NAME
    Variable::Magic - Associate user-defined magic to variables from Perl.

VERSION
    Version 0.28

SYNOPSIS
        use Variable::Magic qw/wizard cast dispell/;

        my $wiz = wizard set => sub { print STDERR "now set to ${$_[0]}!\n" };
        my $a = 1;
        cast $a, $wiz;
        $a = 2;          # "now set to 2!"
        dispell $a, $wiz;
        $a = 3           # (nothing)

DESCRIPTION
    Magic is Perl way of enhancing objects. This mechanism let the user add
    extra data to any variable and hook syntaxical operations (such as
    access, assignation or destruction) that can be applied to it. With this
    module, you can add your own magic to any variable without the pain of
    the C API.

    Magic differs from tieing and overloading in several ways :

    *   Magic isn't copied on assignation (as for blessed references) : you
        attach it to variables, not values.

    *   It doesn't replace the original semantics : magic callbacks trigger
        before the original action take place, and can't prevent it to
        happen.

    *   It's mostly invisible at the Perl level : magical and non-magical
        variables cannot be distinguished with "ref", "reftype" or another
        trick.

    *   It's notably faster, since perl's way of handling magic is lighter
        by nature, and there's no need for any method resolution.

    The operations that can be overloaded are :

    *   "get"

        This magic is invoked when the variable is evaluated (does not
        include array/hash subscripts and slices).

    *   "set"

        This one is triggered each time the value of the variable changes
        (includes array/hash subscripts and slices).

    *   "len"

        This magic is a little special : it is called when the 'size' or the
        'length' of the variable has to be known by Perl. Typically, it's
        the magic involved when an array is evaluated in scalar context, but
        also on array assignation and loops ("for", "map" or "grep"). The
        callback has then to return the length as an integer.

    *   "clear"

        This magic is invoked when the variable is reset, such as when an
        array is emptied. Please note that this is different from undefining
        the variable, even though the magic is called when the clearing is a
        result of the undefine (e.g. for an array, but actually a bug
        prevent it to work before perl 5.9.5 - see the history).

    *   "free"

        This one can be considered as an object destructor. It happens when
        the variable goes out of scope (with the exception of global scope),
        but not when it is undefined.

    *   "copy"

        This magic only applies to tied arrays and hashes. It fires when you
        try to access or change their elements. It is available on your perl
        iff "MGf_COPY" is true.

    *   "dup"

        Invoked when the variable is cloned across threads. Currently not
        available.

    *   "local"

        When this magic is set on a variable, all subsequent localizations
        of the variable will trigger the callback. It is available on your
        perl iff "MGf_LOCAL" is true.

    The following actions only apply to hashes and are available iff
    "VMG_UVAR" is true. They are referred to as "uvar" magics.

    *   "fetch"

        This magic happens each time an element is fetched from the hash.

    *   "store"

        This one is called when an element is stored into the hash.

    *   "exists"

        This magic fires when a key is tested for existence in the hash.

    *   "delete"

        This last one triggers when a key is deleted in the hash, regardless
        of whether the key actually exists in it.

    You can refer to the tests to have more insight of where the different
    magics are invoked.

    To prevent any clash between different magics defined with this module,
    an unique numerical signature is attached to each kind of magic (i.e.
    each set of callbacks for magic operations).

PERL MAGIC HISTORY
    The places where magic is invoked have changed a bit through perl
    history. Here's a little list of the most recent ones.

    *   5.6.x

        *p14416* : 'copy' and 'dup' magic.

    *   5.8.9

        *p28160* : Integration of *p25854* (see below).

        *p32542* : Integration of *p31473* (see below).

    *   5.9.3

        *p25854* : 'len' magic is no longer called when pushing an element
        into a magic array.

        *p26569* : 'local' magic.

    *   5.9.5

        *p31064* : Meaningful 'uvar' magic.

        *p31473* : 'clear' magic wasn't invoked when undefining an array.
        The bug is fixed as of this version.

    *   5.10.0

        Since "PERL_MAGIC_uvar" is uppercased, "hv_magic_check()" triggers
        'copy' magic on hash stores for (non-tied) hashes that also have
        'uvar' magic.

    *   5.11.x

        *p32969* : 'len' magic is no longer invoked when calling "length"
        with a magical scalar.

