ModPerl::MethodLookup man page on CentOS

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   8420 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
CentOS logo
[printable version]

docs::api::ModPerl::MeUserLContributed Perldocs::api::ModPerl::MethodLookup(3)

NAME
       ModPerl::MethodLookup -- Lookup mod_perl modules, objects and methods

Synopsis
	 use ModPerl::MethodLookup;

	 # return all module names containing XS method 'print'
	 my ($hint, @modules) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_method('print');

	 # return only module names containing method 'print' which
	 # expects the first argument to be of type 'Apache2::Filter'
	 # (here $filter is an Apache2::Filter object)
	 my ($hint, @modules) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_method('print', $filter);
	 # or
	 my ($hint, @modules) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_method('print', 'Apache2::Filter');

	 # what XS methods defined by module 'Apache2::Filter'
	 my ($hint, @methods) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_module('Apache2::Filter');

	 # what XS methods can be invoked on the object $r (or a ref)
	 my ($hint, @methods) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_object($r);
	 # or
	 my ($hint, @methods) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_object('Apache2::RequestRec');

	 # preload all mp2 modules in startup.pl
	 ModPerl::MethodLookup::preload_all_modules();

	 # command line shortcuts
	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_module \
	   Apache2::RequestRec Apache2::Filter
	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_object Apache2
	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_method \
	   get_server_built request
	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_method read
	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_method read APR::Bucket

Description
       mod_perl 2.0 provides many methods, which reside in various modules.
       One has to load each of the modules before using the desired methods.
       "ModPerl::MethodLookup" provides the Perl API for finding module names
       which contain methods in question and other helper functions, to find
       out out what methods defined by some module, what methods can be called
       on a given object, etc.

API
       "lookup_method()"

       Find modules (packages) containing a certain method

	 ($hint, @modules) = lookup_method($method_name);
	 ($hint, @modules) = lookup_method($method_name, $object);
	 ($hint, @modules) = lookup_method($method_name, $class));

       arg1: $method_name ( string )
	   the method name to look up

       opt arg2: $object or $class
	   a blessed object or the name of the class it's blessed into. If
	   there is more than one match, this extra information is used to
	   return only modules containing methods operating on the objects of
	   the same kind.

	   If a sub-classed object is passed it'll be handled correctly, by
	   checking its super-class(es).  This usage is useful when the
	   "AUTOLOAD" is used to find a not yet loaded module which include
	   the called method.

       ret1: $hint
	   a string containing a human readable lookup result, suggesting
	   which modules should be loaded, ready for copy-n-paste or explain‐
	   ing the failure if the lookup didn't succeed.

       ret2: @modules
	   an array of modules which have matched the query, i.e. the names of
	   the modules which contain the requested method.

       since: 2.0.00

       Examples:

       Return all module names containing XS method print:

	 my ($hint, @modules) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_method('print');

       Return only module names containing method print which expects the
       first argument to be of type "Apache2::Filter":

	 my $filter = bless {}, 'Apache2::Filter';
	 my ($hint, @modules) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_method('print', $filter);

       or:

	 my ($hint, @modules) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_method('print', 'Apache2::Filter');

       "lookup_module()"

       Find methods contained in a certain module (package)

	 ($hint, @methods) = lookup_module($module_name);

       arg1: $module_name ( string )
	   the module name

       ret1: $hint
	   a string containing a human readable lookup result, suggesting,
	   which methods the module $module_name implements, or explaining the
	   failure if the lookup failed.

       ret2: @methods
	   an array of methods which have matched the query, i.e. the names of
	   the methods defined in the requested module.

       since: 2.0.00

       Example:

       What XS methods defined by module "Apache2::Filter":

	 my ($hint, @methods) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_module('Apache2::Filter');

       "lookup_object()"

	 ($hint, @methods) = lookup_object($object);
	 ($hint, @methods) = lookup_object($class);

       arg1: $object or $class
	   an object or a name of a class an object is blessed into

	   If a sub-classed object is passed it'll be handled correctly, by
	   including methods provided by its super-class(es).

       ret1: $hint
	   a string containing a human readable lookup result, suggesting,
	   which methods the given object can invoke (including module names
	   that need to be loaded to use those methods), or explaining the
	   failure if the lookup failed.

       ret2: @methods
	   an array of methods which have matched the query, i.e. the names of
	   the methods that can be invoked on the given object (or its class
	   name).

       since: 2.0.00

       META: As of this writing this function may miss some of the func‐
       tions/methods that can be invoked on the given object. Currently we
       can't programmatically deduct the objects they are invoked on, because
       these methods are written in pure XS and manipulate the arguments stack
       themselves. Currently these are mainly XS functions, not methods, which
       of course aren't invoked on objects. There are also logging function
       wrappers ("Apache2::Log").

       Examples:

       What XS methods can be invoked on the object $r:

	 my ($hint, @methods) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_object($r);

       or $r's class -- "Apache2::RequestRec":

	 my ($hint, @methods) =
	     ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_object('Apache2::RequestRec');

       "preload_all_modules()"

       The function "preload_all_modules()" preloads all mod_perl 2.0 modules,
       which implement their API in XS. This is similar to the mod_perl 1.0
       behavior which has most of its methods loaded at the startup.

