NAME Config::General::Match - Add "" and "" style matching to Config::General VERSION Version 0.05 NOTE This module is obsolete and has now been superceded by Config::Context. SYNOPSIS use Config::General::Match; my $config_text = ' title = "User Area" image_file = 1 '; my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -String => $config_text, -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'Location', -MatchType => 'path', }, { -Name => 'LocationMatch', -MatchType => 'regex', }, ], ); my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/users/~mary/index.html'); use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'title' => 'User Area', 'image_file' => undef, }; my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/users/~biff/images/flaming_logo.gif'); print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'title' => 'User Area', 'image_file' => 1, }; DESCRIPTION Introduction This module extends "Config::General" by providing support for configuration sections that match only for a particular file or path or URL. Typically you would use this to support the Apache-style conditional blocks, for instance: # ... some configuration ... # ... some configuration ... # ... some configuration ... To read the configuration use "$conf->getall_matching" instead of "$conf->getall": my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(...); my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/users/joe/index.html'); my %other_config = $conf->getall_matching('/images/banner.jpg'); Matching things other than paths The Match feature is general enough that you can use it to match other things besides paths and URLs. For instance you could specify a "-PathSeparator" of "::" and use the feature to match against Perl modules: my $config_text = " is_core_module 0 is_core_module 1 author Nathan Torkington author Richard Jone "; my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -String => $config_text, -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'Module', -PathSeparator => '::', -MatchType => 'path', }, ], ); my %config = $conf->getall_matching('Net::FTP'); use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'is_core_module' => 1, 'author' => 'Nathan Torkington', }; Merging Merging with the implied 'Default' section Config values that appear outside of any block act like defaults. Values in matching sections are merged with the default values. For instance: private_area = 0 client_area = 0 private_area = 1 client_area = 1 # Admin Area URL my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/admin/index.html'); use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'private_area' => 1, 'client_area' => 0, }; # Client Area URL my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/clients/index.html'); print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'private_area' => 0, 'client_area' => 1, }; # Neither Client nor Admin my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/public/index.html'); print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'private_area' => 0, 'client_area' => 0, }; Multiple Level Merging Sections and subsections are merged along with single values. For instance: private_area = 0 client_area = 0 title = "The Widget Emporium" logo = logo.gif advanced_ui = 0 private_area = 1 title = "The Widget Emporium - Admin Area" logo = admin_logo.gif advanced_ui = 1 client_area = 1 title = "The Widget Emporium - Wholesalers" logo = client_logo.gif # Admin Area URL my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/admin/index.html'); use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'page_settings' => { 'advanced_ui' => '1', 'title' => 'The Widget Emporium - Admin Area', 'logo' => 'admin_logo.gif' }, 'private_area' => '1', 'client_area' => '0' }; # Client Area URL my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/clients/index.html'); print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'page_settings' => { 'advanced_ui' => '0', 'title' => 'The Widget Emporium - Wholesalers', 'logo' => 'client_logo.gif' }, 'client_area' => '1', 'private_area' => '0' }; # Neither Client nor Admin my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/public/index.html'); print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'page_settings' => { 'advanced_ui' => '0', 'title' => 'The Widget Emporium', 'logo' => 'logo.gif' }, 'client_area' => '0', 'private_area' => '0' }; Merging Multiple Matching Sections Often more than one section will match the target string. When this happens, the matching sections are merged together using the "Hash::Merge" module. Typically this means that sections that are merged later override the values set in earlier sections. (But you can change this behaviour. See "Changing Hash::Merge behaviour" below.) The order of merging matters. The sections are merged first according to each section's "-MergePriority" value (lowest values are merged first), and second by the length of the substring that matched (shortest matches are merged first). If you don't specify "-MergePriority" for any section, they all default to a priority of 0 which means all sections are treated equally and matches are prioritized based soley on the length of the matching strings. The order of sections in the config file is ignored. For instance, if your config file looks like this: # section 1 # section 2 # section 3 # section 4 ...and you construct your $conf object like this: