XML::Simple oddness

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

Well I don't really know what to say about this one because its just a bit odd, It seems that XML::Simple makes XML::Parser::Expat try to use something as a GLOB ref when it not supposed to.

lemme explain in code. we have some XML:

<root>
  <ROW>
    <confHost>barbarasueseal.com</confHost>
    <confBlankImage>barbarasueseal.com</confBlankImage>
  </ROW>
...
</root>
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and we have a parser script useing XML::Simple:

use XML::Simple;
my($xmlstring)=<>;
my($xmlObj)=XML::Simple->new(noattr=>1);
my($dataref)=$xmlObj->XMLin($xmlstring);
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the above code works fine for parsing the above xml but if we use the same code but in side a mod_perl env and get the string from a posted param ala:

my($xmlstring)=$r->param('xmlString');
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It fails on my server with this:

Can't use string (" barba") as a symbol ref while "strict
refs" in use at /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.1/i586
linux/XML/Parser/Expat.pm line 456.
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Its kinda weird because XML::Simple/XML::Parser::Expat inside mod_perl it wants todo this:

      eval {
        $ioref = *{$arg}{IO};
      };
      undef $@;
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but anywhere else it does not do this, does anyone know of any problems with XML::Simple and mod_perl and if so do you know of any workarounds/fixes.

lindex

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