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+=head1 NAME
+
+perltie - how to hide an object class in a simple variable
+
+=head1 SYNOPSIS
+
+ tie VARIABLE, CLASSNAME, LIST
+
+ $object = tied VARIABLE
+
+ untie VARIABLE
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+Prior to release 5.0 of Perl, a programmer could use dbmopen()
+to connect an on-disk database in the standard Unix dbm(3x)
+format magically to a %HASH in their program. However, their Perl was either
+built with one particular dbm library or another, but not both, and
+you couldn't extend this mechanism to other packages or types of variables.
+
+Now you can.
+
+The tie() function binds a variable to a class (package) that will provide
+the implementation for access methods for that variable. Once this magic
+has been performed, accessing a tied variable automatically triggers
+method calls in the proper class. The complexity of the class is
+hidden behind magic methods calls. The method names are in ALL CAPS,
+which is a convention that Perl uses to indicate that they're called
+implicitly rather than explicitly--just like the BEGIN() and END()
+functions.
+
+In the tie() call, C<VARIABLE> is the name of the variable to be
+enchanted. C<CLASSNAME> is the name of a class implementing objects of
+the correct type. Any additional arguments in the C<LIST> are passed to
+the appropriate constructor method for that class--meaning TIESCALAR(),
+TIEARRAY(), TIEHASH(), or TIEHANDLE(). (Typically these are arguments
+such as might be passed to the dbminit() function of C.) The object
+returned by the "new" method is also returned by the tie() function,
+which would be useful if you wanted to access other methods in
+C<CLASSNAME>. (You don't actually have to return a reference to a right
+"type" (e.g., HASH or C<CLASSNAME>) so long as it's a properly blessed
+object.) You can also retrieve a reference to the underlying object
+using the tied() function.
+
+Unlike dbmopen(), the tie() function will not C<use> or C<require> a module
+for you--you need to do that explicitly yourself.
+
+=head2 Tying Scalars
+
+A class implementing a tied scalar should define the following methods:
+TIESCALAR, FETCH, STORE, and possibly DESTROY.
+
+Let's look at each in turn, using as an example a tie class for
+scalars that allows the user to do something like:
+
+ tie $his_speed, 'Nice', getppid();
+ tie $my_speed, 'Nice', $$;
+
+And now whenever either of those variables is accessed, its current
+system priority is retrieved and returned. If those variables are set,
+then the process's priority is changed!
+
+We'll use Jarkko Hietaniemi <F<jhi@iki.fi>>'s BSD::Resource class (not
+included) to access the PRIO_PROCESS, PRIO_MIN, and PRIO_MAX constants
+from your system, as well as the getpriority() and setpriority() system
+calls. Here's the preamble of the class.
+
+ package Nice;
+ use Carp;
+ use BSD::Resource;
+ use strict;
+ $Nice::DEBUG = 0 unless defined $Nice::DEBUG;
+
+=over
+
+=item TIESCALAR classname, LIST
+
+This is the constructor for the class. That means it is
+expected to return a blessed reference to a new scalar
+(probably anonymous) that it's creating. For example:
+
+ sub TIESCALAR {
+ my $class = shift;
+ my $pid = shift || $$; # 0 means me
+
+ if ($pid !~ /^\d+$/) {
+ carp "Nice::Tie::Scalar got non-numeric pid $pid" if $^W;
+ return undef;
+ }
+
+ unless (kill 0, $pid) { # EPERM or ERSCH, no doubt
+ carp "Nice::Tie::Scalar got bad pid $pid: $!" if $^W;
+ return undef;
+ }
+
+ return bless \$pid, $class;
+ }
+
+This tie class has chosen to return an error rather than raising an
+exception if its constructor should fail. While this is how dbmopen() works,
+other classes may well not wish to be so forgiving. It checks the global
+variable C<$^W> to see whether to emit a bit of noise anyway.
+
+=item FETCH this
+
+This method will be triggered every time the tied variable is accessed
+(read). It takes no arguments beyond its self reference, which is the
+object representing the scalar we're dealing with. Because in this case
+we're using just a SCALAR ref for the tied scalar object, a simple $$self
+allows the method to get at the real value stored there. In our example
+below, that real value is the process ID to which we've tied our variable.
