The module formerly known as DBD::RAM has been completely rewritten and
expanded and is now known as DBD::AnyData. Please take a look at the
examples in the README attatched below to see some of its capabilities.
Some of the many changes include
* Much more robust and flexible XML thanks to Michel
Rodriguez's excellent XML::Twig
* Many new formats including HTML tables, Web logs,
Passwd files, CSV, Fixed length files, etc.
* Either in-memory or file-based processing including file
protections via flock() and record-at-a-time access
* An open API for other authors to create plugin format
parsers either on-the-fly for quirky one time data or
permanent to make the format available to other users
* A sister module that provides access to the same formats
via multi-dimensional tied hashes
I'm giving the Pdx-mongers and the DBI listserv folks this advance copy
but am not CPANing it quite yet, mostly because the documentation sucks
and because I would like your input on the new interfaces before
finalizing them.
Read more about it and/or grab it at:
http://www.vpservices.com/jeff/programs/AnyData/
Here's the README for AnyData.pm:
README FILE FOR AnyData
WHY USE IT?
The AnyData suite of modules provides simple and uniform access
to data from many sources -- perl arrays, local files, remote
files retrievable via http or ftp -- and in many formats
including flat files (CSV, Fixed Length, Tab Delimited, etc),
standard format files (Web Logs, Passwd files, etc.),
structured files (XML, HTML Tables) and binary files with
parseable headers (mp3s, jpgs, pngs, etc). All file access
provides behind the scenes flocking and (in most cases) use of
record-at-time access rather than pulling entire files into
memory.
There are two separate interfaces: 1) AnyData.pm supports
searching and modifiying the data with multi-dimensional tied
hashes and also the ability to convert to and from data in any
of the supported formats; 2) DBD::AnyData provides a full DBI
interface allowing use of DBI commands with the same subset of
SQL currently provided by DBD::CSV and DBD::RAM. DBD::AnyData
replaces DBD::RAM which will no longer be supported.
Here are a few examples of the tied hash interface, all also
supported using standard DBI/SQL calls via DBD::AnyData:
# FIND A USER'S HOME DIRECTORY IN A PASSWD FILE
#
my $users = adTie( 'Passwd', '/etc/passwd' );
print $users->{jdoe}->{homedir};
# DELETE A PLAYER FROM A PIPE DELIMITED GAMES DATABASE
#
my $players = adTie( 'Pipe', 'games.db', 'u' );
delete $players->{jdoe};
# RECURSIVELY LIST THE ARTISTS FOR ALL REGGAE MP3s
# IN A SPECIFIED DIRECTORY TREE
#
my $music = adTie( 'Mp3', ['c:/My Music/'] );
while ( my $song = each %$music ) {
print $song->{artist},"\n" if $song->{genre} eq 'Reggae';
}
# RETRIEVE A CSV FILE FROM AN FTP SERVER
# AND PRINT IT TO THE SCREEN AS AN HTML TABLE
#
# print adConvert( 'CSV', 'HTMLtable', 'ftp://foo.edu/pub/bar.csv' );
# COUNT THE NUMBER OF HITS FOR A SPECIFIED PAGE IN A WEB LOG
#
my $hits = adTie( 'Weblog', 'access.log');
print adCount( $hits , request => 'mypage.html' );
# CREATE A CGI POP-UP MENU FROM A LISTING
# OF THE VALUES OF A TABLE COLUMN
#
my $game = adTie( 'Pipe','games.db' );
my @players = adColumn( $game, 'player' );
print CGI::popup_menu( 'players', \@players );
# SELECT OR MODIFY MULTIPLE ROWS BASED ON COMPLEX CRITERIA
# (this deletes all North American males over age 30)
#
my $data = adTie( 'Tab', 'mydb.tab');
delete $data->{{ country => qr/us|mx|ca/,
gender => 'eq m',
age => '> 30',
}};
WHAT ELSE DO I NEED?
* Perl
* The AnyData.pm module itself is pure Perl and does not
depend on anything other than modules that come standard
with Perl. To use the remote ftp/http features, you must
have the LWP bundle installed; to use the XML format, you
must have XML::Parser and XML::Twig installed; to use the
HTMLtable format for reading, you must have HTML::Parser
and HTML::TableExtract installed but you can use the HTMLtable
for writing with just the standard CGI module. To use DBI/SQL
commands, you must have DBI, SQL::Statement and DBD::File
installed in addition to the AnyData modules. All necessary
modules are available on CPAN. For windows users, all the
modules except AnyData, XML::Twig and HTML::TableExtract are
also availble via ppm on www.activestate.com.
HOW DO I INSTALL IT?
1. Install Perl if not already installed
2. Unpack the compressed files.
(AnyData-version.tar.gz or AnyData-version.zip)
3a. If you are not familiar with the standard Perl
makefile method, you can simply copy the files
3b. If you are familiar with the standard Perl make
installation, just do as always (perl Makefile.PL;
make; make test; make install) this should also
work with dmake or nmake.
HOW DO I USE IT?
First you might like to try this simple script which
creates a database and inserts the string "hello new world"
into a record and then retrieves the record and prints it:
#!perl -w
use strict;
use AnyData;
my $table = adTie ('CSV','test.db','o',{cols=>'id,phrase'});
$table->{1} = {phrase=>'hello new world'};
print $table->{1}->{phrase}.
WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFO?
After installing the module, type "perldoc AnyData" at
the command prompt, or just read the documentation at
the bottom of the AnyData.pm file.
WHO DUNNIT?
Jeff Zucker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Feel free to email me comments and suggestions, but please
post questions requiring a response to the comp.lang.perl.modules
newsgroup or (for DBD::AnyData only) via the [EMAIL PROTECTED]
listserv.
READ MORE AND GRAB THE MODULE AT
http://www.vpservices.com/jeff/programs/AnyData/
Enjoy!
--
Jeff Zucker
