Class::Inspector - Get information about a class and its structure
version 1.36
use Class::Inspector;
# Is a class installed and/or loaded
Class::Inspector->installed( 'Foo::Class' );
Class::Inspector->loaded( 'Foo::Class' );
# Filename related information
Class::Inspector->filename( 'Foo::Class' );
Class::Inspector->resolved_filename( 'Foo::Class' );
# Get subroutine related information
Class::Inspector->functions( 'Foo::Class' );
Class::Inspector->function_refs( 'Foo::Class' );
Class::Inspector->function_exists( 'Foo::Class', 'bar' );
Class::Inspector->methods( 'Foo::Class', 'full', 'public' );
# Find all loaded subclasses or something
Class::Inspector->subclasses( 'Foo::Class' );
Class::Inspector allows you to get information about a loaded class. Most or all
of this information can be found in other ways, but they aren't always very
friendly, and usually involve a relatively high level of Perl wizardry, or
strange and unusual looking code. Class::Inspector attempts to provide an
easier, more friendly interface to this information.
my $bool = Class::Inspector->installed($class);
The "installed" static method tries to determine if a class is
installed on the machine, or at least available to Perl. It does this by
wrapping around "resolved_filename".
Returns true if installed/available, false if the class is not installed, or
"undef" if the class name is invalid.
my $bool = Class::Inspector->loaded($class);
The "loaded" static method tries to determine if a class is loaded by
looking for symbol table entries.
This method it uses to determine this will work even if the class does not have
its own file, but is contained inside a single file with multiple classes in
it. Even in the case of some sort of run-time loading class being used, these
typically leave some trace in the symbol table, so an Autoload or
Class::Autouse-based class should correctly appear loaded.
Returns true if the class is loaded, false if not, or "undef" if the
class name is invalid.
my $filename = Class::Inspector->filename($class);
For a given class, returns the base filename for the class. This will NOT be a
fully resolved filename, just the part of the filename BELOW the @INC entry.
print Class->filename( 'Foo::Bar' );
> Foo/Bar.pm
This filename will be returned with the right separator for the local platform,
and should work on all platforms.
Returns the filename on success or "undef" if the class name is
invalid.
my $filename = Class::Inspector->resolved_filename($class);
my $filename = Class::Inspector->resolved_filename($class, @try_first);
For a given class, the "resolved_filename" static method returns the
fully resolved filename for a class. That is, the file that the class would be
loaded from.
This is not necessarily the file that the class WAS loaded from, as the value
returned is determined each time it runs, and the @INC include path may
change.
To get the actual file for a loaded class, see the "loaded_filename"
method.
Returns the filename for the class, or "undef" if the class name is
invalid.
my $filename = Class::Inspector->loaded_filename($class);
For a given loaded class, the "loaded_filename" static method
determines (via the %INC hash) the name of the file that it was originally
loaded from.
Returns a resolved file path, or false if the class did not have it's own file.
my $arrayref = Class::Inspector->functions($class);
For a loaded class, the "functions" static method returns a list of
the names of all the functions in the classes immediate namespace.
Note that this is not the METHODS of the class, just the functions.
Returns a reference to an array of the function names on success, or
"undef" if the class name is invalid or the class is not loaded.
my $arrayref = Class::Inspector->function_refs($class);
For a loaded class, the "function_refs" static method returns
references to all the functions in the classes immediate namespace.
Note that this is not the METHODS of the class, just the functions.
Returns a reference to an array of "CODE" refs of the functions on
success, or "undef" if the class is not loaded.
my $bool = Class::Inspector->function_exists($class, $functon);
Given a class and function name the "function_exists" static method
will check to see if the function exists in the class.
Note that this is as a function, not as a method. To see if a method exists for
a class, use the "can" method for any class or object.
Returns true if the function exists, false if not, or "undef" if the
class or function name are invalid, or the class is not loaded.
my $arrayref = Class::Inspector->methods($class, @options);
For a given class name, the "methods" static method will returns ALL
the methods available to that class. This includes all methods available from
every class up the class' @ISA tree.
Returns a reference to an array of the names of all the available methods on
success, or "undef" if the class name is invalid or the class is not
loaded.
A number of options are available to the "methods" method that will
alter the results returned. These should be listed after the class name, in
any order.
# Only get public methods
my $method = Class::Inspector->methods( 'My::Class', 'public' );
- public
- The "public" option will return only 'public'
methods, as defined by the Perl convention of prepending an underscore to
any 'private' methods. The "public" option will effectively
remove any methods that start with an underscore.
- private
- The "private" options will return only 'private'
methods, as defined by the Perl convention of prepending an underscore to
an private methods. The "private" option will effectively remove
an method that do not start with an underscore.
Note: The "public" and
"private" options are mutually exclusive
- full
- "methods" normally returns just the method name.
Supplying the "full" option will cause the methods to be
returned as the full names. That is, instead of returning "[
'method1', 'method2', 'method3' ]", you would instead get "[
'Class::method1', 'AnotherClass::method2', 'Class::method3' ]".
- expanded
- The "expanded" option will cause a lot more
information about method to be returned. Instead of just the method name,
you will instead get an array reference containing the method name as a
single combined name, a la "full", the separate class and
method, and a CODE ref to the actual function ( if available ). Please
note that the function reference is not guaranteed to be available.
"Class::Inspector" is intended at some later time, to work with
modules that have some kind of common run-time loader in place ( e.g
"Autoloader" or "Class::Autouse" for example.
The response from "methods( 'Class', 'expanded' )" would look
something like the following.
[
[ 'Class::method1', 'Class', 'method1', \&Class::method1 ],
[ 'Another::method2', 'Another', 'method2', \&Another::method2 ],
[ 'Foo::bar', 'Foo', 'bar', \&Foo::bar ],
]
my $arrayref = Class::Inspector->subclasses($class);
The "subclasses" static method will search then entire namespace (and
thus
all currently loaded classes) to find all classes that are
subclasses of the class provided as a the parameter.
The actual test will be done by calling "isa" on the class as a static
method. (i.e. "My::Class->isa($class)".
Returns a reference to a list of the loaded classes that match the class
provided, or false is none match, or "undef" if the class name
provided is invalid.
<
http://ali.as/>, Class::Handle, Class::Inspector::Functions
Original author: Adam Kennedy <
[email protected]>
Current maintainer: Graham Ollis <
[email protected]>
Contributors:
Tom Wyant
Steffen Müller
Kivanc Yazan (KYZN)
This software is copyright (c) 2002-2019 by Adam Kennedy.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.