+
+ sub FETCH {
+ my $self = shift;
+ confess "wrong type" unless ref $self;
+ croak "usage error" if @_;
+ my $nicety;
+ local($!) = 0;
+ $nicety = getpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, $$self);
+ if ($!) { croak "getpriority failed: $!" }
+ return $nicety;
+ }
+
+This time we've decided to blow up (raise an exception) if the renice
+fails--there's no place for us to return an error otherwise, and it's
+probably the right thing to do.
+
+=item STORE this, value
+
+This method will be triggered every time the tied variable is set
+(assigned). Beyond its self reference, it also expects one (and only one)
+argument--the new value the user is trying to assign.
+
+ sub STORE {
+ my $self = shift;
+ confess "wrong type" unless ref $self;
+ my $new_nicety = shift;
+ croak "usage error" if @_;
+
+ if ($new_nicety < PRIO_MIN) {
+ carp sprintf
+ "WARNING: priority %d less than minimum system priority %d",
+ $new_nicety, PRIO_MIN if $^W;
+ $new_nicety = PRIO_MIN;
+ }
+
+ if ($new_nicety > PRIO_MAX) {
+ carp sprintf
+ "WARNING: priority %d greater than maximum system priority %d",
+ $new_nicety, PRIO_MAX if $^W;
+ $new_nicety = PRIO_MAX;
+ }
+
+ unless (defined setpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, $$self, $new_nicety)) {
+ confess "setpriority failed: $!";
+ }
+ return $new_nicety;
+ }
+
+=item DESTROY this
+
+This method will be triggered when the tied variable needs to be destructed.
+As with other object classes, such a method is seldom necessary, because Perl
+deallocates its moribund object's memory for you automatically--this isn't
+C++, you know. We'll use a DESTROY method here for debugging purposes only.
+
+ sub DESTROY {
+ my $self = shift;
+ confess "wrong type" unless ref $self;
+ carp "[ Nice::DESTROY pid $$self ]" if $Nice::DEBUG;
+ }
+
+=back
+
+That's about all there is to it. Actually, it's more than all there
+is to it, because we've done a few nice things here for the sake
+of completeness, robustness, and general aesthetics. Simpler
+TIESCALAR classes are certainly possible.
+
+=head2 Tying Arrays
+
+A class implementing a tied ordinary array should define the following
+methods: TIEARRAY, FETCH, STORE, FETCHSIZE, STORESIZE and perhaps DESTROY.
+
+FETCHSIZE and STORESIZE are used to provide C<$#array> and
+equivalent C<scalar(@array)> access.
+
+The methods POP, PUSH, SHIFT, UNSHIFT, SPLICE are required if the perl
+operator with the corresponding (but lowercase) name is to operate on the
+tied array. The B<Tie::Array> class can be used as a base class to implement
+these in terms of the basic five methods above.
+
+In addition EXTEND will be called when perl would have pre-extended
+allocation in a real array.
+
+This means that tied arrays are now I<complete>. The example below needs
+upgrading to illustrate this. (The documentation in B<Tie::Array> is more
+complete.)
+
+For this discussion, we'll implement an array whose indices are fixed at
+its creation. If you try to access anything beyond those bounds, you'll
+take an exception. For example:
+
+ require Bounded_Array;
+ tie @ary, 'Bounded_Array', 2;
+ $| = 1;
+ for $i (0 .. 10) {
+ print "setting index $i: ";
+ $ary[$i] = 10 * $i;
+ $ary[$i] = 10 * $i;
+ print "value of elt $i now $ary[$i]\n";
+ }
+
+The preamble code for the class is as follows:
+
+ package Bounded_Array;
+ use Carp;
+ use strict;
+
+=over
+
+=item TIEARRAY classname, LIST
+
+This is the constructor for the class. That means it is expected to
+return a blessed reference through which the new array (probably an
+anonymous ARRAY ref) will be accessed.
