«

I am writing my first Perl Class and have hit a brick wall.

What I need to do is have a class method copy a hash into the data
member %MY_HASH.

I have coded a constructor and a method my_hash which is *supposed* to
either:

1. return the HASH reference or
2. write a copy the contents of a hash into the MY_COLORS data member.

Then I wanted a second data member that uppon being written to with a
symbolic name, would use the MY_COLORS hash to provide the numberical
code for that COLOR as shown:

my $composite_colors={'green'=>1, 'blue'=>2, 'red'=>3 };
my $color_set=Chash->new();
$chash->my_colors($composite_colors);
$chash->color_code('blue');
print $chash{'color_code'};

The output should be:

2

However, I am never able to get the object $chash to take in the
$composite_colors reference, and copy it into the data member
MY_COLORS. I get comments like "odd number of elements in anonymous
hash". If I data dump the contents of the data member MY_COLORS it
shows that the $composite_colors hash is being copied in as a key to
the has instead of essentially becoming the MY_COLORS hash.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Brett


Here is the code.

package Chash;

sub new {
my $proto = shift;
my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
my $self = {};
$self->{MY_COLORS} = {};
$self->{COLOR_CODE} = undef;
bless($self, $class);
return $self;
}

sub my_colors {
my $self = shift;
if (@_) { $self->{MY_COLORS} = $_[0] }
return { $self->{MY_COLORS} };
}


sub color_code {
my $self = shift;
if (@_) {
if (ref $self->{MY_COLORS} eq "HASH") {
$self->{COLOR_CODE} = $self->{MY_COLORS}->{$_[0]};
}
else {
$self->{COLOR_CODE} = shift;
}
}
return $self->{COLOR_CODE};
}

Thank you for your response.
I think my simple color abstraction may have confused the issue.
Let me try to rephrase the problem - given a hash :

my %bar = { 'x'=>0xbeef, 'y'=>0xfeed };

and assuming a class Foo with the constructor below,
how do I put %bar into MY_HASH.

And then how do I get the contents of MY_HASH?

I can't seem to get this to work.

=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Package My::Class::Foo;

use strict;
use warnings;
use Carp;

sub new {
my $proto = shift;
my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
my $self = {};
$self->{MY_HASH} = {};
bless($self, $class);
return $self;
}

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-==-=-=-=-=-

On 08/09/2006 05:36 PM, wrote:
> I am writing my first Perl Class and have hit a brick wall.
>
> What I need to do is have a class method copy a hash into the data
> member %MY_HASH.
>
> I have coded a constructor and a method my_hash which is *supposed* to
> either:
>
> 1. return the HASH reference or
> 2. write a copy the contents of a hash into the MY_COLORS data member.
>
> Then I wanted a second data member that uppon being written to with a
> symbolic name, would use the MY_COLORS hash to provide the numberical
> code for that COLOR as shown:
>
> my $composite_colors={'green'=>1, 'blue'=>2, 'red'=>3 };
> my $color_set=Chash->new();

I got your program to work, but I had to assign $color_set to
$chash before the line below.

> $chash->my_colors($composite_colors);
> $chash->color_code('blue');
> print $chash{'color_code'};
>
> The output should be:
>
> 2
>
> However, I am never able to get the object $chash to take in the
> $composite_colors reference, and copy it into the data member
> MY_COLORS.

The code you posted pretty much should work so long as $chash
is set to something meaningful. You have an annoying warning
that I'll show you how to get rid of.

> I get comments like "odd number of elements in anonymous
> hash". If I data dump the contents of the data member MY_COLORS it
> shows that the $composite_colors hash is being copied in as a key to
> the has instead of essentially becoming the MY_COLORS hash.
>
> Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!!!
>
> Brett
>
>
> Here is the code.
>
> package Chash;
>
> sub new {
> my $proto = shift;
> my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
> my $self = {};
> $self->{MY_COLORS} = {};
> $self->{COLOR_CODE} = undef;
> bless($self, $class);
> return $self;
> }
>
> sub my_colors {
> my $self = shift;
> if (@_) { $self->{MY_COLORS} = $_[0] }
> return { $self->{MY_COLORS} };

The line above produces an annoying warning; the line uses
$self->{MY_COLORS}, which contains only *one* value, a scalar
reference to a hash, as the data for an anonymous hash
(denoted by { ... }); hashes with an uneven number of elements
are usually messed up.

