package List::Cycle; use warnings; use strict; use Carp (); =head1 NAME List::Cycle - Objects for cycling through a list of values =head1 VERSION Version 1.00 =cut our $VERSION = '1.00'; =head1 SYNOPSIS List::Cycle gives you an iterator object for cycling through a series of values. The canonical use is for cycling through a list of colors for alternating bands of color on a report. use List::Cycle; my $colors = List::Cycle->new( {values => ['#000000', '#FAFAFA', '#BADDAD']} ); print $colors->next; # #000000 print $colors->next; # #FAFAFA print $colors->next; # #BADDAD print $colors->next; # #000000 print $colors->next; # #FAFAFA ... etc ... You'd call it at the top of a loop: while ( ... ) { my $color = $colors->next; print qq{; ... } Note that a List::Cycle object is not a standard Perl blessed hash. It's an inside-out object, as suggested in I. In the five years since I has come out, inside-out objects have been almost universally ignored, but I keep List::Cycle as an example. If you don't care about the internals of the object, then List::Cycle is a fine module for you to use. =head1 FUNCTIONS =head2 new( {values => \@values} ) Creates a new cycle object, using I<@values>. The C keyword can be C, if you like. =cut my %storage = ( values => \my %values_of, pointer => \my %pointer_of, ); sub new { my $class = shift; my $args = shift; my $self = \do { my $scalar }; bless $self, $class; $self->_init( %$args ); return $self; } sub _init { my $self = shift; my @args = @_; $self->_store_pointer( 0 ); while ( @args ) { my $key = shift @args; my $value = shift @args; if ( $key =~ /^val(ue)?s$/ ) { $self->set_values($value); } else { Carp::croak( "$key is not a valid constructor value" ); } } return $self; } =head2 C<< $cycle->set_values(\@values) >> Sets the cycle values and resets the internal pointer. =cut sub set_values { my ($self, $values) = @_; $values_of{ $self } = $values; $self->reset; } sub DESTROY { my $self = shift; for my $attr_ref ( values %storage ) { delete $attr_ref->{$self}; } return; } sub _pointer { my $self = shift; return $pointer_of{ $self }; } sub _store_pointer { my $self = shift; $pointer_of{ $self } = shift; return; } sub _inc_pointer { my $self = shift; my $ptr = $self->_pointer; $self->_store_pointer(($ptr+1) % @{$values_of{$self}}); return; } =head2 $cycle->reset Sets the internal pointer back to the beginning of the cycle. my $color = List::Cycle->new( {values => [qw(red white blue)]} ); print $color->next; # red print $color->next; # white $color->reset; print $color->next; # red, not blue =cut sub reset { my $self = shift; $self->_store_pointer(0); return; } =head2 $cycle->dump Returns a handy string representation of internals. =cut sub dump { my $self = shift; my $str = ""; while ( my($key,$value) = each %storage ) { my $realval = $value->{$self}; $realval = join( ",", @$realval ) if UNIVERSAL::isa( $realval, "ARRAY" ); $str .= "$key => $realval\n"; } return $str; } =head2 $cycle->next Gives the next value in the sequence. =cut sub next { my $self = shift; Carp::croak( 'no cycle values provided!' ) unless $values_of{ $self }; my $ptr = $self->_pointer; $self->_inc_pointer; return $values_of{ $self }[$ptr]; } =head1 AUTHOR Andy Lester, C<< >> =head1 SUPPORT You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command. perldoc List::Cycle You can also look for information at: =over 4 =item * AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation L =item * CPAN Ratings L =item * RT: CPAN's request tracker L =item * Search CPAN L =item * Source code repository L =back =head1 BUGS Please report any bugs or feature requests to C, or through the web interface at L. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes. =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS List::Cycle is a playground that uses some of the ideas in Damian Conway's marvelous I. L One of the chapters mentions a mythical List::Cycle module, so I made it real. Thanks also to Ricardo SIGNES and Todd Rinaldo for patches. =head1 COPYRIGHT & LICENSE Copyright 2005-2010 Andy Lester. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either: =over 4 =item * the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any later version, or =item * the Artistic License version 2.0. =back 1; # End of List::Cycle