sub new {
        my $class = shift;
        my $self = {};

        my %childs;

        $self = {
                _handle => undef,
                _childs => \%childs,
                waitforchilds => '120',
                maxchilds => '10',
                mhandle => undef,
        };

        bless($self,$class);

        if (@_){

                my $hash_ref = shift;
                if ( ref($hash_ref) eq "HASH"){

                        while ( my ($k,$v) = ( each %{ $hash_ref } ) ){
                                $k = lc $k;
                                $v = lc $v;
                                if ( exists $self->{$k} && ! ($k =~ m/^\_/)  ){         #is a valid config setting and is NOT a private method
                                        my $method = "set_".$k;
                                        $self->$method($v);                             #call appropriate setter method

                                }else{
                                        warn("$0:WARNING: skipping unsupported configuration setting $k => $v in hash_ref $hash_ref\n");
                                }

                        }
                }else{
                        die("$0:ERROR: argument passed to method 'new' must be reference to a hash.\n");
                }

        }

        return $self;
}



sub set_mhandle {

        my $self = shift;
        if (@_){
                my $handle = shift;
                $self->{mhandle} = $handle;
        }

        return $self->{mhandle};
}