declaring an array within a package

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

I'm trying to create a sub within a package and here's my code so far

  my ($self) = @_;
    my $templateName  = (defined $self->{FormConfig}{template} ? $self
+->{FormConfig}{template} : ''); 


  if (-e $templateName) {

        open (FILE, $templateName);
        $self->@File = <FILE>; close (FILE);
[download]

and here's the error I'm getting

Array found where operator expected at (eval 5) line 1150, at end of l
+ine
    (Missing operator before ?)
syntax error at (eval 5) line 1150, near "->@File "
Global symbol "@File" requires explicit package name at (eval 5) line 
+1150.
[download]

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Re: declaring an array within a package by sauoq (Abbot) on Dec 19, 2003 at 00:16 UTC
The error you got was very explanatory. It told you exactly where the problem is... `$self->@File = <FILE>;` What made you think that would work? Did you just make that syntax up and wish yourself good-luck? I think you probably want something like this `@{$self->{File}} = <FILE>;` [download] instead. -sauoq "My two cents aren't worth a dime.";	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: declaring an array within a package by Joost (Canon) on Dec 19, 2003 at 00:19 UTC
This: `$self->@File = <FILE>;` [download] Is not valid Perl. I think you want `$self->{file} = [ <FILE> ];` [download] You can then read the array out using: `foreach my $line (@{ $self->{file} }) { print $line; }` [download] By the way, I also think you are confusing packages, which double in Perl as namespaces and classnames, with object data. You may find the following perl documents handy: perltoot, perlobj, ~~perltut~~ perlreftut, perlref and perl. Use `perldoc documentname` to view them on your system. You might also want to split your code into smaller files :-) Joost. update: I meant perlreftut "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: declaring an array within a package by Zaxo (Archbishop) on Dec 19, 2003 at 00:17 UTC
The scalar $self is a reference to something if you mean to bless it into a class defined in your package. The statement `$self = @_;` sets it equal to the number of arguments. That is not the cause of the message, but it indicates you need to study perl references. The statement `$self->@File = <FILE>;` is semantically incorrect. You may mean something like `$self->{'File'} = [<FILE>];` which puts a reference to an array of lines from the file into $self's 'File' data element. Update: Oops, didn't check my memory against the question. sauoq++ is correct, of course. Doesn't change the argument, just the value $self gets. After Compline, Zaxo	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Re: declaring an array within a package by sauoq (Abbot) on Dec 19, 2003 at 00:23 UTC
The statement `$self = @_;` sets it equal to the number of arguments. Well, that statement would, but that statement didn't appear in the OP's post. He had `my ($self) = @_;` which is list context and assigns the first element of `@_` to `$self`. -sauoq "My two cents aren't worth a dime.";	[reply] [d/l] [select]