NAME

Data::Serializer:: - Modules that serialize data structures

SYNOPSIS

use Data::Serializer;

$obj = Data::Serializer->new();

$obj = Data::Serializer->new(
                        serializer => 'Storable',
                        digester   => 'MD5',
                        cipher     => 'DES',
                        secret     => 'my secret',
                        compress   => 1,
                      );

$serialized = $obj->serialize({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});
$deserialized = $obj->deserialize($serialized);
print "$deserialized->{b}\n";

DESCRIPTION

Provides a unified interface to the various serializing modules currently available. Adds the functionality of both compression and encryption.

EXAMPLES

Please see Data::Serializer::Cookbook(3)

METHODS

new - constructor

$obj = Data::Serializer->new();


$obj = Data::Serializer->new(
                       serializer => 'Data::Dumper',
                       digester   => 'SHA1',
                       cipher     => 'Blowfish',
                       secret     => undef,
                       portable   => '1',
                       compress   => '0',
                 serializer_token => '1',
                         options  => {},
                      );

new is the constructor object for Data::Serializer objects.

• The default serializer is Data::Dumper

• The default digester is SHA1

• The default cipher is Blowfish

• The default secret is undef

• The default portable is 1

• The default encoding is hex

• The default compress is 0

• The default serializer_token is 1

• The default options is {} (pass nothing on to serializer)

serialize - serialize reference

$serialized = $obj->serialize({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});

Serializes the reference specified.

Will compress if compress is a true value.

Will encrypt if secret is defined.

deserialize - deserialize reference

$deserialized = $obj->deserialize($serialized);

Reverses the process of serialization and returns a copy of the original serialized reference.

freeze - synonym for serialize

$serialized = $obj->freeze({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});

thaw - synonym for deserialize

$deserialized = $obj->thaw($serialized);

raw_serialize - serialize reference in raw form

$serialized = $obj->raw_serialize({a => [1,2,3],b => 5});

This is a straight pass through to the underlying serializer, nothing else is done. (no encoding, encryption, compression, etc)

raw_deserialize - deserialize reference in raw form

$deserialized = $obj->raw_deserialize($serialized);

This is a straight pass through to the underlying serializer, nothing else is done. (no encoding, encryption, compression, etc)

secret - specify secret for use with encryption

$obj->secret('mysecret');

Changes setting of secret for the Data::Serializer object. Can also be set in the constructor. If specified than the object will utilize encryption.

portable - encodes/decodes serialized data

Uses encoding method to ascii armor serialized data

Aids in the portability of serialized data.

compress - compression of data

Compresses serialized data. Default is not to use it. Will compress if set to a true value $obj->compress(1);

serializer - change the serializer

Currently have 8 supported serializers: Storable, FreezeThaw, Data::Denter, Config::General, YAML, PHP::Serialization, XML::Dumper, and Data::Dumper.

Default is to use Data::Dumper.

Each serializer has its own caveat's about usage especially when dealing with cyclical data structures or CODE references. Please see the appropriate documentation in those modules for further information.

cipher - change the cipher method

Utilizes Crypt::CBC and can support any cipher method that it supports.

digester - change digesting method

Uses Digest so can support any digesting method that it supports. Digesting function is used internally by the encryption routine as part of data verification.

encoding - change encoding method

Encodes data structure in ascii friendly manner. Currently the only valid options are hex, or b64.

The b64 option uses Base64 encoding provided by MIME::Base64, but strips out newlines.

serializer_token - add usage hint to data

Data::Serializer prepends a token that identifies what was used to process its data. This is used internally to allow runtime determination of how to extract Serialized data. Disabling this feature is not recommended.

options - pass options through to underlying serializer

Currently is only supported by Config::General, and XML::Dumper.

my $obj = Data::Serializer->new(serializer => 'Config::General',
                                options    => {
                                           -LowerCaseNames       => 1,
                                           -UseApacheInclude     => 1,
                                           -MergeDuplicateBlocks => 1,
                                           -AutoTrue             => 1,
                                           -InterPolateVars      => 1
                                              },
                                            ) or die "$!\n";

or

my $obj = Data::Serializer->new(serializer => 'XML::Dumper',
                                options    => { dtd => 1, }
                                ) or die "$!\n";

store - serialize data and write it to a file (or file handle)

$obj->store({a => [1,2,3],b => 5},$file, [$mode, $perm]);

or 

$obj->store({a => [1,2,3],b => 5},$fh);

Serializes the reference specified using the serialize method and writes it out to the specified file or filehandle.

If a file path is specified you may specify an optional mode and permission as the next two arguments. See IO::File for examples.

Trips an exception if it is unable to write to the specified file.

retrieve - read data from file (or file handle) and return it after deserialization

my $ref = $obj->retrieve($file);

or 

my $ref = $obj->retrieve($fh);

Reads first line of supplied file or filehandle and returns it deserialized.

TRANSIENCE

Data::Serializer is aware of Tie::Transient. What this means is that you use Tie::Transient as normal, and when your object is serialized, the transient components will be automatically removed for you.

Tie::Transient is not on CPAN, and doesn't look like it ever will be. With the advent of attributes from 5.8 this feature should probably be deprecated anyway.

If you would like to use Tie::Transient you can download it directly from Brian's site here: http://www.maz.org/perl/Tie-Transient-0.05.tar.gz

With perl attributes in 5.8, this should probably be deprecated.

AUTHOR

Neil Neely <neil@frii.net>.

Feature requests are certainly welcome.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2001-2004 Neil Neely. All rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Gurusamy Sarathy and Raphael Manfredi for writing MLDBM, the module which inspired the creation of Data::Serializer.

And thanks to all of you who have provided the feedback that has improved this module over the years.

In particular I'd like to thank Florian Helmberger, for the numerous suggestions and bug fixes.

DEDICATION

This module is dedicated to my beautiful wife Erica, because a woman of such quality deserves a dedication.

SEE ALSO

Data::Dumper(3)

Data::Denter(3)

Storable(3)

FreezeThaw(3)

Config::General(3)

YAML(3)

PHP::Serialization(3)

XML::Dumper(3)

Compress::Zlib(3)

Digest(3)

Crypt(3)

MIME::Base64(3)

IO::File(3)

Tie::Transient(3)