changing to strict-- problems with 'require files'

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

Hi there,

First, the situation:
I'm finally convinced (by Ovid's article) to change all my work to use 'strict' and 'perl -Tw'.
So I tried...

Next, the problem:
I've got a whole bunch of vars (like $rootpath, $rooturl, $sitename, $cgipath, etc. etc.) and some subroutines (like make_html, fatal_error, etc.) stuffed into two files, which are called by 'require "vars.pl" ' and 'require "sub.pl"'.
As you probably know, those vars aren't taken into the main-cgi-file, and there is my problem.
A thread like this has started earlier on, but all I found there terrified me: do I really have to change every line like
'print "path to cgi is $cgi_path";' into
'print "path to cgi is $whatever::$cgi_path";' ???
I'd have to do 50 hours of work if that's indeed the only possibility...

Last, the solution:
?

Might you know it, please let me know!!!

Comment on changing to strict-- problems with 'require files'

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: changing to strict-- problems with 'require files' by erikharrison (Deacon) on Apr 23, 2002 at 13:49 UTC
Actually, it's $whatever::cgi_path. A couple of slutions: Automate the changing process. Write a Perl program that uses regexes to chage all instances of these vars into there fully gualified version use Exporter and export these symbols into the main package and then use `our`. Both of these things are so useful if you don't know how to use them, learning would benefit elsewhere. I personally would use the latter, as it requires the least typing and effort, while at the same time being more guarenteed of success. Good luck! Cheers, Erik	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: changing to strict-- problems with 'require files' by frinky (Novice) on Apr 23, 2002 at 14:05 UTC
Thanx for the advice, you're absolutely right about the $whatever::cgi_path. And also about the possibility to automate the vars-change, but it would still be pretty annoying to write every new line with '$whatever::' before '$some_var' (without the '$' in that case) I'll go look for some explanation about Exporter. Thanx for your help!	[reply]
Re: changing to strict-- problems with 'require files' by maverick (Curate) on Apr 23, 2002 at 17:38 UTC
Along with erikharrison's suggestion... It seems like the you have general config type variables. The next step (after you get strict, etc working) might be to take a shot at using one of the Config:: modules from CPAN. If this is a program that's going to distrubuted to others, or the variables might be set by someone other than you...then it might be worth your time. Consider that by using a config file instead of a .pm you could have: param = value type syntax (for those that don't understand my $foo = "bar"; validation of the parameters. I think some of those modules have support for that. very litle chance of inducing a compilation error. if someone forgets the ';' at the end of the line, what happens to your program? /\/\averick OmG! They killed tilly! You bleep!!	[reply]