NAME
Safe::Isa - Call isa, can, does and DOES safely on things that may not
be objects
SYNOPSIS
use strict;
use warnings;
{ package Foo; sub new { bless({}, $_[0]) } }
{ package Bar; our @ISA = qw(Foo); sub bar { 1 } }
my $foo = Foo->new;
my $bar = Bar->new;
my $blam = [ 42 ];
# basic isa usage -
$foo->isa('Foo'); # true
$bar->isa('Foo'); # true
$blam->isa('Foo'); # BOOM
$foo->can('bar'); # false
$bar->can('bar'); # true
$blam->can('bar'); # BOOM
# Safe::Isa usage -
use Safe::Isa;
$foo->$_isa('Foo'); # true
$bar->$_isa('Foo'); # true
$blam->$_isa('Foo'); # false, no boom today
$foo->$_can('bar'); # false
$bar->$_can('bar'); # true
$blam->$_can('bar'); # false, no boom today
Similarly:
$maybe_an_object->$_does('RoleName'); # true or false, no boom today
$maybe_an_object->$_DOES('RoleName'); # true or false, no boom today
And just in case we missed a method or two:
$maybe_an_object->$_call_if_object(name => @args);
$maybe_an_object->$_call_if_can(name => @args);
Or to re-use a previous example for purposes of explication:
$foo->$_call_if_object(isa => 'Foo'); # true
$bar->$_call_if_object(isa => 'Foo'); # true
$blam->$_call_if_object(isa => 'Foo'); # false, no boom today
DESCRIPTION
How many times have you found yourself writing:
if ($obj->isa('Something')) {
and then shortly afterwards cursing and changing it to:
if (Scalar::Util::blessed($obj) and $obj->isa('Something')) {
Right. That's why this module exists.
Since perl allows us to provide a subroutine reference or a method name
to the -> operator when used as a method call, and a subroutine doesn't
require the invocant to actually be an object, we can create safe
versions of isa, can and friends by using a subroutine reference that
only tries to call the method if it's used on an object. So:
my $isa_Foo = $maybe_an_object->$_call_if_object(isa => 'Foo');
is equivalent to
my $isa_Foo = do {
if (Scalar::Util::blessed($maybe_an_object)) {
$maybe_an_object->isa('Foo');
} else {
undef;
}
};
Note that we don't handle trying class names, because many things are
valid class names that you might not want to treat as one (like say
"Matt") - the "is_module_name" function from Module::Runtime is a good
way to check for something you might be able to call methods on if you
want to do that.
We are careful to make sure that scalar/list context is preserved for
the method that is eventually called.
EXPORTS
$_isa
$maybe_an_object->$_isa('Foo');
If called on an object, calls "isa" on it and returns the result,
otherwise returns nothing.
$_can
$maybe_an_object->$_can('Foo');
If called on an object, calls "can" on it and returns the result,
otherwise returns nothing.
$_does
$maybe_an_object->$_does('Foo');
If called on an object, calls "does" on it and returns the result,
otherwise returns nothing. If the "does" method does not exist, returns
nothing rather than failing.
$_DOES
$maybe_an_object->$_DOES('Foo');
If called on an object, calls "DOES" on it and returns the result,
otherwise returns nothing. On perl versions prior to 5.10.0, the built
in core "DOES" method doesn't exist. If the method doesn't exist, this
will fall back to calling "isa" just like the core "DOES" method.
$_call_if_object
$maybe_an_object->$_call_if_object(method_name => @args);
If called on an object, calls "method_name" on it and returns the
result, otherwise returns nothing.
$_call_if_can
$maybe_an_object->$_call_if_can(name => @args);
If called on an object, calls "can" on it; if that returns true, then
calls "method_name" on it and returns the result; if any condition is
false returns nothing.
SEE ALSO
I gave a lightning talk on this module (and curry and Import::Into) at
YAPC::NA 2013 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFXWV2yY7gE&t=46m05s>.
AUTHOR
mst - Matt S. Trout (cpan:MSTROUT) <mst@shadowcat.co.uk>
CONTRIBUTORS
None yet. Well volunteered? :)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2012 the Safe::Isa "AUTHOR" and "CONTRIBUTORS" as listed
above.
LICENSE
This library is free software and may be distributed under the same
terms as perl itself.