If you do this, you may want to provide a new can() method for people to use:

# can - Help UNIVERSAL::can() cope with our AUTOLOADed methods
sub can
{
    my ($self, $method) = @_;
    my $subref = $self->SUPER::can($method);
    return $subref if $subref; # can found it; it's a real method

    # Method doesn't currently exist; should it, though?
    return unless exists $self->{$method};

    # Return an anon sub that will work when it's eventually called
    sub {
        my $self = $_[0];

        # The method is being called.  The real method may have been
        # created in the meantime; if so, don't call AUTOLOAD again
        my $subref = $self->SUPER::can($method);
        goto &$subref if $subref;

        $AUTOLOAD=$method; 
        goto &AUTOLOAD 
    };
}

[download]

(This one assumes that people will often call can() without intending to use the method ref it returns, and so it defers calling AUTOLOAD until someone goes to use it. Because of this, it needs a second check to see if someone else has already AUTOLOADed the desired method in the meantime.)

In reply to Re: How can I use AUTOLOAD to magically define get and set methods for my member data? by saucepan
in thread How can I use AUTOLOAD to magically define get and set methods for my member data? by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.