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NAME
    Class::DBI::AsXML - Format CDBI Objects as XML

SYNOPSIS
      # As you do...
      package MyApp::User;
      use base qw[Class::DBI];
  
      __PACKAGE__->connection('dbi:SQLite:dbfile', '', '');
      __PACKAGE__->table(q[users]);
      __PACKAGE__->columns(Primary => 'id');
      __PACKAGE__->columns(Essential => qw[username password]);
      __PACKAGE__->columns(Others    => qw[email zip_code phone]);
      __PACKAGE__->has_a(pref => 'MyApp::Pref');

      # Enter XML Support!
      use Class::DBI::AsXML;
      __PACKAGE__->to_xml_columns([qw[username email zip_code]]);

      # Elsewhere...
      my $user = MyApp::User->retrieve(shift);
      my $user_and_prefs_xml = $user->to_xml(depth => 1);

      # Or... override defaults
      my $uname_pwd_xml = $user->to_xml( columns => {
          ref($user) => [qw[username password]],
      });
  
      # Create from XML
      my $new_user = MyApp::User->create_from_xml(<<__XML__);
      <user>
        <username>new_user</username>
        <password>new_pass</password>
        <email>&lt;casey@geeknest.com%gt;</email>
      </user>
      __XML__

DESCRIPTION
    This software adds XML output support to "Class::DBI" based objects.

  to_xml_columns
      Class->to_xml_columns([qw[columns to dump with xml]]);

    This class method sets the default columns this class should dump when
    calling "to_xml()" on an object. The single parameter is a list
    reference with column names listed.

  to_xml
      my $xml = $object->to_xml(
                    columns => {
                        MyApp::User  => [ qw[username email zip_code] ],
                        MyApp::File  => [ qw[user filename size]      ],
                        MyApp::Pref  => [ MyApp::Pref->columns        ],
                    },
                    depth => 10,
                    xml => {
                        NoAttr => 0,
                    },
                );

    All arguments are optional.

    "columns" - A hash reference containing key/value pairs associating
    class names to a list of columns to dump as XML when the class is
    serialized. They keys are class names and values are list references
    containing column names, just as they'd be sent to "to_xml_columns()".
    Passing a "columns" parameter to this instance method will override any
    defaults associated with this object. Failing that, "to_xml_colunms()"
    is checked and failing that, the "Primary" and "Essential" columns are
    dumped by default.

    Each column requested for XML output will go through an attempt to be
    stringified. If the column value is an object with stringification
    overloaded (using "overload") then it is stringified in that manner. If
    the column is an object and its interface supports either "as_string()"
    or "as_text()" methods, those method will be called and the results
    returned. Finally, if the value is defined then it is stringified and
    returned (this means references will become ugly). If the value is
    undefined then an empty string is used in its place.

    "depth" - Depth to dump to. Depth of zero, the default, will not
    recurse. Column values are interogated to determine if they should be