I don't know why you're creating an anonymous hash then
returning it; you already have a much better hash to return in
$self->{MY_COLORS}, so why not just return it? Perhaps you
were thinking of the {...} as a block. Anyway, change it:

return $self->{MY_COLORS};


> }
>
>
> sub color_code {
> my $self = shift;
> if (@_) {
> if (ref $self->{MY_COLORS} eq "HASH") {
> $self->{COLOR_CODE} = $self->{MY_COLORS}->{$_[0]};
> }
> else {
> $self->{COLOR_CODE} = shift;
> }
> }
> return $self->{COLOR_CODE};
> }
>

A. Sinan Unur showed you how to use some perl modules to do
this differently, and I think I'll do that too:

package My::Chash2;
use Class::Struct;
struct 'My::Chash2' => [ my_colors => '%' ];

sub color_code {
my $self = shift;
$self->my_colors(shift());
}

package main;

my $composite_colors={'green'=>1, 'blue'=>2, 'red'=>3 };
my $chash = My::Chash2->new();
$chash->my_colors($composite_colors);
print $chash->color_code('blue'), "\n";



__HTH__

>>>>> "Brett" == Brett R Davis <> writes:

Brett> sub new {
Brett> my $proto = shift;
Brett> my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;

Please don't do this. See
<http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/UnixReview/col52.html> for a long discussion
about constructors, including the last few paragraphs which describe why not
to do that.

print "Just another Perl hacker,"; # the original

--
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.
See PerlTraining.Stonehenge.com for onsite and open-enrollment Perl training!

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On 08/09/2006 08:08 PM, wrote:
> Thank you for your response.
> I think my simple color abstraction may have confused the issue.
> Let me try to rephrase the problem - given a hash :
>
> my %bar = { 'x'=>0xbeef, 'y'=>0xfeed };
>

You have problems with Perl syntax. Curly braces are used to
create blocks and anonymous hashes. Use parenthesis to create
arrays and non-anonymous hashes, e.g.

my %bar = ( 'x'=>0xbeef, 'y'=>0xfeed );


> and assuming a class Foo with the constructor below,
> how do I put %bar into MY_HASH.
>
> And then how do I get the contents of MY_HASH?
>
> I can't seem to get this to work.
>
> =-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>
> Package My::Class::Foo;
>
> use strict;
> use warnings;
> use Carp;
>
> sub new {
> my $proto = shift;
> my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
> my $self = {};
> $self->{MY_HASH} = {};
%{$self->{MY_HASH}} = @_ if (@_);

> bless($self, $class);
> return $self;
> }
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-==-=-=-=-=-
>

package main;

my $chash = My::Class::Foo->new(%bar)

However, I wouldn't bother writing a new() function for
something this simple, because it's so much easier to cheat:

use Class::Struct;
struct My::Class::Foo => [ my_colors => '%' ];

my %bar = ( 'x'=>0xbeef, 'y'=>0xfeed );
my $chash = My::Class::Foo->new( my_colors => \%bar);

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-==-=-=-=-=-
UNTESTED CODE

You said that you were able to get my original code to work.

Can you tell me specifically what it was - or was it the items you
specified in the message?

The class I presented was just for academic reasons. The actual class
I need to implement will be quite a bit more complicated.

Does the struct class you showed me allow for member functions?

