[Bioperl-l] Auto-method caller proposal

[Hilmar Lapp]

Sounds good to me, except that I'm still not sure that dashed and  
dash-less parameters are just variations of the same. What about - 
verbose and a verbose parameter for the tool, for example?

If dashed and dash-less is really the same then it should indeed be  
silently treated as such but also the documentation should not  
encourage using them interchangeably. It just leaves too much room  
for confusion.

	-hilmar

On Jan 3, 2007, at 1:09 PM, Sendu Bala wrote:

> I propose a method that sets method values based on user-supplied args
> to new(), most likely to be placed in Bio::Root::RootI (given its
> intention to substitute or complement _rearrange for some module
> authors). The method name (_set_from_args) is open to alternative
> suggestions.
>
> A lazy module author (eg. someone doing a run wrapper) might say:
>
> package Bio::Tools::Run::Lazy;
> sub new {
>    my ($class, @args) = @_;
>    my $self = $class->SUPER::new(@args);
>
>    $self->_set_from_args(\@args,
>                          -methods => [qw(id score evalue)],
>                          -create => 1);
>
>    return $self;
> }
> 1;
>
> A user with a tendency to accidentally press shift or forget to use
> dashes could then say:
>
> use Bio::Tools::Run::Lazy;
> my $lazy = Bio::Tools::Run::Lazy->new(-sCore => 5, evalue => 0);
> my $id = $lazy->id # undef, not fatal
> my $score = $lazy->score # 5, $lazy->sCore would be fatal
> my $evalue = $lazy->evalue # 0
>
>
> This has the very slight advantage over AUTOLOAD in that we can
> $lazy->can('id'), and the better advantage over the current run
> wrappers: not every one of them would have to define its own AUTOLOAD
> method and have its own way of dealing with dashed or dashless  
> parameters.
>
>
> For less lazy authors who define all their methods, we can still  
> gain a
> benefit. Instead of the current:
>
> package Bio::Tools::Run::GoodBoy;
> sub new {
>    my ($class, @args) = @_;
>    my $self = $class->SUPER::new(@args);
>
>    my ($id, $score, $evalue) = $self->_rearrange([qw(ID SCORE  
> EVALUE)],
> %args);
>
>    $self->id($id) if defined $id;
>    $self->score($score) if defined $score;
>    $self->evalue($evalue) if defined $evalue;
>
>    return $self;
> }
> # methods...
> 1;
>
> We can have the nicer:
>
> package Bio::Tools::Run::GoodBoy;
> sub new {
>    my ($class, @args) = @_;
>    my $self = $class->SUPER::new(@args);
>
>    $self->_set_from_args(\@args,
>                          -methods => [qw(id score evalue)]);
>
>    return $self;
> }
> # methods...
> 1;
>
>
>
>
> Proposed code (excuse the broken formatting):
>
> =head2 _set_from_args
>
>   Usage     : $object->_set_from_args(\%args, -methods => \@methods)
>   Purpose   : Takes a hash of user-supplied args whos keys match  
> method
> names,
>             : and calls the method supplying it the corresponding  
> value.
>   Example   : $self->_set_from_args(%args, -methods => [qw(sequence id
> desc)]);
>             : Where %args = (-sequence    => $s,
> 	       :                -description => $d,
> 	       :                -ID          => $i);
>   Returns   : n/a
>             : the above _set_from_args calls the following methods:
>             : $self->sequence($s);
>             : $self->id($i);
>             : ( $self->description($i) is not called because
> 'description' wasn't
>             :   one of the given methods )
>   Argument  : \%args          : a hash ref of arguments where keys are
> any-case
>             :                   strings corresponding to method  
> names but
>             :                   optionally prefixed  with hyphens, and
> values are
>             :                   the values the method should be  
> supplied
>             : -methods => []  : (optional) only call methods with  
> names
> in this
>             :                   array ref
>             : -force => bool  : (optional, default 0) call methods  
> that
> don't
>             :                   seem to exist, ie. let AUTOLOAD  
> handle them
>             : -create => bool : (optional, default 0) when a method  
> doesn't
>             :                   exist, create it as a simple getter/ 
> setter
>             :                   (combined with -methods it would  
> create
> all the
>             :                   supplied methods that didn't exist,  
> even
> if not
>             :                   mentioned in the supplied %args)
>
> =cut
>
> sub _set_from_args {
>      my ($self, $args, @own_args) = @_;
>      $self->throw("a hash ref of arguments must be supplied") unless
> ref($args);
>
>      my ($methods, $force, $create);
>      if (@own_args) {
>          ($methods, $force, $create) = $self->_rearrange([qw(METHODS
>                                                              FORCE
>                                                              CREATE)],
> @own_args);
>      }
>
>      my %args = ref($args) eq 'HASH' ? %{$args} : @{$args};
>      my %methods = $methods ? map { lc($_) => $_ } @{$methods} : ();
>
>      if ($create) {
>          foreach my $method (@{$methods}) {
>              $self->can($method) && next;
>
>              # create get/setter method
>              no strict 'refs';
>              *{ref($self).'::'.$method} = sub { my $self = shift;
>                                                if (@_) {
> $self->{'_'.$method} = shift }
>                                                return
> $self->{'_'.$method} || return; };
>          }
>      }
>
>      while (my ($method, $value) = each %args) {
>          $method =~ s/^-+//;
>          $method = $methods{lc($method)} || ($methods ? next :  
> $method);
>
>          unless ($force) {
>              $self->can($method) || next;
>          }
>
>          $self->$method($value);
>      }
> }
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-- 
===========================================================
: Hilmar Lapp  -:-  Durham, NC  -:-  hlapp at gmx dot net :
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