obj {&func_c(#_);}
sub finish {print $done;}
gives "Undefined subroutine func_c ..."
I know (a bit) about namespaces and so on, but I don't know how to achieve the result I want (to get func_obj to be able to call func_c from common.pm) without having to modify common.pm (which might break a bunch of other modules and scripts that depend on it working the way it is). I know about use being called as a "require" in BEGIN along with its import().. but again, that would require modifying common.pm. Is what I want to accomplish even possible?
You'll want to export the symbols from package common_obj (which isn't a class package as it stands).
You'll want to get acquainted with the Exporter module. There's an introduction in Modern Perl too (freely available book, but consider buying it too).
It's fairly simple to do - if you list functions in #EXPORT_OK then they can be made available to someone who uses your package. You can also group functions together into named groups via EXPORT_TAGS.
Start by just exporting a couple of functions, list those in your use statement and get the basics. It's easy enough then.
If your module was really object-oriented then you'd access the methods through an object reference $my_obj->some_method(123) so exporting isn't necessary. It's even possible for one package to offer both procedural/functional and object-oriented interfaces.
Your idea of wrapping old "unsafe" modules with something neater seems a sensible way to proceed by the way. Get things under control without breaking existing working code.
Edit : explanation.
If you require a piece of unqualified code then its definitions will end up in the requiring package (common_obj) but if you restrict code inside a package definition and then use it you need to explicitly export definitions.
You can use common_obj::func_obj and common_obj::finish. You just need to add their namespaces and it will work. You don't need the '&' in this case.
When you used the package statement (in common_obj.pm) you changed the namespace for the ensuing functions. When you didn't (in common.pm) you included the functions in the same namespace (main or common_obj). I don't believe this has anything to do with use/require.
You should use Exporter. Change common_obj to add:
use base Exporter;
#EXPORT_OK = qw/func_obj finish/;
Then change myfile_obj:
use common_obj qw/func_obj finish/;
I am assuming you are just trying to add a new interface into an old "just works" module. I am sure this is fraught with problems but if it can be done this is one way to do it.
It's very good that you're making the move to use packages as that will help you a lot in the future. To get there, i suggest that you start refactoring your old code as well. I can understand not wanting to have to touch any of the old cgi files, and agree with that choice for now. But you will need to edit some of your included modules to get where you want to be.
Using your example as a baseline the goal is to leave myfile.cgi and all files like it as they are without changes, but everything else is fair game.
Step 1 - Create a new package to contain the functions and variables in common.pm
common.pm needs to be a package, but you can't make it so without effecting your old code. The workaround for this is to create a completely new package to contain all the functions and variables in the old file. This is also a good opportunity to create a better naming convention for all of your current and to be created packages. I'm going to assume that maybe you don't have it named as common.pm, but regardless, you should pick a directory and name that bits your project. I'm going to randomly choose the name MyProject::Core for the functions and variables previously held in common.pm
package MyProject::Core;
#EXPORT = qw();
#EXPORT_OK = qw($done func_c);
%EXPORT_TAGS = (all => [#EXPORT, #EXPORT_OK]);
use strict;
use warnings;
our $done = "bye";
sub func_c {
print #_, "\n";
}
1;
__END__
This new package should be placed in MyProject/Core.pm. You will need to include all variables and functions that you want exported in the EXPORT_OK list. Also, as a small note, I've added return characters to all of the print statements in your example just to make testing easier.
Secondly, edit your common.pm file to contain just the following:
use MyProject::Core qw(:all);
1;
__END__
Your myfile.cgi should work the same as it always does now. Confirm this before proceeding.
Next you can start creating your new packages that will rely on the functions and variables that used to be in the old common.pm. Your example common_obj.pm could be recoded to the following:
package common_obj;
use MyProject::Core qw($done func_c);
use base Exporter;
#EXPORT_OK = qw(func_obj finish);
use strict;
use warnings;
sub func_obj {func_c(#_);}
sub finish {print "$done\n";}
1;
__END__
Finally, myfile_obj.cgi is then recoded as the so:
use common_obj qw(func_obj finish);
use strict;
use warnings;
func_obj('hi');
finish();
1;
__END__
Now, I could've used #EXPORT instead of #EXPORT_OK to automatically export all the available functions and variables, but it's much better practice to only selectively import those functions you actually need. This method also makes your code more self-documenting, so someone looking at any file, can search to see where a particular function came from.
Hopefully, this helps you get on your way to better coding practices. It can take a long time to refactor old code, but it's definitely a worthwhile practice to constantly be updating ones skills and tools.
