NAME
    Data::Serializer:: - Modules that serialize data structures

SYNOPSIS
      use Data::Serializer;
  
      $obj = Data::Serializer->new();

      $obj = Data::Serializer->new(
                              serializer => 'Storable',
                              digester   => 'MD5',
                              cipher     => 'DES',
                              secret     => 'my secret',
                              compress   => 1,
                            );

      $serialized = $obj->serialize({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});
      $deserialized = $obj->deserialize($serialized);
      print "$deserialized->{b}\n";

DESCRIPTION
    Provides a unified interface to the various serializing modules
    currently available. Adds the functionality of both compression and
    encryption.

EXAMPLES
    Please see Data::Serializer::Cookbook(3)

METHODS
        new - constructor
              $obj = Data::Serializer->new();

              $obj = Data::Serializer->new(
                                     serializer => 'Data::Dumper',
                                     digester   => 'SHA-256',
                                     cipher     => 'Blowfish',
                                     secret     => undef,
                                     portable   => '1',
                                     compress   => '0',
                               serializer_token => '1',
                                       options  => {},
                                    );

            new is the constructor object for Data::Serializer objects.

            *   The default *serializer* is "Data::Dumper"

            *   The default *digester* is "SHA-256"

            *   The default *cipher* is "Blowfish"

            *   The default *secret* is "undef"

            *   The default *portable* is 1

            *   The default *encoding* is "hex"

            *   The default *compress* is 0

            *   The default *serializer_token* is 1

            *   The default *options* is "{}" (pass nothing on to
                serializer)

        serialize - serialize reference
              $serialized = $obj->serialize({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});

            Serializes the reference specified.

            Will compress if compress is a true value.

            Will encrypt if secret is defined.

        deserialize - deserialize reference
              $deserialized = $obj->deserialize($serialized);

            Reverses the process of serialization and returns a copy of the
            original serialized reference.

        freeze - synonym for serialize
              $serialized = $obj->freeze({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});

        thaw - synonym for deserialize
              $deserialized = $obj->thaw($serialized);

        raw_serialize - serialize reference in raw form
              $serialized = $obj->raw_serialize({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});

            This is a straight pass through to the underlying serializer,
            nothing else is done. (no encoding, encryption, compression,
            etc)

        raw_deserialize - deserialize reference in raw form
              $deserialized = $obj->raw_deserialize($serialized);

            This is a straight pass through to the underlying serializer,
            nothing else is done. (no encoding, encryption, compression,
            etc)

        secret - specify secret for use with encryption
              $obj->secret('mysecret');

            Changes setting of secret for the Data::Serializer object. Can
            also be set in the constructor. If specified than the object
            will utilize encryption.

        portable - encodes/decodes serialized data
            Uses encoding method to ascii armor serialized data

            Aids in the portability of serialized data.

        compress - compression of data
            Compresses serialized data. Default is not to use it. Will
            compress if set to a true value $obj->compress(1);

        serializer - change the serializer
            Currently have 8 supported serializers: Storable, FreezeThaw,
            Data::Denter, Config::General, YAML, PHP::Serialization,
            XML::Dumper, and Data::Dumper.

            Default is to use Data::Dumper.

            Each serializer has its own caveat's about usage especially when
            dealing with cyclical data structures or CODE references. Please
            see the appropriate documentation in those modules for further
            information.

        cipher - change the cipher method
            Utilizes Crypt::CBC and can support any cipher method that it
            supports.

        digester - change digesting method
            Uses Digest so can support any digesting method that it
            supports. Digesting function is used internally by the
            encryption routine as part of data verification.

        encoding - change encoding method
            Encodes data structure in ascii friendly manner. Currently the
            only valid options are hex, or b64.

            The b64 option uses Base64 encoding provided by MIME::Base64,
            but strips out newlines.

        serializer_token - add usage hint to data
            Data::Serializer prepends a token that identifies what was used
            to process its data. This is used internally to allow runtime
            determination of how to extract Serialized data. Disabling this
            feature is not recommended.

        options - pass options through to underlying serializer
            Currently is only supported by Config::General, and XML::Dumper.

              my $obj = Data::Serializer->new(serializer => 'Config::General',
                                              options    => {
                                                         -LowerCaseNames       => 1,
                                                         -UseApacheInclude     => 1,
                                                         -MergeDuplicateBlocks => 1,
                                                         -AutoTrue             => 1,
                                                         -InterPolateVars      => 1
                                                            },
                                                          ) or die "$!\n";

              or

              my $obj = Data::Serializer->new(serializer => 'XML::Dumper',
                                              options    => { dtd => 1, }
                                              ) or die "$!\n";

        store - serialize data and write it to a file (or file handle)
              $obj->store({a => [1,2,3],b => 5},$file, [$mode, $perm]);

              or 

              $obj->store({a => [1,2,3],b => 5},$fh);

            Serializes the reference specified using the serialize method
            and writes it out to the specified file or filehandle.

            If a file path is specified you may specify an optional mode and
            permission as the next two arguments. See IO::File for examples.

            Trips an exception if it is unable to write to the specified
            file.

        retrieve - read data from file (or file handle) and return it after
        deserialization
              my $ref = $obj->retrieve($file);

              or 

              my $ref = $obj->retrieve($fh);

            Reads first line of supplied file or filehandle and returns it
            deserialized.

TRANSIENCE
        Data::Serializer is aware of Tie::Transient. What this means is that
        you use Tie::Transient as normal, and when your object is
        serialized, the transient components will be automatically removed
        for you.

        Tie::Transient is not on CPAN, and doesn't look like it ever will
        be. With the advent of attributes from 5.8 this feature should
        probably be deprecated anyway.

        If you would like to use Tie::Transient you can download it directly
        from Brian's site here:
        http://www.maz.org/perl/Tie-Transient-0.05.tar.gz

        With perl attributes in 5.8, this should probably be deprecated.

AUTHOR
        Neil Neely <neil@frii.net>.

        Feature requests are certainly welcome.

BUGS
        Please report all bugs here:

        http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Data-Serializer

TODO
        Phase out support for Tie::Transient

        Extend the persistent framework. Perhaps Persistent::Base(3)
        framework would be useful to explore further. Volunteers for putting
        this together would be welcome.

COPYRIGHT
        Copyright (c) 2001-2005 Neil Neely. All rights reserved.

        This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
        it under the same terms as Perl itself.

        See http://www.perl.com/language/misc/Artistic.html

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
        Gurusamy Sarathy and Raphael Manfredi for writing MLDBM, the module
        which inspired the creation of Data::Serializer.

        And thanks to all of you who have provided the feedback that has
        improved this module over the years.

        In particular I'd like to thank Florian Helmberger, for the numerous
        suggestions and bug fixes.

DEDICATION
        This module is dedicated to my beautiful wife Erica.

SEE ALSO
        Data::Dumper(3)
        Data::Denter(3)
        Data::Taxi(3)
        Storable(3)
        FreezeThaw(3)
        Config::General(3)
        YAML(3)
        PHP::Serialization(3)
        XML::Dumper(3)
        Compress::Zlib(3)
        Digest(3)
        Digest::SHA(3)
        Crypt(3)
        MIME::Base64(3)
        IO::File(3)
        Tie::Transient(3)

