NAME Changes - Changes file management SYMOPSIS use Changes; my $c = Changes->load( '/some/where/Changes', { file => '/some/where/else/CHANGES', max_width => 78, type => 'cpan', debug => 4, }) || die( Changes->error ); say "Found ", $c->releases->length, " releases."; my $rel = $c->add_release( version => 'v0.1.1', # Accepts relative time datetime => '+1D', note => 'CPAN update', ) || die( $c->error ); $rel->changes->push( $c->new_change( text => 'Minor corrections in unit tests', ) ) || die( $rel->error ); # or my $change = $rel->add_change( text => 'Minor corrections in unit tests' ); $rel->delete_change( $change ); my $array_object = $c->delete_release( $rel ) || die( $c->error ); say sprintf( "%d releases removed.", $array_object->length ); # or $c->remove_release( $rel ); # Writing to /some/where/else/CHANGES even though we read from /some/where/Changes $c->write || die( $c->error ); VERSION v0.2.0 DESCRIPTION This module is designed to read and update "Changes" files that are provided as part of change management in software distribution. It is not limited to CPAN, and is versatile and flexible giving you a lot of control. Its distinctive value compared to other modules that handle "Changes" file is that it does not attempt to reformat release and change information if they have not been modified. This ensure not just speed, but also that existing formatting of "Changes" file remain unchanged. You can force reformatting of any release section by calling "reset" in Changes::Release This module does not "die" in perlfunc upon error, but instead returns an error object, so you need to check for the return value when you call any methods in this package distribution. CONSTRUCTOR new Provided with an optional hash or hash reference of properties-values pairs, and this will instantiate a new Changes object and return it. Supported properties are the same as the methods listed below. If an error occurs, this will return an error load Provided with a file path, and an optional hash or hash reference of parameters, and this will parse the "Changes" file and return a new object. Thus, this method can be called either using an existing object, or as a class function: my $c2 = $c->load( '/some/where/Changes' ) || die( $c->error ); # or my $c = Changes->load( '/some/where/Changes' ) || die( Changes->error ); load_data Provided with some string and an optional hash or hash reference of parameters and this will parse the "Changes" file data and return a new object. Thus, this method can be called either using an existing object, or as a class function: my $c2 = $c->load_data( $changes_data ) || die( $c->error ); # or my $c = Change->load_data( $changes_data ) || die( Changes->error ); METHODS add_epilogue Provided with a text and this will set it as the Changes file epilogue, i.e. an optional text that will appear at the end of the Changes file. If the last element is not a blank line to separate the epilogue from the last release information, then it will be added as necessary. It returns the current object upon success, or an error upon error. add_preamble Provided with a text and this will set it as the Changes file preamble. If the text does not have 2 blank new lines at the end, those will be added in order to separate the preamble from the first release line. It returns the current object upon success, or an error upon error. add_release This takes either an Changes::Release or an hash or hash reference of options required to create one (for that refer to the Changes::Release class), and returns the newly added release object. The new release object will be added on top of the elements stack with a blank new line separating it from the other releases. If the same object is found, or an object with the same version number is found, an error is returned, otherwise it returns the release object thus added. as_string Returns a string object representing the entire "Changes" file. It does so by getting the value set with preamble, and by calling "as_string" on each element stored in "elements". Those elements can be Changes::Release and Changes::Group and possibly Changes::Change object. If an error occurred, it returns an error The result of this method is cached so that the second time it is called, the cache is used unless there has been any change. defaults Sets or gets an hash of default values for the Changes::Release or Changes::Change object when it is instantiated upon parsing with "parse" or by the "new_release" or "new_change" method found in Changes, Changes::Release and Changes::Group Default is "undef", which means no default value is set. my $ch = Changes->new( file => '/some/where/Changes', defaults => { # for Changes::Release datetime_formatter => sub { my $dt = shift( @_ ) || DateTime->now; require DateTime::Format::Strptime; my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Strptime->new( pattern => '%FT%T%z', locale => 'en_GB', ); $dt->set_formatter( $fmt ); $dt->set_time_zone( 'Asia/Tokyo' ); return( $dt ); }, # No need to provide it if it is just a space though, because it will default to it anyway spacer => ' ', # Not necessary if the custom datetime formatter has already set it time_zone => 'Asia/Tokyo', # for Changes::Change spacer1 => "\t", spacer2 => ' ', marker => '-', max_width => 72, wrapper => $code_reference, # for Changes::Group group_spacer => "\t", group_type => 'bracket', # [Some group] } ); delete_release This takes a list of release to remove and returns an array object of those releases thus removed. A release provided can either be a Changes::Release object, or a version string. When removing a release object, it will also take care of removing following blank new lines that typically separate a release from the rest. If an error occurred, this will return an error elements Sets or gets an array object of all the elements within the "Changes" file. Those elements can be Changes::Release, Changes::Group, Changes::Change and "Changes::NewLine" objects. epilogue Sets or gets the text of the epilogue. An epilogue is a chunk of text, possibly multi line, that appears at the bottom of the Changes file after the last release information, separated by a blank line. file my $file = $c->file; $c->file( '/some/where/Changes' ); Sets or gets the file path of the Changes file. This returns a file object history This is an alias for "releases" and returns an array object of Changes::Release objects. max_width Sets or gets the maximum line width for a change inside a release. The line width includes an spaces at the beginning of the line and not just the text of the change itself. For example: v0.1.0 2022-11-17T08:12:42+0900 - Some very long line of change going here, which can be wrapped here at 78 characters wrapped at 78 characters would become: v0.1.0 2022-11-17T08:12:42+0900 - Some very long line of change going here, which can be wrapped here at 78 characters new_change Returns a new Changes::Change object, passing it any parameters provided. If an error occurred, it returns an error object new_group Returns a new Changes::Group object, passing it any parameters provided. If an error occurred, it returns an error object new_line Returns a new "Changes::NewLine" object, passing it any parameters provided. If an error occurred, it returns an error object new_release Returns a new Changes::Release object, passing it any parameters provided. If an error occurred, it returns an error object new_version Returns a new "Changes::Version" object, passing it any parameters provided. If an error occurred, it returns an error object nl Sets or gets the new line character, which defaults to "\n" It returns a number object parse Provided with an array reference of lines to parse and this will parse each line and create all necessary release, group and change objects. It returns the current object it was called with upon success, and returns an error upon error. preamble Sets or gets the text of the preamble. A preamble is a chunk of text, possibly multi line, that appears at the top of the Changes file before any release information. releases Read only. This returns an array object containing all the release objects within the Changes file. remove_release This is an alias for "delete_release" serialise This is an alias for "as_string" serialize This is an alias for "as_string" time_zone Sets or gets a time zone to use for the release date. A valid time zone can either be an olson time zone string such as "Asia/Tokyo", or an DateTime::TimeZone object. If set, it will be passed to all new Changes::Release object upon parsing with "parse" It returns a DateTime::TimeZone object upon success, or an error if an error occurred. type Sets or get the type of "Changes" file format this is. wrapper Sets or gets a code reference as a callback mechanism to return a properly wrapped change text. This allows flexibility beyond the default use of Text::Wrap and Text::Format by Changes::Change. If set, this is passed by "parse" when creating Changes::Change objects. See "as_string" in Changes::Change for more information. write This will open the file set with "file" in write clobbering mode and print out the result from "as_string". It returns the current object upon success, and an error if an error occurred. AUTHOR Jacques Deguest SEE ALSO Changes::Release, Changes::Group, Changes::Change, Changes::Version, Changes::NewLine COPYRIGHT & LICENSE Copyright(c) 2022 DEGUEST Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.