path: root/doc/configurable.n

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.TH configurable n 0.4 TclOO "TclOO Commands"
.so man.macros
.BS
'\" Note:  do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
.SH NAME
oo::configurable, configure, property \- class that makes configurable classes and objects, and supports making configurable properties
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
package require TclOO

\fBoo::configurable create \fIclass\fR \fR?\fIdefinitionScript\fR?

\fBoo::define \fIclass\fB {\fR
    \fBproperty \fIpropName\fR ?\fIoptions...\fR? ?\fIpropName\fR ?\fIoptions...\fR?...?
\fB}\fR

\fBoo::objdefine \fIobject\fB {\fR
    \fBproperty \fIpropName\fR ?\fIoptions...\fR? ?\fIpropName\fR ?\fIoptions...\fR?...?
\fB}\fR

\fIobjectName \fBconfigure\fR
\fIobjectName \fBconfigure\fR \fI\-prop\fR
\fIobjectName \fBconfigure\fR \fI\-prop value\fR ?\fI\-prop value\fR...\fR
.fi
.SH "CLASS HIERARCHY"
.nf
\fBoo::object\fR
   \(-> \fBoo::class\fR
       \(-> \fBoo::configurable\fR

\fBoo::object\fR
   \(-> \fBoo::class\fR
       \(-> \fBoo::configurablesupport::configurable\fR
.fi
.BE
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
Configurable objects are objects that support being configured with a
\fBconfigure\fR method. Each of the configurable entities of the object is
known as a property of the object. Properties may be defined on classes or
instances; when configuring an object, any of the properties defined by its
classes (direct or indirect) or by the instance itself may be configured.
.PP
The \fBoo::configurable\fR metaclass installs basic support for making
configurable objects into a class. This consists of making a \fBproperty\fR
definition command available in definition scripts for the class and instances
(e.g., from the class's constructor, within \fBoo::define\fR and within
\fBoo::objdefine\fR) and making a \fBconfigure\fR method available within the
instances.
.SS "CONFIGURE METHOD"
.PP
The behavior of the \fBconfigure\fR method is modelled after the
\fBfconfigure\fR/\fBchan configure\fR command.
.PP
If passed no additional arguments, the \fBconfigure\fR method returns an
alphabetically sorted dictionary of all \fIreadable\fR and \fIread-write\fR
properties and their current values.
.PP
If passed a single additional argument, that argument to the \fBconfigure\fR
method must be the name of a property to read (or an unambiguous prefix
thereof); its value is returned.
.PP
Otherwise, if passed an even number of arguments then each pair of arguments
specifies a property name (or an unambiguous prefix thereof) and the value to
set it to. The properties will be set in the order specified, including
duplicates. If the setting of any property fails, the overall \fBconfigure\fR
method fails, the preceding pairs (if any) will continue to have been applied,
and the succeeding pairs (if any) will be not applied. On success, the result
of the \fBconfigure\fR method in this mode operation will be an empty string.
.SS "PROPERTY DEFINITIONS"
.PP
When a class has been manufactured by the \fBoo::configurable\fR metaclass (or
one of its subclasses), it gains an extra definition, \fBproperty\fR. The
\fBproperty\fR definition defines one or more properties that will be exposed
by the class's instances.
.PP
The \fBproperty\fR command takes the name of a property to define first,
\fIwithout a leading hyphen\fR, followed by a number of option-value pairs
that modify the basic behavior of the property. This can then be followed by
an arbitrary number of other property definitions. The supported options are:
.TP
\fB\-get \fIgetterScript\fR
.
This defines the implementation of how to read from the property; the
\fIgetterScript\fR will become the body of a method (taking no arguments)
defined on the class, if the kind of the property is such that the property
can be read from. The method will be named
\fB<ReadProp-\fIpropertyName\fB>\fR, and will default to being a simple read
of the instance variable with the same name as the property (e.g.,
.QW "\fBproperty\fR xyz"
will result in a method
.QW <ReadProp-xyz>
being created).
.TP
\fB\-kind \fIpropertyKind\fR
.
This defines what sort of property is being created. The \fIpropertyKind\fR
must be exactly one of \fBreadable\fR, \fBwritable\fR, or \fBreadwrite\fR
(which is the default) which will make the property read-only, write-only or
read-write, respectively.  Read-only properties can only ever be read from,
write-only properties can only ever be written to, and read-write properties
can be both read and written.
.RS
.PP
Note that write-only properties are not particularly discoverable as they are
never reported by the \fBconfigure\fR method other than by error messages when
attempting to write to a property that does not exist.
.RE
.TP
\fB\-set \fIsetterScript\fR
.
