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<TITLE>IO::Wrap 2.102</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="sans-serif" SIZE=-1><A HREF="http://www.zeegee.com" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="icons/zeegee.gif" ALT="ZeeGee Software" ALIGN="RIGHT" BORDER="0"></A><A NAME="__TOP__"><H1>IO::Wrap 2.102</H1>
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<P><B>This module is <FONT COLOR="#990000">BETA</FONT> code, which means that the interfaces are fairly stable BUT it has not been out in the community long enough to guarantee much testing. Use with caution! Please report any errors back to <A HREF="mailto:eryq@zeegee.com">eryq@zeegee.com</A> as soon as you can.</B><UL>
<LI> <A NAME="menu:NAME"><A HREF="#NAME">NAME</A></A>
<LI> <A NAME="menu:SYNOPSIS"><A HREF="#SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</A></A>
<LI> <A NAME="menu:DESCRIPTION"><A HREF="#DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</A></A>
<LI> <A NAME="menu:NOTES"><A HREF="#NOTES">NOTES</A></A>
<LI> <A NAME="menu:WARNINGS"><A HREF="#WARNINGS">WARNINGS</A></A>
<LI> <A NAME="menu:VERSION"><A HREF="#VERSION">VERSION</A></A>
<LI> <A NAME="menu:AUTHOR"><A HREF="#AUTHOR">AUTHOR</A></A>
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<A NAME="NAME"><H2><A HREF="#__TOP__"><IMG SRC="icons/h1bullet.gif" ALT="Top" BORDER="0"></A> NAME</H2></A>
<P>IO::Wrap - wrap raw filehandles in IO::Handle interface
<P><HR>
<A NAME="SYNOPSIS"><H2><A HREF="#__TOP__"><IMG SRC="icons/h1bullet.gif" ALT="Top" BORDER="0"></A> SYNOPSIS</H2></A>
<FONT SIZE=3 FACE="courier"><PRE>
use IO::Wrap;
### Do stuff with any kind of filehandle (including a bare globref), or
### any kind of blessed object that responds to a print() message.
###
sub do_stuff {
my $fh = shift;
### At this point, we have no idea what the user gave us...
### a globref? a FileHandle? a scalar filehandle name?
$fh = wraphandle($fh);
### At this point, we know we have an IO::Handle-like object!
$fh->print("Hey there!");
...
}
</PRE></FONT>
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<A NAME="DESCRIPTION"><H2><A HREF="#__TOP__"><IMG SRC="icons/h1bullet.gif" ALT="Top" BORDER="0"></A> DESCRIPTION</H2></A>
<P>Let's say you want to write some code which does I/O, but you don't
want to force the caller to provide you with a FileHandle or IO::Handle
object. You want them to be able to say:
<FONT SIZE=3 FACE="courier"><PRE>
do_stuff(\*STDOUT);
do_stuff('STDERR');
do_stuff($some_FileHandle_object);
do_stuff($some_IO_Handle_object);
</PRE></FONT>
<P>And even:
<FONT SIZE=3 FACE="courier"><PRE>
do_stuff($any_object_with_a_print_method);
</PRE></FONT>
<P>Sure, one way to do it is to force the caller to use tiehandle().
But that puts the burden on them. Another way to do it is to
use <B>IO::Wrap</B>, which provides you with the following functions:
<DL>
<P><DT><B><A NAME="item:wraphandle"><A NAME="item:wraphandle_SCALAR">wraphandle SCALAR</A></A></B></DT>
<DD>
This function will take a single argument, and "wrap" it based on
what it seems to be...
<UL>
<P><LI>
<P><B>A raw scalar filehandle name,</B> like <CODE>"STDOUT"</CODE> or <CODE>"Class::HANDLE"</CODE>.
In this case, the filehandle name is wrapped in an IO::Wrap object,
which is returned.
<P><LI>
<P><B>A raw filehandle glob,</B> like <CODE>\*STDOUT</CODE>.
In this case, the filehandle glob is wrapped in an IO::Wrap object,
which is returned.
<P><LI>
<P><B>A blessed FileHandle object.</B>
In this case, the FileHandle is wrapped in an IO::Wrap object if and only
if your FileHandle class does not support the <CODE>read()</CODE> method.
<P><LI>
<P><B>Any other kind of blessed object,</B> which is assumed to be already
conformant to the IO::Handle interface.
In this case, you just get back that object.
</UL>
</DL>
<P>If you get back an IO::Wrap object, it will obey a basic subset of
the IO:: interface. That is, the following methods (note: I said
<I>methods</I>, not named operators) should work on the thing you get back:
<FONT SIZE=3 FACE="courier"><PRE>
close
getline
getlines
print ARGS...
read BUFFER,NBYTES
seek POS,WHENCE
tell
</PRE></FONT>
<P><HR>
<A NAME="NOTES"><H2><A HREF="#__TOP__"><IMG SRC="icons/h1bullet.gif" ALT="Top" BORDER="0"></A> NOTES</H2></A>
<P>Clearly, when wrapping a raw external filehandle (like \*STDOUT),
I didn't want to close the file descriptor when the "wrapper" object is
destroyed... since the user might not appreciate that! Hence,
there's no DESTROY method in this class.
<P>When wrapping a FileHandle object, however, I believe that Perl will
invoke the FileHandle::DESTROY when the last reference goes away,
so in that case, the filehandle is closed if the wrapped FileHandle
really was the last reference to it.
<P><HR>
<A NAME="WARNINGS"><H2><A HREF="#__TOP__"><IMG SRC="icons/h1bullet.gif" ALT="Top" BORDER="0"></A> WARNINGS</H2></A>
<P>This module does not allow you to wrap filehandle names which are given
as strings that lack the package they were opened in. That is, if a user
opens FOO in package Foo, they must pass it to you either as <CODE>\*FOO</CODE>
or as <CODE>"Foo::FOO"</CODE>. However, <CODE>"STDIN"</CODE> and friends will work just fine.
<P><HR>
<A NAME="VERSION"><H2><A HREF="#__TOP__"><IMG SRC="icons/h1bullet.gif" ALT="Top" BORDER="0"></A> VERSION</H2></A>
<P>$Id: Wrap.pm,v 2.102 2001/08/17 02:06:33 eryq Exp $
<P><HR>
<A NAME="AUTHOR"><H2><A HREF="#__TOP__"><IMG SRC="icons/h1bullet.gif" ALT="Top" BORDER="0"></A> AUTHOR</H2></A>
<P>Eryq (<I><FILE><A HREF="mailto:eryq@zeegee.com">eryq@zeegee.com</A></FILE></I>).
President, ZeeGee Software Inc (<I><FILE><A HREF="http://www.zeegee.com">http://www.zeegee.com</A></FILE></I>).
<P><HR>
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