Config::Framework 2.5

Config::Framework is a Perl module with handy one-stop shopping for (most) of your configuration file needs.

SYNOPSIS

#create a new object, load two configuration files and decrypt the passwords. my $Object = new Config::Framework( Files => [ApplicationCfg.xml,UserCfg.xml], GetSecure => 1 ) || die $Config::Framework::errstr;

#change some data in one of the loaded configs $Object->{UserCfg}->{backgroundColor} = #00CCFF;

#write that change back to the file you loaded it from $Object->WriteConfig(configNamespace => "UserCfg") || die $Object->{errstr};

#Define a new configuration namespace %{ $Object->{newConfig} } = ( configNamespace => "newConfig", protectNamespace => 1, Version => 1, #arbitrary data keys follow backgroundColor => #006699, getRecords => 10, followLinks => 1, someThing => "in a bag" );

#Write your new configuration data out to an encrypted file #under the applications ApplicationFramework directory $Object->WriteConfig( configNamespace => "newConfig", Encrypt => 1, Crypt => "Rijndael", Key => "l33tp4sw3rd" File => "$Object->{FrameworkDir}/newConfig.xml" ) || die $Object->{errstr};

At long last I have decided to re-write the documentation for Config::Framework, in a manner which should be comprehensible by people other than myself. I would like to offer my sincerest appologies to anyone who tried to comprehend the sprawling stream-of-consiousness rant that was the previous documentation. Im sorry, I wasnt trying to make you insane. Now on with the show.

Ok so what is Config::Framework? Its a handy module for dealing with situations where you need your program to be able to load external data from a file that controls how your program operates. Im talking about configuration files here. So what do you do in a situation like that? Well you figure out a format to store your configuration parameters in, then write routines to read that format and put it some sort of meaningful data structure, and to write data from the data structure back out to the file.

Wouldnt it be nice if someone defined a standard config file format so that you wouldnt need to write your own parser? Well in the end, all a config file really is, is an arbitrary data structure expressed in in ascii. A standard way of serializing data structures in ascii you say? That sounds a bit like XML! Well the Data::DumpXML module will serialize perl data structures into XML and restore them for you, and you could certainly dump that to a file easily enough.
Ok getting to the point. The main thing that Config::Framework does for you is to define a standard data structure (or at least some standard guidelines for your data structure) and then front-ends Data::DumpXML so that you can arbitrarily dump and restore these data structures to files.

While were at it, Config::Framework aspires to be your one-stop-shop for config-type-stuff, by helping you stay organized in the way you handle external configuration data.