Class::Struct, accessor overrides not called from constructor

From: Matthias Weckman (matthias_weckman_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 04/28/04 

Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:28:33 +0200

Hello all,

I have a question regarding Class::Struct. It is a great module for
creating small, structlike objects.
Recently I ran into a problem with it, and I'm not sure if I should file
a bug report, or whether I should consider my usage of it inappropriate.
So my question to you is, do you think it's a bug?

Here's the issue: Class::Struct allows you to override the accessors it
creates, but it doesn't call them in its constructor.
In other words,

        $struct->field('blah');

calls my override, but

        $struct = structure->new('field' => 'blah');

doesn't. Class::Struct simply does

        $r->{'field'} = $init{'field'}

(with a defined check), but it would be more useful if it did

        $r->field($init{'field'})

See the sample code below for details.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Class::Struct;
use Data::Dumper;

### define struct
struct memory => {
        swap => '$',
        free => '$',
};

### override accessor for free
sub memory::free {
        my $r = shift;
        die 'Too many args to free' if @_ > 1;
        if(@_) {
                my $id = shift;
                if( $id > 100 or $id < 0 ) {
                        warn "free `$id` should be between 0 and 100";
                } else {
                        $r->{'memory::free'} = $id;
                }
        }

        $r->{'memory::free'};
}

### create object and dump
my $m = memory->new(free=>110, swap => 100);
print Dumper($m); # free contains 110!

$m->free(120); # warns and doesn't update
print Dumper($m);

__END__;

Btw, this occurs both with perl 5.6.1 and 5.8.2.
If this you think this is a bug, what would your advice be? Should I
file one with perlbug?

Thanks,

Rhesa Rozendaal

Relevant Pages