Commit | Line | Data |
8d38e631 |
1 | =pod |
2 | |
3 | =head1 NAME |
4 | |
6c384d50 |
5 | Moose::Manual::Attributes - Object attributes with Moose |
8d38e631 |
6 | |
7 | =head1 INTRODUCTION |
8 | |
0c38f882 |
9 | Moose attributes have many properties, and attributes are probably the |
10 | single most powerful and flexible part of Moose. You can create a |
11 | powerful class simply by declaring attributes. In fact, it's possible |
12 | to have classes that consist solely of attribute declarations. |
8d38e631 |
13 | |
0c38f882 |
14 | An attribute is a property that every member of a class has. For |
c5934de1 |
15 | example, we might say that "every C<Person> object has a first name and |
16 | last name". Attributes can be optional, so that we can say "some C<Person> |
8d38e631 |
17 | objects have a social security number (and some don't)". |
18 | |
d4b96efa |
19 | At its simplest, an attribute can be thought of as a named value (as |
20 | in a hash) that can be read and set. However, attributes can also have |
21 | defaults, type constraints, delegation and much more. |
8d38e631 |
22 | |
0c38f882 |
23 | In other languages, attributes are also referred to as slots or |
24 | properties. |
25 | |
0b9488c8 |
26 | =head1 ATTRIBUTE OPTIONS |
8d38e631 |
27 | |
28 | Use the C<has> function to declare an attribute: |
29 | |
30 | package Person; |
31 | |
32 | use Moose; |
33 | |
34 | has 'first_name' => ( is => 'rw' ); |
35 | |
c5934de1 |
36 | This says that all C<Person> objects have an optional read-write |
d4b96efa |
37 | "first_name" attribute. |
8d38e631 |
38 | |
dab94063 |
39 | =head2 Read-write vs. read-only |
8d38e631 |
40 | |
0c38f882 |
41 | The options passed to C<has> define the properties of the |
dab94063 |
42 | attribute. There are many options, but in the simplest form you just |
0c38f882 |
43 | need to set C<is>, which can be either C<rw> (read-write) or C<ro> |
0eacfd89 |
44 | (read-only). C<rw> permits mutation of the attribute's value using the |
45 | accessor. C<ro> does not; you may only read the current value of the |
46 | attribute. |
8d38e631 |
47 | |
0c38f882 |
48 | (In fact, you could even omit C<is>, but that gives you an attribute |
49 | that has no accessors, which is pointless unless you're doing some |
50 | deep, dark magic). |
8d38e631 |
51 | |
d67ce58f |
52 | =head2 Accessor methods |
8d38e631 |
53 | |
54 | Each attribute has one or more accessor methods. An accessor lets you |
d4b96efa |
55 | read and write the value of that attribute for an object. |
8d38e631 |
56 | |
57 | By default, the accessor method has the same name as the attribute. If |
58 | you declared your attribute as C<ro> then your accessor will be |
59 | read-only. If you declared it read-write, you get a read-write |
60 | accessor. Simple. |
61 | |
c5934de1 |
62 | Given our C<Person> example above, we now have a single C<first_name> |
63 | accessor that can read or write a C<Person> object's C<first_name> |
64 | attribute's value. |
8d38e631 |
65 | |
66 | If you want, you can also explicitly specify the method names to be |
0b9488c8 |
67 | used for reading and writing an attribute's value. This is |
636f25f3 |
68 | particularly handy when you'd like an attribute to be publicly |
8d38e631 |
69 | readable, but only privately settable. For example: |
70 | |
d983b81e |
71 | has 'weight' => ( |
dab94063 |
72 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
73 | writer => '_set_weight', |
74 | ); |
8d38e631 |
75 | |
dab94063 |
76 | This might be useful if weight is calculated based on other methods. |
77 | For example, every time the C<eat> method is called, we might adjust |
8d38e631 |
78 | weight. This lets us hide the implementation details of weight |
79 | changes, but still provide the weight value to users of the class. |
80 | |
0b9488c8 |
