NAME Scalar::Accessors::LikeHash - access a JSON/Sereal/etc scalar string in a hash-like manner SYNOPSIS { package Acme::Storable::Accessors; use Storable qw/ freeze thaw /; use Role::Tiny::With; with 'Scalar::Accessors::LikeHash'; sub _to_hash { my ($ref) = @_; thaw($$ref); } sub _from_hash { my ($ref, $hash) = @_; $$ref = freeze($hash); } } my $string = File::Slurp::slurp("some-data.storable"); my $object = Acme::Storable::Accessors->new(\$string); $object->store(some_key => 42) unless $object->exists('some_key'); $object->fetch('some_key'); $object->delete('some_key'); DESCRIPTION The idea of this is to treat a reference to a string as if it were a hash. You can store key-values pairs; fetch values using keys; delete keys; etc. This is slow and quite silly. This module is a role. Concrete implementations of the role need to provide "_from_hash" and "_to_hash" methods to serialize and deserialize a hashref to/from a scalarref. This role provides the following methods: "new(\$scalar)" Yes, this role provides a constructor. Consumers can overide it. "fetch($key)" "store($key, $value)" "exists($key)" "delete($key)" "clear()" Delete for each key. "keys()" "values()" These can be called as methods on a blessed scalar reference: my $string = "{}"; bless \$string, "Scalar::Accessors::LikeHash::JSON"; $string->store(foo => 42); Or as class methods passing the scalar reference as an extra first argument: my $string = "{}"; Scalar::Accessors::LikeHash::JSON->store(\$string, foo => 42); BUGS Please report any bugs to . SEE ALSO For a more usable interface, see Tie::Hash::SerializedString. For concrete implementations, see Scalar::Accessors::LikeHash::JSON and Scalar::Accessors::LikeHash::Sereal. For an insane usage of this concept, see Acme::MooseX::JSON. AUTHOR Toby Inkster . COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE This software is copyright (c) 2013 by Toby Inkster. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.