Metabase::Fact(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Metabase::Fact(3)NAME
Metabase::Fact - base class for Metabase Facts
VERSION
version 0.021
SYNOPSIS
# defining the fact class
package MyFact;
use Metabase::Fact::Hash;
our @ISA = qw/Metabase::Fact::Hash/;
# using the fact class
my $fact = TestReport->new(
resource => 'RJBS/Metabase-Fact-0.001.tar.gz',
content => {
status => 'FAIL',
time => 3029,
},
);
$client->send_fact($fact);
DESCRIPTION
Metabase is a framework for associating content and metadata with
arbitrary resources. A Metabase can be used to store test reports,
reviews, coverage analysis reports, reports on static analysis of
coding style, or anything else for which datatypes are constructed.
Metabase::Fact is a base class for Facts (really opinions or analyses)
that can be sent to or retrieved from a Metabase repository.
Structure of a Fact object
A Fact object associates a "content" attribute with a "resource"
attribute and a "creator" attribute.
The "resource" attribute must be in a URI format that can be validated
via a Metabase::Resource subclass. The "content" attribute is an
opaque scalar with subclass-specific meaning. The "creator" attribute
is a URI with a "metabase:user" scheme and type (see
Metabase::Resource::metabase).
Facts have three sets of metadata associate with them. Metadata are
generally for use in indexing, searching and managing Facts.
· "core metadata" describe universal properties of all Facts and are
used to submit, store, manage and retrieve Facts within the
Metabase framework.
· "resource metadata" describe index properties derived from the
"resource" attribute. (As these can be regenerated from the
"resource" -- which is part of "core metadata" -- they are not
stored with a serialized Fact.)
· "content metadata" describe index properties derived from the
"content" attribute. (As these can be regenerated from the
"content" -- which is part of "core metadata" -- they are not
stored with a serialized Fact.)
Each of the three metadata sets has an associated accessor:
"core_metadata", "resource_metadata" and "content_metadata".
Each of the three sets also has an accessor that returns a hashref with
a data type for each possible element in the set:
"core_metadata_types", "resource_metadata_types" and
"content_metadata_types".
Data types are loosely based on Data::RX. For example:
'//str' -- indicates a value that should be compared stringwise
'//num' -- indicates a value that should be compared numerically
'//bool' -- indicates a valut that is true or false
When searching on metadata, you must join the set name to the metadata
element name with a period character. For example:
core.guid
core.creator
core.resource
resource.scheme
content.size
content.score
ATTRIBUTES
Unless otherwise noted, all attributes are read-only and are either
provided as arguments to the constructor or are generated during
construction. All attributes (except "content") are also part of "core
metadata".
Arguments provided to new
content (required)
A reference to the actual information associated with the fact. The
exact form of the content is up to each Fact class to determine.
resource (required)
The canonical resource (URI) the Fact relates to. For CPAN
distributions, this would be a "cpan:///distfile/..." URI. (See
URI::cpan.) The associated accessor returns a Metabase::Resource
subclass.
creator (optional)
A Metabase::User::Profile URI that indicates the creator of the Fact.
If not set during Fact creation, it will be set by the Metabase when a
Fact is submitted based on the submitter Profile. The "set_creator"
mutator may be called to set "creator", but only if it is not
previously set. The associated accessor returns a Metabase::Resource
subclass or "undef" if the creator has not been set.
guid (optional)
The Fact object's Globally Unique IDentifier. This is generated
automatically if not provided. Generally, users should not provide a
"guid" argument, but it is permitted for use in special cases where a
non-random "guid" is necessary.
