XML::Pastor v0.52 is released - A REVOLUTIONARY way to deal with XML

Hello all,

Having just released the first available version (v0.52) of  
XML::Pastor, I have found this discussion list that might best suit  
speaking about it.

Let me run the commercial....

Now you don't need to write code in an ugly language like Java in  
order to be able to get native XML support. Because now, there is  
XML::Pastor.

XML::Pastor is a revolutionary new way to handle XML documents in Perl.

Give it a try. You won't regret it. Guaranteed (or almost).

In fact, if you are familiar with Java's XML CASTOR, this module  
(XML::Pastor) will be very familiar to you. XML::Pastor is very  
similar to Java's Castor, however, as usual with Perl, it's more  
flexible. On the other hand, full XSD support is not achieved yet (a  
lot is already supported, see below).

XML::Pastor will actually generate Perl code starting with one or more  
W3C Schema(s)  (XSD). The generated code is as easy, if not easier, to  
use as XML::Simple. YET (and this is the tricky part), you can also  
easily read and write to and from an XML document ('instance' of the  
schema) abiding by the rules of the schema. You can even validate  
against the original schema before writing the XML document.

However, you don't need the original schema at run-time (unless you  
are doing run-time code generation). Everything is translated into  
Perl at code generation time. Your generated classes 'know' about how  
to read, write, and validate XML data against the rules of the  
original schema without the actual schema at hand.

Attributes and child elements can be accessed through auto-generated  
accessors or hash items. You don't need to know or worry about whether  
or not a child element appears once or multiple times in the XML  
document. This is automagically taken care of for you. If you access  
the child element as an array (with a subscript), it is OK. But you  
don't need to. You might as well access the first such element  
directly, without needing to know that there are others.

Code can be generated at 'make' time onto disk (the so-called  
'offline' mode) or it can be generated and 'eval'ed for you as a big  
chunk at run-time. Or you can get it as a string ready to be evaled.  
In 'offline' mode, you can choose to use a 'single' module style  
(where all code is in one big chunk), or in 'multiple' style, where  
each class is written to dik in a separate module.

There is also a command line utility, called 'pastorize' that helps  
you do this from within 'make' files.

Gone with the multiplicity problem of XML::Simple. Gone with the  
complexity of dealing with XML as XML. Now you can deal with XML data  
as real Perl objects (with accessors for child elements and  
attributes). But you can still get XML back out of it at the end of  
the day.



W3C SCHEMA SUPPORT

Most of the W3C XSD Schema structures are supported. Notable exception  
is substitution sets. Namespace support is currently a bit shaky (at  
most one namespace per generation). That's why schema 'import' is not - 
yet- supported. However, schema 'include' and 'replace' are supported.

All W3C schema builtin types have Perl counterparts with validation.  
This includes datetime and date types as well (You can get/set these  
with CPAN's DateTime objects as well).

Internally, XML::Pastor uses XML::LibXML to deal with actuial xml  
reading/writing XML (but not for validation).

Give it a try please. And enjoy...


Cheers,
Ayhan Ulusoy










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