Bug #70844 for Class-Data-Inheritable: CPAN documentation does not clearly specify inheritance

The Class::Data perldoc seems to leave out a lot of details. Please consider the following elaboration for your consideration. --Alan __END__ =head1 NAME Class::Data::Inheritable - Inheritable, overridable class data =head1 SYNOPSIS package Stuff; use base qw(Class::Data::Inheritable); # Set up DataFile as inheritable class data. Stuff->mk_classdata('DataFile'); # Declare the location of the data file for this class. Stuff->DataFile('/etc/stuff/data'); # Or, all in one shot: Stuff->mk_classdata(DataFile => '/etc/stuff/data'); =head1 DESCRIPTION Class::Data::Inheritable is for creating accessor/mutators to inherited class data. That is, if you want to store something about your class as a whole (instead of about a single object). That class's data are then inherited by its subclasses and can be individually overridden by any subclass, just like inherited methods. For example, if you want to keep count of how many objects are created in Pere::Ubu: Pere::Ubu->mk_classdata('Object_count'); You can define other class variables as well: Pere::Ubu->mk_classdata('Trunk'); Pere::Ubu->mk_classdata('Suitcase'); Each of these will generate a get/set method in the class Pere::Ubu. Object_count(), Trunk() and Suitcase(). Each of the new methods can be used to get and set a piece of class data. Pere::Ubu->Object_count(0); $object_count = Pere::Ubu->Object_count; Pere::Ubu->Trunk('Black'); $trunk = Pere::Ubu->Trunk; Pere::Ubu->Suitcase('Red'); $suitcase = Pere::Ubu->Suitcase; Inheritance of class data works analogous to method inheritance. It gets interesting when a class inherits from Pere::Ubu: package Raygun; use base qw(Pere::Ubu); # Raygun wants to keep its own count of Raygun objects, # so it overrides Object_count: Raygun->Object_count(0); As long as Raygun does not "override" its inherited class data (by using Suitcase() to set a new value) it will continue to use whatever is set in Pere::Ubu and inherit further changes: Pere::Ubu->Suitcase('Blue'); # Both Raygun's and Pere::Ubu's suitcases are now Blue However, should Raygun decide to set its own Suitcase() it has now "overridden" Pere::Ubu's Suitcase. From here on, Raygun's Suitcase is separate from Pere::Ubu's Suitcase, just like if it had overriden a method: Raygun->Suitcase('Orange'); # Raygun now has an orange suitcase, and Pere::Ubu's is still Blue. Now that Raygun has overridden Pere::Ubu::Suitcase() futher changes by Pere::Ubu::Suitcase() no longer effect Raygun. Pere::Ubu->Suitcase('Samsonite'); # Raygun still has an orange suitcase, but Pere::Ubu is using Samsonite. # But Raygun still uses Pere::Ubu->Trunk $trunk = Raygun::Trunk(); Subclasses of Raygun inherit class data from Raygun and any class data from Pere::Ubu that has not been overridden by Raygun. package Laser_pistol; use base qw(Raygun); # Laser_pistol also wants to count its objects Laser_pistol->Object_count(0); Unless class Laser_pistol overrides them, it inherits Suitcase() from Raygun and Trunk() from Pere::Ubu. Changes made by Raygun->Suitcase() will change the value of Suitcase for classes Raygun and Laser_pistol. Changes made by Pere::Ubu->Trunk() will change the value of Trunk for Pere::Ubu, Raygun and Laser_pistol. Changes made by Raygun->Suitcase() will change the value of Suitcase for Raygun and Laser_pistol. Changes made by Pere::Ubu->Suitcase() will change the value of Suitcase for Pere::Ubu only. Note that if Laser_pistol did not override Object_count it would continue to see the Object_count of Raygun. =head1 Methods =head2 mk_classdata Class->mk_classdata($data_accessor_name); Class->mk_classdata($data_accessor_name => $value); This is a class method used to declare new class data get/set accessors. A new accessor will be created in the Class using the name from $data_accessor_name, and optionally initially setting it to the given value. To facilitate overriding, mk_classdata creates an alias to the accessor, _field_accessor(). So Suitcase() would have an alias _Suitcase_accessor() that does the exact same thing as Suitcase(). This is useful if you want to alter the behavior of a single accessor yet still get the benefits of inheritable class data. For example. sub Suitcase { my($self) = shift; warn "Fashion tragedy" if @_ and $_[0] eq 'Plaid'; $self->_Suitcase_accessor(@_); } =head1 AUTHOR Original code by Damian Conway. Maintained by Michael G Schwern until September 2005. Now maintained by Tony Bowden. =head1 BUGS and QUERIES Please direct all correspondence regarding this module to: bug-Class-Data-Inheritable@rt.cpan.org =head1 COPYRIGHT and LICENSE Copyright (c) 2000-2005, Damian Conway and Michael G Schwern. All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself. =head1 SEE ALSO L<perltooc> has a very elaborate discussion of class data in Perl. -- .