package MyApp::URLFetcher::LWP; use base qw/MyApp::URLFetcher/; use LWP::Simple; # define the most convenient interface you can think of # if you need just the contents of a URL in a string, do that sub get_url_to_str { my $url = shift; get($url); # our chosen interface is simple with LWP } #### package MyApp::URLFetcher::NetFTP; use base qw/MyApp::URLFetcher/; use Net::FTP; sub get_url_to_str { my $self = shift; my $url = shift; # I don't know Net::FTP # either way, our interface is a bit harder to pull off # with Net::FTP # but this complexity will be in the software anyway # it's better to hide it here my $f = Net::FTP->new; # ... # ... $f->get("..."); } #### use UNIVERSAL::require; my $fetcher_class = choose_fetcher_class(); my $fetcher = $fetcher_class->new; # this is the good part # this line of code does not care what driver it's using, as # long as the subclass of MyApp::URLFetcher is implemented correctly # isn't polymorphism great? my $content = $fetcher->get($url); sub choose_fetcher_class { foreach my $driver (qw/LWP NetFTP/){ my $class = "MyApp::URLFetcher::$driver"; # UNIVERSAL::require let's us avoid an eval return $class if $class->require; } die "couldn't load any driver"; }