Finding the right initialization-file module

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

Need help choosing which initialization module to use.

I have a large program which processes batches of text files (derived from MS-Word, .pdf, Excel etc.) For each batch, there's an initialization file. Right now, the details of each initialization get wrapped inside a function. This illustrates what I have currently:

sub RqtInitSABER{
    my($Args) = @_;
    $runSwitches =
      {topArgs => {
         fileReadFn      => \&eat_AvionicsFMEA,
         hiliteCol => [1,3,4,5],
     xtraTh => {1 => {colspan=>2, text=> ' '},
            3 => {colspan=>4, text=> 'Front'}}},
       flamencoArgs => 
     spec =>    # For what goes in the flamenco/specifications.py file
+.
          {PAGE_TITLE => 'SABER Requirements',
           PAGE_HEADING => 'SABER Software Requirements Oct Release',

}
[download]

I'm imagining I need something like:

[topArgs]
  fileReadFn= eatAvionicsFMEA
  hiliteCol= [1,3,4,5]
  [[xtraTh]]
     [[[1]]]
        colspan=2
        text=' '
     [[[3]]]
        colspan=4
        text='Front'
[flamencoArgs]
  [[spec]]
    PAGE_TITLE = SABER Requirements
    PAGE_HEADING = SABER Software Requirements Oct Release
[download]

I want to change this to a declarative .ini style. I've looked at Config::Simple and Config::IniFiles. But I can't figure out how to do a few things. I need to have:

Hashes more than two levels deep. I need subsections and subsubsections as well as sections.

A more compact way of listing arrays. I could do something like

  hiliteCol= [1,3,4,5]
[download]

rather than

  hiliteCol=1
  hiliteCol=3
  hiliteCol=4
  hiliteCol=5
[download]

I need to read in function references (like fileReadFn = \&eatAvionicFMEA; am I buying myself horrible problems by reading in the function name and using eval to get to the function ref?
A way to have delimited whitespace. Writing something like
```
  text=
[download]
```
with the whitespace on the right being significant seems like a very bad idea.

I want to get away from having my config files be Perl code, but I'm not hard-over on using this style of .ini file. I just don't want to roll-my-own initialization code. Do some of the existing packages get me what I need?

Comment on Finding the right initialization-file module Select or Download Code

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Re: Finding the right initialization-file module by GrandFather (Saint) on Dec 13, 2011 at 00:57 UTC
YAML is what I would use for such a task. With a little OO help you can even do the "by name" function stuff: `use strict; use warnings; use YAML; my $yamlStr = <<YAML; --- flamencoArgs: spec: PAGE_HEADING: SABER Software Requirements Oct Release PAGE_TITLE: SABER Requirements topArgs: fileReadFn: eat_AvionicsFMEA hiliteCol: - 1 - 3 - 4 - 5 xtraTh: 1: colspan: 2 text: ' ' 3: colspan: 4 text: Front YAML my $stuff = bless YAML::Load($yamlStr); my $fn = $stuff->can ($stuff->{topArgs}{fileReadFn}); $fn->() if $fn; sub eat_AvionicsFMEA { print "Hey, how about that!\n"; }` [download] Prints: `Hey, how about that!` [download] True laziness is hard work	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Finding the right initialization-file module by throop (Chaplain) on Dec 13, 2011 at 20:09 UTC
Many thanks! That looks like just the ticket.	[reply]
Re^3: Finding the right initialization-file module by GrandFather (Saint) on Dec 13, 2011 at 21:40 UTC
Of course given that $stuff is an object we can squeeze a little more juice out: `... $stuff->header(); $fn->($stuff) if $fn; sub header { my ($self) = @_; print <<HEADER; $self->{flamencoArgs}{spec}{PAGE_HEADING} $self->{flamencoArgs}{spec}{PAGE_TITLE} HEADER } sub eat_AvionicsFMEA { my ($self) = @_; print "hiliteCols are: @{$self->{topArgs}{hiliteCol}}\n"; }` [download] Prints: `SABER Software Requirements Oct Release SABER Requirements hiliteCols are: 1 3 4 5` [download] True laziness is hard work	[reply] [d/l] [select]