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1 | package Moose::Cookbook::Extending::ExtensionOverview; |
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2 | |
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3 | # ABSTRACT: Moose extension overview |
4 | |
5 | __END__ |
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6 | |
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7 | |
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8 | =pod |
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9 | |
10 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
11 | |
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12 | Moose provides several ways in which extensions can hook into Moose |
13 | and change its behavior. Moose also has a lot of behavior that can be |
14 | changed. This recipe will provide an overview of each extension method |
15 | and give you some recommendations on what tools to use. |
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16 | |
17 | If you haven't yet read the recipes on metaclasses, go read those |
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18 | first. You can't write Moose extensions without understanding the |
19 | metaclasses, and those recipes also demonstrate some basic extension |
20 | mechanisms, such as metaclass subclasses and traits. |
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21 | |
22 | =head2 Playing Nice With Others |
23 | |
24 | One of the goals of this overview is to help you build extensions that |
25 | cooperate well with other extensions. This is especially important if |
26 | you plan to release your extension to CPAN. |
27 | |
28 | Moose comes with several modules that exist to help your write |
29 | cooperative extensions. These are L<Moose::Exporter> and |
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30 | L<Moose::Util::MetaRole>. By using these two modules, you will ensure |
31 | that your extension works with both the Moose core features and any |
32 | other CPAN extension using those modules. |
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33 | |
34 | =head1 PARTS OF Moose YOU CAN EXTEND |
35 | |
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36 | The types of things you might want to do in Moose extensions fall into |
37 | a few broad categories. |
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38 | |
39 | =head2 Metaclass Extensions |
40 | |
41 | One way of extending Moose is by extending one or more Moose |
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42 | metaclasses. For example, in L<Moose::Cookbook::Meta::Table_MetaclassTrait> we saw |
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43 | a metaclass role that added a C<table> attribute to the |
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44 | metaclass. If you were writing an ORM, this would be a logical |
45 | extension. |
46 | |
47 | Many of the Moose extensions on CPAN work by providing an attribute |
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48 | metaclass role. For example, the L<MooseX::Aliases> module |
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49 | provides an attribute metaclass trait that lets you specify aliases |
50 | to install for methods and attribute accessors. |
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51 | |
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52 | A metaclass extension can be packaged as a role/trait or a subclass. If you |
53 | can, we recommend using traits instead of subclasses, since it's much easier |
54 | to combine disparate traits than it is to combine a bunch of subclasses. |
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55 | |
56 | When your extensions are implemented as roles, you can apply them with |
57 | the L<Moose::Util::MetaRole> module. |
58 | |
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59 | =head2 Providing Sugar Functions |
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60 | |
61 | As part of a metaclass extension, you may also want to provide some |
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62 | sugar functions, just like L<Moose.pm|Moose> does. Moose provides a |
63 | helper module called L<Moose::Exporter> that makes this much |
64 | simpler. We will be use L<Moose::Exporter> in several of the extension |
65 | recipes. |
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66 | |
67 | =head2 Object Class Extensions |
68 | |
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69 | Another common Moose extension technique is to change the default object |
70 | class's behavior. As with metaclass extensions, this can be done with a |
71 | role/trait or with a subclass. For example, L<MooseX::StrictConstructor> |
72 | extension applies a trait that makes the constructor reject arguments which |
73 | don't match its attributes. |
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74 | |
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75 | Object class extensions often include metaclass extensions as well. In |
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76 | particular, if you want your object extension to work when a class is |
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77 | made immutable, you may need to modify the behavior of some or all of the |
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78 | L<Moose::Meta::Instance>, L<Moose::Meta::Method::Constructor>, and |
79 | L<Moose::Meta::Method::Destructor> objects. |
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80 | |
81 | The L<Moose::Util::MetaRole> module lets you apply roles to the base |
82 | object class, as well as the meta classes just mentioned. |
83 | |
84 | =head2 Providing a Role |
85 | |
86 | Some extensions come in the form of a role for you to consume. The |
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87 | L<MooseX::Object::Pluggable> extension is a great example of this. In |