This defines the implementation of how to write to the property; the
\fIsetterScript\fR will become the body of a method taking a single argument,
\fIvalue\fR, defined on the class, if the kind of the property is such that
the property can be written to. The method will be named
\fB<WriteProp-\fIpropertyName\fB>\fR, and will default to being a simple write
of the instance variable with the same name as the property (e.g.,
.QW "\fBproperty\fR xyz"
will result in a method
.QW <WriteProp-xyz>
being created).
.PP
Instances of the class that was created by \fBoo::configurable\fR will also
support \fBproperty\fR definitions; the semantics will be exactly as above
except that the properties will be defined on the instance alone.
.PP
Note that the property implementation methods that \fBproperty\fR defines
should not be private, as this makes them inaccessible from the implementation
of \fBconfigure\fR (by design; the property configuration mechanism is
intended for use mainly from outside a class, whereas a class may access
variables directly). The variables accessed by the default implementations of
the properties \fImay\fR be private, if so declared.
.SH "ADVANCED USAGE"
.PP
The configurable class system is comprised of several pieces. The
\fBoo::configurable\fR metaclass works by mixing in a class and setting
definition namespaces during object creation that provide the other bits and
pieces of machinery. The key pieces of the implementation are enumerated here
so that they can be used by other code:
.TP
\fBoo::configuresupport::configurable\fR
.
This is a class that provids the implementation of the \fBconfigure\fR method
(described above in \fBCONFIGURE METHOD\fR).
.TP
\fBoo::configuresupport::configurableclass\fR
.
This is a namespace that contains the definition dialect that provides the
\fBproperty\fR declaration for use in classes (i.e., via \fBoo::define\fR, and
class constructors under normal circumstances), as described above in
\fBPROPERTY DEFINITIONS\fR. It \fBnamespace export\fRs its \fBproperty\fR
command so that it may be used easily in user definition dialects.
.TP
.
\fBoo::configuresupport::configurableobject\fR
.
This is a namespace that contains the definition dialect that provides the
\fBproperty\fR declaration for use in instance objects (i.e., via
\fBoo::objdefine\fR, and the\fB self\R declaration in \fBoo::define), as
described above in \fBPROPERTY DEFINITIONS\fR. It \fBnamespace export\fRs its
\fBproperty\fR command so that it may be used easily in user definition
dialects.
.PP
The underlying property discovery mechanism relies on four slots (see
\fBoo::define\fR for what that implies) that list the properties that can be
configured. These slots do not themselves impose any semantics on what the
slots mean other than that they have unique names, no important order, can be
inherited and discovered on classes and instances.
.PP
These slots, and their intended semantics, are:
.TP
\fBoo::configuresupport::readableproperties\fR
.
The set of properties of a class (not including those from its superclasses)
that may be read from when configuring an instance of the class. This slot can
also be read with the \fBinfo class properties\fR command.
.TP
\fBoo::configuresupport::writableproperties\fR
.
The set of properties of a class (not including those from its superclasses)
that may be written to when configuring an instance of the class. This slot
can also be read with the \fBinfo class properties\fR command.
.TP
\fBoo::configuresupport::objreadableproperties\fR
.
The set of properties of an object instance (not including those from its
classes) that may be read from when configuring the object. This slot can
also be read with the \fBinfo object properties\fR command.
.TP
\fBoo::configuresupport::objwritableproperties\fR
.
The set of properties of an object instance (not including those from its
classes) that may be written to when configuring the object. This slot can
also be read with the \fBinfo object properties\fR command.
.PP
Note that though these are slots, they are \fInot\fR in the standard
\fBoo::define\fR or \fBoo::objdefine\fR namespaces; in order to use them
inside a definition script, they need to be referred to by full name. This is
because they are intended to be building bricks of configurable property
system, and not directly used by normal user code.
.SS "IMPLEMENTATION NOTE"
.PP
The implementation of the \fBconfigure\fR method uses
\fBinfo object properties\fR with the \fB\-all\fR option to discover what
properties it may manipulate.
.SH EXAMPLES
.PP
Here we create a simple configurable class and demonstrate how it can be
configured:
.PP
.CS
\fBoo::configurable\fR create Point {
    \fBproperty\fR x y
    constructor args {
        my \fBconfigure\fR -x 0 -y 0 {*}$args
    }
    variable x y
    method print {} {
        puts "x=$x, y=$y"
    }
}