+
+In our example, just to show you that you don't I<really> have to return an
+ARRAY reference, we'll choose a HASH reference to represent our object.
+A HASH works out well as a generic record type: the C<{BOUND}> field will
+store the maximum bound allowed, and the C<{ARRAY}> field will hold the
+true ARRAY ref. If someone outside the class tries to dereference the
+object returned (doubtless thinking it an ARRAY ref), they'll blow up.
+This just goes to show you that you should respect an object's privacy.
+
+ sub TIEARRAY {
+ my $class = shift;
+ my $bound = shift;
+ confess "usage: tie(\@ary, 'Bounded_Array', max_subscript)"
+ if @_ || $bound =~ /\D/;
+ return bless {
+ BOUND => $bound,
+ ARRAY => [],
+ }, $class;
+ }
+
+=item FETCH this, index
+
+This method will be triggered every time an individual element the tied array
+is accessed (read). It takes one argument beyond its self reference: the
+index whose value we're trying to fetch.
+
+ sub FETCH {
+ my($self,$idx) = @_;
+ if ($idx > $self->{BOUND}) {
+ confess "Array OOB: $idx > $self->{BOUND}";
+ }
+ return $self->{ARRAY}[$idx];
+ }
+
+As you may have noticed, the name of the FETCH method (et al.) is the same
+for all accesses, even though the constructors differ in names (TIESCALAR
+vs TIEARRAY). While in theory you could have the same class servicing
+several tied types, in practice this becomes cumbersome, and it's easiest
+to keep them at simply one tie type per class.
+
+=item STORE this, index, value
+
+This method will be triggered every time an element in the tied array is set
+(written). It takes two arguments beyond its self reference: the index at
+which we're trying to store something and the value we're trying to put
+there. For example:
+
+ sub STORE {
+ my($self, $idx, $value) = @_;
+ print "[STORE $value at $idx]\n" if _debug;
+ if ($idx > $self->{BOUND} ) {
+ confess "Array OOB: $idx > $self->{BOUND}";
+ }
+ return $self->{ARRAY}[$idx] = $value;
+ }
+
+=item DESTROY this
+
+This method will be triggered when the tied variable needs to be destructed.
+As with the scalar tie class, this is almost never needed in a
+language that does its own garbage collection, so this time we'll
+just leave it out.
+
+=back
+
+The code we presented at the top of the tied array class accesses many
+elements of the array, far more than we've set the bounds to. Therefore,
+it will blow up once they try to access beyond the 2nd element of @ary, as
+the following output demonstrates:
+
+ setting index 0: value of elt 0 now 0
+ setting index 1: value of elt 1 now 10
+ setting index 2: value of elt 2 now 20
+ setting index 3: Array OOB: 3 > 2 at Bounded_Array.pm line 39
+ Bounded_Array::FETCH called at testba line 12
+
+=head2 Tying Hashes
+
+As the first Perl data type to be tied (see dbmopen()), hashes have the
+most complete and useful tie() implementation. A class implementing a
+tied hash should define the following methods: TIEHASH is the constructor.
+FETCH and STORE access the key and value pairs. EXISTS reports whether a
+key is present in the hash, and DELETE deletes one. CLEAR empties the
+hash by deleting all the key and value pairs. FIRSTKEY and NEXTKEY
+implement the keys() and each() functions to iterate over all the keys.
+And DESTROY is called when the tied variable is garbage collected.
+
+If this seems like a lot, then feel free to inherit from merely the
+standard Tie::Hash module for most of your methods, redefining only the
+interesting ones. See L<Tie::Hash> for details.
+
+Remember that Perl distinguishes between a key not existing in the hash,
+and the key existing in the hash but having a corresponding value of
+C<undef>. The two possibilities can be tested with the C<exists()> and
+C<defined()> functions.
