Problem with calling method new

[Sinister]

Hi,
I'm writing a module, which calls upon a base class like this:

package Voice::Calender;

use strict;
use base qw(Voice);

sub new {
  my ( $invocant, @jada ) = @_;
  my $class = ref($invocant) || $invocant;
  my $obj = { };
  bless $obj, $class;
}

Now when I call in a perl script this new method like this:

use strict;
use Voice::Calendar;
my $voice = Voice::Calendar->new();

I keep on getting this error: Can't call method "new" without a package or object reference at /www/voice/docs/cgi/calendar.cgi line 45, <PIPE> line 8 What could be my problem here?

Sinister greetings.
"With tying hashes you can do everything God and Larry have forbidden" -- Johan Vromans - YAPC::Europe 2001
perldoc -q $_

[chromatic]

Spell "Calendar" consistently. :)

Update: Seriously, there's a typo somewhere. The only way you get that message is if Perl can't resolve what's on the left side of a method call to a package name or an object.

[jlongino]

I assume you typo'd package Voice::Calender in the first snippet, but for others trying to cut/paste, it might cause a problem.

Yes, I know this is probably not the cause of the error you are getting. But it might help if others could see what line 8 of your code is. I assume it is the my $voice = Voice::Calendar->new(); statement.

@a=split??,'just lose the ego and get involved!';
for(split??,'afqtw{|~'){print $a[ord($_)-97]}

[Sinister]

The typo's are here only - sorry typed to fast...

Line 8 is indeed not what it seems, huh? I extracted the code out of my original script and it is indeed the invocing line...

I tried numerous things and it is bugging me out. Voice::Calendar is in @INC... - I am clueless!

Sinister greetings.
"With tying hashes you can do everything God and Larry have forbidden" -- Johan Vromans - YAPC::Europe 2001
perldoc -q $_

[jlongino]

I don't know much about OOP, but aren't you missing the return statement in your sub new()?

Update: chromatic explained to me that the constructor returns the value of the last expression. (the bless. Like I said, I don't know much, OOPS! :)

@a=split??,'just lose the ego and get involved!';
for(split??,'afqtw{|~'){print $a[ord($_)-97]}

[converter]

Quoth the Camel (3ed, p927):

You used the syntax of a method call, but the slot filled by the objec
+t reference or package name contains an expression that returns a def
+ined value that is neither an object reference nor a package name. So
+mething like this will reproduce the error:

$BADREF = 42;
process $BADREF 1,2,3;
$BADREF->process(1,2,3);

To make a long story short, you probably have a package named Voice, with a method named Calendar(). Instead of a class method invocation, you're calling &Voice::Calendar(), which returns something that is a true value, but not an object reference or package. Example:

$ perl -e 'package Foo::Bar; sub Foo {1}; sub Foo::Bar {1}; package ma
+in; Foo::Bar->Foo'
Can't call method "Foo" without a package or object reference at -e li
+ne 1.

To prevent this confusion, you can quote the package name:

'Foo::Bar'->Foo

conv

Update: Of course there's a package named Voice, I should read more carefully.

For fun: You could also have made the Calendar() method in the Voice package return 'Voice::Calendar', which Perl would take as the package name, but that would probably break other stuff. (:

[Sinister]

Quoting the package name did the trick!

Thanks, ever so much!
IOU a beer now!
I would have never found out myself!

Sinister greetings.
"With tying hashes you can do everything God and Larry have forbidden" -- Johan Vromans - YAPC::Europe 2001
perldoc -q $_

[dragonchild]

Is the directory that contains Voice::Calendar within @INC?

------
We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

[perrin]

You have a typo in your package statement.

[Sweeper]

Either you correct your typo, or you use Dave Cross's module Symbol::Approx::Sub :-)

And you could also read his speech at YAPC::Europe-2001 (Perl for the people).

BTW, he appears in perlmonks as davorg.

[davorg]

Heh! Thanks for the plug :)

The Perl For The People talk slides are online and you might also want to read a counter-argument.

Oh, and there was an article about Symbol::Approx::Sub in the last TPJ.

--
<http://www.dave.org.uk>

"The first rule of Perl club is you don't talk about Perl club."

[mitd]

To make it so perl can locate that pesky package.
1. Put your cgi script and your package files into your cgi-bin directory or if you can make a 'lib' dir off your cgi-bin dir and put your package(s) in there.
2. Add the following to your script code.

   use FindBin qw($Bin);
   use lib $Bin;
   or
   use lib "$Bin/lib";
   

mitd-Made in the Dark
'My favourite colour appears to be grey.'