NAME
    Config::General::Match - Add "<Location>" and "<LocationMatch>" style
    matching to Config::General

VERSION
    Version 0.05

NOTE
    This module is obsolete and has now been superceded by Config::Context.

SYNOPSIS
        use Config::General::Match;

        my $config_text = '

            <Location /users>
                title = "User Area"
            </Location>

            <LocationMatch \.*(jpg|gif|png)$>
                image_file = 1
            </Location>

        ';

        my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(
            -String => $config_text,
            -MatchSections => [
                {
                    -Name          => 'Location',
                    -MatchType     => 'path',
                },
                {
                    -Name          => 'LocationMatch',
                    -MatchType     => 'regex',
                },
            ],
        );

        my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/users/~mary/index.html');
        use Data::Dumper;
        print Dumper(\%config);
        $VAR1 = {
            'title'         => 'User Area',
            'image_file'    => undef,
        };

        my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/users/~biff/images/flaming_logo.gif');
        print Dumper(\%config);
        $VAR1 = {
            'title'         => 'User Area',
            'image_file'    => 1,
        };

DESCRIPTION
  Introduction
    This module extends "Config::General" by providing support for
    configuration sections that match only for a particular file or path or
    URL.

    Typically you would use this to support the Apache-style conditional
    blocks, for instance:

        <FilesMatch .jpg$>
            # ... some configuration ...
        </FilesMatch>

        <Location /users>
            # ... some configuration ...
        </Location>

        <LocationMatch .html$>
            # ... some configuration ...
        </LocationMatch>

    To read the configuration use "$conf->getall_matching" instead of
    "$conf->getall":

        my $conf         = Config::General::Match->new(...);
        my %config       = $conf->getall_matching('/users/joe/index.html');
        my %other_config = $conf->getall_matching('/images/banner.jpg');

  Matching things other than paths
    The Match feature is general enough that you can use it to match other
    things besides paths and URLs. For instance you could specify a
    "-PathSeparator" of "::" and use the feature to match against Perl
    modules:

        my $config_text = "

            is_core_module 0
            <Module NET::FTP>
                is_core_module 1
                author         Nathan Torkington
            </Module>

            <Module NET::FTPServer>
                author Richard Jone
            </Module>

        ";

        my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(
            -String => $config_text,
            -MatchSections => [
                {
                    -Name          => 'Module',
                    -PathSeparator => '::',
                    -MatchType     => 'path',
                },
            ],
        );

        my %config = $conf->getall_matching('Net::FTP');
        use Data::Dumper;
        print Dumper(\%config);
        $VAR1 = {
            'is_core_module' => 1,
            'author'         => 'Nathan Torkington',
        };

  Merging
   Merging with the implied 'Default' section
    Config values that appear outside of any block act like defaults. Values
    in matching sections are merged with the default values. For instance:

        private_area = 0
        client_area  = 0

        <Location /admin>
            private_area = 1
        </Location>

        <Location /clients>
            client_area  = 1
        </Location>

        # Admin Area URL
        my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/admin/index.html');
        use Data::Dumper;
        print Dumper(\%config);
        $VAR1 = {
            'private_area' => 1,
            'client_area' => 0,
        };

        # Client Area URL
        my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/clients/index.html');
        print Dumper(\%config);
        $VAR1 = {
            'private_area' => 0,
            'client_area'  => 1,
        };

        # Neither Client nor Admin
        my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/public/index.html');
        print Dumper(\%config);
        $VAR1 = {
            'private_area' => 0,
            'client_area'  => 0,
        };

   Multiple Level Merging
    Sections and subsections are merged along with single values. For
    instance:

        private_area = 0
        client_area  = 0
        <page_settings>
            title       = "The Widget Emporium"
            logo        = logo.gif
            advanced_ui = 0
        </page_settings>

        <Location /admin>
            private_area = 1
            <page_settings>
                title       = "The Widget Emporium - Admin Area"
                logo        = admin_logo.gif
                advanced_ui = 1
            </page_settings>
        </Location>

        <Location /clients>
            client_area  = 1
            <page_settings>
                title = "The Widget Emporium - Wholesalers"
                logo  = client_logo.gif
            </page_settings>
        </Location>

        # Admin Area URL
        my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/admin/index.html');
        use Data::Dumper;
        print Dumper(\%config);
        $VAR1 = {
            'page_settings' => {
                                'advanced_ui' => '1',
                                'title' => 'The Widget Emporium - Admin Area',
                                'logo' => 'admin_logo.gif'
                               },
            'private_area' => '1',
            'client_area' => '0'
        };
        # Client Area URL
        my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/clients/index.html');
        print Dumper(\%config);
        $VAR1 = {
            'page_settings' => {
                                'advanced_ui' => '0',
                                'title' => 'The Widget Emporium - Wholesalers',
                                'logo' => 'client_logo.gif'
                               },
            'client_area' => '1',
            'private_area' => '0'
        };