81 | Some people might prefer to have distinct methods for reading and |
d4b96efa |
82 | writing. In I<Perl Best Practices>, Damian Conway recommends that |
83 | reader methods start with "get_" and writer methods start with "set_". |
8d38e631 |
84 | |
85 | We can do exactly that by providing names for both the C<reader> and |
86 | C<writer> methods: |
87 | |
d983b81e |
88 | has 'weight' => ( |
89 | is => 'rw', |
90 | reader => 'get_weight', |
91 | writer => 'set_weight', |
92 | ); |
8d38e631 |
93 | |
94 | If you're thinking that doing this over and over would be insanely |
95 | tedious, you're right! Fortunately, Moose provides a powerful |
dab94063 |
96 | extension system that lets you override the default naming |
0c38f882 |
97 | conventions. See L<Moose::Manual::MooseX> for more details. |
8d38e631 |
98 | |
d67ce58f |
99 | =head2 Predicate and clearer methods |
8d38e631 |
100 | |
d4b96efa |
101 | Moose allows you to explicitly distinguish between a false or |
0c38f882 |
102 | undefined attribute value and an attribute which has not been set. If |
103 | you want to access this information, you must define clearer and |
d4b96efa |
104 | predicate methods for an attribute. |
8d38e631 |
105 | |
d4b96efa |
106 | A predicate method tells you whether or not a given attribute is |
dab94063 |
107 | currently set. Note that an attribute can be explicitly set to |
108 | C<undef> or some other false value, but the predicate will return |
109 | true. |
8d38e631 |
110 | |
111 | The clearer method unsets the attribute. This is I<not> the |
112 | same as setting the value to C<undef>, but you can only distinguish |
113 | between them if you define a predicate method! |
114 | |
115 | Here's some code to illustrate the relationship between an accessor, |
116 | predicate, and clearer method. |
117 | |
118 | package Person; |
119 | |
120 | use Moose; |
121 | |
d983b81e |
122 | has 'ssn' => ( |
123 | is => 'rw', |
124 | clearer => 'clear_ssn', |
125 | predicate => 'has_ssn', |
126 | ); |
8d38e631 |
127 | |
128 | ... |
129 | |
130 | my $person = Person->new(); |
131 | $person->has_ssn; # false |
132 | |
133 | $person->ssn(undef); |
134 | $person->ssn; # returns undef |
135 | $person->has_ssn; # true |
136 | |
137 | $person->clear_ssn; |
138 | $person->ssn; # returns undef |
139 | $person->has_ssn; # false |
140 | |
141 | $person->ssn('123-45-6789'); |
142 | $person->ssn; # returns '123-45-6789' |
143 | $person->has_ssn; # true |
144 | |
145 | my $person2 = Person->new( ssn => '111-22-3333'); |
146 | $person2->has_ssn; # true |
147 | |
b169aa0b |
148 | By default, Moose does not make a predicate or clearer for you. You must |
149 | explicitly provide names for them, and then Moose will create the methods |
150 | for you. |
8d38e631 |
151 | |
d67ce58f |
152 | =head2 Required or not? |
8d38e631 |
153 | |
d4b96efa |
154 | By default, all attributes are optional, and do not need to be |
155 | provided at object construction time. If you want to make an attribute |
156 | required, simply set the C<required> option to true: |
8d38e631 |
157 | |
d983b81e |
158 | has 'name' => ( |
f977e776 |
159 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
160 | required => 1, |
161 | ); |
8d38e631 |
162 | |
163 | There are a couple caveats worth mentioning in regards to what |
c5934de1 |
164 | "required" actually means. |
8d38e631 |
165 | |
81bec8f8 |
166 | Basically, all it says is that this attribute (C<name>) must be provided to |
167 | the constructor, or be lazy with either a default or a builder. It does not |
168 | say anything about its value, so it could be C<undef>. |
8d38e631 |
169 | |
170 | If you define a clearer method on a required attribute, the clearer |
d4b96efa |
171 | I<will> work, so even a required attribute can be unset after object |
172 | construction. |
