NAME
    Class::Inspector - Provides information about Classes

SYNOPSIS
      use Class::Inspector;
      
      # Is a class installed and/or loaded
      Class::Inspector->installed( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->loaded( 'Foo::Class' );
      
      # Filename related information
      Class::Inspector->filename( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->resolved_filename( 'Foo::Class' );
      
      # Get subroutine related information
      Class::Inspector->functions( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->function_refs( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->function_exists( 'Foo::Class', 'bar' );
      Class::Inspector->methods( 'Foo::Class', 'full', 'public' );

DESCRIPTION
    Class::Inspector allows you to get information about a loaded
    class. Most or all of this information can be found in other
    ways, but they arn't always very friendly, and usually involve a
    relatively high level of Perl wizardry, or strange or unusual
    looking code. Class::Inspector attempts to provide an easier,
    more friendly interface to this information.

METHODS
  installed( $class )

    Tries to determine is a class is installed on the machine, or at
    least available to Perl. It does this by essentially wrapping
    around `resolved_filename'. Returns true if installed/available,
    returns 0 if the class is not installed. Returns undef if the
    class name is invalid.

  loaded( $class )

    Tries to determine if a class is loaded by looking for symbol
    table entries. This method will work even if the class does not
    have it's own file, but is contained inside a single module with
    multiple package/classes. Even in the case of some sort of run-
    time loading class being used, these typically leave some trace
    in the symbol table, so an `Class::Autouse' or `Autoload' based
    class should correctly appear loaded.

  filename( $class )

    For a given class, returns the base filename for the class. This
    will NOT be a fully resolved filename, just the part of the
    filename BELOW the @INC entry.

    For example: Class->filename( 'Foo::Bar' ) returns 'Foo/Bar.pm'

    This filename will be returned for the current platform. It
    should work on all platforms. Returns the filename on success.
    Returns undef on error, which could only really be caused by an
    invalid class name.

  resolved_filename( $class, @try_first )

    For a given class, returns the fully resolved filename for a
    class. That is, the file that the class would be loaded from.
    This is not nescesarily the file that the class WAS loaded from,
    as the value returned is determined each time it runs, and the
    @INC include path may change. To get the actual file for a
    loaded class, see the `loaded_filename' method. Returns the
    filename for the class on success. Returns undef on error.

  loaded_filename( $class )

    For a given, loaded, class, returns the name of the file that it
    was originally loaded from. Returns false if the class is not
    loaded, or did not have it's own file.

  functions( $class )

    Returns a list of the names of all the functions in the classes
    immediate namespace. Note that this is not the METHODS of the
    class, just the functions. Returns a reference to an array of
    the function names on success. Returns undef on error or if the
    class is not loaded.

  function_refs( $class )

    Returns a list of references to all the functions in the classes
    immediate namespace. Returns a reference to an array of CODE
    refs of the functions on success. Returns undef on error or if
    the class is not loaded.

  function_exists( $class, $function )

    Given a class and function the `function_exists' method will
    check to see if the function exists in the class. Note that this
    is as a function, not as a method. To see if a method exists for
    a class, use the `can' method in UNIVERSAL, and hence to every
    other class. Returns 1 if the function exists. Returns 0 if the
    function does not exist. Returns undef on error, or if the class
    is not loaded.

  methods( $class, @options )

    For a given class name, the `methods' method will returns ALL
    the methods available to that class. This includes all methods
    available from every class up the class' `@ISA' tree. Returns a
    reference to an array of the names of all the available methods
    on success. Returns undef if the class is not loaded.

    A number of options are available to the `methods' method. These
    should be listed after the class name, in any order.

    public
        The `public' option will return only 'public' methods, as
        defined by the Perl convention of prepending an underscore
        to any 'private' methods. The `public' option will
        effectively remove any methods that start with an
        underscore.

    private
        The `private' options will return only 'private' methods, as
        defined by the Perl convention of prepending an underscore
        to an private methods. The `private' option will effectively
        remove an method that do not start with an underscore.

        Note: The `public' and `private' options are mutually
        exclusive

    full
        `methods' normally returns just the method name. Supplying
        the `full' option will cause the methods to be returned as
        the full names. That is, instead of returning `[ 'method1',
        'method2', 'method3' ]', you would instead get `[
        'Class::method1', 'AnotherClass::method2', 'Class::method3'
        ]'.

    expanded
        The `expanded' option will cause a lot more information
        about method to be returned. Instead of just the method
        name, you will instead get an array reference containing the
        method name as a single combined name, ala `full', the
        seperate class and method, and a CODE ref to the actual
        function ( if available ). Please note that the function
        reference is not guarenteed to be available.
        c<Class::Inspector> is intended at some later time, work
        with modules that have some some of common run-time loader
        in place ( e.g `Autoloader' or `Class::Autouse' for example.

        The response from `methods( 'Class', 'expanded' )' would
        look something like the following.

          [
            [ 'Class::method1', 'Class', 'method1', \&Class::method1 ],
            [ 'Another::method2', 'Another', 'method2', \&Another::method2 ],
            [ 'Foo::bar', 'Foo', 'bar', \&Foo::bar ],
          ]

BUGS
    No known bugs, but I'm taking suggestions for additional
    functionality.

SUPPORT
    Contact the author

AUTHOR
            Adam Kennedy
            cpan@ali.as
            http://ali.as/

SEE ALSO
    Class::Handle, which wraps this one

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (c) 2002 Adam Kennedy. All rights reserved. This
    program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the same terms as Perl itself.

    The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file
    included with this module.

