Representing a complex Perl data structure containing array references in Config::General

Question

I have the following data structure in Perl code:

my $config = {
    'View::Mason' => {
        comp_root     => [
            [ 'teamsite'   => 'root/teamsite' ],
            [ 'components' => 'root/components' ],
        ],
    },
};

I'm trying to represent this structure in a Config::General configuration file.

So far I have:

<View::Mason>
    <comp_root>
        teamsite        root/teamsite
    </comp_root>
    <comp_root>
        components      root/components
    </comp_root>
</View::Mason>

Which at least makes the "comp_root" element an array reference, but I can't get it to point to another array reference.

Can this be done in Config::General?

Answer 1

I don't believe it's possible with Config::General. For example:

use Config::General qw(SaveConfigString);

my $config = {
    'View::Mason' => {
        comp_root     => [
            [ 'teamsite'   => 'root/teamsite' ],
            [ 'components' => 'root/components' ],
        ],
    },
};

print SaveConfigString($config);

produces

<View::Mason>
    comp_root   ARRAY(0x94ea168)
    comp_root   ARRAY(0x94fbc98)
</View::Mason>

If it can't save it, odds are it can't load it.

Here's what I would do:

1. Figure out what I want my config file to look like.
2. Find a module capable of loading a config file like that. (Possibly making some changes to the format, if it proves too difficult to load.)
3. If the result of step 2 is not suitable for direct use by the rest of my program, write some code to convert what the config reader gives me into what my program wants.

Answer 2

YAML might be an option for you:

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper qw(Dumper);
use YAML::XS qw(Load);

my $config_text = '
View::Mason:
  comp_root:
    -
      - teamsite
      - root/teamsite
    -
      - components
      - root/components
';

my $config = Load($yaml_text);
print Dumper($config);