8d38e631 |
173 | |
d4b96efa |
174 | This means that if you do make an attribute required, providing a |
175 | clearer doesn't make much sense. In some cases, it might be handy to |
176 | have a I<private> C<clearer> and C<predicate> for a required |
177 | attribute. |
8d38e631 |
178 | |
d67ce58f |
179 | =head2 Default and builder methods |
8d38e631 |
180 | |
d4b96efa |
181 | Attributes can have default values, and Moose provides two ways to |
182 | specify that default. |
8d38e631 |
183 | |
184 | In the simplest form, you simply provide a non-reference scalar value |
0b9488c8 |
185 | for the C<default> option: |
8d38e631 |
186 | |
d983b81e |
187 | has 'size' => ( |
f977e776 |
188 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
189 | default => 'medium', |
190 | predicate => 'has_size', |
191 | ); |
8d38e631 |
192 | |
193 | If the size attribute is not provided to the constructor, then it ends |
c5934de1 |
194 | up being set to C<medium>: |
8d38e631 |
195 | |
196 | my $person = Person->new(); |
197 | $person->size; # medium |
198 | $person->has_size; # true |
199 | |
0b9488c8 |
200 | You can also provide a subroutine reference for C<default>. This |
0c38f882 |
201 | reference will be called as a method on the object. |
8d38e631 |
202 | |
d983b81e |
203 | has 'size' => ( |
f977e776 |
204 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
205 | default => |
206 | sub { ( 'small', 'medium', 'large' )[ int( rand 3 ) ] }, |
207 | predicate => 'has_size', |
208 | ); |
8d38e631 |
209 | |
210 | This is dumb example, but it illustrates the point that the subroutine |
211 | will be called for every new object created. |
212 | |
9e8cb6f7 |
213 | When you provide a C<default> subroutine reference, it is called as a |
214 | method on the object, with no additional parameters: |
215 | |
216 | has 'size' => ( |
f977e776 |
217 | is => 'ro', |
9e8cb6f7 |
218 | default => sub { |
219 | my $self = shift; |
220 | |
221 | return $self->height > 200 ? 'big' : 'average'; |
222 | }, |
223 | ); |
224 | |
225 | When the C<default> is called during object construction, it may be |
226 | called before other attributes have been set. If your default is |
227 | dependent on other parts of the object's state, you can make the |
228 | attribute C<lazy>. Laziness is covered in the next section. |
8d38e631 |
229 | |
230 | If you want to use a reference of any sort as the default value, you |
231 | must return it from a subroutine. This is necessary because otherwise |
232 | Perl would instantiate the reference exactly once, and it would be |
233 | shared by all objects: |
234 | |
d983b81e |
235 | has 'mapping' => ( |
f977e776 |
236 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
237 | default => {}, # wrong! |
238 | ); |
8d38e631 |
239 | |
d4b96efa |
240 | Moose will throw an error if you pass a bare non-subroutine reference |
241 | as the default. |
242 | |
8d38e631 |
243 | If Moose allowed this then the default mapping attribute could easily |
244 | end up shared across many objects. Instead, wrap it in a subroutine |
245 | reference: |
246 | |
d983b81e |
247 | has 'mapping' => ( |
f977e776 |
248 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
249 | default => sub { {} }, # right! |
250 | ); |
8d38e631 |
251 | |
252 | This is a bit awkward, but it's just the way Perl works. |
253 | |
254 | As an alternative to using a subroutine reference, you can instead |
0b9488c8 |
255 | supply a C<builder> method for your attribute: |
8d38e631 |
256 | |
d983b81e |
257 | has 'size' => ( |
f977e776 |
258 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
259 | builder => '_build_size', |
260 | predicate => 'has_size', |
261 | ); |
8d38e631 |
262 | |
263 | sub _build_size { |
d983b81e |
264 | return ( 'small', 'medium', 'large' )[ int( rand 3 ) ]; |
8d38e631 |
265 | } |