I read the explanation even from perldoc and StackOverflow. But there is a little confusion.
use normally loads the module at compile time whereas require does at run time
use calls the import function inbuilt only whereas require need to call import module separately like
BEGIN {
require ModuleName;
ModuleName->import;
}
require is used if we want to load bigger modules occasionally.
use throws the exception at earlier states whereas require does when I encounters the issue
With use we can selectively load the procedures not all but few like
use Module qw(foo bar) # it will load foo and bar only
is it possible in require also?
Beisdes that are there another differences between use and require?
Lot of discussion on google but I understood these above mentioned points only.
Please help me other points.
This is sort of like the differences between my, our, and local. The differences are important, but you should be using my 99% of the time.
Perl is a fairly old and crufty language. It has evolved over the years from a combination awk/shell/kitchen sink language into a stronger typed and more powerful language.
Back in Perl 3.x days before the concept of modules and packages solidified, there was no concept of modules having their own namespace for functions and variables. Everything was available everywhere. There was nothing to import. The use keyword didn't exist. You always used require.
By the time Perl 5 came out, modules had their own storage for variable and subroutine names. Thus, I could use $total in my program, and my Foo::Bar module could also use $total because my $total was really $main::total and their $total was really $Foo::Bar::total.
Exporting was a way to make variables and subroutines from a module available to your main program. That way, you can say copy( $file, $tofile); instead of File::Copy::copy( $file, $tofile );.
The use keyword simply automated stuff for you. Plus, use ran at compile time before your program was executed. This allows modules to use prototyping, so you can say foo( #array ) instead of foo( \#array ) or munge $file; instead of munge( $file );
As it says in the use perldoc's page:
It [use] is exactly equivalent to:
BEGIN { require Module; Module->import( LIST ); }
Basically, you should be using use over require 99% of the time.
I can only think of one occasion where you need to use require over use, but that's only to emulate use. There are times when a module is optional. If Foo::Bar is available, I may use it, but if it's not, I won't. It would be nice if I could check whether Foo::Bar is available.
Let's try this:
eval { use Foo::Bar; };
my $foo_bar_is_available = 1 unless ($#);
If Foo::Bar isn't available, I get this:
Can't locate Foo/Bar.pm in #INC (#INC contains:....)
That's because use happens BEFORE I can run eval on it. However, I know how to emulate use with require:
BEGIN {
eval { require Foo::Bar; Foo::Bar->import( qw(foo bar barfu) ); };
our foo_bar_module_available = 1 unless ($#);
}
This does work. I can now check for this in my code:
our $foo_bar_module_available;
if ( $foo_bar_module_available ) {
fubar( $var, $var2 ); #I can use it
}
else {
... #Do something else
}
I think that the code you written by your own in the second point is self explanatory of the difference between the two ...
In practice "use" perform a "require" of the module and after that it automatically import the module, with "require" instead the module is only mandatory to be present but you have the freedom to import it when you need it ...
Given what stated above it result obvious that the question in the point 5 have no sense, since "require" doesn't import anything, there is no need to specify the module part to load, you can selectively load the part you need when you will do the import operation ...
Furthermore bear in mind that while "use" act at compile time(Perl compilation phase), "require" act at runtime, for this reason with "require" you will be able to import the package only if and/or when it is really needed .
Difference between use and require:
If we use "use" no need to give file extension. Ex: use
server_update_file.
If we use "require" need to give file extension. Ex: require
"server_update_file.pm";
"use" method is used only for modules.
"require" method is used for both libraries and modules.
Refer the link for more information: http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=412860
In a nutshell I try to model a network topology using objects for every instance in the network. Additionally I got a top-level manager class responsible for, well, managing these objects and performing integrity checks. The filestructure looks like this (I left out most of the object-files as they are all structured pretty equal):
Manager.pm
Constants.pm
Classes/
+- Machine.pm
+- Node.pm
+- Object.pm
+- Switch.pm
Coming from quite a few years in OOP, I'm a fan of code reuse etc. so I set up inheritance between thos objects, the inheritance tree (in this example) looks like this:
Switch -+-> Node -+-> Object
Machine -+
All those objects are structured like this:
package Switch;
use parent qw(Node);
sub buildFromXML {
...
}
sub new {
...
}
# additonal methods
Now the interesting part:
Question 1
How can I ensure correct loading of all those objects without typing out the names statically?
The underlying problem is: If I just require "$_" foreach glob("./Classes/*"); I get many "Subroutine new redefined at" errors. I also played around with use parent qw(-norequire Object), Module::Find and some other #INC modifications in various combinations, to make it short: It didn't work. Currently I'm statically importing all used classes, they auto-import their parent classes.
So basically what I'm asking: What is the (perl-)correct way of doing this?
