NAME

WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories - Data class for category information

SYNOPSIS

    use WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories;

    $ray_authors = WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories->
                       search({ name => 'alphabetically.authors.r.a.y' });

DESCRIPTION

The WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories class extends the WebService::ISBNDB::API class to add attributes specific to the data isbndb.com provides on categories.

METHODS

The following methods are specific to this class, or overridden from the super-class.

Constructor

The constructor for this class may take a single scalar argument in lieu of a hash reference:

new($CATEGORY_ID|$ARGS)

This constructs a new object and returns a referent to it. If the parameter passed is a hash reference, it is handled as normal, per Class::Std mechanics. If the value is a scalar, it is assumed to be the category's ID within the system, and is looked up by that.

If the argument is the hash-reference form, then a new object is always constructed; to perform searches see the search() and find() methods. Thus, the following two lines are in fact different:

    $book = WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories->
                new({ id => "arts.music" });

    $book = WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories->new('arts.music');

The first creates a new object that has only the id attribute set. The second returns a new object that represents the category named arts.music, with all data present.

The class also defines:

copy($TARGET)

Copies the target object into the calling object. All attributes (including the ID) are copied. This method is marked "CUMULATIVE" (see Class::Std), and any sub-class of this class should provide their own copy() and also mark it "CUMULATIVE", to ensure that all attributes at all levels are copied.

See the copy() method in WebService::ISBNDB::API.

Accessors

The following attributes are used to maintain the content of a category object:

id

The unique ID within the isbndb.com system for this category.

name

The name of the category.

parent

The parent category, if there is one, that this category falls under.

summary

A brief summary of the category, if available.

depth

The depth of the category in the hierarchy. Top-level categories are at a depth of 0. arts.opera.regions.france, for example, is at a depth of 3.

element_count

Not documented in the isbndb.com API; appears be the number of books in the category and all of its sub-categories.

sub_categories

A list of category objects for the sub-categories that fall below this one.

The following accessors are provided to manage these attributes:

get_id

Return the category ID.

set_id($ID)

Sets the category ID. This method is restricted to this class, and cannot be called outside of it. In general, you shouldn't need to set the ID after the object is created, since isbndb.com is a read-only source.

get_name

Return the category's name.

set_name($NAME)

Set the name to the value in $NAME.

get_parent

Return the WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories object that represents this category's parent. If this is a top-level category, then the method returns undef.

set_parent($PARENT)

Set the category's parent to the value in $PARENT. This may be an object, or it may be a category ID. If the value is not an object, the next call to get_parent() will attempt to convert it to one by calling the service.

get_summary

Get the category summary.

set_summary($SUMMARY)

Set the category summary to $SUMMARY.

get_depth

Get the category depth.

set_depth($DEPTH)

Set the category depth to $DEPTH.

get_element_count

Get the count of elements.

set_element_count($COUNT)

Set the element count.

get_sub_categories

Return a list-reference of the sub-categories for the category. Each element of the list will be an instance of WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories.

set_sub_categories($CATEGORIES)

Set the sub-categories to the list-reference given in $CATEGORIES. When the category object is first created from the XML data, this list is populated with the IDs of the sub-categories. They are not converted to objects until requested (via get_sub_categories()) by the user.

Utility Methods

Besides the constructor and the accessors, the following methods are provided for utility:

find($ARG|$ARGS)

This is a specialization of find() from the parent class. It allows the argument passed in to be a scalar in place of the usual hash reference. If the value is a scalar, it is searched as though it were the ID. If the value is a hash reference, it is passed to the super-class method.

normalize_args($ARGS)

This method maps the user-visible arguments as defined for find() and search() into the actual arguments that must be passed to the service itself. In addition, some arguments are added to the request to make the service return extra data used for retrieving categories, location, etc. The method changes $ARGS in place, and also returns $ARGS as the value from the method.

See the next section for an explanation of the available keys for searches.

SEARCHING

Both find() and search() allow the user to look up data in the isbndb.com database. The allowable search fields are limited to a certain set, however. When either of find() or search() are called, the argument to the method should be a hash reference of key/value pairs to be passed as arguments for the search (the exception being that find() can accept a single string, which has special meaning as detailed earlier).

Searches in the text fields are done in a case-insensitive manner.

The available search keys are:

name

The value should be a text string. The search returns categories whose name matches the string.

id|category_id

The value should be a text string. The search returns the category whose ID in the system matches the value.

parent|parent_id

You can also search by the parent. The search-key parent will accept either a string (taken as the ID) or a Categories object, in which case the ID is derived from it. If the key used is parent_id, the value is assumed to be the ID.

Note that the names above may not be the same as the corresponding parameters to the service. The names are chosen to match the related attributes as closely as possible, for ease of understanding.

EXAMPLES

Get the record for the ID science:

    $science = WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories->find('science');

Find all category records that are sub-categories of science:

    $science2 = WebService::ISBNDB::API::Categories->
                    search({ parent => $science });

CAVEATS

The data returned by this class is only as accurate as the data retrieved from isbndb.com.

The list of results from calling search() is currently limited to 10 items. This limit will be removed in an upcoming release, when iterators are implemented.

SEE ALSO

WebService::ISBNDB::API

AUTHOR

Randy J. Ray <rjray@blackperl.com>

LICENSE

This module and the code within are released under the terms of the Artistic License 2.0 (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/artistic-license-2.0.php). This code may be redistributed under either the Artistic License or the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.php).

cpanm WebService::ISBNDB

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install WebService::ISBNDB