NAME

Config::BuildHelper - A tool to help build config files

SYNOPSIS

  use strict;
  use warnings;
  
  use Config::BuildHelper;
  
  my $yaml = <<EOY;
  ---
  name: Root
  data:
        config: [[SET, CHECK_BRAKES, CHECK_SPARK_PLUGS]]
  children:
      - name: Car
        match: 
              model: "^(\\d{3}[a-z]?|[A-Z]\\d)\$"
        data:
              config: [[ADD, ROTATE_TIRES]]
        children:
            - name: Diesel
              match:
                    model: "d\$"
              data: 
                    config: [[REMOVE, CHECK_SPARK_PLUGS], [ADD, CHECK_GLOW_PLUGS]]
      - name: Motorcycle
        match:
              model: "^[A-Z]\\d{3,4}[^\\d]"
        data: 
              config: [[ADD, CHECK_REAR_TIRE_ALIGNMENT]]
  EOY
  
  my @customer_vehicles = (
        { customer_id => 1, model => '325i' },
        { customer_id => 2, model => '535d' },
        { customer_id => 3, model => 'M3' },
        { customer_id => 4, model => 'R1200RT' },
  );
  
  my $helper = Config::BuildHelper->new(yaml => $yaml);
  
  for (@customer_vehicles) {
        my $result = $helper->process($_);
  
        print "$_->{customer_id}: ";
        
        if (! defined($result->class)) {
                print "could not classify data\n";
                next;
        }
  
        print "$_->{model} ", join(' ', $result->config_list), "\n";
  }

__END__

Which will output:

1: 325i CHECK_SPARK_PLUGS ROTATE_TIRES CHECK_BRAKES

2: 535d ROTATE_TIRES CHECK_BRAKES CHECK_GLOW_PLUGS

3: M3 CHECK_SPARK_PLUGS ROTATE_TIRES CHECK_BRAKES

4: R1200RT CHECK_SPARK_PLUGS CHECK_BRAKES CHECK_REAR_TIRE_ALIGNMENT

OVERVIEW

NOTE: This module is a very thin layer on top of Data::Classifier. While this documentation will cover the basics of what can be done using this module, more advanced operations can be performed using the functionality included with Data::Classifier.

This is a module that helps you automatically generate configuration files for large numbers of hosts where each host can be classified according to a set of rules. With a good set of rules and class hierarchy you can even handle the edge cases in your configurations with ease.

The example above could be used by a BMW dealer to automatically generate a report of what maintnance should be performed on customer cars using only the car model number. In this hypothetical situation, everything the dealer services has approximately the same requirements, except a few special cases.

Once this has been defined in the class hierarchy, the module will give back a list of operations that should be performed for what ever host you specified during the request. This is nothing more than a list of strings; figuring out exactly the steps to implement a configuration item for one of the returned values is left as an exercise for the user of this module.

USAGE

Using this module involves creating an instance of it and then passing in bits of information to classify as hashes. During creation of an instance, you must pass in a class specification some how, either as a yaml file, a yaml string, or a prebuilt data structure.

METHODS

$helper = Config::BuildHelper->new(%options)

Create a new instance of Config::BuildHelper. This is passed right on through to Data::Classifier so see the documentation for that method for all the ways to specify a class hierarchy and available runtime options.

$result = $helper->process($data)

Requests a result object for a given piece of data (as a hash reference). The result object contains the list of config items for the data you specified to process.

Result Classes

The result class contains all the information about the data passed in to the process method. This includes the list of strings generated and other information about the class and hierarchy (from Data::Classifier::Result).

Methods

$result->config_list

Returns a list of strings representing the config operations to perform.

AUTHORS

This module was created and documented by Tyler Riddle <triddle@gmail.com>.

BUGS

There are no known bugs at this time.

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-config-buildhelper@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Config::BuildHelper. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.