And advanced: It would be very helpful to be able to create a more complex folder structure (as there will be quite a few objects) and still have inheritance + "autoloading"
Question 2 - SOLVED
How can I "share my imports"? I use several libraries (my own, containing some helper functions, LibXML, Scalar::Util, etc.) and I want to share them amongst my objects. (The reasoning behind that is, I may need to add another common library to all objects and chances are high that there will be well above 100 objects - no fun editing all of them manually and doing that with a regex / script would theoretically work but that doesn't seem like the cleanest solution available)
What I tried:
import everything in Manager.pm -> Works inside the Manager package - gives me errors like "undefined subroutine &Switch::trace called"
Create a include.pl file and do/require/use it inside every object - gives me the same errors.
Some more stuff I sadly don't remember
include.pl basically would look like that:
use lib_perl;
use Scalar::Util qw(blessed);
use XML::LibXML;
use Data::Dumper;
use Error::TryCatch;
...
Again I ask: What's the correct way to do it? Am I using the right approach and just failing at the execution or should I change my structure completely?
It doesn't matter that much why my current code doesn't work that well, providing a correct, clean approach for those problems would be enough by far :)
EDIT: Totally forgot perl version -_- Sidenote: I can't upgrade perl, as I need libraries that are stuck with 5.8 :/
C:\> perl -version
This is perl, v5.8.8 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread
(with 50 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail)
Copyright 1987-2006, Larry Wall
Binary build 820 [274739] provided by ActiveState http://www.ActiveState.com
Built Jan 23 2007 15:57:46
This is just a partial answer to question 2, sharing imports.
Loading a module (via use) does two things:
Compiling the module and installing the contents in the namespace hierarchy (which is shared). See perldoc -f require.
Calling the import sub on each loaded module. This loads some subs or constants etc. into the namespace of the caller. This is a process that the Exporter class largely hides from view. This part is important to use subs etc. without their full name, e.g. max instead of List::Util::max. See perldoc -f use.
Lets view following three modules: A, B and User.
{
package A;
use List::Util qw(max);
# can use List::Util::max
# can use max
}
{
package User;
# can use List::Util::max -> it is already loaded
# cannot use max, this name is not defined in this namespace
}
Package B defines a sub load that loads a predefined list of modules and subs into the callers namespace:
{
package B;
sub load {
my $package = (caller())[0]; # caller is a built-in, fetches package name
eval qq{package $package;} . <<'FINIS' ;
use List::Util qw(max);
# add further modules here to load
# you can place arbitrarily complex code in this eval string
# to execute it in all modules that call this sub.
# (e.g. testing and registering)
# However, this is orthogonal to OOP.
FINIS
if ($#) {
# Do error handling
}
}
}
Inside the eval'd string, we temporarily switch into the callers package and then load the specified module. This means that the User package code now looks like this:
{
package User;
B::load();
# can use List::Util::max
# can use max
}
However, you have to make sure the load sub is already loaded itself. use B if in doubt. It might be best to execute B::load() in the BEGIN phase, before the rest of the module is compiled:
{
package User;
BEGIN {use B; B::load()}
# ...
}
is equivalent to
{
package User;
use B;
use List::Util qw(max);
# ...
}
TIMTOWTDI. Although I find evaling code quite messy and dangerous, it is the way I'd pursue in this scenario (rather than doing files, which is similar but has different side effects). Manually messing with typeglobs in the package namespace is hell in comparision, and copy-pasting a list of module names is like going back to the days when there wasn't even C's preprocessor.
Edit: Import::Into
… is a CPAN module providing this functionality via an interesting method interface. Using this module, we would redefine our B package the following way:
{
package B;
use List::Util; # you have to 'use' or 'require' this first, before using 'load'.
use Import::Into; # has to be installed from CPAN first
sub load {
my $package = caller;
List::Util->import::into($package, qw(max));
# should work too: strict->import::into($package);
# ...
}
}
This module hides all the dirty work (evaling) from view and does method call resolution gymnastics to allow importing pragmas into other namespaces.
Addendum to Import::Into Solution
I found a scenario that seems to require eval() from within the Import::Into solution. In this scenario, mod User is effectively among the uses from package B. This may be a common scenario for people using Import::Into.
Specifics:
I created module uses_exporter with separate subs for importing
different groups of modules, e.g. load_generic() and
load_list_utils().
The uses in load_list_utils() are to public mods like
List::MoreUtils, AND to a module of my own, list_utils_again. That
local module also calls load_list_utils(). The call fails if
load_list_utils() uses list_utils_again.
My solution was to put the use to list_utils_again into an eval which
does not excecute when $target eq 'list_utils_again'
The correct idiomatic Perl way to do this is not to always load a bunch a modules whether used or not; it is to have every file use those modules it directly (not indirectly) needs.