Generated during construction
These attributes are generated automatically during the call to "new".
type
The class name, with double-colons converted to dashes to be more URI-
friendly. e.g. "Metabase::Fact" would be "Metabase-Fact".
schema_version
The "schema_version" of the Fact subclass that created the object. This
may or may not be the same as the current "schema_version" of the class
if newer versions of the class have been released since the object was
created.
creation_time
Fact creation time in UTC expressed in extended ISO 8601 format with a
"Z" (Zulu) suffix. For example:
2010-01-10T12:34:56Z
update_time
When the fact was created, stored or otherwise updated, expressed an
ISO 8601 UTC format as with "creation_time". The "touch" method may be
called at any time to update the value to the current time. This
attribute generally only has local significance within a particular
Metabase repository. For example, it may be used to sort Facts by when
they were stored or changed in a Metabase.
valid
A boolean value indicating whether the fact is considered valid. It
defaults to true. The "set_valid" method may be called to change the
"valid" property, for example, to mark a fact invalid rather than
deleting it. The value of "valid" is always normalized to return "1"
for true and "0" for false.
CONSTRUCTOR
new
$fact = MyFact->new(
resource => 'AUTHORID/Foo-Bar-1.23.tar.gz',
content => $content_structure,
);
Constructs a new Fact. The "resource" and "content" attributes are
required. No other attributes should be provided to "new" except
"creator".
CLASS METHODS
type
$type = MyFact->type;
The "type" accessor may also be called as a class method.
class_from_type
$class = MyFact->class_from_type( $type );
A utility function to invert the operation of the "type" method.
upgrade_fact
MyFact->upgrade_fact( $struct );
This method will be called when initializing a fact from a data
structure that claims to be of a schema version other than the schema
version reported by the loaded class's "default_schema_version" method.
It will be passed the hashref of args being used to initialized the
fact object (generally the output of "as_struct" from an older
version), and should alter that hash in place.
default_schema_version
$version = MyFact->default_schema_version;
Defaults to 1. Subclasses should override this method if they make a
backwards-incompatible change to the internals of the content
attribute. Schema version numbers should be monotonically-increasing
integers. The default schema version is used to set an objects
schema_version attribution on creation.
PERSISTENCE METHODS
The following methods are implemented by Metabase::Fact and subclasses
generally should not need to override them.
save
$fact->save($filename);
This method writes out the fact to a file in JSON format. If the file
cannot be written, an exception is raised. If the save is successful,
a true value is returned. Internally, it calls "as_json".
load
my $fact = Metabase::Fact->load($filename);
This method loads a fact from a JSON format file and returns it. If
the file cannot be read or is not valid JSON, and exception is thrown.
Internally, it calls "from_json".
as_json
This returns a JSON string containing the serialized object.
Internally, it calls "as_struct".
from_json
This method regenerates a fact from a JSON string generated by
"as_json". Internally, it calls "from_struct".
as_struct
This returns a simple data structure that represents the fact and can
be used for transmission over the wire. It serializes the content and
core metadata, but not other metadata, which should be recomputed by
the receiving end.
from_struct
my $fact = Metabase::Fact->from_struct( $struct );
This takes the output of the "as_struct" method and reconstitutes a
Fact object. If the class the struct represents is not loaded,
"from_struct" will attempt to load the class or will throw an error.
OBJECT METHODS
The following methods are implemented by Metabase::Fact and subclasses
generally should not need to override them.
core_metadata
This returns a hashref containing the fact's core metadata. This
includes things like the guid, creation time, described resource, and
so on.
core_metadata_types
This returns a hashref of types for each core metadata element
resource_metadata
This method returns metadata describing the resource.
resource_metadata_types
This returns a hashref of types for each resource metadata element
set_creator
$fact->set_creator($profile_uri);
This method sets the "creator" core metadata for the core metadata for
the fact. If the fact's "creator" is already set, an exception will be
thrown.
set_valid
$fact->set_valid(0);
This method sets the "valid" core metadata to a boolean value.
touch
$fact->touch
This method sets the "update_time" core metadata for the core metadata
for the fact to the current time in ISO 8601 UTC format with a trailing
"Z" (Zulu) suffice.
ABSTRACT METHODS
Methods marked as required must be implemented by a Fact subclass.
(The version in Metabase::Fact will die with an error if called.)
In the documentation below, the terms must, must not, should, etc.
have their usual RFC 2119 meanings.