266 | |
267 | This has several advantages. First, it moves a chunk of code to its |
268 | own named method, which improves readability and code |
ba5d9201 |
269 | organization. |
8d38e631 |
270 | |
0b9488c8 |
271 | We strongly recommend that you use a C<builder> instead of a |
272 | C<default> for anything beyond the most trivial default. |
8d38e631 |
273 | |
9e8cb6f7 |
274 | A C<builder>, just like a C<default>, is called as a method on the |
275 | object with no additional parameters. |
276 | |
ba5d9201 |
277 | =head3 Builders allow subclassing |
278 | |
279 | Because the C<builder> is called I<by name>, it goes through Perl's |
280 | method resolution. This means that builder methods are both |
281 | inheritable and overridable. |
282 | |
283 | If we subclass our C<Person> class, we can override C<_build_size>: |
284 | |
285 | package Lilliputian; |
286 | |
287 | use Moose; |
288 | extends 'Person'; |
289 | |
290 | sub _build_size { return 'small' } |
291 | |
292 | =head3 Builders can be composed from roles |
293 | |
294 | Because builders are called by name, they work well with roles. For |
295 | example, a role could provide an attribute but require that the |
296 | consuming class provide the C<builder>: |
297 | |
298 | package HasSize; |
299 | use Moose::Role; |
300 | |
301 | requires '_build_size'; |
302 | |
303 | has 'size' => ( |
304 | is => 'ro', |
305 | lazy => 1, |
237e5f60 |
306 | builder => '_build_size', |
ba5d9201 |
307 | ); |
308 | |
309 | package Lilliputian; |
310 | use Moose; |
311 | |
312 | with 'HasSize'; |
313 | |
314 | sub _build_size { return 'small' } |
315 | |
316 | Roles are covered in L<Moose::Manual::Roles>. |
317 | |
d67ce58f |
318 | =head2 Laziness and C<lazy_build> |
8d38e631 |
319 | |
0b9488c8 |
320 | Moose lets you defer attribute population by making an attribute |
321 | C<lazy>: |
8d38e631 |
322 | |
d983b81e |
323 | has 'size' => ( |
f977e776 |
324 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
325 | lazy => 1, |
326 | builder => '_build_size', |
327 | ); |
8d38e631 |
328 | |
0c38f882 |
329 | When C<lazy> is true, the default is not generated until the reader |
d4b96efa |
330 | method is called, rather than at object construction time. There are |
331 | several reasons you might choose to do this. |
8d38e631 |
332 | |
333 | First, if the default value for this attribute depends on some other |
0b9488c8 |
334 | attributes, then the attribute I<must> be C<lazy>. During object |
d4b96efa |
335 | construction, defaults are not generated in a predictable order, so |
0c38f882 |
336 | you cannot count on some other attribute being populated when |
337 | generating a default. |
8d38e631 |
338 | |
d4b96efa |
339 | Second, there's often no reason to calculate a default before it's |
340 | needed. Making an attribute C<lazy> lets you defer the cost until the |
341 | attribute is needed. If the attribute is I<never> needed, you save |
342 | some CPU time. |
8d38e631 |
343 | |
344 | We recommend that you make any attribute with a builder or non-trivial |
0b9488c8 |
345 | default C<lazy> as a matter of course. |
8d38e631 |
346 | |
347 | To facilitate this, you can simply specify the C<lazy_build> attribute |
348 | option. This bundles up a number of options together: |
349 | |
d983b81e |
350 | has 'size' => ( |
f977e776 |
351 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
352 | lazy_build => 1, |
353 | ); |
8d38e631 |
354 | |
355 | This is the same as specifying all of these options: |
356 | |
d983b81e |
357 | has 'size' => ( |
f977e776 |
358 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
359 | lazy => 1, |
360 | builder => '_build_size', |
361 | clearer => 'clear_size', |
362 | predicate => 'has_size', |
363 | ); |
8d38e631 |
364 | |
0c39debe |
365 | If your attribute name starts with an underscore (C<_>), then the clearer |
