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perl-Class-Null/perl-Class-Null.spec
2025-08-12 18:12:27 +02:00

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RPMSpec

#
# spec file for package perl-Class-Null
#
# Copyright (c) 2024 SUSE LLC
#
# All modifications and additions to the file contributed by third parties
# remain the property of their copyright owners, unless otherwise agreed
# upon. The license for this file, and modifications and additions to the
# file, is the same license as for the pristine package itself (unless the
# license for the pristine package is not an Open Source License, in which
# case the license is the MIT License). An "Open Source License" is a
# license that conforms to the Open Source Definition (Version 1.9)
# published by the Open Source Initiative.
# Please submit bugfixes or comments via https://bugs.opensuse.org/
#
%define cpan_name Class-Null
Name: perl-Class-Null
Version: 2.110.730
Release: 0
%define cpan_version 2.110730
License: Artistic-1.0 OR GPL-1.0-or-later
Summary: Implements the Null Class design pattern
URL: https://metacpan.org/release/%{cpan_name}
Source0: https://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/M/MA/MARCEL/%{cpan_name}-%{cpan_version}.tar.gz
Source100: README.md
BuildArch: noarch
BuildRequires: perl
BuildRequires: perl-macros
BuildRequires: perl(ExtUtils::MakeMaker) >= 6.31
BuildRequires: perl(Test::More) >= 0.94
Provides: perl(Class::Null) = %{version}
%undefine __perllib_provides
%{perl_requires}
%description
This class implements the Null Class design pattern.
Suppose that methods in your object want to write log messages to a log
object. The log object is possibly stored in a slot in your object and can
be accessed using an accessor method:
package MyObject;
use base 'Class::Accessor';
__PACKAGE__->mk_accessors(qw(log));
sub do_it {
my $self = shift;
$self->log->log(level => 'debug', message => 'starting to do it');
...
$self->log->log(level => 'debug', message => 'still doing it');
...
$self->log->log(level => 'debug', message => 'finished doing it');
}
The log object simply needs to have a 'log()' method that accepts two named
parameters. Any class defining such a method will do, and 'Log::Dispatch'
fulfills that requirement while providing a lot of flexibility and
reusability in handling the logged messages.
You might want to log messages to a file:
use Log::Dispatch;
my $dispatcher = Log::Dispatch->new;
$dispatcher->add(Log::Dispatch::File->new(
name => 'file1',
min_level => 'debug',
filename => 'logfile'));
my $obj = MyObject->new(log => $dispatcher);
$obj->do_it;
But what happens if we don't define a log object? Your object's methods
would have to check whether a log object is defined before calling the
'log()' method. This leads to lots of unwieldy code like
sub do_it {
my $self = shift;
if (defined (my $log = $self->log)) {
$log->log(level => 'debug', message => 'starting to do it');
}
...
if (defined (my $log = $self->log)) {
$log->log(level => 'debug', message => 'still doing it');
}
...
if (defined (my $log = $self->log)) {
$log->log(level => 'debug', message => 'finished doing it');
}
}
The proliferation of if-statements really distracts from the actual call to
'log()' and also distracts from the rest of the method code. There is a
better way. We can ensure that there is always a log object that we can
call 'log()' on, even if it doesn't do very much (or in fact, anything at
all).
This object with null functionality is what is called a null object. We can
create the object the usual way, using the 'new()' constructor, and call
any method on it, and all methods will do the same - nothing. (Actually, it
always returns the same 'Class::Null' singleton object, enabling method
chaining.) It's effectively a catch-all object. We can use this class with
our own object like this:
package MyObject;
use Class::Null;
# some class constructor and accessor declaration here
sub init {
my $self = shift;
...
$self->log(Class::Null->new);
...
}
sub do_it {
my $self = shift;
$self->log->log(level => 'debug', message => 'starting to do it');
...
$self->log->log(level => 'debug', message => 'still doing it');
...
$self->log->log(level => 'debug', message => 'finished doing it');
}
This is only one example of using a null class, but it can be used whenever
you want to make an optional helper object into a mandatory helper object,
thereby avoiding unnecessarily complicated checks and preserving the
transparency of how your objects are related to each other and how they
call each other.
Although 'Class::Null' is exceedingly simple it has been made into a
distribution and put on CPAN to avoid further clutter and repetitive
definitions.
%prep
%autosetup -n %{cpan_name}-%{cpan_version}
%build
perl Makefile.PL INSTALLDIRS=vendor
%make_build
%check
make test
%install
%perl_make_install
%perl_process_packlist
%perl_gen_filelist
%files -f %{name}.files
%doc Changes README
%license LICENSE
%changelog