NAME
Workflow::Config - Parse configuration files for the workflow components
VERSION
This documentation describes version 1.62 of this package
SYNOPSIS
# Reference multiple files
my $parser = Workflow::Config->new( 'xml' );
my @config = $parser->parse(
'action', 'workflow_action.xml', 'other_actions.xml'
);
# Read in one of the file contents from somewhere else
my $xml_contents = read_contents_from_db( 'other_actions.xml' );
my @config = $parser->parse(
'action', 'workflow_action.xml', \$xml_contents
);
_
# Reference multiple files of mixed types
my @action_config = Workflow::Config->parse_all_files(
'action', 'my_actions.xml', 'your_actions.perl'
);DESCRIPTION
Read in configurations for the various workflow components. Currently the class understands XML (preferred) and serialized Perl data structures as valid configuration file formats. (I tried to use INI files but there was too much deeply nested information. Sorry.)
CLASS METHODS
parse_all_files( $workflow_config_type, @files )
Runs through each file in @files and processes it according to the valid
SUBCLASSING
Creating Your Own Parser
If you want to store your configuration in a different format you can create your own parser. All you need to do is:
subclass Workflow::Config
implement the required methods (listed below)
register your parser with Workflow::Config.
For instance, if you wanted to use YAML for configuration files you would do something like:
# just a convention, you can use any namespace you want
package Workflow::Config::YAML;
use strict;
# Requirement 1: Subclass Workflow::Config
use base qw( Workflow::Config );
# Requirement 2: Implement required methods
sub parse { ... }The third requirement is registration, which just tells Workflow::Config which parser to use for a particular type. To do this you have two options.
Registration option one
Register yourself in your own class, adding the following call anywhere the end:
# Option 1: Register ourselves by name
Workflow::Config->register_factory_type( yaml => 'Workflow::Config::YAML' );Now you just need to include the configuration class in your workflow invocation script:
use strict;
use Workflow::Factory qw( FACTORY );
use Workflow::Config::YAML; # <-- brings in the registrationRegistration option two
You can also just explicitly add the registration from your workflow invocation script:
use strict;
use Workflow::Factory qw( FACTORY );
use Workflow::Config;
# Option 2: explicitly register your configuration parser
Workflow::Config->register_factory_type( yaml => 'Workflow::Config::YAML' );Whichever one you choose you can now parse (in this example) YAML files alongside the built-in parsers for XML and Perl files:
FACTORY->add_config_from_file(
workflow => 'workflow.yaml',
action => [ 'my_actions.yaml', 'other_actions.xml' ],
validator => 'validators.yaml',
condition => [ 'my_conditions.yaml', 'other_conditions.xml' ]
persister => 'persister.perl',
);Inherited Methods
new( $parser_type )
Instantiates an object of the correct type -- see Class::Factory for how this is implemented:
# Parser of type 'Workflow::Config::XML'
my $xml_parser = Workflow::Config->new( 'xml' );
# Parser of type 'Workflow::Config::Perl
my $perl_parser = Workflow::Config->new( 'perl' );is_valid_config_type( $config_type )
Returns true if $config_type is a valid configuration type, false if not. Valid configuration types are: 'action', 'condition', 'validator', 'workflow'.
get_valid_config_types()
Returns list of strings representing the valid configuration types.
get_config_type_tag( $class, $type )
Returns string representing a valid configuration type, looking up the type parameter in a lookuptable defined in Workflow::Config class.
Required Object Methods
parse( $workflow_config_type, @items )
Parse each item in @items to a hash reference based on the configuration type $config_type which must pass the is_valid_config_type() test. An 'item' is either a filename or a scalar reference with the contents of a file. (You can mix and match as seen in the SYNOPSIS.)
Should throw an exception if:
You pass an invalid workflow configuration type. Valid workflow configuration types are registered in Workflow::Config and are available from
get_valid_config_types(); you can check whether a particular type is valid withis_valid_config_type(). (See above for descriptions.)You pass in a file that cannot be read or parsed because of permissions, malformed XML, incorrect Perl data structure, etc. It does not do a validation check (e.g., to ensure that every 'action' within a workflow state has a 'resulting_state' key).
Returns: one hash reference for each member of @items
CONFIGURATION INFORMATION
This gives you an idea of the configuration information in the various workflow pieces:
workflow
workflow
class $
type $
description $
persister $
initial_state $
observer \@
sub $
class $
state \@
name $
description $
action \@
name $
resulting_state $
condition \@
name $the 'class', 'type' and 'description' keys are at the top level
'persister' key holds a string declaring the name of a persister as declared in the array of persisters
'initial_state' key holds a string declaring the name of the initial state. by default, this value is 'INIITAL'.
'state' key holds array of one or more 'state' declarations; one of them must be 'INITIAL' (or the value of initial_state, if it's defined)
each 'state' declaration holds 'description' and 'name' keys and multiple 'action' declarations
each 'action' declaration holds 'name' and 'resulting_state' keys and may hold a 'condition' key with one or more named conditions
condition
conditions:
type $
condition \@
name $
class $
param \@
name $
value $array of one or more hashrefs with 'name' and 'class' keys
validator
validators:
validator \@
name $
class $
param \@
name $
value $array of one or more hashrefs with 'name' and 'class' keys, plus possibly one or more 'param' hashrefs each with 'name' and 'value' keys
action
actions:
type $
action \@
name $
class $
description $
field \@
name $
is_required yes|no
type $
source_list \@ of $
source_class $
param \@
name $
value $
validator \@
name $
arg \@
value $array of one or more action hashrefs with 'name', 'class' and 'description' keys
each 'action' may specify a 'type' (default value: 'default'); in case a workflow specifies a 'type', actions specifying the same 'type' will be preferred over actions with the 'default' type when multiple actions by the same name exist.
each 'action' may have zero or more values used to fill it; each value has a 'name', 'description' and 'necessity' ('required' or 'optional')
each 'action' may have any number of 'param' hashrefs, each with 'name' and 'value'
each 'action' may have any number of 'validator' hashrefs, each with a 'name' key and array of 'arg' declarations
persister
persister:
name $ # all persister classes
class $ # all persister classes
use_random yes|no # all persister classes
use_uuid yes|no # all persister classes
driver $ # DBI persisters
dsn $ # DBI persisters
user $ # DBI persisters
password $ # DBI persisters
workflow_table $ # DBI persisters
history_table $ # DBI persisters
autocommit $ # DBI persisters
date_format $ # DBI persisters
table $ # DBI/ExtraData persisters
data_field $ # DBI/ExtraData persisters
context_key $ # DBI/ExtraData persisters
path $ # File persisters'name' key holds a string declaring the name by which workflows may refer to this persister configuration
'class' key names a Perl class name to use when instantiating the persister
'use_random' key holds a string declaring (through 'yes'/'no' value) to use random values for the workflow identifier
'use_uuid' key holds a string declaring (through 'yes'/'no' value) to use UUID (universally unique ID) values for the workflow identifier; UUIDs take preference over random IDs
For documentation of the other keys, please refer to the respective classes.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2003-2023 Chris Winters. All rights reserved.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
Please see the LICENSE
AUTHORS
Please see Workflow