NAME
    Class::Inspector - Provides information about Classes

SYNOPSIS
      use Class::Inspector;
  
      # Is a class installed and/or loaded
      Class::Inspector->installed( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->loaded( 'Foo::Class' );
  
      # Filename related information
      Class::Inspector->filename( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->resolved_filename( 'Foo::Class' );
  
      # Get subroutine related information
      Class::Inspector->functions( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->function_refs( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->function_exists( 'Foo::Class', 'bar' );
      Class::Inspector->methods( 'Foo::Class', 'full', 'public' );

DESCRIPTION
    Class::Inspector allows you to get information about a loaded class.
    Most or all of this information can be found in other ways, but they
    arn't always very friendly, and usually involve a relatively high level
    of Perl wizardry, or strange and unusual looking code. Class::Inspector
    attempts to provide an easier, more friendly interface to this
    information.

METHODS
  installed $class
    Tries to determine if a class is installed on the machine, or at least
    available to Perl. It does this by essentially wrapping around
    "resolved_filename". Returns true if installed/available, returns 0 if
    the class is not installed. Returns undef if the class name is invalid.

  loaded $class
    Tries to determine if a class is loaded by looking for symbol table
    entries. This method will work even if the class does not have it's own
    file, but is contained inside a single file with multiple classes in it.
    Even in the case of some sort of run-time loading class being used,
    these typically leave some trace in the symbol table, so an "Autoload"
    or "Class::Autouse" based class should correctly appear loaded.

  filename $class
    For a given class, returns the base filename for the class. This will
    NOT be a fully resolved filename, just the part of the filename BELOW
    the @INC entry.

    For example: Class->filename( 'Foo::Bar' ) returns 'Foo/Bar.pm'

    This filename will be returned for the current platform. It should work
    on all platforms. Returns the filename on success. Returns undef on
    error, which could only really be caused by an invalid class name.

  resolved_filename $class, @try_first
    For a given class, returns the fully resolved filename for a class. That
    is, the file that the class would be loaded from. This is not
    nescesarily the file that the class WAS loaded from, as the value
    returned is determined each time it runs, and the @INC include path may
    change. To get the actual file for a loaded class, see the
    "loaded_filename" method. Returns the filename for the class on success.
    Returns undef on error.

  loaded_filename $class
    For a given, loaded, class, returns the name of the file that it was
    originally loaded from. Returns false if the class is not loaded, or did
    not have it's own file.

  functions $class
    Returns a list of the names of all the functions in the classes
    immediate namespace. Note that this is not the METHODS of the class,
    just the functions. Returns a reference to an array of the function
    names on success. Returns undef on error or if the class is not loaded.

  function_refs $class
    Returns a list of references to all the functions in the classes
    immediate namespace. Returns a reference to an array of CODE refs of the
    functions on success. Returns undef on error or if the class is not
    loaded.

  function_exists $class, $function
    Given a class and function the "function_exists" method will check to
    see if the function exists in the class. Note that this is as a
    function, not as a method. To see if a method exists for a class, use
    the "can" method in UNIVERSAL, and hence to every other class. Returns 1
    if the function exists. Returns 0 if the function does not exist.
    Returns undef on error, or if the class is not loaded.

  methods $class, @options
    For a given class name, the "methods" method will returns ALL the
    methods available to that class. This includes all methods available
    from every class up the class' @ISA tree. Returns a reference to an
    array of the names of all the available methods on success. Returns
    undef if the class is not loaded.

    A number of options are available to the "methods" method. These should
    be listed after the class name, in any order.

    public
        The "public" option will return only 'public' methods, as defined by
        the Perl convention of prepending an underscore to any 'private'
        methods. The "public" option will effectively remove any methods
        that start with an underscore.

    private
        The "private" options will return only 'private' methods, as defined
        by the Perl convention of prepending an underscore to an private
        methods. The "private" option will effectively remove an method that
        do not start with an underscore.

        Note: The "public" and "private" options are mutually exclusive

    full
        "methods" normally returns just the method name. Supplying the
        "full" option will cause the methods to be returned as the full
        names. That is, instead of returning "[ 'method1', 'method2',
        'method3' ]", you would instead get "[ 'Class::method1',
        'AnotherClass::method2', 'Class::method3' ]".

    expanded
        The "expanded" option will cause a lot more information about method
        to be returned. Instead of just the method name, you will instead
        get an array reference containing the method name as a single
        combined name, ala "full", the seperate class and method, and a CODE
        ref to the actual function ( if available ). Please note that the
        function reference is not guarenteed to be available.
        "Class::Inspector" is intended at some later time, work with modules
        that have some some of common run-time loader in place ( e.g
        "Autoloader" or "Class::Autouse" for example.

        The response from "methods( 'Class', 'expanded' )" would look
        something like the following.

          [
            [ 'Class::method1',   'Class',   'method1', \&Class::method1   ],
            [ 'Another::method2', 'Another', 'method2', \&Another::method2 ],
            [ 'Foo::bar',         'Foo',     'bar',     \&Foo::bar         ],
          ]

BUGS
    No known bugs, but I'm taking suggestions for additional functionality.

SUPPORT
    Bugs should be reported via the CPAN bug tracker

      http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Class%3A%3AInspector

    For other issues, contact the author

AUTHOR
            Adam Kennedy
            cpan@ali.as
            http://ali.as/

SEE ALSO
    Class::Handle, which wraps this one

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (c) 2002 - 2004 Adam Kennedy. All rights reserved. This
    program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
    the same terms as Perl itself.

    The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included
    with this module.

