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## $Id: File.pod 3208 2002-09-09 01:34:11Z spadkins $
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=head1 NAME

App::Conf::File - Load and access configuration data

=head1 SYNOPSIS

   use App::Conf;

   $config = App::Conf->new();
   $config = App::Conf->new(configFile => $file);
   print $config->dump(), "\n";       # use Data::Dumper to spit out the Perl representation

   # accessors
   $property_value = $config->get($property_name);
   $branch = $config->get_branch($branch_name);  # get hashref of properties

   # on-demand loading helper methods (private methods)
   $config->overlay($config2);        # merge the two config structures using overlay rules
   $config->overlay($config1, $config2);  # merge $config2 onto $config1
   $config->graft($branch_name, $config2);  # graft new config structure onto branch

   # By convention, the configurations for each App-Context service will be located
   # two levels under the hash ref as shown.

   $config->{Conf}              # config settings for all Conf services
   $config->{Conf}{default}     # config settings for the default Conf service
   $config->{Security}          # config settings for all Security services
   $config->{Security}{default} # config settings for the default Security service
   $config->{Template}{tt}      # config settings for the Template service named "tt"

   # The default driver (if "configClass" not supplied) reads in a Perl
   # data structure from the file.  Alternate drivers can read a Storable,
   # unvalidated XML, DTD-validated XML, RDF-validated XML, or any other
   # file format or data source anyone cares to write a driver for.

   $conf = {
     'Standard' => {
       'Log-Dispatch' => {
         'logdir' => '/var/p5ee',
       }
     },
     'Authen' => {
       'passwd' => '/etc/passwd',
       'seed' => '303292',
     },
   };

   # A comparable unvalidating XML file would look like this.

   <conf>
     <Standard>
       <Log-Dispatch logdir="/var/p5ee"/>
     </Standard>
     <Authen passwd="/etc/passwd" seed="303292"/>
   </conf>

   # A comparable ini file (.ini) would look like this.

   [Standard.Log-Dispatch]
   logdir = /var/p5ee
   [Authen]
   passwd = /etc/passwd
   seed = 303292

   # A comparable Java properties-like file would look like this.

   Standard.Log-Dispatch.logdir = /var/p5ee
   Authen.passwd = /etc/passwd
   Authen.seed = 303292

=head1 DESCRIPTION

App::Conf::File is the class which represents configuration
data in a file.  The type of Serializer used to deserialize the
data is determined by the extension on the file name and contents
of the beginning of the file.

=cut

#############################################################################
# CLASS
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=head1 Class: App::Conf::File

 * Throws: App::Exception::Conf
 * Since:  0.01

=head2 Design

The App::Conf::File class extends the App::Conf class,
overriding the create() method.