NAME

Pipeline::Segment - basic class for a segment

SYNOPSIS

  use Pipeline::Segment;
  my $ps = Pipeline::Segment->new();
  $ps->dispatch();

DESCRIPTION

"Pipeline::Segment" is designed as a part of the "Pipeline" system. The "Pipeline::Segment" class is designed to be subclassed as a part of the Pipeline system. The primary method that needs to be overloaded is the "dispatch" method, which the Pipeline class uses to enter each individual segment that it contains.

METHODS

The "Pipeline::Segment" class inherits from "Pipeline::Base" and therefore also has any additional methods that its superclass may have.

init()

The "init" method is called at construction time. Any arguments passed to the "new" method are passed to it.

dispatch()

The "dispatch" method causes the segment to perform its action.

dispatch_method()

The "dispatch_method" gets and sets the method that gets called on dispatch, by default this is the dispatch() method.

cleanup_dispatch()

The "cleanup_dispatch" method does post-processing on the segment to ensure no nasty circular references are lying around, as well as disconnecting various objects that are only useful during a dispatch.

store()

The "store" method gets the current store.

parent()

The "parent" method returns the pipeline that the segment is current operating from. It is set at dispatch time by the calling pipeline.

SEE ALSO

"Pipeline", "Pipeline::Segment::Async"

AUTHOR

James A. Duncan <jduncan@fotango.com>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2003 Fotango Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

This software is released under the same terms as Perl itself.