Config::BaseConfigurator(3)

NAME
Log::Log4perl::Config::BaseConfigurator - Configurator Base Class

SYNOPSIS
This is a virtual base class, all configurators should be derived from it.

DESCRIPTION

  METHODS

"new"
    Constructor, typically called like

        my $config_parser = SomeConfigParser->new(
            file => $file,
        );

        my $data = $config_parser->parse();

    Instead of "file", the derived class "SomeConfigParser" may define any type of configuration input medium (e.g. "url => 'http://foobar'"). It just has to make sure its "parse()" method will later pull the input data from the medium specified.

    The base class accepts a filename or a reference to an array of text lines:

    "file"
        Specifies a file which the "parse()" method later parses.

    "text"
        Specifies a reference to an array of scalars, representing configuration records (typically lines of a file). Also accepts a simple scalar, which it splits at its newlines and transforms it into an array:

            my $config_parser = MyYAMLParser->new(
                text => ['foo: bar',
                         'baz: bam',
                        ],
            );

            my $data = $config_parser->parse();

    If either "file" or "text" parameters have been specified in the constructor call, a later call to the configurator's "text()" method will return a reference to an array of configuration text lines. This will typically be used by the "parse()" method to process the input.

"parse"
    Virtual method, needs to be defined by the derived class.

  Parser requirements

•   If the parser provides variable substitution functionality, it has to implement it.

•   The parser's "parse()" method returns a reference to a hash of hashes (HoH). The top-most hash contains the top-level keywords ("category", "appender") as keys, associated with values which are references to more deeply nested hashes.

•   The "log4perl." prefix (e.g. as used in the PropertyConfigurator class) is stripped, it's not part in the HoH structure.

•   Each Log4perl config value is indicated by the "value" key, as in

        $data->{category}->{Bar}->{Twix}->{value} = "WARN, Logfile"

  EXAMPLES
The following Log::Log4perl configuration:

    log4perl.category.Bar.Twix        = WARN, Screen
    log4perl.appender.Screen          = Log::Log4perl::Appender::File
    log4perl.appender.Screen.filename = test.log
    log4perl.appender.Screen.layout   = Log::Log4perl::Layout::SimpleLayout

needs to be transformed by the parser's "parse()" method into this data structure:

    { appender => {
        Screen  => {
          layout => {
            value  => "Log::Log4perl::Layout::SimpleLayout" },
            value  => "Log::Log4perl::Appender::Screen",
        },
      },
      category => {
        Bar => {
          Twix => {
            value => "WARN, Screen" }
        } }
    }

For a full-fledged example, check out the sample YAML parser implementation in "eg/yamlparser". It uses a simple YAML syntax to specify the Log4perl configuration to illustrate the concept.

SEE ALSO
Log::Log4perl::Config::PropertyConfigurator

Log::Log4perl::Config::DOMConfigurator

Log::Log4perl::Config::LDAPConfigurator (tbd!)

AUTHOR
Mike Schilli, <m@perlmeister.com>, 2004 Kevin Goess, <cpan@goess.org> Jan-2003