NAME

    Sentinel - create lightweight SCALARs with get/set callbacks

SYNOPSIS

       package Some::Class;
    
       use Sentinel;
    
       sub foo :lvalue
       {
          my $self = shift;
          sentinel get => sub { return $self->get_foo },
                   set => sub { $self->set_foo( $_[0] ) };
       }
    
       sub bar :lvalue
       {
          my $self = shift;
          sentinel value => $self->get_bar,
                   set   => sub { $self->set_bar( $_[0] ) };
       }
    
       sub splot :lvalue
       {
          sentinel obj => shift, get => \&get_splot, set => \&set_splot;
       }
    
       sub wibble :lvalue
       {
          sentinel obj => shift, get => "get_wibble", set => "set_wibble";
       }

DESCRIPTION

    This module provides a single lvalue function, sentinel, which yields a
    scalar that invoke callbacks to get or set its value. Primarily this is
    useful to create lvalue object accessors or other functions, to invoke
    actual code when a new value is set, rather than simply updating a
    scalar variable.

FUNCTIONS

 sentinel

       $scalar = sentinel %args

    Returns (as an lvalue) a scalar with magic attached to it. This magic
    is used to get the value of the scalar, or to inform of a new value
    being set, by invoking callback functions supplied to the sentinel.
    Takes the following named arguments:

    get => CODE

      A CODE reference or obj method name to invoke when the value of the
      scalar is read, to obtain its value. The value returned from this
      code will appear as the value of the scalar.

    set => CODE

      A CODE reference or obj method name to invoke when a new value for
      the scalar is written. The code will be passed the new value as its
      only argument.

    value => SCALAR

      If no get callback is provided, this value is given as the initial
      value of the scalar. If the scalar manages to survive longer than a
      single assignment, its value on read will retain the last value set
      to it.

    obj => SCALAR

      Optional value to pass as the first argument into the get and set
      callbacks. If this value is provided, then the get and set callbacks
      may be given as direct sub references to object methods, or simply
      method names, rather than closures that capture the referent object.
      This avoids the runtime overhead of creating lots of small one-use
      closures around the object.

MUTATION ACCESSORS

    A useful behaviour of this module is generation of mutation accessor
    methods that automatically wrap get_/set_ accessor/mutator pairs:

       foreach (qw( name address age height )) {
          my $name = $_;
    
          no strict 'refs';
          *$name = sub :lvalue {
             sentinel obj => shift, get => "get_$name", set => "set_$name";
          };
       }

    This is especially useful for methods whose values are simple strings
    or numbers, because they allow Perl's rich set of mutation operators to
    be applied to the object's values.

       $obj->name =~ s/-/_/g;
    
       substr( $obj->address, 100 ) = "";
    
       $obj->age++;
    
       $obj->height /= 100;

XS vs PUREPERL

    If an XS compiler is available at build time, this module is
    implemented using XS. If not, it falls back on an implementation using
    a tied scalar. A pureperl installation can also be requested at build
    time by passing the --pp argument to Build.PL:

       $ perl Build.PL --pp
       $ ./Build

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    With thanks to leont, Zefram, and others from irc.perl.org/#p5p for
    assisting with trickier bits of XS logic. Thanks to mst for suggesting
    a pureperl implementation for XS-challenged systems.

AUTHOR

    Paul Evans <leonerd@leonerd.org.uk>