        # Neither Client nor Admin
        my %config = $conf->getall_matching('/public/index.html');
        print Dumper(\%config);
        $VAR1 = {

            'page_settings' => {
                                'advanced_ui' => '0',
                                'title' => 'The Widget Emporium',
                                'logo' => 'logo.gif'
                               },
            'client_area' => '0',
            'private_area' => '0'

        };

   Merging Multiple Matching Sections
    Often more than one section will match the target string. When this
    happens, the matching sections are merged together using the
    "Hash::Merge" module. Typically this means that sections that are merged
    later override the values set in earlier sections. (But you can change
    this behaviour. See "Changing Hash::Merge behaviour" below.)

    The order of merging matters. The sections are merged first according to
    each section's "-MergePriority" value (lowest values are merged first),
    and second by the length of the substring that matched (shortest matches
    are merged first). If you don't specify "-MergePriority" for any
    section, they all default to a priority of 0 which means all sections
    are treated equally and matches are prioritized based soley on the
    length of the matching strings.

    The order of sections in the config file is ignored.

    For instance, if your config file looks like this:

        <Dir /foo/bar/baz>
            # section 1
        </Dir>

        <Path /foo>
            # section 2
        </Path>

        <Dir /foo/bar>
            # section 3
        </Dir>

        <Directory /foo/bar/baz/bam>
            # section 4
        </Directory>

    ...and you construct your $conf object like this:

        my $conf         = Config::General::Match->new(
            -MatchSections => [
                { -Name    => 'Directory',  -MatchType => 'path' -MergePriority => 1 },
                { -Name    => 'Dir',        -MatchType => 'path' -MergePriority => 1 },
                { -Name    => 'Path',       -MatchType => 'path' -MergePriority => 2 },
            ],
        );

    ...then the target string '/foo/bar/baz/bam/boom' would match all
    sections the order of 1, 3, 4, 2.

CONSTRUCTOR
  new(...)
    Creates and returns a new "Config::General::Match" object.

        my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(
            -MatchSections => [
               {  -Name  => 'Directory',  -MatchType => 'path' },
            ],
            -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf',
        );

    The arguments to "new()" are the same as you would provide to
    "Config::General", with the addition of "-MatchSections". (But see see
    the "BUGS" section for limitations on compatibility with
    "Config::General".)

    The "-MatchSections" parameter takes a list of specification hashrefs.
    Each specification has the following fields:

    -Name
        The name of the section. For a name of 'Location', the section would
        look like:

            <Location /somepath>
            </Location>

        This parameter is affected by the "Config::General" option
        "-LowerCaseNames". If "-LowerCaseNames" is true, then the following
        would all be valid 'Location' sections.

            <Location /somepath>
            </Location>

            <loCATtion /somepath>
            </Location>

            <lOcAtion /somepath>
            </LOCATION>

    -MatchType
        Specifies the method by which the section strings should match the
        target string.

        The valid types of matches are 'exact', 'substring', 'regex',
        'path', and 'hierarchical'

        exact
            The config section string matches only if it is equal to the
            target string. For instance:

                # somefile.conf
                <Site mysite>
                    ...
                </Site>
                ...

                my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(
                    -MatchSections => [
                        {
                            -Name      => 'Site',
                            -MatchType => 'exact',
                        },
                    ],
                    -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf',
                );

            In this case, only the string "mysite" would match the section.

        substring
            The config section string is tested to see if it is a substring
            of the target string. For instance:

                # somefile.conf
                <Location foo>
                    ...
                </Location>

                ...

                my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(
                    -MatchSections => [
                        {
                            -Name      => 'LocationMatch',
                            -MatchType => 'substring',
                        },
                    ],
                    -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf',
                );

            In this case, the following target strings would all match:

                /foo
                big_foo.html
                /hotfood

            Do not quote the match string; it will not work if you do so.

        regex
            The config section string is treated as a regular expression
            against which the target string is matched. For instance:

                # somefile.conf
                <LocationMatch (\.jpg)|(\.gif)(\.png)$>
                    Image = 1
                </LocationMatch>

                ...

                my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(
                    -MatchSections => [
                        {
                            -Name      => 'LocationMatch',
                            -MatchType => 'regex',
                        },
                    ],
                    -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf',
                );

                my %config = $conf->getall_matching('banner.jpg');

            The regex can contain any valid Perl regular expression. So to
            match case-insensitively you can use the "(?i:)" syntax:

                <LocationMatch (?i:/UsErS)>
                    UserDir = 1
                </LocationMatch>

            Also note that the regex is not tied to the beginning of the
            target string by default. So for regexes involving paths you
            will probably want to do so explicitly:

                <LocationMatch ^/users>
                    UserDir = 1
                </LocationMatch>

            Do not quote a regex; it will not work if you do so.

        path
            This method is useful for matching paths, URLs, Perl Modules and
            other hierarchical strings.

