SYNOPSIS

use Data::Phrasebook;
my $q = Data::Phrasebook->new(
class => 'Fnerk',
loader => 'YAML',
file => 'phrases.yaml',
);
$q->delimiters( qr{ \[% \s* (\w+) \s* %\] }x );
my $phrase = $q->fetch($keyword);

DESCRIPTION

Phrases can be contained within one or more dictionaries, with each phrase accessible via a unique key. Phrases may contain placeholders, please see Data::Phrasebook for an explanation of how to use these. Groups of phrases are kept in a dictionary. In this implementation a single file is one complete dictionary.

An example YAML file:

  ---
  foo: >
    Welcome to [% my %] world.
    It is a nice [%place %].

Within the phrase text placeholders can be used, which are then replaced with the appropriate values once the get() method is called. The default style of placeholders can be altered using the delimiters() method.

INHERITANCE

METHODS

load

   $loader->load( $file, @dict );

This method is used internally by Data::Phrasebook::Generic's "data" method, to initialise the data store.

It must take a "file" (be it a scalar, or something more complex) and return a handle. The "dict" is optional, should you wish to use the dictionary support.

get

   my $value = $loader->get( $key );

If one or more named dictionaries have been previously selected, they will be searched in order, followed by the default dictionary. The first hit on "key" will be returned, otherwise "undef" is returned.

dicts

   my @dicts = $loader->dicts();

This is the list of all dictionaries available in the source file. If multiple dictionaries are not being used, then an empty list will be returned.

keywords

 my @keywords = $loader->keywords( $dict );

If one or more named dictionaries have been previously selected, they will be farmed for keywords, followed by the default dictionary.

The "dict" argument is optional, and may be used to override the search to a single named dictionary, or a list of dictionaries if passed by reference, plus the default dictionary of course.

To find all available keywords in all available dictionaries, use the following:

 $loader->keywords( [ $loader->dicts ] );

set_default

To override the automatically selected default dictionary use this method, and pass it a "default_dictionary_name". This value is only reset at phrasebook load time, so you'll probably need to trigger a reload:

 $q->loader->set_default( $default_dictionary_name );
 $q->loader->load( $file );

To reset the loader's behaviour to automatic default dictionary selection, pass this method an undefined value, and then reload.

DICTIONARY SUPPORT

Source data format for a single unnamed dictionary is a YAML stream that has as its root node an anonymous hash, like so:

 ---
 first_key: first_value
 second_key: second_value

In this case, specifying one or more named dictionaries will have no effect. The single dictionary that comprises the YAML file will take the place of your default dictionary, so will always be searched. To override this behaviour use the "set_default" object method.

Multiple dictionaries must be specified using a two-level hash system, where the root node of your YAML file is an anonymous hash containing dictionary names, and the values of those hash keys are further anonymous hashes containing the dictionary contents. Here is an example:

 ---
 dict_one:
    first_key: first_value
    second_key: second_value
 dict_two:
    first_key: first_value
    second_key: second_value

If you use any other structure for your YAML dictionary files, the result is uncertain, and this loader module is very likely to crash your program.

If a requested phrase is not found in the named dictionary an attempt is made to find it in the default dictionary. Data::Phrasebook loaders normally use the first dictionary in the phrasebook as the default, but this does not make sense because YAML phrasebook files contain an unordered hash of dictionaries.

This loader will therefore select the first dictionary from the list of lexically sorted dictionary names to be the default. To override this behaviour use the "set_default" object method. Alternatively, just include a dictionary that is guaranteed to be selected for the default (e.g. "0000default"); it need not contain any keys.

AUTHOR

  Original author: Iain Campbell Truskett (16.07.1979 - 29.12.2003)
  Maintainer: Barbie <[email protected]> since January 2004.
  for Miss Barbell Productions <http://www.missbarbell.co.uk>.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

  Copyright (C) 2003 Iain Truskett.
  Copyright (C) 2004-2014 Barbie for Miss Barbell Productions.
  This distribution is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  modify it under the Artistic License 2.0.