+
+Here's an example of a somewhat interesting tied hash class: it gives you
+a hash representing a particular user's dot files. You index into the hash
+with the name of the file (minus the dot) and you get back that dot file's
+contents. For example:
+
+ use DotFiles;
+ tie %dot, 'DotFiles';
+ if ( $dot{profile} =~ /MANPATH/ ||
+ $dot{login} =~ /MANPATH/ ||
+ $dot{cshrc} =~ /MANPATH/ )
+ {
+ print "you seem to set your MANPATH\n";
+ }
+
+Or here's another sample of using our tied class:
+
+ tie %him, 'DotFiles', 'daemon';
+ foreach $f ( keys %him ) {
+ printf "daemon dot file %s is size %d\n",
+ $f, length $him{$f};
+ }
+
+In our tied hash DotFiles example, we use a regular
+hash for the object containing several important
+fields, of which only the C<{LIST}> field will be what the
+user thinks of as the real hash.
+
+=over 5
+
+=item USER
+
+whose dot files this object represents
+
+=item HOME
+
+where those dot files live
+
+=item CLOBBER
+
+whether we should try to change or remove those dot files
+
+=item LIST
+
+the hash of dot file names and content mappings
+
+=back
+
+Here's the start of F<Dotfiles.pm>:
+
+ package DotFiles;
+ use Carp;
+ sub whowasi { (caller(1))[3] . '()' }
+ my $DEBUG = 0;
+ sub debug { $DEBUG = @_ ? shift : 1 }
+
+For our example, we want to be able to emit debugging info to help in tracing
+during development. We keep also one convenience function around
+internally to help print out warnings; whowasi() returns the function name
+that calls it.
+
+Here are the methods for the DotFiles tied hash.
+
+=over
+
+=item TIEHASH classname, LIST
+
+This is the constructor for the class. That means it is expected to
+return a blessed reference through which the new object (probably but not
+necessarily an anonymous hash) will be accessed.
+
+Here's the constructor:
+
+ sub TIEHASH {
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $user = shift || $>;
+ my $dotdir = shift || '';
+ croak "usage: @{[&whowasi]} [USER [DOTDIR]]" if @_;
+ $user = getpwuid($user) if $user =~ /^\d+$/;
+ my $dir = (getpwnam($user))[7]
+ || croak "@{[&whowasi]}: no user $user";
+ $dir .= "/$dotdir" if $dotdir;
+
+ my $node = {
+ USER => $user,
+ HOME => $dir,
+ LIST => {},
+ CLOBBER => 0,
+ };
+
+ opendir(DIR, $dir)
+ || croak "@{[&whowasi]}: can't opendir $dir: $!";
+ foreach $dot ( grep /^\./ && -f "$dir/$_", readdir(DIR)) {
+ $dot =~ s/^\.//;
+ $node->{LIST}{$dot} = undef;
+ }
+ closedir DIR;
+ return bless $node, $self;
+ }
+
+It's probably worth mentioning that if you're going to filetest the
+return values out of a readdir, you'd better prepend the directory
+in question. Otherwise, because we didn't chdir() there, it would
+have been testing the wrong file.
+
+=item FETCH this, key
+
+This method will be triggered every time an element in the tied hash is
+accessed (read). It takes one argument beyond its self reference: the key
+whose value we're trying to fetch.
+
+Here's the fetch for our DotFiles example.
+
+ sub FETCH {
+ carp &whowasi if $DEBUG;
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $dot = shift;
+ my $dir = $self->{HOME};
+ my $file = "$dir/.$dot";
+
+ unless (exists $self->{LIST}->{$dot} || -f $file) {
+ carp "@{[&whowasi]}: no $dot file" if $DEBUG;
+ return undef;
+ }
+
+ if (defined $self->{LIST}->{$dot}) {
+ return $self->{LIST}->{$dot};
+ } else {
+ return $self->{LIST}->{$dot} = `cat $dir/.$dot`;
+ }
+ }
+
+It was easy to write by having it call the Unix cat(1) command, but it
+would probably be more portable to open the file manually (and somewhat
+more efficient). Of course, because dot files are a Unixy concept, we're
+not that concerned.
+
+=item STORE this, key, value
+
+This method will be triggered every time an element in the tied hash is set
+(written). It takes two arguments beyond its self reference: the index at
+which we're trying to store something, and the value we're trying to put
+there.
