Date::Manip::Obj(3)					User Contributed Perl Documentation				       Date::Manip::Obj(3)

NAME

       Date::Manip::Obj - Base class for Date::Manip objects

SYNOPSIS

       The Date::Manip::Obj class is the base class used for the following Date::Manip classes:

	  Date::Manip::Base
	  Date::Manip::TZ
	  Date::Manip::Date
	  Date::Manip::Delta
	  Date::Manip::Recur

       This module is not intended to be called directly and performs no useful function by itself. Instead, use the various derived classes which
       inherit from it.

DESCRIPTION

       This module contains a set of methods used by all Date::Manip classes listed above.

       You should be familiar with the Date::Manip::Objects and Date::Manip::Config documentation.

       In the examples below, Date::Manip::Date objects will be used as examples, but (unless otherwise stated), all of the classes listed above
       have the same methods, and work in the same fashion.

METHODS FOR CREATING OBJECTS

       new
	      $date = new Date::Manip::Date;
	      $date = new Date::Manip::Date @opts;

	      $date = new Date::Manip::Date $string;
	      $date = new Date::Manip::Date $string,@opts;

	   In order to create the first Date::Manip object, use any of the forms listed above. They will all create a new Date::Manip::Date object
	   (with new Date::Manip::Base, and Date::Manip::TZ objects embedded in it).

	   The Date::Manip::Date, Date::Manip::Delta, and Date::Manip::Recur classes work in exactly the same way.

	   A set of options (described in the Date::Manip::Config documentation) can be passed to the object to set configuration variables.

	   In addition, a string can be passed in which will be parsed to form the initial date stored in the object. Strings can also be passed
	   in to the Date::Manip::Delta and Date::Manip::Recur objects which will be parsed to form initial values. In all cases, refer to the
	   parse method of the class.

	      $dmt = new Date::Manip::TZ;
	      $dmt = new Date::Manip::TZ @opts;

	   If the first Date::Manip object you need is a Date::Manip::TZ object, use either of the above calls. This will also create a
	   Date::Manip::Base object which will be embedded in the Date::Manip::TZ object.

	   A set of options can be passed in as well, but there is no option for passing in a string.

	      $dmb = new Date::Manip::Base;
	      $dmb = new Date::Manip::Base @opts;

	   If you work with Date::Manip::Base objects directly, no other object will be created. The options can be passed in here as well.

	   Once a Date::Manip::Date object (or any object in any other Date::Manip class) is created, one of calls below should be used in order
	   to preserve cached data in the interest of performance and memory usage.

	      $date = new Date::Manip::Date $obj;
	      $date = new Date::Manip::Date $obj,@opts;

	      $date = new Date::Manip::Date $obj,$string;
	      $date = new Date::Manip::Date $obj,$string,@opts;

	   $obj can be an object from any of the Date::Manip classes, but in the interest of making efficient use of cached data, you should pass
	   in the highest level object available.

	   In other words, you should always pass in a Date::Manip::Date, Date::Manip::Delta, or Date::Manip::Recur object if you have one.  In
	   their absence, pass in a Date::Manip::TZ object. Pass in a Date::Manip::Base object only if that is the only Date::Manip object
	   available.

	   The one caveat is if you are working with multiple configurations as described in the Date::Manip::Objects document. In that case,
	   additional care should be taken to make sure that the correct object is passed in.

	   If $obj is a Date::Manip::Date object, these lines can be expressed equivalently as:

	      $date = $obj->new();
	      $date = $obj->new(@opts);

	      $date = $obj->new($string);
	      $date = $obj->new($string,@opts);

	   If @opts is passed in, new Date::Manip::Base and Date::Manip::TZ objects will be created with the configuration specified, so you
	   should only do this if you explicitly want to work with multiple configurations.

	   If you want to modify an existing configuration, you must use the config method described below.

       new_config
	      $obj2 = $obj1->new_config();
	      $obj2 = $obj1->new_config($string);
	      $obj2 = $obj1->new_config($string,@opts);
	      $obj2 = $obj1->new_config(@opts);

	   This creates a new instance with a new Date::Manip::Base object and a separate set of config options (even if no config options are
	   included).

       new_date
       new_delta
       new_recur
	      $date = $obj->new_date();
	      $date = $obj->new_date($string);
	      $date = $obj->new_date($string,@opts);
	      $date = $obj->new_date(@opts);

	   These create a new instance of the specified object. In this case, $obj can be any of the Date::Manip classes, so a date can be created
	   from a delta:

	      $delta = new Date::Manip::Delta;
	      $date  = $delta->new_date();

OTHER METHODS

       base
	      $dmb = $obj->base();

	   This returns the Date::Manip::Base object associated with the given object.

       config
	      $obj->config($var1,$val1,$var2,$val2,...);

	   This will set the value of any configuration variables. Please refer to the Date::Manip::Config manual for a list of all configuration
	   variables and their description.

       err
	      $err = $obj->err();

	   This will return the full error message if the previous operation failed for any reason.

	      $obj->err(1);

	   will clear the error code.

       is_date
       is_delta
       is_recur
	      $flag = $obj->is_date();

	   Returns 0 or 1, depending on the object. For example, a Date::Manip::Date object returns 1 with the is_date method, and 0 for the other
	   two.

       tz
	      $dmb = $obj->tz();

	   This returns the Date::Manip::TZ object associated with the given object.

       version
	      $vers = $obj->version($flag);

	   This returns the version of Date::Manip.

	   If $flag is passed in, and $obj is not a Date::Manip::Base object, the version and timezone information will be passed back.

KNOWN BUGS

       None known.

BUGS AND QUESTIONS

       Please refer to the Date::Manip::Problems documentation for information on submitting bug reports or questions to the author.

SEE ALSO

       Date::Manip	  - main module documentation

LICENSE

       This script is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

AUTHOR

       Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org)

perl v5.12.1							    2010-01-12						       Date::Manip::Obj(3)