NAME Log::Dispatch::Configurator::Any - Configurator implementation with Config::Any VERSION version 1.122640 PURPOSE Use this module in combination with Log::Dispatch::Config to allow many formats of configuration file to be loaded, via the Config::Any module. SYNOPSIS In the traditional Log::Dispatch::Config way: use Log::Dispatch::Config; # loads Log::Dispatch use Log::Dispatch::Configurator::Any; my $config = Log::Dispatch::Configurator::Any->new('log.yml'); Log::Dispatch::Config->configure($config); # nearby piece of code my $log = Log::Dispatch::Config->instance; $log->alert('Hello, world!'); Alternatively, without a config file on disk: use Log::Dispatch::Config; # loads Log::Dispatch use Log::Dispatch::Configurator::Any; my $confhash = { dispatchers => ['screen]', screen = { class => 'Log::Dispatch::Screen', min_level => 'debug', }, }; my $config = Log::Dispatch::Configurator::Any->new($confhash); Log::Dispatch::Config->configure($config); # nearby piece of code my $log = Log::Dispatch::Config->instance; $log->alert('Hello, world!'); DESCRIPTION Log::Dispatch::Config is a wrapper for Log::Dispatch and provides a way to configure Log::Dispatch objects with configuration files. Somewhat like a lite version of log4j and Log::Log4perl it allows multiple log destinations. The standard configuration file format for Log::Dispatch::Config is AppConfig. This module plugs in to Log::Dispatch::Config and allows the use of other file formats, in fact any format supported by the Config::Any module. As a bonus you can also pass in a configuration data structure instead of a file name. USAGE Follow the examples in the "SYNOPSIS". If you are using an external configuration file, be aware that you are required to use a filename extension (e.g. ".yml" for YAML). Below are a couple of tips and tricks you may find useful. Fall-back default config Being able to use a configuration data structre instead of a file on disk is handy when you want to provide application defaults which the user then replaces with their own settings. For example you could have the following: my $defaults = { dispatchers => ['screen'], screen => { class => 'Log::Dispatch::Screen', min_level => 'debug', }, }; my $config_file = '/etc/myapp_logging.conf'; my $config = $ENV{MYAPP_LOGGING_CONFIG} || $ARGV[0] || ( -e $config_file ? $config_file : $defaults); Log::Dispatch::Config->configure_and_watch( Log::Dispatch::Configurator::Any->new($config) ); my $dispatcher = Log::Dispatch::Config->instance; With the above code, your application will check for a filename in an environment variable, then a filename as a command line argument, then check for a file on disk, and finally use its built-in defaults. Dealing with a "dispatchers" list Log::Dispatch::Config requires that a global setting "dispatchers" have a list value (i.e. your list of dispatchers). A few config file formats do not support list values at all, or list values at the global level (two examples being Config::Tiny and Config::General). This module allows you to have a small grace when there is only one dispatcher in use. Write the configuration file normally, and the single-item "dispatchers" value will automatically be promoted to a list. In other words: # myapp.ini dispatchers = screen # this becomes a config of: $config = { dispatchers => 'screen', ... }; # so this module promotes it to: $config = { dispatchers => ['screen'], ... }; If you want more than one dispatcher, you then need to use a config file format which supports these lists natively, I'm afraid. A good suggestion might be YAML. THANKS My thanks to "miyagawa" for writing Log::Dispatch::Config, from where I also took some tests. Also thanks to Florian Merges for his YAML Configurator, which was a useful example and saved me much time. AUTHOR Oliver Gorwits COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This software is copyright (c) 2012 by University of Oxford. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.