+
+Here in our DotFiles example, we'll be careful not to let
+them try to overwrite the file unless they've called the clobber()
+method on the original object reference returned by tie().
+
+ sub STORE {
+ carp &whowasi if $DEBUG;
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $dot = shift;
+ my $value = shift;
+ my $file = $self->{HOME} . "/.$dot";
+ my $user = $self->{USER};
+
+ croak "@{[&whowasi]}: $file not clobberable"
+ unless $self->{CLOBBER};
+
+ open(F, "> $file") || croak "can't open $file: $!";
+ print F $value;
+ close(F);
+ }
+
+If they wanted to clobber something, they might say:
+
+ $ob = tie %daemon_dots, 'daemon';
+ $ob->clobber(1);
+ $daemon_dots{signature} = "A true daemon\n";
+
+Another way to lay hands on a reference to the underlying object is to
+use the tied() function, so they might alternately have set clobber
+using:
+
+ tie %daemon_dots, 'daemon';
+ tied(%daemon_dots)->clobber(1);
+
+The clobber method is simply:
+
+ sub clobber {
+ my $self = shift;
+ $self->{CLOBBER} = @_ ? shift : 1;
+ }
+
+=item DELETE this, key
+
+This method is triggered when we remove an element from the hash,
+typically by using the delete() function. Again, we'll
+be careful to check whether they really want to clobber files.
+
+ sub DELETE {
+ carp &whowasi if $DEBUG;
+
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $dot = shift;
+ my $file = $self->{HOME} . "/.$dot";
+ croak "@{[&whowasi]}: won't remove file $file"
+ unless $self->{CLOBBER};
+ delete $self->{LIST}->{$dot};
+ my $success = unlink($file);
+ carp "@{[&whowasi]}: can't unlink $file: $!" unless $success;
+ $success;
+ }
+
+The value returned by DELETE becomes the return value of the call
+to delete(). If you want to emulate the normal behavior of delete(),
+you should return whatever FETCH would have returned for this key.
+In this example, we have chosen instead to return a value which tells
+the caller whether the file was successfully deleted.
+
+=item CLEAR this
+
+This method is triggered when the whole hash is to be cleared, usually by
+assigning the empty list to it.
+
+In our example, that would remove all the user's dot files! It's such a
+dangerous thing that they'll have to set CLOBBER to something higher than
+1 to make it happen.
+
+ sub CLEAR {
+ carp &whowasi if $DEBUG;
+ my $self = shift;
+ croak "@{[&whowasi]}: won't remove all dot files for $self->{USER}"
+ unless $self->{CLOBBER} > 1;
+ my $dot;
+ foreach $dot ( keys %{$self->{LIST}}) {
+ $self->DELETE($dot);
+ }
+ }
+
+=item EXISTS this, key
+
+This method is triggered when the user uses the exists() function
+on a particular hash. In our example, we'll look at the C<{LIST}>
+hash element for this:
+
+ sub EXISTS {
+ carp &whowasi if $DEBUG;
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $dot = shift;
+ return exists $self->{LIST}->{$dot};
+ }
+
+=item FIRSTKEY this
+
+This method will be triggered when the user is going
+to iterate through the hash, such as via a keys() or each()
+call.
+
+ sub FIRSTKEY {
+ carp &whowasi if $DEBUG;
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $a = keys %{$self->{LIST}}; # reset each() iterator
+ each %{$self->{LIST}}
+ }
+
+=item NEXTKEY this, lastkey
+
+This method gets triggered during a keys() or each() iteration. It has a
+second argument which is the last key that had been accessed. This is
+useful if you're carrying about ordering or calling the iterator from more
+than one sequence, or not really storing things in a hash anywhere.
+
+For our example, we're using a real hash so we'll do just the simple
+thing, but we'll have to go through the LIST field indirectly.
