in reply to Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash

Use DBM::Deep. Then, provide a simple script to add a service. In fact, this kind of service manager begs for a master script that you launch to add, remove, start, stop, and list the services.
My criteria for good software:
  1. Does it work?
  2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?
  • Comment on Re: Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash

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Re^2: Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash
by wishartz (Beadle) on Apr 20, 2007 at 14:05 UTC
    This is all really good advice, but at the moment I have been playing around with XML::Simple. The problem that I am having is I cannot generate the data structure that I had before with the hash it keeps on putting things in a nested array. This is what I used to have before using XML::Simple 
    $VAR1 = '1';
$VAR2 = {
          'host' => {
                      'hosta' => 1
                    },
          'name' => 'servicea'
        };
$VAR3 = '2';
$VAR4 = {
          'host' => {
                      'host0' => 2,
                      'host5' => 2
                    },
          'name' => 'serviceb'
        };

    [download]
    When using XML::Simple I get this: 
    $VAR1 = {
          'name' => 'servicea',
          'host' => [
                    {
                      'hosta' => '2'
                    },
                    {
                      'hostb' => '2'
                    }
                  ]

    [download]
    I am using the following XML with XML::simple. 
    <?xml version='1.0'?>
<services>
<name>servicea</name>
<host>
        <hosta>2</hosta>
</host>
<host>
        <hosta>2</hosta>
</host>
</services>

    [download]
    Is there any way I can change the XML, so XML::simple only uses hash of hashes instead of hashes and arrays? Thanks
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      *sighs* I provide you with a suggestion. You say "That's cool, but can you debug what's wrong with this other mechanism?" XML is a very poor solution for this, which is why I suggested DBM::Deep. dbm-deep is designed to solve this specific problem that you're working with - easy persistence of Perl datastructures.

      Use the proper solution for the job. XML isn't it.

      My criteria for good software:
      1. Does it work?
      2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?
[reply]
        OK I'll stop using the XML::Simple and try DBM::Deep instead. It just looked a bit more complicated, when I glanced at it.
[reply]

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