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NAMEData::Grouper - Perl module to aggregate data for use with template modules.SYNOPSISmy $grouper = new Data::Grouper( COLNAMES => [ 'CATEGORY','SUBCAT','DESCR','PRICE'], SORTCOLS => [ 'CATEGORY','SUBCAT' ] ); $sql = 'select category, subcat, description, price from order_items order by category, subcat'; $aref = $dbh->selectall_arrayref($sql); $grouper->add_array($aref); $t = HTML::Template->new(filename=>'../foobar.htmlt'); $t->param(OUTER=>$grouper->get_data()); print $t->output; Lazy? Me too. The DATA param can use only two calls: $sql = 'select category, subcat, description, price from order_items order by style, color'; $aref = $dbh->selectall_arrayref($sql, {Slice=>{}}); my $g = new Data::Grouper(DATA=>$aref,SORTCOLS=>['CATEGORY','SUBCAT']); $t = HTML::Template->new(filename=>'../foobar.htmlt'); $t->param(OUTER=>$g->get_data()); print $t->output; And the fragment from the HTML::Template code: <TMPL_LOOP NAME=OUTER> <h1>Style: <TMPL_VAR NAME=CATEGORY></h1> <TMPL_LOOP NAME=INNER> <h2>Color: <TMPL_VAR NAME=SUBCAT> </h2> <table> <TMPL_LOOP NAME=INNER> <tr><td> <TMPL_VAR NAME=DESCR></td><td><TMPL_VAR NAME=PRICE></td></tr> </TMPL_LOOP> </table> </TMPL_LOOP> <tr><td> </td><td><TMPL_VAR NAME=SUM_PRICE></td></tr> </TMPL_LOOP> This might produce output like: Toys Nerf Toys Nerf Dart Gun 20.00 Nerf Footbal 30.00 50.00 Video Games X Box Gothic Something or Other 10.00 Playstation 2 Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec 15.00 Grand Theft Auto 3 10.00 35.00 This is not my most inspired example ever. Except for the PS2 bits. DESCRIPTIONThis is a helper object for the various templating modules that exist. A key feature of any templating system is the ability to deal with loops of data, for example rows in a table. Most systems will deal with nested looping. Data::Grouper takes the work out of prepaing the data structures for nested loops.Grouper will help you the most if you are writing reports that have multiple layers of grouping with aggregate values but also need to display the detail rows. An SQL select statement will get you one or the other of these features, but not both at the same time. And you still have to construct your data structure for HTML::Template. Grouper does it all. METHODSnew()Most of the behavior of grouper is determined by the parameters passed to the constructor.
add_arrayThe add_array function adds multiple rows into the grouper in one function call. It takes one parameter, an array reference. This array can contain either hash references or array references.Add_array is especially useful with DBI. DBI can return entire arrays with selectall_arrayref. This function lets you just pass an array ref in instead of doing a while loop and calling add_row (or add_hash) for each row. $aref = $dbh->selectall_arrayref($sql); $grouper->add_array($aref); Just like add_row, add_array expects that the data is sorted on the columns that are specified in SORTCOLS. add_rowThis takes a list of scalar values, which should correspond to the entries in COLNAMES, and puts it in the correct place in the data structure. Data in the successive calls to add_row is expected to be sorted on the columns specified in SORTCOLS.One reason to use add_row over add_array is if some transformation happens between retrieving the data and populating the data structure. add_hashThis function is the hash-equivalent to add_row (above). Add_hash takes one parameter, a hash reference, which contains one row of data. For example:$href = { COLOR=>'Red', Size=>'13', Style=>'Running' }; add_hash ($href); This would add one row of data to the grouper. To add multiple rows, for example if you had an array of hash refs from DBI, you would use add_array(). The hash is assumed to contain the keys from COLNAMES. If COLNAMES was not specified, the keys from the first hash passed to this function are used. Grouper makes its own copy of the hash ref to avoid modifying any data that is passed in. add_detailsSometimes you will want to add some additional information to a row or a parent. This function helps you do that.I'm not certain this function is useful and will stay. get_dataThis function returns the array refernces required for the call to HTML::Template's param() function.get_top_aggregatesThis function returns a reference to a hash containing top level aggregates for the data. Top level aggregates are contained in their own separate hash since aggregates are normally one level up in the data structure from the array containing their rows, but in the case of the top level, it is impossible to go up one level.Some top level aggregates may be best computed outside of Data::Grouper. For example, while Grouper could maintain a count of total rows, if you were using add_array this statistic is just the size of the array, which is computed much more efficiently as $#array. Right now G::D computes top level aggregates if any aggregates are being computed. In the future there may be an option to disable computation of top level aggregates. Actually, they should probably be disabled by default. More ExamplesSuppose you have a table of book data with columns genre, title. You might have this data:Non-Fiction, Techincal, Effective Perl, 25 Non-Fiction, Technical, The C Programming Language, 20 Non-Fiction, Techincal, Lex & Yacc, 20 Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Book of Five Rings, 13 Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Against Method, 30 Fiction, Sci-Fi, Lord of the Rings,25 Fiction, Sci-Fi, Foundation,15 Fiction, Literary, Gravity's Rainbow,15 Say you want to display these, grouped by genre. You need to build @data = [ { FICTION=> Non-Fiction, INNER => [ { GENRE => Technical, INNER => [ { TITLE=>Effective Perl, PRICE=>25}, { TITLE=>The C Programming Language, PRICE=>20 }, { TITLE=>Lex&Yacc, PRICE=>20 } ] }, { GENRE => Philosophy, INNER => [ {TITLE=>Book of Five Rings, PRICE=>13 }, {TITLE=>Against Method, PRICE=>30 } ] } ] }, { FICTION=> Fiction, INNER => [ { GENRE=> Sci-Fi, INNER => [ { TITLE=>Lord of the Rings, PRICE=>25 }, { TITLE=>Foundation, PRICE=>15 } ] }, { GENRE=> Literary, INNER => [ { TITLE=>Gravity's Rainbow, PRICE=>15 } ] } } ]; and apply it to template <TMPL_LOOP NAME=OUTER> <h2><TMPL_VAR NAME=GENRE></h2> <TMPL_LOOP NAME=INNER> <TMPL_VAR NAME=TITLE> <br> </TMPL_LOOP> Average Price: <TMPL_VAR NAME=AVG_PRICE> </TMPL_LOOP> to get Non-Fiction Technical Effective Perl The C Programming Language Lex & Yacc Average Price: 21.6 Philosophy Book of Five Rings Against Method Average Price: 21.5 Fiction Sci-Fi Lord of the Rings Foundation Literary Gravity's Rainbow If you are getting your data from a database, you might do this: $sql = 'select fiction, genre, title from books order by fiction, genre'; $aref = $dbh->selectall_arrayref($sql); $grouper->add_array($aref); Grouper creates the array of hash refs, containing array refs with hash refs that H::T requires. FAQsHow is this different than GROUP BY in SQL?SQL's group by facility allows grouping at only one level and does not provide the underlying detail data. Grouper is used to provide summary details at multiple levels while still providing the underlying data, all in a format you can use with HTML::Template.AUTHORDavid Ferrance (dave@ferrance.com)LICENSEData::Grouper - A module for using aggregating data for use with various Template modules.Copyright (C) 2001,2002 David Ferrance (dave@ferrance.com). All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as perl itself. POD ERRORSHey! The above document had some coding errors, which are explained below:
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