These methods MUST throw an exception if an error occurs.
content_as_bytes
required
$string = $fact->content_as_bytes;
This method MUST serialize a Fact's content as bytes in a scalar and
return it. The method for serialization is up to the individual fact
class to determine. Some common subclasses are available to handle
serialization for common data types. See Metabase::Fact::Hash and
Metabase::Fact::String.
content_from_bytes
required
$content = $fact->content_from_bytes( $string );
$content = $fact->content_from_bytes( \$string );
Given a scalar, this method MUST regenerate and return the original
content data structure. It MUST accept either a string or string
reference as an argument. It MUST NOT overwrite the Fact's content
attribute directly.
content_metadata
optional
$content_meta = $fact->content_metadata;
If provided, this method MUST return a hash reference with content-
specific indexing metadata. The key MUST be the name of the field for
indexing and SHOULD provide dimensions to differentiate one set of
content from another. Values MUST be simple scalars, not references.
Here is a hypothetical example of "content_metadata" for an image fact:
sub content_metadata {
my $self = shift;
return {
width => _compute_width ( $self->content ),
height => _compute_height ( $self->content ),
caption => _extract_caption( $self->content ),
}
}
Field names should be valid perl identifiers, consisting of
alphanumeric characters or underscores. Hyphens and periods are
allowed, but are not recommended.
content_metadata_types
optional
my $typemap = $fact->content_metadata_types;
This method is used to identify the datatypes of keys in the data
structure provided by "content_metadata". If provided, it MUST return
a hash reference. It SHOULD contain a key for every key that could
appear in the data structure generated by "content_metadata" and
provide a value corresponding to a datatype for each key. It MAY
contain keys that do not always appear in the result of
"content_metadata".
Data types are loosely based on Data::RX. Type SHOULD be one of the
following:
'//str' -- indicates a value that should be compared stringwise
'//num' -- indicates a value that should be compared numerically
'//bool' -- indicates a boolean value where "1" is true and "0" is false
Here is a hypothetical example of "content_metadata_types" for an image
fact:
sub content_metadata_types {
return {
width => '//num',
height => '//num',
caption => '//str',
}
}
Consumers of "content_metadata_types" SHOULD assume that any
"content_metadata" key not found in the result of
"content_metadata_types" is a '//str' resource.
validate_content
required
eval { $fact->validate_content };
This method SHOULD check for the validity of content within the Fact.
It MUST throw an exception if the fact content is invalid. (The return
value is ignored.)
validate_resource
optional
eval { $fact->validate_resource };
This method SHOULD check whether the resource type is relevant for the
Fact subclass. It SHOULD use Metabase::Resource to create a resource
object and evaluate the resource object scheme and type. It MUST throw
an exception if the resource type is invalid. Otherwise, it MUST
return a valid Metabase::Resource subclass. For example:
sub validate_resource {
my ($self) = @_;
# Metabase::Resource->new dies if invalid
my $obj = Metabase::Resource->new($self->resource);
if ($obj->scheme eq 'cpan' && $obj->type eq 'distfile') {
return $obj;
}
else {
my $fact_type = $self->type;
Carp::confess("'$resource' does not apply to '$fact_type'");
}
}
The default "validate_resource" accepts any resource that can
initialize a "Metabase::Resource" object.
BUGS
Please report any bugs or feature using the CPAN Request Tracker. Bugs
can be submitted through the web interface at
http://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=Metabase-Fact
<http://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=Metabase-Fact>
When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch
to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.
SUPPORT
Bugs / Feature Requests
Please report any bugs or feature requests through the issue tracker at
http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Metabase-Fact
<http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Metabase-Fact>. You
will be notified automatically of any progress on your issue.
Source Code
This is open source software. The code repository is available for
public review and contribution under the terms of the license.
https://github.com/dagolden/metabase-fact
<https://github.com/dagolden/metabase-fact>
git clone https://github.com/dagolden/metabase-fact.git
AUTHORS
· David Golden <dagolden@cpan.org>
· Ricardo Signes <rjbs@cpan.org>
· H.Merijn Brand <hmbrand@cpan.org>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is Copyright (c) 2012 by David Golden.
This is free software, licensed under:
The Apache License, Version 2.0, January 2004
perl v5.14.2 2012-02-14 Metabase::Fact(3)