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88 | fact, despite the C<MooseX> name, it does not actually change anything |
89 | about Moose's behavior. Instead, it is just a role that an object |
90 | which wants to be pluggable can consume. |
91 | |
92 | If you are implementing this sort of extension, you don't need to do |
93 | anything special. You simply create a role and document that it should |
94 | be used via the normal C<with> sugar: |
95 | |
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96 | package MyApp::User; |
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97 | |
98 | use Moose; |
99 | |
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100 | with 'My::Role'; |
101 | |
102 | Don't use "MooseX" in the name for such packages. |
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103 | |
104 | =head2 New Types |
105 | |
106 | Another common Moose extension is a new type for the Moose type |
107 | system. In this case, you simply create a type in your module. When |
108 | people load your module, the type is created, and they can refer to it |
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109 | by name after that. The L<MooseX::Types::URI> and |
110 | L<MooseX::Types::DateTime> distributions are two good examples of how |
111 | this works. These both build on top of the L<MooseX::Types> extension. |
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112 | |
113 | =head1 ROLES VS TRAITS VS SUBCLASSES |
114 | |
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115 | It is important to understand that B<roles and traits are the same thing>. A |
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116 | trait is simply a role applied to a instance. The only thing that may |
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117 | distinguish the two is that a trait can be packaged in a way that lets Moose |
118 | resolve a short name to a class name. In other words, with a trait, the caller |
119 | can refer to it by a short name like "Big", and Moose will resolve it to a |
120 | class like C<MooseX::Embiggen::Meta::Attribute::Role::Big>. |
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121 | |
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122 | See L<Moose::Cookbook::Meta::Labeled_AttributeTrait> and |
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123 | L<Moose::Cookbook::Meta::Table_MetaclassTrait> for examples of traits in |
124 | action. In particular, both of these recipes demonstrate the trait resolution |
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125 | mechanism. |
126 | |
127 | Implementing an extension as a (set of) metaclass or base object |
128 | role(s) will make your extension more cooperative. It is hard for an |
129 | end-user to effectively combine together multiple metaclass |
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130 | subclasses, but it is very easy to combine roles. |
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131 | |
132 | =head1 USING YOUR EXTENSION |
133 | |
134 | There are a number of ways in which an extension can be applied. In |
135 | some cases you can provide multiple ways of consuming your extension. |
136 | |
137 | =head2 Extensions as Metaclass Traits |
138 | |
139 | If your extension is available as a trait, you can ask end users to |
140 | simply specify it in a list of traits. Currently, this only works for |
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141 | (class) metaclass and attribute metaclass traits: |
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142 | |
143 | use Moose -traits => [ 'Big', 'Blue' ]; |
144 | |
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145 | has 'animal' => ( |
146 | traits => [ 'Big', 'Blue' ], |
147 | ... |
148 | ); |
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149 | |
150 | If your extension applies to any other metaclass, or the object base |
151 | class, you cannot use the trait mechanism. |
152 | |
153 | The benefit of the trait mechanism is that is very easy to see where a |
154 | trait is applied in the code, and consumers have fine-grained control |
155 | over what the trait applies to. This is especially true for attribute |
156 | traits, where you can apply the trait to just one attribute in a |
157 | class. |
158 | |
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159 | =head2 Extensions as Metaclass (and Base Object) Roles |
160 | |
161 | Implementing your extensions as metaclass roles makes your extensions |
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162 | easy to apply, and cooperative with other role-based extensions for |
163 | metaclasses. |
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164 | |
165 | Just as with a subclass, you will probably want to package your |
166 | extensions for consumption with a single module that uses |
167 | L<Moose::Exporter>. However, in this case, you will use |
168 | L<Moose::Util::MetaRole> to apply all of your roles. The advantage of |
169 | using this module is that I<it preserves any subclassing or roles |
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170 | already applied to the user's metaclasses>. This means that your |
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171 | extension is cooperative I<by default>, and consumers of your |
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172 | extension can easily use it with other role-based extensions. Most |
173 | uses of L<Moose::Util::MetaRole> can be handled by L<Moose::Exporter> |
174 | directly; see the L<Moose::Exporter> docs. |
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175 | |
176 | package MooseX::Embiggen; |
177 | |
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178 | use strict; |
179 | use warnings; |
180 | |
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181 | use Moose::Exporter; |
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182 | |
183 | use MooseX::Embiggen::Role::Meta::Class; |
184 | use MooseX::Embiggen::Role::Meta::Attribute; |