set pt [Point new -x 27]
$pt print;   \fI# x=27, y=0\fR
$pt \fBconfigure\fR -y 42
$pt print;   \fI# x=27, y=42\fR
puts "distance from origin: [expr {
    hypot([$pt \fBconfigure\fR -x], [$pt \fBconfigure\fR -y])
}]";         \fI# distance from origin: 49.92995093127971\fR
puts [$pt \fBconfigure\fR]
             \fI# -x 27 -y 42\fR
.CE
.PP
Such a configurable class can be extended by subclassing, though the subclass
needs to also be created by \fBoo::configurable\fR if it will use the
\fBproperty\fR definition:
.PP
.CS
\fBoo::configurable\fR create Point3D {
    superclass Point
    \fBproperty\fR z
    constructor args {
        next -z 0 {*}$args
    }
}

set pt2 [Point3D new -x 2 -y 3 -z 4]
puts [$pt2 \fBconfigure\fR]
             \fI# -x 2 -y 3 -z 4\fR
.CE
.PP
Once you have a configurable class, you can also add instance properties to
it. (The backing variables for all properties start unset.) Note below that we
are using an unambiguous prefix of a property name when setting it; this is
supported for all properties though full names are normally recommended
because subclasses will not make an unambiguous prefix become ambiguous in
that case.
.PP
.CS
oo::objdefine $pt {
    \fBproperty\fR color
}
$pt \fBconfigure\fR -c bisque
puts [$pt \fBconfigure\fR]
             \fI# -color bisque -x 27 -y 42\fR
.CE
.PP
You can also do derived properties by making them read-only and supplying a
script that computes them.
.PP
.CS
\fBoo::configurable\fR create PointMk2 {
    \fBproperty\fR x y
    \fBproperty\fR distance -kind readable -get {
        return [expr {hypot($x, $y)}]
    }
    variable x y
    constructor args {
        my \fBconfigure\fR -x 0 -y 0 {*}$args
    }
}

set pt3 [PointMk2 new -x 3 -y 4]
puts [$pt3 \fBconfigure\fR -distance]
             \fI# 5.0\fR
$pt3 \fBconfigure\fR -distance 10
             \fI# ERROR: bad property "-distance": must be -x or -y\fR
.CE
.PP
Setters are used to validate the type of a property:
.PP
.CS
\fBoo::configurable\fR create PointMk3 {
    \fBproperty\fR x -set {
        if {![string is double -strict $value]} {
            error "-x property must be a number"
        }
        set x $value
    }
    \fBproperty\fR y -set {
        if {![string is double -strict $value]} {
            error "-y property must be a number"
        }
        set y $value
    }
    variable x y
    constructor args {
        my \fBconfigure\fR -x 0 -y 0 {*}$args
    }
}

set pt4 [PointMk3 new]
puts [$pt4 \fBconfigure\fR]
             \fI# -x 0 -y 0\fR
$pt4 \fBconfigure\fR -x 3 -y 4
puts [$pt4 \fBconfigure\fR]
             \fI# -x 3 -y 4\fR
$pt4 \fBconfigure\fR -x "obviously not a number"
             \fI# ERROR: -x property must be a number\fR
.CE
.SH "SEE ALSO"
info(n), oo::class(n), oo::define(n)
.SH KEYWORDS
class, object, properties, configuration
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