NAME

Data::Inflator - Convert arbitrary scalars to/from objects repeatably

SYNOPSIS

    use NetAddr::IP;
    
    my $ip          = Data::Inflator->new( class   => 'NetAddr::IP' );
    
    # get back NetAddr::IP->new('192.168.1.250')
    my $addr_obj    = $ip->inflate('192.168.1.250'); 
    
    #... do all kinds of fun things with $addr_obj
    
    # does default stringify on NetAddr::IP object
    my $addr_str    = $tp->deflate($addr_obj);     




    use Time::Piece;
    my $di_fancy = Data::Inflator->new( class    => 'Time::Piece',
                                         inflate => sub {
                                                      Time::Piece->strptime(shift, "%Y-%m-%d") 
                                                    },
                                         deflate => 'ymd' );
    
    my $time_piece  = $tp->inflate('2006-05-31'); # calls the inflate sub and passes '2006-05-31'
    $time_piece    += ONE_DAY;
    my $date_string = $tp->deflate($time_piece); # calls ymd method on Time::Piece object

DESCRIPTION

An class for creating objects that can inflate a scalar to object and deflate that same object back to a 
scalar reproducibly. The major database mappers that I have used (Class::DBI, Rose::DB::Object, Hibernate, 
etc) have the concept of inflating a value stored in a database into a more useful object upon retrieval. 
For example a string representing a date is extracted from postgresql or oracle and coerced "automagically" 
into a DateTime or Time::Piece object.

When it's time to save our information back to the database the object has to be in a format that is compatible 
with the column type. Producing this form is "deflating."

Inflate values from:

  * command line arguments
  * configuration files
  * web forms

CLASS METHODS

new

    my $ip_inflator   = Data::Inflator->new( class   => 'NetAddr::IP' );

    my $time_inflator = Data::Inflator->new( class   => 'Time::Piece',
                                             inflate => sub { Time::Piece->strptime(shift, "%Y-%m-%d") },
                                             deflate => 'ymd' );


The 'class' parameter is required and must be the name of a perl package.

Objects of the 'class' class are instantiated via '$class->new(@args)' or the method defined by the 'inflate' parameter.

'inflate' can be a string or a subroutine reference. When 'inflate' is a subroutine it will be executed, and will be passed the 
value and the object of the classClass::DBI object as arguments.

'deflate' follows the same rules as inflate. If no deflate is specified Data::Inflator attempts to stringify the object 
so unless your class overrides stringification you'll want to provie a deflate argument.


OBJECT METHODS

inflate

  Pass in the value to be inflated and receive an object.

  my $ip = $ipfactory->inflate('192.168.1.1')

deflate

  Pass in the object to be inflated and receive an string.

  my $ipstring = $ipfactory->deflate( $ip )