+
+ sub NEXTKEY {
+ carp &whowasi if $DEBUG;
+ my $self = shift;
+ return each %{ $self->{LIST} }
+ }
+
+=item DESTROY this
+
+This method is triggered when a tied hash is about to go out of
+scope. You don't really need it unless you're trying to add debugging
+or have auxiliary state to clean up. Here's a very simple function:
+
+ sub DESTROY {
+ carp &whowasi if $DEBUG;
+ }
+
+=back
+
+Note that functions such as keys() and values() may return huge lists
+when used on large objects, like DBM files. You may prefer to use the
+each() function to iterate over such. Example:
+
+ # print out history file offsets
+ use NDBM_File;
+ tie(%HIST, 'NDBM_File', '/usr/lib/news/history', 1, 0);
+ while (($key,$val) = each %HIST) {
+ print $key, ' = ', unpack('L',$val), "\n";
+ }
+ untie(%HIST);
+
+=head2 Tying FileHandles
+
+This is partially implemented now.
+
+A class implementing a tied filehandle should define the following
+methods: TIEHANDLE, at least one of PRINT, PRINTF, WRITE, READLINE, GETC,
+READ, and possibly CLOSE and DESTROY.
+
+It is especially useful when perl is embedded in some other program,
+where output to STDOUT and STDERR may have to be redirected in some
+special way. See nvi and the Apache module for examples.
+
+In our example we're going to create a shouting handle.
+
+ package Shout;
+
+=over
+
+=item TIEHANDLE classname, LIST
+
+This is the constructor for the class. That means it is expected to
+return a blessed reference of some sort. The reference can be used to
+hold some internal information.
+
+ sub TIEHANDLE { print "<shout>\n"; my $i; bless \$i, shift }
+
+=item WRITE this, LIST
+
+This method will be called when the handle is written to via the
+C<syswrite> function.
+
+ sub WRITE {
+ $r = shift;
+ my($buf,$len,$offset) = @_;
+ print "WRITE called, \$buf=$buf, \$len=$len, \$offset=$offset";
+ }
+
+=item PRINT this, LIST
+
+This method will be triggered every time the tied handle is printed to
+with the C<print()> function.
+Beyond its self reference it also expects the list that was passed to
+the print function.
+
+ sub PRINT { $r = shift; $$r++; print join($,,map(uc($_),@_)),$\ }
+
+=item PRINTF this, LIST
+
+This method will be triggered every time the tied handle is printed to
+with the C<printf()> function.
+Beyond its self reference it also expects the format and list that was
+passed to the printf function.
+
+ sub PRINTF {
+ shift;
+ my $fmt = shift;
+ print sprintf($fmt, @_)."\n";
+ }
+
+=item READ this, LIST
+
+This method will be called when the handle is read from via the C<read>
+or C<sysread> functions.
+
+ sub READ {
+ $r = shift;
+ my($buf,$len,$offset) = @_;
+ print "READ called, \$buf=$buf, \$len=$len, \$offset=$offset";
+ }
+
+=item READLINE this
+
+This method will be called when the handle is read from via <HANDLE>.
+The method should return undef when there is no more data.
+
+ sub READLINE { $r = shift; "PRINT called $$r times\n"; }
+
+=item GETC this
+
+This method will be called when the C<getc> function is called.
+
+ sub GETC { print "Don't GETC, Get Perl"; return "a"; }
+
+=item CLOSE this
+
+This method will be called when the handle is closed via the C<close>
+function.
+
+ sub CLOSE { print "CLOSE called.\n" }
+
+=item DESTROY this
+
+As with the other types of ties, this method will be called when the
+tied handle is about to be destroyed. This is useful for debugging and
+possibly cleaning up.
+
+ sub DESTROY { print "</shout>\n" }
+
+=back
+
+Here's how to use our little example:
+
+ tie(*FOO,'Shout');
+ print FOO "hello\n";
+ $a = 4; $b = 6;
+ print FOO $a, " plus ", $b, " equals ", $a + $b, "\n";
+ print <FOO>;
+
+=head2 The C<untie> Gotcha
+
+If you intend making use of the object returned from either tie() or
+tied(), and if the tie's target class defines a destructor, there is a
+subtle gotcha you I<must> guard against.
+
+As setup, consider this (admittedly rather contrived) example of a
+tie; all it does is use a file to keep a log of the values assigned to
+a scalar.