            The config section string is tested against the the target
            string according to the following rules:

            *   The section string is a substring of the target string

            *   The section string starts at the first character of the
                target string

            *   In the target string, the section string is followed
                immediately by "-PathSeparator" or the end-of-string.

            For instance:

                # somefile.conf
                <Location /foo>
                </Location>

                ...

                my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(
                    -MatchSections => [
                        {
                            -Name      => 'LocationMatch',
                            -MatchType => 'path',
                        },
                    ],
                    -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf',
                );

            In this case, the following target strings would all match:

                /foo
                /foo/
                /foo/bar
                /foo/bar.txt

            But the following strings would not match:

                /foo.txt
                /food
                /food/bar.txt
                foo.txt

            Do not quote the path; it will not work if you do so.

        hierarchical
            A synonym for 'path'.

    -PathSeparator
        The path separator when matching hierarchical strings (paths, URLs,
        Module names, etc.). It defaults to '/'.

        This parameter is ignored unless the "-MatchType" is 'path' or
        'hierarchical'.

    -SectionType
        Allows you to only process certain sections for certain types of
        strings. For instance, you could match some sections against a given
        filesystem path and some sections against a Perl module name, using
        the same config file.

            # somefile.conf
            # section 1
            <FileMatch \.pm$>
                Perl_Module      = 1
                Core_Module      = 1
                Installed_Module = 0
            </FileMatch>

            # section 2
            <FileMatch ^/.*/lib/perl5/site_perl>
                Core_Module = 0
            </FileMatch>

            # section 3
            # Note the whitespace at the end of the section name, to prevent File from
            # being parsed as a stand-alone block by Config::General
            <File /usr/lib/perl5/ >
                Installed_Module = 1
            </File>

            # section 4
            <Module NET::FTP>
                FTP_Module = 1
            </Module>

            my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(
                -MatchSections => [
                    {
                        -Name        => 'FileMatch',
                        -MatchType   => 'regex',
                        -SectionType => 'file',
                    },
                    {
                        -Name        => 'File',
                        -MatchType   => 'path',
                        -SectionType => 'file',
                    },
                    {
                        -Name        => 'Module',
                        -MatchType   => 'path',
                        -Separator   => '::',
                        -SectionType => 'module',
                    },
                ],
                -ConfigFile => 'somefile.conf',

                # need to turn off C-style comment parsing because of the
                # */ in the name of section 3
                -CComments => 0,
            );

            my %config = $conf->getall_matching(
                file   => '/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.1/NET/FTP/Common.pm',
                module => 'NET::FTP::Common',
            );

        This tests "/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.1/NET/FTP/Common.pm"
        against sections 1, 2 and 3 (and merging them in the order of
        shortest to longest match, i.e. 1, 3, 2).

        Then it tests 'NET::FTP::Common' against section 4 (which also
        matches). The resulting configuration is:

            use Data::Dumper;
            print Dumper(\%config);
            $VAR1 = {
                'Perl_Module'      => 1,
                'Core_Module'      => 0,
                'FTP_Module'       => 1,
                'Installed_Module' => 1,
            };

        Another example:

            my %config = $conf->getall_matching(
                file   => '/var/www/cgi-lib/FTP/FTPServer.pm',
                module => 'NET::FTPServer',
            );

        This tests "/var/www/cgi-lib/NET/FTPServer.pm" against sections 1, 2
        and 3, and matches only against section 1. Then it matches
        'NET::FTPServer' against section 4 (which does not match). The
        result is:

            use Data::Dumper;
            print Dumper(\%config);
            $VAR1 = {
                'Perl_Module'      => 1,
                'Core_Module'      => 0,
                'FTP_Module'       => 0,
                'Installed_Module' => 0,
            };

        If a "-SectionType" is not specified in a "-MatchSections" block,
        then target strings of a named type will not match it.

        Matching by "-SectionType" is used in
        "CGI::Application::Plugin::Config::General" to generate
        configurations based both on the URL of the request and of the name
        of the Perl Module and runmode handling the request.

    -TrimSectionNames
        By default, section names are trimmed of leading and trailing
        whitespace before they are used to match. This is to allow for
        sections like:

            <Path /foo/bar/ >
            </Path>

        The whitespace at the end of the section name is necessary to
        prevent Config::General's parser from thinking that the first tag is
        an empty "<Path />" block.

