note
philcrow
I think a factory is for when the caller knows what they want. Your case is different.
<p>
I find out which subclasses are available by scanning all or part of the @INC path list for modules in a given namespace. I do this once, as the app starts. Note that big @INC scans can be time prohibitive. In that case, I look to see which directory my parent module lives in by checking %INC, then look there for my children, making the big assumption that they get installed to the same place as the parent. It works for [cpan://Bigtop]'s tentmaker.
<p>
Phil
<!-- Node text goes above. Div tags should contain sig only -->
<div class="pmsig"><div class="pmsig-480254">
The <a href='http://stores.lulu.com/philcrow'>Gantry Web Framework Book</a> is now available.
</div></div>
650816
650816