Declare the new backend in a node of the model¶

As explained in "Backend specification" in Config::Model::BackendMgr, the new backend must be declared as an attribute of a Config::Model::Node specification.

Let's say your new backend is "Config::Model::Backend::Foo". This new backend can be specified with:

 rw_config  => {
    backend    => 'Foo' , # can also be 'foo'
    config_dir => '/etc/cfg_dir'
    file       => 'foo.conf', # optional
 }

(The backend class name is constructed with "ucfirst($backend_name)")

"rw_config" can also have custom parameters that are passed verbatim to "Config::Model::Backend::Foo" methods:

 rw_config  => {
    backend    => 'Foo' , # can also be 'foo'
    config_dir => '/etc/cfg_dir'
    file       => 'foo.conf', # optional
    my_param   => 'my_value',
 }

"Config::Model::Backend::Foo" class must inherit (extend) Config::Model::Backend::Any and is expected to provide the following methods:

read

"read" is called with the following parameters:

 %custom_parameters,       # e.g. my_param   => 'my_value' in the example above
 object     => $obj,         # Config::Model::Node object
 root       => $root_dir,  # fake root directory, used for tests
 backend    => $backend,   # backend name
 config_dir => $read_dir,  # path below root
 file       => 'foo.conf', # file name
 file_path  => $full_name, # Path::Tiny object
 check      => [yes|no|skip]
    

The IO::File object is undef if the file cannot be read.

This method must return 1 if the read was successful, 0 otherwise.

Following the "my_param" example above, %custom_parameters contains " ( 'my_param' , 'my_value' ) ", so "read()" is called with "root", "config_dir", "file_path" and "my_param => 'my_value'".

write

"write" is called with the following parameters:

 %$custom_parameters,         # e.g. my_param   => 'my_value' in the example above
 object      => $obj,         # Config::Model::Node object
 root        => $root_dir,    # fake root directory, used for tests
 auto_create => $auto_create, # boolean specified in backend declaration
 auto_delete => $auto_delete, # boolean specified in backend declaration
 backend     => $backend,     # backend name
 config_dir  => $write_dir,   # override from instance
 file        => 'foo.conf',   # file name
 file_path   => $full_name, # full file name (root+path+file)
 write       => 1,            # always
 check       => [ yes|no|skip] ,
 backup      => [ undef || '' || suffix ] # backup strategy required by user
    

The IO::File object is undef if the file cannot be written to.

This method must return 1 if the write was successful, 0 otherwise

How to test your new backend¶

Using Config::Model::Tester, you can test your model with your backend following the instructions given in Config::Model::Tester.

You can also test your backend with a minimal model (and Config::Model::Tester). In this case, you need to specify a small model to test in a "*-test-conf.pl" file. See the IniFile backend test <https://github.com/dod38fr/config-model/blob/master/t/model_tests.d/backend-ini-test-conf.pl> for an example and its examples files <https://github.com/dod38fr/config-model/tree/master/t/model_tests.d/backend-ini-examples>.

new¶

The constructor should be used only by Config::Model::Node.

Parameter:

node

Calling node object. Node ref is weakened,

name

Backend name

auto_create

Boolean. Set to true to create the configuration file if this one is missing (default 0)

auto_delete

Boolean. Set to true to remove the configuration file if this one no longer contain configuration information. (default 0)

annotation¶

Whether the backend supports reading and writing annotation (a.k.a comments). Default is 0. Override this method to return 1 if your backend supports annotations.

read¶

Read the configuration file. This method must be overridden.

write¶

Write the configuration file. This method must be overridden.

node¶

Return the node (a Config::Model::Node) holding this backend.

instance¶

Return the instance (a Config::Model::Instance) holding this configuration.

show_message¶

Parameters: "( string )"

Show a message to STDOUT (unless overridden). Delegated to "show_message" in Config::Model::Instance.

read_global_comments¶

Parameters:

• array ref of string containing the lines to be parsed
• A string to specify how a comment is started. Each character is recognized as a comment starter (e.g '"#;"' allow a comment to begin with '"#"' or '";"')

Read the global comments (i.e. the first block of comments until the first blank or non comment line) and store them as root node annotation. Note that the global comment must be separated from the first data line by a blank line.

Example:

 $self->read_global_comments( \@lines, ';');
 $self->read_global_comments( \@lines, '#;');

associates_comments_with_data¶

Parameters:

• array ref of string containing the lines to be parsed
• A string to specify how a comment is started. Each character is recognized as a comment starter (e.g '"#;"' allow a comment to begin with '"#"' or '";"')

This method extracts comments from the passed lines and associate them with actual data found in the file lines. Data is associated with comments preceding or on the same line as the data. Returns a list of [ data, comment ].

Example:

  my @lines = (
    '# Foo comments',
    'foo= 1',
    'Baz = 0 # Baz comments'
  );
  my @res = $self->associates_comments_with_data( \@lines, '#')
  # @res is:
  # ( [ 'foo= 1', 'Foo comments' ] , [ 'Baz = 0' , 'Baz comments' ] )

write_global_comments¶

Return a string containing global comments using data from configuration root annotation.

Requires one parameter: comment_char (e.g "#" or '//' )

Example:

  my $str = $self->write_global_comments('#')

write_data_and_comments¶

Returns a string containing comments (stored in annotation) and corresponding data. Comments are written before the data. If a data is undef, the comment is written on its own line.

Positional parameters are "( comment_char , data1, comment1, data2, comment2 ...)"

Example:

 print $self->write_data_and_comments('#', 'foo', 'foo comment', undef, 'lone comment','bar')
 # returns "# foo comment\nfoo\n#lon

Use "undef" as comment char if comments are not supported by the syntax of the configuration file. Comments will then be dropped.