SYNOPSIS

  use Mouse::Util::TypeConstraints;
  subtype 'Natural'
      => as 'Int'
      => where { $_ > 0 };
  subtype 'NaturalLessThanTen'
      => as 'Natural'
      => where { $_ < 10 }
      => message { "This number ($_) is not less than ten!" };
  coerce 'Num'
      => from 'Str'
        => via { 0+$_ };
  enum 'RGBColors' => qw(red green blue);
  no Mouse::Util::TypeConstraints;

Important Caveat

This is NOT a type system for Perl 5. These are type constraints, and they are not used by Mouse unless you tell it to. No type inference is performed, expressions are not typed, etc. etc. etc.

A type constraint is at heart a small "check if a value is valid" function. A constraint can be associated with an attribute. This simplifies parameter validation, and makes your code clearer to read, because you can refer to constraints by name.

Slightly Less Important Caveat

It is always a good idea to quote your type names.

This prevents Perl from trying to execute the call as an indirect object call. This can be an issue when you have a subtype with the same name as a valid class.

For instance:

  subtype DateTime => as Object => where { $_->isa('DateTime') };

will just work, while this:

  use DateTime;
  subtype DateTime => as Object => where { $_->isa('DateTime') };

will fail silently and cause many headaches. The simple way to solve this, as well as future proof your subtypes from classes which have yet to have been created, is to quote the type name:

  use DateTime;
  subtype 'DateTime' => as 'Object' => where { $_->isa('DateTime') };

Default Type Constraints

This module also provides a simple hierarchy for Perl 5 types, here is that hierarchy represented visually.

 Any
  Item
      Bool
      Maybe[`a]
      Undef
      Defined
          Value
              Str
                  Num
                      Int
                  ClassName
                  RoleName
          Ref
              ScalarRef
              ArrayRef[`a]
              HashRef[`a]
              CodeRef
              RegexpRef
              GlobRef
                  FileHandle
              Object

NOTE: Any type followed by a type parameter "[`a]" can be parameterized, this means you can say:

  ArrayRef[Int]    # an array of integers
  HashRef[CodeRef] # a hash of str to CODE ref mappings
  Maybe[Str]       # value may be a string, may be undefined

If Mouse finds a name in brackets that it does not recognize as an existing type, it assumes that this is a class name, for example "ArrayRef[DateTime]".

NOTE: The "Undef" type constraint for the most part works correctly now, but edge cases may still exist, please use it sparingly.

NOTE: The "ClassName" type constraint does a complex package existence check. This means that your class must be loaded for this type constraint to pass.

NOTE: The "RoleName" constraint checks a string is a package name which is a role, like 'MyApp::Role::Comparable'. The "Role" constraint checks that an object does the named role.

Type Constraint Naming

Type name declared via this module can only contain alphanumeric characters, colons (:), and periods (.).

Since the types created by this module are global, it is suggested that you namespace your types just as you would namespace your modules. So instead of creating a Color type for your My::Graphics module, you would call the type My::Graphics::Types::Color instead.

Use with Other Constraint Modules

This module can play nicely with other constraint modules with some slight tweaking. The "where" clause in types is expected to be a "CODE" reference which checks it's first argument and returns a boolean. Since most constraint modules work in a similar way, it should be simple to adapt them to work with Mouse.

For instance, this is how you could use it with Declare::Constraints::Simple to declare a completely new type.

  type 'HashOfArrayOfObjects',
      {
      where => IsHashRef(
          -keys   => HasLength,
          -values => IsArrayRef(IsObject)
      )
  };

Here is an example of using Test::Deep and it's non-test related "eq_deeply" function.

  type 'ArrayOfHashOfBarsAndRandomNumbers'
      => where {
          eq_deeply($_,
              array_each(subhashof({
                  bar           => isa('Bar'),
                  random_number => ignore()
              })))
        };

"list_all_builtin_type_constraints -> (Names)"

Returns the names of builtin type constraints.

"list_all_type_constraints -> (Names)"

Returns the names of all the type constraints.