        *p34908* : 'len' magic is no longer called when pushing / unshifting
        an element into a magical array in void context. The "push" part was
        already covered by *p25854*.

CONSTANTS
  "SIG_MIN"
    The minimum integer used as a signature for user-defined magic.

  "SIG_MAX"
    The maximum integer used as a signature for user-defined magic.

  "SIG_NBR"
        SIG_NBR = SIG_MAX - SIG_MIN + 1

  "MGf_COPY"
    Evaluates to true iff the 'copy' magic is available.

  "MGf_DUP"
    Evaluates to true iff the 'dup' magic is available.

  "MGf_LOCAL"
    Evaluates to true iff the 'local' magic is available.

  "VMG_UVAR"
    When this constant is true, you can use the "fetch,store,exists,delete"
    callbacks on hashes.

  "VMG_COMPAT_ARRAY_PUSH_NOLEN"
    True for perls that don't call 'len' magic when you push an element in a
    magical array.

  "VMG_COMPAT_ARRAY_UNSHIFT_NOLEN_VOID"
    True for perls that don't call 'len' magic when you unshift in void
    context an element in a magical array.

  "VMG_COMPAT_ARRAY_UNDEF_CLEAR"
    True for perls that call 'clear' magic when undefining magical arrays.

  "VMG_COMPAT_SCALAR_LENGTH_NOLEN"
    True for perls that don't call 'len' magic when taking the "length" of a
    magical scalar.

  "VMG_PERL_PATCHLEVEL"
    The perl patchlevel this module was built with, or 0 for non-debugging
    perls.

  "VMG_THREADSAFE"
    True iff this module could have been built with thread-safety features
    enabled.

FUNCTIONS
  "wizard"
        wizard sig      => ...,
               data     => sub { ... },
               get      => sub { my ($ref, $data) = @_; ... },
               set      => sub { my ($ref, $data) = @_; ... },
               len      => sub { my ($ref, $data, $len) = @_; ... ; return $newlen; },
               clear    => sub { my ($ref, $data) = @_; ... },
               free     => sub { my ($ref, $data) = @_, ... },
               copy     => sub { my ($ref, $data, $key, $elt) = @_; ... },
               local    => sub { my ($ref, $data) = @_; ... },
               fetch    => sub { my ($ref, $data, $key) = @_; ... },
               store    => sub { my ($ref, $data, $key) = @_; ... },
               exists   => sub { my ($ref, $data, $key) = @_; ... },
               delete   => sub { my ($ref, $data, $key) = @_; ... },
               copy_key => $bool

    This function creates a 'wizard', an opaque type that holds the magic
    information. It takes a list of keys / values as argument, whose keys
    can be :

    *   "sig"

        The numerical signature. If not specified or undefined, a random
        signature is generated. If the signature matches an already defined
        magic, then the existant magic object is returned.

    *   "data"

        A code reference to a private data constructor. It is called each
        time this magic is cast on a variable, and the scalar returned is
        used as private data storage for it. $_[0] is a reference to the
        magic object and @_[1 .. @_-1] are all extra arguments that were
        passed to "cast".

    *   "get", "set", "len", "clear", "free", "copy", "local", "fetch",
        "store", "exists" and "delete"

        Code references to the corresponding magic callbacks. You don't have
        to specify all of them : the magic associated with undefined entries
        simply won't be hooked. In those callbacks, $_[0] is always a
        reference to the magic object and $_[1] is always the private data
        (or "undef" when no private data constructor was supplied). Other
        arguments are specific to the magic hooked :

        -       "len"

                When the variable is an array, $_[2] contains the normal
                length. The callback is also expected to return the new
                scalar or array length.

        -       "copy"

                $_[2] is a either a copy or an alias of the current key,
                which means that it is useless to try to change or cast
                magic on it. $_[3] is an alias to the current element (i.e.
                the value).

        -       "fetch", "store", "exists" and "delete"

                $_[2] is an alias to the current key. Nothing prevents you
                from changing it, but be aware that there lurk dangerous
                side effects. For example, it may righteously be readonly if
                the key was a bareword. You can get a copy instead by
                passing "copy_key => 1" to "wizard", which allows you to
                safely assign to $_[2] in order to e.g. redirect the action
                to another key. This however has a little performance
                drawback because of the copy.

