Here is a simple Message object We use in our office: It stringifies into a simple message, or as a number will give a code, and evaluates as true or false as dictated by the user. It also allows you to push on some extra data with push, for debuging or general extra information on a message.

example of use:
#Message->new(<Number>,<MSG>,<BOOL>);
Message->new(12345,'This is my Message or error message',0);

package Message;

use strict;
use overload '""' => 'str', '0+' => 'num', 'bool' => 'bool', fallback 
+=> 1;

######################################################################
+#########

sub new 
{ 
    my $class = shift; 
    my $num = shift;
    my $str = shift;
    my $bool = shift;
    
    my $data = {num => $num,
                str => $str,
                bool => $bool,
                data => [],
                };
    
    if ( ! defined $data->{bool} )
    {
        $data->{bool} = ( $data->{num} ? 1 : 0 );
    }
    
    bless $data, $class; 
    
    if ( @_ )
    {
        if ( ref $_[0] eq 'ARRAY' )
        {
            foreach my $element (@_)
            {
                $data->push($element);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            $data->push(@_);
        }
    }
    
    return $data;
}

######################################################################
+#########

sub push
{
    my $self = shift;
    my $obj = shift;
    
    push @{$self->{data}},$obj;
}

######################################################################
+#########

sub num 
{ 
    my $self = shift;
    return $self->{num};
}

######################################################################
+#########

sub str
{ 
    my $self = shift;
    return $self->{str};
}

######################################################################
+#########

sub bool
{
    my $self = shift;
    return $self->{bool};
}

######################################################################
+#########

1;
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