dakedesu has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello,
I am creating a module, for my own use, that will take an object an create an XML document based on the data inside that object, whether the object be a SCALAR, ARRAY, HASH, or an object defined by a user.

I have it set up, so that it starts by taking an object, and then either asking if it has a certain function that returns allow of the methods that the person wants to store data returned from, or checking if the object is a hash, array, or scalar. I have not debugged it yet, and I want to know ahead of time will the code: 

my $object = whatever;
my $function = whatever;
my $returneddata = $object->$function;

# with the other option of:
my $returnedData = $object->&{ $function };

[download]

Does anybody here know which one I should attempt to do, to get the fruits of my wants?

DakeDesu teh Confused Werewolf.
In perl, only those who are bless'd are treated as objects
"Apparent confusion is a product of good Order" -- Sun Tzu (Webpages under construction)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
(jeffa) Re: Module Data Dump.
by jeffa (Bishop) on Mar 25, 2002 at 22:38 UTC
    If you are wanting to do this to learn, good for you. But if you are wanting to do something right, check out Gisle Aas's Data::DumpXML: 
    use strict;
use Data::DumpXML qw(dump_xml);

my $foo = Foo->new();
dump_xml($foo);

package Foo;

sub new {
   return bless {
      scalar => 'foobar',
      array  => [('a'..'d')],
      hash   => { bar => { baz => 'qux'}},
   }, shift;
}

    [download]
    If you want to know what methods a class provids, you can use UNIVERSAL::can(): 
    package main;
my $no = Bar->new();
print "yes\n" if $no->can('do');

package Bar;
sub new { bless {},shift }
sub do  { print "cool\n" }

    [download]

    jeffa

    L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)
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Re: Module Data Dump.
by IlyaM (Parson) on Mar 25, 2002 at 22:40 UTC
    I am creating a module, for my own use, that will take an object an create an XML document based on the data inside that object, whether the object be a SCALAR, ARRAY, HASH, or an object defined by a user.

    Sounds like XML::Dumper.

    I have it set up, so that it starts by taking an object, and then either asking if it has a certain function that returns allow of the methods that the person wants to store data returned from, or checking if the object is a hash, array, or scalar. I have not debugged it yet, and I want to know ahead of time will the code:

    Not sure I understand the question. Are you asking how to find if object has some method? It is easy: 

    my $object = whatever;
my $method = whatever;

if($object->can($method)) {
    print "Has method $method\n";
} else {
    print "Has no method $method\n";
}

    [download]

    See perldoc UNIVERSAL.

    --
    Ilya Martynov (http://martynov.org/)

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[d/l]

      Well, the thing I was asking was how would I call the method defined in the variable. I already have the code testing with UNIVERSAL::can. I think I have just about figured it out: 

      my $data = &{$object->$method};
# do stuff with Data...

      [download]

      I will check out those modules though, cause there are several high chances that they will do this better than me.

      Sorry about how short my last message was, I was running out of time on a public terminal.

      DakeDesu teh Confused Werewolf.
      In perl, only those who are bless'd are treated as objects
      (Webpages under construction)

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