Right now each of the existing plugin's have a load section which loads a code reference into a global dispatch hash:
$dispatch{login} = \&login;
$dispatch{slogin} = \&secure_login;
The script then uses a value of a specific varible to determin what to do.
$dispatch{default} = \&show_option_menu; #if nothing else we will show the menu

$dispatch->{$dothis_now}->() # does the code ref.

Now as you can tell, doing a code ref with \&login for example will work. It will not run the code when loaded into the hash, and waits nicely until it is wanted.

$dispatch{self_test} = $self->login;

Will execute the code before it is placed in the hash.

I have not yet tested the other options given, but will as soon as I'm next to my development machine. But hopefully this clears it up a bit.

It may be both the calling and the plugin code need to be 'fixed' to work properly.

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In that case, the easiest thing to do is probably:

$dispatch{self_test} = sub { $self->login };
[download]

This will create an anonymous code reference that makes a closure on $self, so everything should be in place when the code actually gets called.

Update: Er, which is exactly what ikegami responded with. I guess I should have re-read the original replies before posting.