Data(a)        User Contributed Perl Documentation        Data(a)



NAME
       Gimp::Data - Set and get state data.

SYNOPSIS
         use Gimp::Data;

         $Gimp::Data{'value1'} = "Hello";
         print $Gimp::Data{'value1'},", World!!\n";


DESCRIPTION
       With this module, you can access plugin-specific (or
       global) data in Gimp, i.e. you can store and retrieve val-
       ues that are stored in the main Gimp application.

       An example would be to save parameter values in Gimp, so
       that on subsequent invocations of your plug-in, the user
       does not have to set all parameter values again (Gimp::Fu
       does this already).

%Gimp::Data
       You can store and retrieve anything you like in this hash.
       It's contents will automatically be stored in Gimp, and
       can be accessed in later invocations of your plug-in. Be
       aware that other plug-ins store data in the same "hash",
       so better prefix your key with something unique, like your
       plug-in's name. As an example, the Gimp::Fu module uses
       "function_name/_fu_data" to store its data.

       This module might use a persistant implementation, i.e.
       your data might survive a restart of the Gimp application,
       but you cannot count on this.

       "Gimp::Data" will try to freeze your data when you pass in
       a reference. On retrieval, the data is thawed again. See
       Storable for more info. This might be implemented through
       either Storable or Data::Dumper, or not implemented at all
       (i.e. silently fail) ;)

PERSISTANCE
       "Gimp::Data" contains the following functions to ease
       applications where persistence for perl data structures is
       required:

       Gimp::Data::freeze(e)
           Freeze (serialize) the reference.

       Gimp::Data::thaw(w)
           Thaw (unserialize) the dsata and return the original
           reference.

LIMITATIONS
       You cannot store references, and you cannot (yet) iterate
       through the keys (with "keys", "values" or "each").

AUTHOR
       Marc Lehmann <pcg@goof.com>

SEE ALSO
       perl(l), Gimp.



perl v5.6.1                 2001-12-07                    Data(a)