+
+ package Remember;
+
+ use strict;
+ use IO::File;
+
+ sub TIESCALAR {
+ my $class = shift;
+ my $filename = shift;
+ my $handle = new IO::File "> $filename"
+ or die "Cannot open $filename: $!\n";
+
+ print $handle "The Start\n";
+ bless {FH => $handle, Value => 0}, $class;
+ }
+
+ sub FETCH {
+ my $self = shift;
+ return $self->{Value};
+ }
+
+ sub STORE {
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $value = shift;
+ my $handle = $self->{FH};
+ print $handle "$value\n";
+ $self->{Value} = $value;
+ }
+
+ sub DESTROY {
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $handle = $self->{FH};
+ print $handle "The End\n";
+ close $handle;
+ }
+
+ 1;
+
+Here is an example that makes use of this tie:
+
+ use strict;
+ use Remember;
+
+ my $fred;
+ tie $fred, 'Remember', 'myfile.txt';
+ $fred = 1;
+ $fred = 4;
+ $fred = 5;
+ untie $fred;
+ system "cat myfile.txt";
+
+This is the output when it is executed:
+
+ The Start
+ 1
+ 4
+ 5
+ The End
+
+So far so good. Those of you who have been paying attention will have
+spotted that the tied object hasn't been used so far. So lets add an
+extra method to the Remember class to allow comments to be included in
+the file -- say, something like this:
+
+ sub comment {
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $text = shift;
+ my $handle = $self->{FH};
+ print $handle $text, "\n";
+ }
+
+And here is the previous example modified to use the C<comment> method
+(which requires the tied object):
+
+ use strict;
+ use Remember;
+
+ my ($fred, $x);
+ $x = tie $fred, 'Remember', 'myfile.txt';
+ $fred = 1;
+ $fred = 4;
+ comment $x "changing...";
+ $fred = 5;
+ untie $fred;
+ system "cat myfile.txt";
+
+When this code is executed there is no output. Here's why:
+
+When a variable is tied, it is associated with the object which is the
+return value of the TIESCALAR, TIEARRAY, or TIEHASH function. This
+object normally has only one reference, namely, the implicit reference
+from the tied variable. When untie() is called, that reference is
+destroyed. Then, as in the first example above, the object's
+destructor (DESTROY) is called, which is normal for objects that have
+no more valid references; and thus the file is closed.
+
+In the second example, however, we have stored another reference to
+the tied object in C<$x>. That means that when untie() gets called
+there will still be a valid reference to the object in existence, so
+the destructor is not called at that time, and thus the file is not
+closed. The reason there is no output is because the file buffers
+have not been flushed to disk.
+
+Now that you know what the problem is, what can you do to avoid it?
+Well, the good old C<-w> flag will spot any instances where you call
+untie() and there are still valid references to the tied object. If
+the second script above is run with the C<-w> flag, Perl prints this
+warning message:
+
+ untie attempted while 1 inner references still exist
+
+To get the script to work properly and silence the warning make sure
+there are no valid references to the tied object I<before> untie() is
+called:
+
+ undef $x;
+ untie $fred;
+
+=head1 SEE ALSO
+
+See L<DB_File> or L<Config> for some interesting tie() implementations.
+
+=head1 BUGS
+
+Tied arrays are I<incomplete>. They are also distinctly lacking something
+for the C<$#ARRAY> access (which is hard, as it's an lvalue), as well as
+the other obvious array functions, like push(), pop(), shift(), unshift(),
+and splice().
+
+You cannot easily tie a multilevel data structure (such as a hash of
+hashes) to a dbm file. The first problem is that all but GDBM and
+Berkeley DB have size limitations, but beyond that, you also have problems
+with how references are to be represented on disk. One experimental
+module that does attempt to address this need partially is the MLDBM
+module. Check your nearest CPAN site as described in L<perlmodlib> for
+source code to MLDBM.
+
+=head1 AUTHOR
+
+Tom Christiansen
+
+TIEHANDLE by Sven Verdoolaege <F<skimo@dns.ufsia.ac.be>> and Doug MacEachern <F<dougm@osf.org>>
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