TM::Serializable(3pm)					User Contributed Perl Documentation				     TM::Serializable(3pm)

NAME

       TM::Serializable - Topic Maps, abstract trait for stream (map) based input/output drivers

SYNOPSIS

	 # step 1) you write an input/output driver for a serialized TM format
	 package MyFormat;

	    # provides methods
	    sub deserialize {
		my $self   = shift; # gets current map
		my $stream = shift;
		# .... fill the map with content
	    }

	    sub serialize {
		my $self = shift; # get the map
		# ....
		return ... #serialized content
	    }
	 1;

	 # step 2) construct a subclass of TM using this driver
	 package MapWithMyFormat;

	   use TM;
	   use base qw(TM);
	   use Class::Trait qw(TM::Serializable MyFormat);

	   1;

	 # step 3) use it in your application
	 my $tm = new MapWithMyFormat (url => 'file:map.myformat');
	 $tm->sync_in; # uses MyFormat to parse the content from the file

DESCRIPTION

       This trait implements synchronizable resources using a serialized format. Examples are formats such as AsTMa 1.0, 2.0, LTM, CTM, XTM. The
       only thing these drivers have to provide are the methods "serialize" and "deserialize" which serialize maps to streams and vice-versa.

       This trait provides the implementations for "source_in" and "source_out" triggering "deserialize" and "serialize", respectively.

INTERFACE

   Methods
       source_in
	   Uses the URL attached to the map object to trigger "deserialize" on the stream content behind the resource. All URLs of LWP are
	   supported. If the URI is "io:stdio" then content from STDIN is consumed. This content can be consumed more than once (it is buffered
	   internally), so that you can read several times from "io:stdin" getting the same input.

	   If the resource URI is "io:stdout", then nothing happens.

	   If the resource URI is "null:", then nothing happens.

	   [Since TM 1.53]: Any additional parameters are passed through to the underlying "deserialize" method.

       source_out
	   This method triggers "serialize" on the object. The contents will be copied to the resource identified by the URI attached to the
	   object. At the moment, only "file:" URLs  and "io:stdout" is supported.

	   If the resource URI is "io:stdin", nothing happens.

	   If the resource URI is "null:", nothing happens.

	   If the resource URI is "inline:.." nothing happens.

	   [Since TM 1.53]: Any additional parameters are passed through to the underlying "serialize" method.

SEE ALSO

       TM, TM::Synchronizable

AUTHOR INFORMATION

       Copyright 20(0[2-6]|10), Robert Barta <drrho@cpan.org>, All rights reserved.

       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
       http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html

perl v5.10.1							    2010-06-05						     TM::Serializable(3pm)