This base class provides to its sub classes class methods for storing and accessing its objects. It also comes with a &new constructor which creates a hash-based object and stores it in the container or list.

Here are a few key points you should know:

	- All objects must have a unique 'id' in the list.
	- For now only one list of objects can be created per class.
	This list is stored in &list. You must create a &list in the subclass
	namespace to have a unique list. 
	- One alias to an object's id is supported via an 'a' attribute in an
	object. Use &findAlias to get the aliased id.
	- Default values for required attributes can be set via
	&_hash_default.They will only be made and set if the attribute isn't
	defined.
	- Warnings in this class can be turned on and off by the variable $Fry::List::Warn

	new(%attr_to_value): Given hash is blessed as an object after setting defaults. 
	manyNew(%id_to_obj): Makes several objects.
	manyNewScalar($attr,%id_to_value): Converts each hash value to a hash using $attr and
		&convertScalarToHash and then makes objects from modified hash.

	Get and Set methods
		_obj($id,$object): Get and set an obj by id.
		Obj($id): Gets an obj if it exists, otherwise returns {}
		setObj(%id_to_obj): Set multiple objects with a hash of id to object pairs.
		getObj(@ids): Gets several objects by id.
		unloadObj(@ids): Unload/delete objects from list.
		get($id,$attr): Gets an attribute value of the object specified by id.
		set($id,$attr,$value): Sets an attribute value of the object specified by id.
		getMany($attr,@ids): Gets same attribute of several objects
		setMany($attr,%id_to_values): Sets same attribute of objects via a hash of object to attribute-value pairs.
		setOrMake(%id_to_values): If the object id exists then it passes the hash pair to
			&defaultSet, otherwise a new object is created via &defaultNew.

	Other methods
		listIds(): Returns list of all object id's.
		listAlias (): Returns list of all aliases of all objects.
		listAliasAndIds (): Returns list of all aliases and all ids.
		findAlias($alias): Returns id that alias points to. Returns undef if no id found.
		anyAlias($alias): Wrapper around &findAlias which returns $alias instead.
		pushArray($id,$attr,@values): Pushes values onto array stored in object's attribute.
		objExists($id): Returns boolean indicating if object exists. Throws warning if it doesn't.
		attrExists($id): Returns boolean indicating if attribute exists.
		allAttr(): Returns all possible values of a given attribute for the class.
		findIds($attr,$comparison_type,$value): Returns all object of a class that whose
			attribute matches a value for a given comparison type. Possible comparison
			types are =,~,> and < .
		callSubAttr(%arg): Calls an attribute that is a subroutine. Attribute can be a
			coderef or the sub's name. This should be moved to Fry::Sub.

	Subclassable subs
		defaultSet(): Method used to set a variable's values by &setOrMake, usually a
			wrapper around &setMany
		defaultNew(): Interface method used by subclasses to initialize a hash of objects.
		list: Returns a hash reference for holding all objects.
		_hash_default: Returns a hash reference with default attributes and values.

	Utility subs
		setHashDefault($hash,($default_hash)?): Sets defaults to a hash, uses &_hash_default if
			no default hash given
		convertScalarToHash($hash,$key): Sets a hash value to a hashref of $key and its former value
		setId(%id_to_hash): Sets keys of arguments as ids of values which are hashes

Me. Gabriel that is. I welcome feedback and bug reports to cldwalker AT chwhat DOT com . If you like using perl,linux,vim and databases to make your life easier (not lazier ;) check out my website at www.chwhat.com.

Copyright (c) 2004, Gabriel Horner. All rights reserved.

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