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185 | use MooseX::Embiggen::Role::Meta::Method::Constructor; |
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186 | use MooseX::Embiggen::Role::Object; |
187 | |
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188 | Moose::Exporter->setup_import_methods( |
189 | class_metaroles => { |
190 | class => ['MooseX::Embiggen::Role::Meta::Class'], |
191 | attribute => ['MooseX::Embiggen::Role::Meta::Attribute'], |
192 | constructor => |
193 | ['MooseX::Embiggen::Role::Meta::Method::Constructor'], |
194 | }, |
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195 | base_class_roles => ['MooseX::Embiggen::Role::Object'], |
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196 | ); |
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197 | |
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198 | As you can see from this example, you can use L<Moose::Util::MetaRole> |
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199 | to apply roles to any metaclass, as well as the base object class. If |
200 | some other extension has already applied its own roles, they will be |
201 | preserved when your extension applies its roles, and vice versa. |
202 | |
203 | =head2 Providing Sugar |
204 | |
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205 | With L<Moose::Exporter>, you can also export your own sugar functions: |
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206 | |
207 | package MooseX::Embiggen; |
208 | |
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209 | use strict; |
210 | use warnings; |
211 | |
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212 | use Moose::Exporter; |
213 | |
214 | Moose::Exporter->setup_import_methods( |
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215 | with_meta => ['embiggen'], |
216 | class_metaroles => { |
217 | class => ['MooseX::Embiggen::Role::Meta::Class'], |
218 | }, |
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219 | ); |
220 | |
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221 | sub embiggen { |
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222 | my $meta = shift; |
223 | $meta->embiggen(@_); |
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224 | } |
225 | |
226 | And then the consumer of your extension can use your C<embiggen> sub: |
227 | |
228 | package Consumer; |
229 | |
230 | use MooseX::Embiggen; |
231 | |
232 | extends 'Thing'; |
233 | |
234 | embiggen ...; |
235 | |
236 | This can be combined with metaclass and base class roles quite easily. |
237 | |
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238 | =head2 Extensions as Metaclass (and Base Object) Subclasses |
239 | |
240 | B<Note: We strongly recommend that you provide your extension as a set of |
241 | roles whenever possible>. |
242 | |
243 | Moose does not provide any simple APIs for consumers to use a subclass |
244 | extension, except for attribute metaclasses. The attribute declaration |
245 | options include a C<metaclass> option a consumer of your extension can |
246 | use to specify your subclass. |
247 | |
248 | This is one reason why implementing an extension as a subclass can be |
249 | a poor choice. However, you can force the use of certain subclasses at |
250 | import time by calling C<< Moose->init_meta >> for the caller, and |
251 | providing an alternate metaclass or base object class. |
252 | |
253 | If you do want to do this, you should look at using L<Moose::Exporter> |
254 | to re-export the L<Moose.pm|Moose> sugar function. With |
255 | L<Moose::Exporter>, if your exporting class has an C<init_meta> |
256 | method, L<Moose::Exporter> makes sure that this C<init_meta> method |
257 | gets called when your class is imported. |
258 | |
259 | Then in your C<init_meta> you can arrange for the caller to use your |
260 | subclasses: |
261 | |
262 | package MooseX::Embiggen; |
263 | |
264 | use Moose (); |
265 | use Moose::Exporter; |
266 | |
267 | use MooseX::Embiggen::Meta::Class; |
268 | use MooseX::Embiggen::Object; |
269 | |
270 | Moose::Exporter->setup_import_methods( also => 'Moose' ); |
271 | |
272 | sub init_meta { |
273 | shift; # just your package name |
274 | my %options = @_; |
275 | |
276 | return Moose->init_meta( |
277 | for_class => $options{for_class}, |
278 | metaclass => 'MooseX::Embiggen::Meta::Class', |
279 | base_class => 'MooseX::Embiggen::Object', |
280 | ); |
281 | } |
282 | |
283 | NOTE: Make sure that your C<init_meta> returns the metaclass object, just as |
284 | C<< Moose->init_meta >> does. |
285 | |
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286 | =head1 LEGACY EXTENSION MECHANISMS |
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287 | |
288 | Before the existence of L<Moose::Exporter> and |
289 | L<Moose::Util::MetaRole>, there were a number of other ways to extend |
290 | Moose. In general, these methods were less cooperative, and only |
291 | worked well with a single extension. |
292 | |
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293 | These methods include L<metaclass.pm|metaclass>, L<Moose::Policy> |
294 | (which uses L<metaclass.pm|metaclass> under the hood), and various |
295 | hacks to do what L<Moose::Exporter> does. Please do not use these for |
296 | your own extensions. |
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297 | |
298 | Note that if you write a cooperative extension, it should cooperate |
299 | with older extensions, though older extensions generally do not |
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300 | cooperate with each other. |
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301 | |
302 | =head1 CONCLUSION |
303 | |
304 | If you can write your extension as one or more metaclass and base |
305 | object roles, please consider doing so. Make sure to read the docs for |
306 | L<Moose::Exporter> and L<Moose::Util::MetaRole> as well. |
307 | |
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308 | =cut |