8d38e631 |
366 | and predicate will as well: |
367 | |
d983b81e |
368 | has '_size' => ( |
f977e776 |
369 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
370 | lazy_build => 1, |
371 | ); |
8d38e631 |
372 | |
0b9488c8 |
373 | becomes: |
8d38e631 |
374 | |
d983b81e |
375 | has '_size' => ( |
f977e776 |
376 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
377 | lazy => 1, |
378 | builder => '_build__size', |
379 | clearer => '_clear_size', |
380 | predicate => '_has_size', |
381 | ); |
8d38e631 |
382 | |
0b9488c8 |
383 | Note the doubled underscore in the builder name. Internally, Moose |
384 | simply prepends the attribute name with "_build_" to come up with the |
385 | builder name. |
8d38e631 |
386 | |
0b9488c8 |
387 | If you don't like the names that C<lazy_build> generates, you can |
388 | always provide your own: |
389 | |
d983b81e |
390 | has 'size' => ( |
f977e776 |
391 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
392 | lazy_build => 1, |
393 | clearer => '_clear_size', |
394 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
395 | |
396 | Options that you explicitly provide are always used in favor of |
397 | Moose's internal defaults. |
398 | |
d67ce58f |
399 | =head2 Constructor parameters (C<init_arg>) |
d4b96efa |
400 | |
401 | By default, each attribute can be passed by name to the class's |
636f25f3 |
402 | constructor. On occasion, you may want to use a different name for |
d4b96efa |
403 | the constructor parameter. You may also want to make an attribute |
0c38f882 |
404 | unsettable via the constructor. |
d4b96efa |
405 | |
0c38f882 |
406 | Both of these goals can be accomplished with the C<init_arg> option: |
d4b96efa |
407 | |
d983b81e |
408 | has 'bigness' => ( |
f977e776 |
409 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
410 | init_arg => 'size', |
411 | ); |
d4b96efa |
412 | |
0c39debe |
413 | Now we have an attribute named "bigness", but we pass C<size> to the |
0c38f882 |
414 | constructor. |
d4b96efa |
415 | |
0c38f882 |
416 | Even more useful is the ability to disable setting an attribute via |
417 | the constructor. This is particularly handy for private attributes: |
d4b96efa |
418 | |
d983b81e |
419 | has '_genetic_code' => ( |
f977e776 |
420 | is => 'ro', |
0c38f882 |
421 | lazy_build => 1, |
422 | init_arg => undef, |
d983b81e |
423 | ); |
d4b96efa |
424 | |
425 | By setting the C<init_arg> to C<undef>, we make it impossible to set |
426 | this attribute when creating a new object. |
427 | |
d67ce58f |
428 | =head2 Weak references |
0b9488c8 |
429 | |
430 | Moose has built-in support for weak references. If you set the |
d4b96efa |
431 | C<weak_ref> option to a true value, then it will call |
0b9488c8 |
432 | C<Scalar::Util::weaken> whenever the attribute is set: |
433 | |
d983b81e |
434 | has 'parent' => ( |
435 | is => 'rw', |
436 | weak_ref => 1, |
437 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
438 | |
439 | $node->parent($parent_node); |
440 | |
441 | This is very useful when you're building objects that may contain |
442 | circular references. |
443 | |
444 | =head2 Triggers |
445 | |
d4b96efa |
446 | A C<trigger> is a subroutine that is called whenever the attribute is |
447 | set: |
0b9488c8 |
448 | |
d983b81e |
449 | has 'size' => ( |
450 | is => 'rw', |
451 | trigger => \&_size_set, |
452 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
453 | |
454 | sub _size_set { |
c2685d20 |
455 | my ( $self, $size ) = @_; |
0b9488c8 |
456 | |
d4b96efa |
457 | warn $self->name, " size is now $size\n"; |
0b9488c8 |
458 | } |
459 | |
c2685d20 |
460 | The trigger is called as a method, and receives the new value as its argument. |
461 | The trigger is called I<after> the value is set. |
0b9488c8 |
462 | |
d76a67a8 |
