SYNOPSIS

# Implement ItemContainerI
# $foo is any ItemContainerI (current implementations are DocSum and Item itself)

while (my $item = $foo->next_Item) { # iterate through contained Items
# do stuff here
}

@items = $foo->get_Items; # all Items in the container (hierarchy intact)
@items = $foo->get_all_Items; # all Items in the container (flattened)
@items = $foo->get_Items_by_name('bar'); # Specifically named Items
($content) = $foo->get_contents_by_name('bar'); # content from specific Items
($type) = $foo->get_type_by_name('bar'); # data type from specific Items

DESCRIPTION

This is the basic class for Document Summary data from NCBI eUtils, returned from esummary. This implements the simple ItemContainerI interface.

FEEDBACK

Mailing Lists

User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably to one of the Bioperl mailing lists. Your participation is much appreciated.

  [email protected]               - General discussion
  http://www.bioperl.org/wiki/Mailing_lists  - About the mailing lists

Support

Please direct usage questions or support issues to the mailing list:

[email protected]

rather than to the module maintainer directly. Many experienced and reponsive experts will be able look at the problem and quickly address it. Please include a thorough description of the problem with code and data examples if at all possible.

Reporting Bugs

Report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track the bugs and their resolution. Bug reports can be submitted via the web.

  https://redmine.open-bio.org/projects/bioperl/

AUTHOR Chris Fields

Email cjfields at bioperl dot org

APPENDIX

The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods. Internal methods are usually preceded with a _

new

 Title    : new
 Usage    : 
 Function : 
 Returns  : 
 Args     :

get_ids

 Title    : get_ids
 Usage    : my ($id) = $item->get_ids;
 Function : returns array or array ref with id
 Returns  : array or array ref
 Args     : none
 Note     : the behavior of this method remains consistent with other
            implementations of get_ids(). To retrieve the single DocSum ID
            use get_id()

get_id

 Title    : get_id
 Usage    : my ($id) = $item->get_id;
 Function : returns UID of record
 Returns  : integer
 Args     : none

ItemContainerI methods

next_Item

 Title    : next_Item
 Usage    : while (my $item = $docsum->next_Item) {...}
 Function : iterates through Items (nested layer of Item)
 Returns  : single Item
 Args     : [optional] single arg (string)
            'flatten' - iterates through a flattened list ala
                          get_all_DocSum_Items()

get_Items

 Title    : get_Items
 Usage    : my @items = $docsum->get_Items
 Function : returns list of, well, Items
 Returns  : array of Items
 Args     : none

get_all_Items

 Title    : get_all_Items
 Usage    : my @items = $docsum->get_all_Items
 Function : returns flattened list of all Item objects (Items, ListItems,
            StructureItems)
 Returns  : array of Items
 Args     : none
 Note     : items are added top-down (similar order to using nested calls)
            in original list order.
             1         2        7        8
           Item  -   Item  -  Item  -  Item ...
                     |
                    | 3        6
                 ListItem - ListItem
                   |
                  | 4          5
               Structure - Structure

get_all_names

 Title    : get_all_names
 Usage    : my @names = get_all_names()
 Function : Returns an array of names for all Item(s) in DocSum.
 Returns  : array of unique strings
 Args     : none

get_Items_by_name

 Title    : get_Items_by_name
 Usage    : my @items = get_Items_by_name('CreateDate')
 Function : Returns named Item(s) in DocSum (indicated by passed argument)
 Returns  : array of Item objects
 Args     : string (Item name)

get_contents_by_name

 Title    : get_contents_by_name
 Usage    : my ($data) = get_contents_by_name('CreateDate')
 Function : Returns content for named Item(s) in DocSum (indicated by
            passed argument)
 Returns  : array of values (type varies per Item)
 Args     : string (Item name)

get_type_by_name

 Title    : get_type_by_name
 Usage    : my $data = get_type_by_name('CreateDate')
 Function : Returns data type for named Item in DocSum (indicated by
            passed argument)
 Returns  : scalar value (string) if present
 Args     : string (Item name)

rewind

 Title    : rewind
 Usage    : $docsum->rewind();
 Function : rewinds DocSum iterator
 Returns  : none
 Args     : [optional]
           'recursive' - rewind all DocSum object layers
                         (Items, ListItems, StructureItems)

to_string

 Title    : to_string
 Usage    : $foo->to_string()
 Function : converts current object to string
 Returns  : none
 Args     : (optional) simple data for text formatting
 Note     : Used generally for debugging and for various print methods