NAME

NAME
Term::Spinner - A progress spinner for commandline programs

SYNOPSIS
use Term::Spinner;

my $spinner = Term::Spinner->new();
while(... doing something ...) {
$spinner->advance();
# Do things...
}
undef $spinner; # clears final spinner output by default.

DESCRIPTION
This module provides a simple one-character spinner for commandline
programs. You can use this to keep the user from getting bored while
your program performs a long operation.

You can override the array of graphical characters used to draw the
spinner (by default, "-, \, |, /," and "x" for "finished").

It clears the spinner for re-drawing by using a sequence of backspace,
space, backspace. I've found this works for me on all of the terminals I
use, without having to get into all the $TERM types and various special
escape sequences.

In the future, I may add support for using escape sequences for
well-known terminal types, if it can be done reliably.

Try "perl examples/various.pl" in this distribution to see some sample
spinners in action.

ATTRIBUTES
These can be used as options to "new", or modified at any time by
calling them as accessors on an object.

spin_chars
An arrayref of characters used to draw the spinner. The default is "-,
\, |, /, x". The final character of this array is not used during the
normal spin cycle, it is used when you call "finish", to indicate the
spinner is done spinning.

output_handle
The filehandle to use when drawing the spinner. Defaults to "STDERR".

clear_on_destruct
Boolean setting for whether the spinner should "clear" itself when the
object is destructed. Defaults to true.

finish_on_destruct
Boolean setting for whether the spinner should "finish" itself when the
object is destructed. Defaults to true. Has little noticeable effect if
"clear_on_destruct" is also enabled, as the finish character will be
cleared immediately.

METHODS
new
Provided by Moose. Accepts the attributes above as a simple hash.
Example:

my $sp = Term::Spinner->new(
clear_on_destruct => 0,
output_handle => \*STDOUT,
);

clear
Clears the spinner's output, if any.

$sp->clear();

draw
Draws the spinner in its current state, clearing first. This is done
automatically on "advance" and "finish"

$sp->draw();

advance
Advance the spinner by one character and redraw.

$sp->advance();

finish
Set the spinner to the finish character and redraw

$sp->finish();

DEMOLISH
Our Moose destructor, handles finish/clear on destruct, if not disabled.

meta
Moose meta info.

AUTHOR
Brandon L. Black, <[email protected]>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2007 Brandon L. Black

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.