my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'Directory', -MatchType => 'path' -MergePriority => 1 }, { -Name => 'Dir', -MatchType => 'path' -MergePriority => 1 }, { -Name => 'Path', -MatchType => 'path' -MergePriority => 2 }, ], ); ...then the target string '/foo/bar/baz/bam/boom' would match all sections the order of 1, 3, 4, 2. CONSTRUCTOR new(...) Creates and returns a new "Config::General::Match" object. my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'Directory', -MatchType => 'path' }, ], -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf', ); The arguments to "new()" are the same as you would provide to "Config::General", with the addition of "-MatchSections". (But see see the "BUGS" section for limitations on compatibility with "Config::General".) The "-MatchSections" parameter takes a list of specification hashrefs. Each specification has the following fields: -Name The name of the section. For a name of 'Location', the section would look like: This parameter is affected by the "Config::General" option "-LowerCaseNames". If "-LowerCaseNames" is true, then the following would all be valid 'Location' sections. -MatchType Specifies the method by which the section strings should match the target string. The valid types of matches are 'exact', 'substring', 'regex', 'path', and 'hierarchical' exact The config section string matches only if it is equal to the target string. For instance: # somefile.conf ... ... my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'Site', -MatchType => 'exact', }, ], -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf', ); In this case, only the string "mysite" would match the section. substring The config section string is tested to see if it is a substring of the target string. For instance: # somefile.conf ... ... my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'LocationMatch', -MatchType => 'substring', }, ], -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf', ); In this case, the following target strings would all match: /foo big_foo.html /hotfood Do not quote the match string; it will not work if you do so. regex The config section string is treated as a regular expression against which the target string is matched. For instance: # somefile.conf Image = 1 ... my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'LocationMatch', -MatchType => 'regex', }, ], -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf', ); my %config = $conf->getall_matching('banner.jpg'); The regex can contain any valid Perl regular expression. So to match case-insensitively you can use the "(?i:)" syntax: UserDir = 1 Also note that the regex is not tied to the beginning of the target string by default. So for regexes involving paths you will probably want to do so explicitly: UserDir = 1 Do not quote a regex; it will not work if you do so. path This method is useful for matching paths, URLs, Perl Modules and other hierarchical strings. The config section string is tested against the the target string according to the following rules: * The section string is a substring of the target string * The section string starts at the first character of the target string * In the target string, the section string is followed immediately by "-PathSeparator" or the end-of-string. For instance: # somefile.conf ... my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'LocationMatch', -MatchType => 'path', }, ], -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf', ); In this case, the following target strings would all match: /foo /foo/ /foo/bar /foo/bar.txt But the following strings would not match: /foo.txt /food /food/bar.txt foo.txt Do not quote the path; it will not work if you do so. hierarchical A synonym for 'path'. -PathSeparator The path separator when matching hierarchical strings (paths, URLs, Module names, etc.). It defaults to '/'. This parameter is ignored unless the "-MatchType" is 'path' or 'hierarchical'. -SectionType Allows you to only process certain sections for certain types of strings. For instance, you could match some sections against a given filesystem path and some sections against a Perl module name, using the same config file. # somefile.conf # section 1 Perl_Module = 1 Core_Module = 1 Installed_Module = 0 # section 2 Core_Module = 0 # section 3 # Note the whitespace at the end of the section name, to prevent File from # being parsed as a stand-alone block by Config::General Installed_Module = 1 # section 4 FTP_Module = 1 my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'FileMatch', -MatchType => 'regex', -SectionType => 'file', }, { -Name => 'File', -MatchType => 'path', -SectionType => 'file', }, { -Name => 'Module', -MatchType => 'path', -Separator => '::', -SectionType => 'module', }, ], -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf', # need to turn off C-style comment parsing because of the # */ in the name of section 3 -CComments => 0, ); my %config = $conf->getall_matching( file => '/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.1/NET/FTP/Common.pm', module => 'NET::FTP::Common', ); This tests "/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.1/NET/FTP/Common.pm" against sections 1, 2 and 3 (and merging them in the order of shortest to longest match, i.e. 1, 3, 2). Then it tests 'NET::FTP::Common' against section 4 (which also matches). The resulting configuration is: use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'Perl_Module' => 