=head1 NAME

User::Identity::Archive - base class for archiving user information

=head1 INHERITANCE

 User::Identity::Archive
   is an User::Identity::Item

 User::Identity::Archive is extended by
   User::Identity::Archive::Plain

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 use User::Identity::Archive::Plain;
 my $friends = User::Identity::Archive::Plain->new('friends');
 $friends->from(\*FH);
 $friends->from('.friends');

=head1 DESCRIPTION

An archive stores collections. It depends on the type of archive how and
where that is done.  Some archivers may limit the kinds of selections
which can be stored.

=head1 OVERLOADED

=head1 METHODS

=head2 Constructors

User::Identity::Archive-E<gt>B<new>([NAME], OPTIONS)

=over 4

 Option     --Defined in     --Default
 description  User::Identity::Item  undef
 from                          undef
 name         User::Identity::Item  <required>
 parent       User::Identity::Item  undef

. description STRING

. from FILEHANDLE|FILENAME

. name STRING

. parent OBJECT

=back

=head2 Attributes

$obj-E<gt>B<description>

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Attributes">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<name>([NEWNAME])

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Attributes">

=back

=head2 Collections

$obj-E<gt>B<add>(COLLECTION, ROLE)

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<addCollection>(OBJECT | ([TYPE], OPTIONS))

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<collection>(NAME)

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<find>(COLLECTION, ROLE)

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<parent>([PARENT])

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<removeCollection>(OBJECT|NAME)

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<type>

User::Identity::Archive-E<gt>B<type>

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<user>

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

=head2 Access to the archive

$obj-E<gt>B<from>(SOURCE, OPTIONS)

=over 4

Read definitions from the specified SOURCE, which usually can be a
filehandle or filename.  The syntax used in the information SOURCE
is archiver dependent.

Not all archivers implement C<from()>, so you may want to check with
C<UNIVERSAL::can()> beforehand.

I<Example:> 

 use User::Identity::Archive::Some;
 my $a = User::Identity::Archive::Some->new('xyz');
 $a->from(\*STDIN) if $a->can('from');

=back

=head1 DIAGNOSTICS

I<Error:> $object is not a collection.

The first argument is an object, but not of a class which extends
L<User::Identity::Collection|User::Identity::Collection>.

I<Error:> Cannot load collection module for $type ($class).

Either the specified $type does not exist, or that module named $class returns
compilation errors.  If the type as specified in the warning is not
the name of a package, you specified a nickname which was not defined.
Maybe you forgot the 'require' the package which defines the nickname.

I<Error:> Creation of a collection via $class failed.

The $class did compile, but it was not possible to create an object
of that class using the options you specified.

I<Error:> Don't know what type of collection you want to add.

If you add a collection, it must either by a collection object or a
list of options which can be used to create a collection object.  In
the latter case, the type of collection must be specified.

I<Warning:> No collection $name

The collection with $name does not exist and can not be created.

=head1 SEE ALSO

This module is part of User-Identity distribution version 0.91,
built on January 08, 2007. Website: F<http://perl.overmeer.net/userid/>

=head1 LICENSE

Copyrights 2003,2004,2007 by Mark Overmeer <perl@overmeer.net>.For other contributors see Changes.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
See F<http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>