Thanks

Mumia W. wrote:
> On 08/09/2006 05:36 PM, wrote:
> > I am writing my first Perl Class and have hit a brick wall.
> >
> > What I need to do is have a class method copy a hash into the data
> > member %MY_HASH.
> >
> > I have coded a constructor and a method my_hash which is *supposed* to
> > either:
> >
> > 1. return the HASH reference or
> > 2. write a copy the contents of a hash into the MY_COLORS data member.
> >
> > Then I wanted a second data member that uppon being written to with a
> > symbolic name, would use the MY_COLORS hash to provide the numberical
> > code for that COLOR as shown:
> >
> > my $composite_colors={'green'=>1, 'blue'=>2, 'red'=>3 };
> > my $color_set=Chash->new();
>
> I got your program to work, but I had to assign $color_set to
> $chash before the line below.
>
> > $chash->my_colors($composite_colors);
> > $chash->color_code('blue');
> > print $chash{'color_code'};
> >
> > The output should be:
> >
> > 2
> >
> > However, I am never able to get the object $chash to take in the
> > $composite_colors reference, and copy it into the data member
> > MY_COLORS.
>
> The code you posted pretty much should work so long as $chash
> is set to something meaningful. You have an annoying warning
> that I'll show you how to get rid of.
>
> > I get comments like "odd number of elements in anonymous
> > hash". If I data dump the contents of the data member MY_COLORS it
> > shows that the $composite_colors hash is being copied in as a key to
> > the has instead of essentially becoming the MY_COLORS hash.
> >
> > Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!!!
> >
> > Brett
> >
> >
> > Here is the code.
> >
> > package Chash;
> >
> > sub new {
> > my $proto = shift;
> > my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
> > my $self = {};
> > $self->{MY_COLORS} = {};
> > $self->{COLOR_CODE} = undef;
> > bless($self, $class);
> > return $self;
> > }
> >
> > sub my_colors {
> > my $self = shift;
> > if (@_) { $self->{MY_COLORS} = $_[0] }
> > return { $self->{MY_COLORS} };
>
> The line above produces an annoying warning; the line uses
> $self->{MY_COLORS}, which contains only *one* value, a scalar
> reference to a hash, as the data for an anonymous hash
> (denoted by { ... }); hashes with an uneven number of elements
> are usually messed up.
>
> I don't know why you're creating an anonymous hash then
> returning it; you already have a much better hash to return in
> $self->{MY_COLORS}, so why not just return it? Perhaps you
> were thinking of the {...} as a block. Anyway, change it:
>
> return $self->{MY_COLORS};
>
>
> > }
> >
> >
> > sub color_code {
> > my $self = shift;
> > if (@_) {
> > if (ref $self->{MY_COLORS} eq "HASH") {
> > $self->{COLOR_CODE} = $self->{MY_COLORS}->{$_[0]};
> > }
> > else {
> > $self->{COLOR_CODE} = shift;
> > }
> > }
> > return $self->{COLOR_CODE};
> > }
> >
>
> A. Sinan Unur showed you how to use some perl modules to do
> this differently, and I think I'll do that too:
>
> package My::Chash2;
> use Class::Struct;
> struct 'My::Chash2' => [ my_colors => '%' ];
>
> sub color_code {
> my $self = shift;
> $self->my_colors(shift());
> }
>
> package main;
>
> my $composite_colors={'green'=>1, 'blue'=>2, 'red'=>3 };
> my $chash = My::Chash2->new();
> $chash->my_colors($composite_colors);
> print $chash->color_code('blue'), "\n";
>
>
>
> __HTH__
>
>

On 08/09/2006 10:49 PM, wrote:
> You said that you were able to get my original code to work.
>
> Can you tell me specifically what it was - or was it the items you
> specified in the message?
> [...]

Don't top post.

Everything was in the message: I assigned $color_set to
$chash, and I made my_colors() return $self->{MY_COLORS}.

OK - it worked!

I am a moron, and didn't have "-w" set in the script so I didn't notice
that I had { } around a hash reference like you said in the above post.
I originally had it as an anonymous hash.

By changing the return statement and fixing my hash declaration (used (
) instead of { } ) - it works!

Thank you

Brett

Mumia W. wrote:
> On 08/09/2006 10:49 PM, wrote:
> > You said that you were able to get my original code to work.
> >
> > Can you tell me specifically what it was - or was it the items you
> > specified in the message?
> > [...]
>
> Don't top post.
>
> Everything was in the message: I assigned $color_set to
> $chash, and I made my_colors() return $self->{MY_COLORS}.