463 | This differs from an C<after> method modifier in two ways. First, a |
9c9484bf |
464 | trigger is only called when the attribute is set, as opposed to |
efe388d9 |
465 | whenever the accessor method is called (for reading or |
dab94063 |
466 | writing). Second, it is also called when an attribute's value is |
467 | passed to the constructor. |
efe388d9 |
468 | |
469 | However, triggers are I<not> called when an attribute is populated |
470 | from a C<default> or C<builder> |
9c9484bf |
471 | |
d67ce58f |
472 | =head2 Attribute types |
0b9488c8 |
473 | |
d4b96efa |
474 | Attributes can be restricted to only accept certain types: |
0b9488c8 |
475 | |
d983b81e |
476 | has 'first_name' => ( |
f977e776 |
477 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
478 | isa => 'Str', |
479 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
480 | |
0c39debe |
481 | This says that the C<first_name> attribute must be a string. |
0b9488c8 |
482 | |
483 | Moose also provides a shortcut for specifying that an attribute only |
484 | accepts objects that do a certain role: |
485 | |
d983b81e |
486 | has 'weapon' => ( |
487 | is => 'rw', |
488 | does => 'MyApp::Weapon', |
489 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
490 | |
491 | See the L<Moose::Manual::Types> documentation for a complete |
492 | discussion of Moose's type system. |
493 | |
494 | =head2 Delegation |
495 | |
d76a67a8 |
496 | An attribute can define methods which simply delegate to its value: |
0b9488c8 |
497 | |
d983b81e |
498 | has 'hair_color' => ( |
f977e776 |
499 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
500 | isa => 'Graphics::Color::RGB', |
501 | handles => { hair_color_hex => 'as_hex_string' }, |
502 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
503 | |
d4b96efa |
504 | This adds a new method, C<hair_color_hex>. When someone calls |
505 | C<hair_color_hex>, internally, the object just calls C<< |
506 | $self->hair_color->as_hex_string >>. |
0b9488c8 |
507 | |
0c38f882 |
508 | See L<Moose::Manual::Delegation> for documentation on how to set up |
0b9488c8 |
509 | delegation methods. |
510 | |
511 | =head2 Metaclass and traits |
512 | |
513 | One of Moose's best features is that it can be extended in all sorts |
d4b96efa |
514 | of ways through the use of custom metaclasses and metaclass traits. |
0b9488c8 |
515 | |
516 | When declaring an attribute, you can declare a metaclass or a set of |
517 | traits for the attribute: |
518 | |
519 | use MooseX::AttributeHelpers; |
520 | |
d983b81e |
521 | has 'mapping' => ( |
522 | metaclass => 'Collection::Hash', |
523 | is => 'ro', |
524 | default => sub { {} }, |
525 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
526 | |
527 | In this case, the metaclass C<Collection::Hash> really refers to |
0c39debe |
528 | L<MooseX::AttributeHelpers::Collection::Hash>. |
0b9488c8 |
529 | |
530 | You can also apply one or more traits to an attribute: |
531 | |
0b9488c8 |
532 | use MooseX::MetaDescription; |
533 | |
d983b81e |
534 | has 'size' => ( |
f977e776 |
535 | is => 'ro', |
d983b81e |
536 | traits => ['MooseX::MetaDescription::Meta::Trait'], |
537 | description => { |
538 | html_widget => 'text_input', |
539 | serialize_as => 'element', |
540 | }, |
541 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
542 | |
543 | The advantage of traits is that you can mix more than one of them |
544 | together easily (in fact, a trait is just a role under the hood). |
545 | |
546 | There are a number of MooseX modules on CPAN which provide useful |
547 | attribute metaclasses and traits. See L<Moose::Manual::MooseX> for |
548 | some examples. You can also write your own metaclasses and traits. See |
549 | the "Meta" and "Extending" recipes in L<Moose::Cookbook> for examples. |
550 | |
7261aa9d |
551 | =head1 ATTRIBUTE INHERITANCE |
0b9488c8 |
552 | |