1, 'Core_Module' => 0, 'FTP_Module' => 1, 'Installed_Module' => 1, }; Another example: my %config = $conf->getall_matching( file => '/var/www/cgi-lib/FTP/FTPServer.pm', module => 'NET::FTPServer', ); This tests "/var/www/cgi-lib/NET/FTPServer.pm" against sections 1, 2 and 3, and matches only against section 1. Then it matches 'NET::FTPServer' against section 4 (which does not match). The result is: use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(\%config); $VAR1 = { 'Perl_Module' => 1, 'Core_Module' => 0, 'FTP_Module' => 0, 'Installed_Module' => 0, }; If a "-SectionType" is not specified in a "-MatchSections" block, then target strings of a named type will not match it. Matching by "-SectionType" is used in "CGI::Application::Plugin::Config::General" to generate configurations based both on the URL of the request and of the name of the Perl Module and runmode handling the request. -TrimSectionNames By default, section names are trimmed of leading and trailing whitespace before they are used to match. This is to allow for sections like: The whitespace at the end of the section name is necessary to prevent Config::General's parser from thinking that the first tag is an empty "" block. # Config::General parses this as # Config::General now considers this to be spurious If leading and trailing whitespace is significant to your matches, you can disable trimming by setting -TrimSectionNames to 0 or "undef". -MergePriority Sections with a lower "-MergePriority" are merged before sections with a higher "-MergePriority". If two or more sections have the same "-MergePriority" they are weighted the same and they are merged according to the "best match" against the target string (i.e. the longest matching substring). See the description above under "Merging Multiple Matching Sections". METHODS "Config::General::Match" is a subclass of "Config::General", so you can use of "Config::General"'s methods. In particular, you can use "getall()" to get the entire configuration without concern for any section matching. getall_matching( $target_string ) Returns the merged configuration of all sections matching $target_string, according to the rules set up in the "-MatchSections" in "new()". All "-MatchSections" are included, regardless of their "-SectionType". getall_matching( $type => $target_string ) Returns the merged configuration matching $target_string, based only the "-MatchSection"s that have a "-SectionType" of $type. getall_matching( $type1 => $target_string1, $type2 => $target_string2 ) Returns the merged configuration of all sections of "-SectionType" $type1 matching $target_string1 and all sections of "-SectionType" $type2 matching $target_string2. The order of the parameters to "getall_matching()" is retained, so $type1 sections will be matched first, followed by $type2 sections. If you call "getall_matching" in a scalar context, you will receive a reference to the config hash: my $config = $conf->getall_matching($target_string); my $value = $config->{'somekey'}; getall_matching_nested( $level, ... ) Behaves the same as "getall_matching", except that it can match nested structures. # stories.conf antagonist = Big Bad Wolf moral = obey the protestant work ethic antagonist = Big Bad Wolf moral = appearances are deceptive antagonist = Big Bad Wolf moral = never talk to strangers moral = talk to strangers and then chop them up my $conf = Config::General::Match->new( -MatchSections => [ { -Name => 'Story', -MatchType => 'substring', -SectionType => 'story', }, { -Name => 'Location', -MatchType => 'path', -SectionType => 'path', }, ], -ConfigFile => 'stories.conf', ); my $depth = 2; $config = $conf->getall_matching_nested( $depth, story => 'Wolf in Sheep\'s Clothing', path => '/aesop/wolf-in-sheeps-clothing', ); use Data::Dumper; print Dumper($config); $VAR1 = { 'antagonist' => 'Big Bad Wolf', 'moral' => 'appearances are deceptive' }; Changing Hash::Merge behaviour Matching sections are merged together using the "Hash::Merge" module. If you want to change how this module does its work you can call subroutines in the "Hash::Merge" package directly. For instance, to change the merge strategy so that earlier sections have precidence over later sections, you could call: # Note American Spelling :) Hash::Merge::set_behavior('RIGHT_PRECEDENT') You should do this before you call "getall_matching()". For more information on how to change merge options, see the "Hash::Merge" docs. AUTHOR Michael Graham, "" BUGS * This module does not support the functional interface to "Config::General" (e.g. "ParseConfig()"). * This module only supports the following constructor form: my $self = Config::General::Match->new( %options ); It does not support the other two "Config::General" constructor styles: # NOT supported my $self = Config::General->new( "rcfile" ); my $self = Config::General->new( \%some_hash ); Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-config-general-match@rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at . I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes. SEE ALSO Config::General CGI::Application::Plugin::Config::General Hash::Merge ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This module would not be possible without Thomas Linden's excellent "Config::General" module. COPYRIGHT & LICENSE Copyright 2004-2005 Michael Graham, All Rights Reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.