        All the callbacks are expected to return an integer, which is passed
        straight to the perl magic API. However, only the return value of
        the "len" callback currently holds a meaning.

        # A simple scalar tracer
        my $wiz = wizard get  => sub { print STDERR "got ${$_[0]}\n" },
                         set  => sub { print STDERR "set to ${$_[0]}\n" },
                         free => sub { print STDERR "${$_[0]} was deleted\n" }

  "gensig"
    With this tool, you can manually generate random magic signature between
    SIG_MIN and SIG_MAX inclusive. That's the way "wizard" creates them when
    no signature is supplied.

        # Generate a signature
        my $sig = gensig;

  "getsig"
        getsig $wiz

    This accessor returns the magic signature of this wizard.

        # Get $wiz signature
        my $sig = getsig $wiz;

  "cast"
        cast [$@%&*]var, [$wiz|$sig], ...

    This function associates $wiz magic to the variable supplied, without
    overwriting any other kind of magic. You can also supply the numeric
    signature $sig instead of $wiz. It returns true on success or when $wiz
    magic is already present, 0 on error, and "undef" when no magic
    corresponds to the given signature (in case $sig was supplied). All
    extra arguments specified after $wiz are passed to the private data
    constructor. If the variable isn't a hash, any "uvar" callback of the
    wizard is safely ignored.

        # Casts $wiz onto $x. If $wiz isn't a signature, undef can't be returned.
        my $x;
        die 'error' unless cast $x, $wiz;

  "getdata"
        getdata [$@%&*]var, [$wiz|$sig]

    This accessor fetches the private data associated with the magic $wiz
    (or the signature $sig) in the variable. "undef" is returned when no
    such magic or data is found, or when $sig does not represent a current
    valid magic object.

        # Get the attached data.
        my $data = getdata $x, $wiz or die 'no such magic or magic has no data';

  "dispell"
        dispell [$@%&*]variable, [$wiz|$sig]

    The exact opposite of "cast" : it dissociates $wiz magic from the
    variable. You can also pass the magic signature $sig as the second
    argument. True is returned on success, 0 on error or when no magic
    represented by $wiz could be found in the variable, and "undef" when no
    magic corresponds to the given signature (in case $sig was supplied).

        # Dispell now. If $wiz isn't a signature, undef can't be returned.
        die 'no such magic or error' unless dispell $x, $wiz;

EXPORT
    The functions "wizard", "gensig", "getsig", "cast", "getdata" and
    "dispell" are only exported on request. All of them are exported by the
    tags ':funcs' and ':all'.

    The constants "SIG_MIN", "SIG_MAX", "SIG_NBR", "MGf_COPY", "MGf_DUP",
    "MGf_LOCAL" and "VMG_UVAR" are also only exported on request. They are
    all exported by the tags ':consts' and ':all'.

CAVEATS
    If you store a magic object in the private data slot, the magic won't be
    accessible by "getdata" since it's not copied by assignation. The only
    way to address this would be to return a reference.

    If you define a wizard with a "free" callback and cast it on itself,
    this destructor won't be called because the wizard will be destroyed
    first.

DEPENDENCIES
    perl 5.7.3.

    Carp (standard since perl 5), XSLoader (standard since perl 5.006).

    Copy tests need Tie::Array (standard since perl 5.005) and Tie::Hash
    (since 5.002).

    Some uvar tests need Hash::Util::FieldHash (standard since perl
    5.009004).

    Glob tests need Symbol (standard since perl 5.002).

    Threads tests need threads and threads::shared.

SEE ALSO
    perlguts and perlapi for internal information about magic.

    perltie and overload for other ways of enhancing objects.

AUTHOR
    Vincent Pit, "<perl at profvince.com>", <http://www.profvince.com>.

    You can contact me by mail or on "irc.perl.org" (vincent).

BUGS
    Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-variable-magic at
    rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at
    <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Variable-Magic>. I will
    be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on
    your bug as I make changes.

SUPPORT
    You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

        perldoc Variable::Magic

    Tests code coverage report is available at
    <http://www.profvince.com/perl/cover/Variable-Magic>.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
    Copyright 2007-2009 Vincent Pit, all rights reserved.

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the same terms as Perl itself.