553 | By default, a child inherits all of its parent class(es)' attributes |
d4b96efa |
554 | as-is. However, you can explicitly change some aspects of the |
555 | inherited attribute in the child class. |
0b9488c8 |
556 | |
557 | The options that can be overridden in a subclass are: |
558 | |
559 | =over 4 |
560 | |
561 | =item * default |
562 | |
563 | =item * coerce |
564 | |
565 | =item * required |
566 | |
567 | =item * documentation |
568 | |
569 | =item * lazy |
570 | |
571 | =item * isa |
572 | |
573 | =item * handles |
574 | |
575 | =item * builder |
576 | |
577 | =item * metaclass |
578 | |
579 | =item * traits |
580 | |
581 | =back |
582 | |
583 | To override an attribute, you simply prepend its name with a plus sign |
0c39debe |
584 | (C<+>): |
0b9488c8 |
585 | |
586 | package LazyPerson; |
587 | |
588 | use Moose; |
589 | |
590 | extends 'Person'; |
591 | |
d983b81e |
592 | has '+first_name' => ( |
593 | lazy => 1, |
594 | default => 'Bill', |
595 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
596 | |
597 | Now the C<first_name> attribute in C<LazyPerson> is lazy, and defaults |
598 | to C<'Bill'>. |
599 | |
600 | We recommend that you exercise caution when changing the type (C<isa>) |
0c38f882 |
601 | of an inherited attribute. |
0b9488c8 |
602 | |
7261aa9d |
603 | =head1 MORE ON ATTRIBUTES |
604 | |
605 | Moose attributes are a big topic, and this document glosses over a few |
dab94063 |
606 | aspects. We recommend that you read the L<Moose::Manual::Delegation> |
607 | and L<Moose::Manual::Types> documents to get a more complete |
608 | understanding of attribute features. |
7261aa9d |
609 | |
610 | =head1 A FEW MORE OPTIONS |
611 | |
612 | Moose has lots of attribute options. The ones listed below are |
636f25f3 |
613 | superseded by some more modern features, but are covered for the sake |
7261aa9d |
614 | of completeness. |
615 | |
0b9488c8 |
616 | =head2 The C<documentation> option |
617 | |
618 | You can provide a piece of documentation as a string for an attribute: |
619 | |
d983b81e |
620 | has 'first_name' => ( |
621 | is => 'rw', |
622 | documentation => q{The person's first (personal) name}, |
623 | ); |
0b9488c8 |
624 | |
625 | Moose does absolutely nothing with this information other than store |
626 | it. |
627 | |
d67ce58f |
628 | =head2 The C<auto_deref> option |
0b9488c8 |
629 | |
630 | If your attribute is an array reference or hash reference, the |
636f25f3 |
631 | C<auto_deref> option will make Moose dereference the value when it is |
0b9488c8 |
632 | returned from the reader method: |
633 | |
634 | my %map = $object->mapping; |
635 | |
636 | This option only works if your attribute is explicitly typed as an |
0c39debe |
637 | C<ArrayRef> or C<HashRef>. |
0b9488c8 |
638 | |
0c39debe |
639 | However, we recommend that you use L<MooseX::AttributeHelpers> for |
0b9488c8 |
640 | these types of attributes, which gives you much more control over how |
641 | they are accessed and manipulated. |
642 | |
643 | =head2 Initializer |
644 | |
645 | Moose provides an attribute option called C<initializer>. This is |
646 | similar to C<builder>, except that it is I<only> called during object |
647 | construction. |
648 | |
0c39debe |
649 | This option is inherited from L<Class::MOP>, but we recommend that you |
0b9488c8 |
650 | use a C<builder> (which is Moose-only) instead. |
651 | |
d4b96efa |
652 | =head1 AUTHOR |
653 | |
654 | Dave Rolsky E<lt>autarch@urth.orgE<gt> |
655 | |
656 | =head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE |
657 | |
2840a3b2 |
658 | Copyright 2009 by Infinity Interactive, Inc. |
d4b96efa |
659 | |
660 | L<http://www.iinteractive.com> |
661 | |
662 | This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify |
663 | it under the same terms as Perl itself. |
664 | |
665 | =cut |