       CPAN modules developers should make sure their distribution loads each
       of the used mod_perl 2.0 modules explicitly, and not use this function,
       as it takes the fine control away from the users. One should avoid
       doing this the production server (unless all modules are used indeed)
       in order to save memory.

       since: 2.0.00

       "print_method()"

       "print_method()" is a convenience wrapper for "lookup_method()", mainly
       designed to be used from the command line. For example to print all the
       modules which define method read execute:

	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_method read

       Since this will return more than one module, we can narrow the query to
       only those methods which expect the first argument to be blessed into
       class "APR::Bucket":

	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_method read APR::Bucket

       You can pass more than one method and it'll perform a lookup on each of
       the methods. For example to lookup methods "get_server_built" and
       "request" you can do:

	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_method \
	   get_server_built request

       The function "print_method()" is exported by default.

       since: 2.0.00

       "print_module()"

       "print_module()" is a convenience wrapper for "lookup_module()", mainly
       designed to be used from the command line. For example to print all the
       methods defined in the module "Apache2::RequestRec", followed by meth‐
       ods defined in the module "Apache2::Filter" you can run:

	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_module \
	   Apache2::RequestRec Apache2::Filter

       The function "print_module()" is exported by default.

       since: 2.0.00

       "print_object()"

       "print_object()" is a convenience wrapper for "lookup_object()", mainly
       designed to be used from the command line. For example to print all the
       methods that can be invoked on object blessed into a class
       "Apache2::RequestRec" run:

	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_object \
	   Apache2::RequestRec

       Similar to "print_object()", more than one class can be passed to this
       function.

       The function "print_object()" is exported by default.

       since: 2.0.00

Applications
       "AUTOLOAD"

       When Perl fails to locate a method it checks whether the package the
       object belongs to has an "AUTOLOAD" function defined and if so, calls
       it with the same arguments as the missing method while setting a global
       variable $AUTOLOAD (in that package) to the name of the originally
       called method. We can use this facility to lookup the modules to be
       loaded when such a failure occurs. Though since we have many packages
       to take care of we will use a special "UNIVERSAL::AUTOLOAD" function
       which Perl calls if can't find the "AUTOLOAD" function in the given
       package.

       In that function you can query "ModPerl::MethodLookup", require() the
       module that includes the called method and call that method again using
       the goto() trick:

	 use ModPerl::MethodLookup;
	 sub UNIVERSAL::AUTOLOAD {
	     my ($hint, @modules) =
		 ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_method($UNIVERSAL::AUTOLOAD, @_);
	     if (@modules) {
		 eval "require $_" for @modules;
		 goto &$UNIVERSAL::AUTOLOAD;
	     }
	     else {
		 die $hint;
	     }
	 }

       However we don't endorse this approach. It's a better approach to
       always abort the execution which printing the $hintand use fix the code
       to load the missing module. Moreover installing "UNIVERSAL::AUTOLOAD"
       may cause a lot of problems, since once it's installed Perl will call
       it every time some method is missing (e.g. undefined "DESTROY" meth‐
       ods). The following approach seems to somewhat work for me. It installs
       "UNIVERSAL::AUTOLOAD" only when the the child process starts.

	 httpd.conf:
	 -----------
	 PerlChildInitHandler ModPerl::MethodLookupAuto

	 startup.pl:
	 -----------
	 {
	     package ModPerl::MethodLookupAuto;
	     use ModPerl::MethodLookup;

	     use Carp;
	     sub handler {

		 *UNIVERSAL::AUTOLOAD = sub {
		     my $method = $AUTOLOAD;
		     return if $method =~ /DESTROY/; # exclude DESTROY resolving

		     my ($hint, @modules) =
			 ModPerl::MethodLookup::lookup_method($method, @_);
		     $hint ⎪⎪= "Can't find method $AUTOLOAD";
		     croak $hint;
		 };
		 return 0;
	     }
	 }

       This example doesn't load the modules for you. It'll print to STDERR
       what module should be loaded, when a method from the not-yet-loaded
       module is called.

       A similar technique is used by "Apache2::porting".

       META: there is a better version of AUTOLOAD discussed on the dev list.
       Replace the current one with it. (search the archive for EazyLife)

       Command Line Lookups

       When a method is used and mod_perl has reported a failure to find it,
       it's often useful to use the command line query to figure out which
       module needs to be loaded. For example if when executing:

	 $r->construct_url();

       mod_perl complains:

	 Can't locate object method "construct_url" via package
	 "Apache2::RequestRec" at ...

       you can ask "ModPerl::MethodLookup" for help:

	 % perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_method construct_url
	 To use method 'construct_url' add:
		 use Apache2::URI ();

       and after copy-n-pasting the use statement in our code, the problem
       goes away.

       One can create a handy alias for this technique. For example, C-style
       shell users can do:

	  % alias lookup "perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_method"

       For Bash-style shell users:

	  % alias lookup="perl -MModPerl::MethodLookup -e print_method"

       Now the lookup is even easier:

	 % lookup construct_url
	 to use method 'construct_url' add:
		 use Apache2::URI;

       Similar aliases can be provided for "print_object()" and "print_mod‐
       ule()".

Todo
       These methods aren't yet picked by this module (the extract from the
       map file):

	modperl_filter_attributes     ⎪ MODIFY_CODE_ATTRIBUTES
	modperl_spawn_proc_prog	      ⎪ spawn_proc_prog
	apr_ipsubnet_create	      ⎪ new

       Please report to the mod_perl development mailing list if you find any
       other missing methods. But remember that as of this moment the module
       reports only XS functions. In the future we may add support for pure
       perl functions/methods as well.

See Also
       ·   the mod_perl 1.0 backward compatibility document

       ·   porting Perl modules

       ·   porting XS modules

       ·   "Apache2::porting"

Copyright
       mod_perl 2.0 and its core modules are copyrighted under The Apache
       Software License, Version 2.0.

Authors
       The mod_perl development team and numerous contributors.

perl v5.8.8			  2007-11-1docs::api::ModPerl::MethodLookup(3)
[top]

List of man pages available for CentOS

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net