DBIx::Counter

DBIx::Counter is a Perl module that provides users with the ability to manipulate named counters which are stored in a database. This initial release is compatible with SQLite, Mysql, Postgresql and MS SQL Server, operating under perl 5.6 and 5.8. Receiving feedback and help on making it compatible with older versions of perl would be appreciated. It is important to note that 'use warnings' and 'our' do not work before 5.6.

The module's interface is simple, with various methods such as incrementing and decrementing the counter by one, and a method for fetching values. In addition, operator overloading features for increment (++), decrement (--) and stringification ("") is supported.

It performs well in persistent environments and utilizes the connect_cached and prepare_cached methods of DBI. One significant advantage over its main inspiration, File::CounterFile, is that it allows distributed and concurrent access to counters and is not limited to a single file system. The connection settings can be configured in the constructor. The module provides options to set the table name, but column names are currently hardcoded to counter_id and value.

Users can execute the following SQL statement to create the table: CREATE TABLE counters ( counter_id varchar(64) primary key, value int not null default 0 ); The module attempts to mimic the File::CounterFile interface and only supports integer counters currently. The locking functions in File::CounterFile are present for compatibility only and always return 0. Overall, DBIx::Counter is a reliable module for named counter manipulation stored in a database, and worth exploring.