            <Path /foo/bar/>  # Config::General parses this as <Path />
            </Path>           # Config::General now considers this to be spurious

        If leading and trailing whitespace is significant to your matches,
        you can disable trimming by setting -TrimSectionNames to 0 or
        "undef".

    -MergePriority
        Sections with a lower "-MergePriority" are merged before sections
        with a higher "-MergePriority". If two or more sections have the
        same "-MergePriority" they are weighted the same and they are merged
        according to the "best match" against the target string (i.e. the
        longest matching substring).

        See the description above under "Merging Multiple Matching
        Sections".

METHODS
    "Config::General::Match" is a subclass of "Config::General", so you can
    use of "Config::General"'s methods. In particular, you can use
    "getall()" to get the entire configuration without concern for any
    section matching.

  getall_matching( $target_string )
    Returns the merged configuration of all sections matching
    $target_string, according to the rules set up in the "-MatchSections" in
    "new()". All "-MatchSections" are included, regardless of their
    "-SectionType".

  getall_matching( $type => $target_string )
    Returns the merged configuration matching $target_string, based only the
    "-MatchSection"s that have a "-SectionType" of $type.

  getall_matching( $type1 => $target_string1, $type2 => $target_string2 )
    Returns the merged configuration of all sections of "-SectionType"
    $type1 matching $target_string1 and all sections of "-SectionType"
    $type2 matching $target_string2.

    The order of the parameters to "getall_matching()" is retained, so
    $type1 sections will be matched first, followed by $type2 sections.

    If you call "getall_matching" in a scalar context, you will receive a
    reference to the config hash:

        my $config = $conf->getall_matching($target_string);
        my $value = $config->{'somekey'};

  getall_matching_nested( $level, ... )
    Behaves the same as "getall_matching", except that it can match nested
    structures.

        # stories.conf
        <Story Three Little Pigs>
            antagonist = Big Bad Wolf
            moral      = obey the protestant work ethic
        </Story>

        <Location /aesop>
            <Story Wolf in Sheep's Clothing>
                antagonist = Big Bad Wolf
                moral      = appearances are deceptive
            </Story>
        </Location>

        <Story Little Red Riding Hood>
            antagonist = Big Bad Wolf

            <Location /perrault>
                moral      = never talk to strangers
            </Location>

            <Location /grimm>
                moral      = talk to strangers and then chop them up
            </Location>
        </Story>

        my $conf = Config::General::Match->new(
            -MatchSections => [
                {
                    -Name        => 'Story',
                    -MatchType   => 'substring',
                    -SectionType => 'story',
                },
                {
                    -Name        => 'Location',
                    -MatchType   => 'path',
                    -SectionType => 'path',
                },
            ],
            -ConfigFile => 'stories.conf',
        );

        my $depth = 2;
        $config = $conf->getall_matching_nested(
            $depth,
            story => 'Wolf in Sheep\'s Clothing',
            path  => '/aesop/wolf-in-sheeps-clothing',
        );

        use Data::Dumper;
        print Dumper($config);
        $VAR1 = {
            'antagonist' => 'Big Bad Wolf',
            'moral'      => 'appearances are deceptive'
        };

Changing Hash::Merge behaviour
    Matching sections are merged together using the "Hash::Merge" module. If
    you want to change how this module does its work you can call
    subroutines in the "Hash::Merge" package directly. For instance, to
    change the merge strategy so that earlier sections have precidence over
    later sections, you could call:

        # Note American Spelling :)
        Hash::Merge::set_behavior('RIGHT_PRECEDENT')

    You should do this before you call "getall_matching()".

    For more information on how to change merge options, see the
    "Hash::Merge" docs.

AUTHOR
    Michael Graham, "<mag-perl@occamstoothbrush.com>"

BUGS
    *   This module does not support the functional interface to
        "Config::General" (e.g. "ParseConfig()").

    *   This module only supports the following constructor form:

            my $self = Config::General::Match->new( %options );

        It does not support the other two "Config::General" constructor
        styles:

            # NOT supported
            my $self = Config::General->new( "rcfile" );
            my $self = Config::General->new( \%some_hash );

    Please report any bugs or feature requests to
    "bug-config-general-match@rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at
    <http://rt.cpan.org>. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically
    be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

SEE ALSO
        Config::General
        CGI::Application::Plugin::Config::General
        Hash::Merge

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    This module would not be possible without Thomas Linden's excellent
    "Config::General" module.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
    Copyright 2004-2005 Michael Graham, All Rights Reserved.

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

