Class::ObjectTemplate is a Perl extension for an optimized template builder base class.

SYNOPSIS

package Foo;
use Class::ObjectTemplate;
require Exporter;
@ISA = qw(Class::ObjectTemplate Exporter);

attributes(one, two, three);

# initialize will be called by new()
sub initialize {
my $self = shift;
$self->three(1) unless defined $self->three();
}

use Foo;
$foo = Foo->new();

# store 27 in the one attribute
$foo->one(27);

# check the value in the two attribute
die "should be undefined" if defined $foo->two();

# set using the utility method
$foo->set_attribute(one,27);

# check using the utility method
$two = $foo->get_attribute(two);

# set more than one attribute using the named parameter style
$foo->set_attributes(one=>27, two=>42);

# or using array references
$foo->set_attributes([one,two],[27,42]);

# get more than one attribute
@list = $foo->get_attributes(one, two);

# get a list of all attributes known by an object
@attrs = $foo->get_attribute_names();

# check that initialize() is called properly
die "initialize didnt set three()" unless $foo->three();

Class::ObjectTemplate is a utility class to assist in the building of other Object Oriented Perl classes.

It was described in detail in the OReilly book, "Advanced Perl Programming" by Sriram Srinivasam.