If it turns out that every file uses the same set of modules, you might make things simpler by having a single dedicated module to use all those in that common set.
I have a rather complex data structure I've implemented in Perl. This has been broken up into about 20 classes. Basically, any time you want to use one of these classes, you need to use all of them.
Right now, if someone wants to use this data structure, they need to do something like:
use Component::Root;
use Component::Foo;
use Component::Bar;
use Component::Baz;
use Component::Flib;
use Component::Zen;
use Component::Zen::Foo;
use Component::Zen::Bar;
use Component::Zen::Baz;
... # 15 more of these...
use Component::Last;
to be able to manipulate all parts of it. How can I write a module that does this for the user, so all they have to do is
use Component;
to get all of the other modules imported?
In this particular case, the modules are all classes and don't have exports.
If these are just classes (i.e. they don't export any functions or variables when you use them), then all that really matters is that they have been loaded.
Just create Component.pm:
package Component;
our $VERSION = '1.00';
use Component::Root;
use Component::Foo;
use Component::Bar;
use Component::Baz;
use Component::Flib;
use Component::Zen;
use Component::Zen::Foo;
use Component::Zen::Bar;
use Component::Zen::Baz;
... # 15 more of these...
use Component::Last;
1; # Package return value
You don't need Exporter or anything like it.
However, instead of having a module that is nothing but use statements, it probably makes more sense to put those use statements into the class of the root node, or into the module that creates the data structure. That is, people will want to say:
use Component::Root;
my $root = Component::Root->new(...);
or
use Component qw(build_structure);
my $root = build_structure(...);
depending on how your data structure is normally created. It might be a bit confusing for people to write:
use Component;
my $root = Component::Root->new(...);
but it really depends on what your API looks like. If there are a number of classes that people might be calling new on, then use Component might be the way to go.
You could use the export_to_level method for all those packages that are Exporters.
MyPackage->export_to_level($where_to_export, $package, #what_to_export);
You could also just export all the symbols you import.
use PackageA qw<Huey Dewey Louie>;
...
our #ISA = qw<Exporter>; #inherit Exporter
our #EXPORT = qw<Huey Dewey Louie>;
However, if you don't want to export any symbols, and just want to load modules, then just include those use statements above, and any package in the process will be able to instantiate them as classes, say if they were all OO modules.
Provided that they have been loaded successfully, they will exist in %INC and the symbol table.
Moose::Exporter seems to do this, although all your other modules will have to use it as well.
In Component:
Moose::Exporter->setup_import_methods(
also => [qw/Component::Root Component::..*/],
);
If the modules do not export anything and don't have an import method (same requirements as cjm's answer) you just need to load the modules without import:
package Component;
our $VERSION = '1.00';
require Component::Root;
require Component::Foo;
require Component::Bar;
require Component::Baz;
require Component::Flib;
require Component::Zen;
require Component::Zen::Foo;
require Component::Zen::Bar;
require Component::Zen::Baz;
... # 15 more of these...
require Component::Last;
1; # Package return value
The users of the module will just do:
require Component;
If however some modules do exports, you will have to call their import method. So you have add an import method in your Component module that will call them:
sub import
{
Component::Root->import;
Component::Foo->import;
...
}
and so the module users will have to use it:
use Component;
Note that you may have to use some other tricks if the imported module has to insert symbols in the importer's context. See for example how the POE's import does it.
The Modern::Perl module touts itself with “enable all of the features of Modern Perl with one command,” where that command is
use Modern::Perl;
and those features are
For now, this only enables the strict and warnings pragmas, as well as all of the features available in Perl 5.10. It also enables C3 method resolution order; see perldoc mro for an explanation.
That's a lot for one line of code, which according to the perlmod documentation is exactly equivalent to
BEGIN { require Module; import Module; }
Consider Modern::Perl's implementation:
package Modern::Perl;
our $VERSION = '1.03';
use 5.010_000;
use strict;
use warnings;
use mro ();
use feature ();
sub import {
warnings->import();
strict->import();
feature->import( ':5.10' );
mro::set_mro( scalar caller(), 'c3' );
}
1; # End of Modern::Perl
To adapt this to your situation, from your top-level module use all the other modules you want to load, and call their imports, if any, from MyTopLevelModule::import.
Note that you don't necessarily need to copy
use 5.010_000;
into MyTopLevelModule.pm, but that would be a fine idea! According to the use documentation:
In the peculiar use VERSION form, VERSION may be either a positive decimal fraction such as 5.006, which will be compared to $], or a v-string of the form v5.6.1, which will be compared to $^V (aka $PERL_VERSION). An exception is raised if VERSION is greater than the version of the current Perl interpreter; Perl will not attempt to parse the rest of the file. Compare with require, which can do a similar check at run time.