Mash allows you to create pseudo-objects that have method-like accessors for hash keys. This is useful for such implementations as an API-accessing library that wants to fake robust objects without the overhead of actually doing so. Think of it as OpenStruct with some additional goodies.

A Mash will look at the methods you pass it and perform operations based on the following rules:

• No punctuation: Returns the value of the hash for that key, or nil if none exists.
• Assignment (=): Sets the attribute of the given method name.
• Existence (?): Returns true or false depending on whether that key has been set.
• Bang (!): Forces the existence of this key, used for deep Mashes. Think of it as "touch" for mashes.
• Under Bang (_): Like Bang, but returns a new Mash rather than creating a key. Used to test existance in deep Mashes.

Basic Example

  mash = Mash.new
  mash.name? # => false
  mash.name = "Bob"
  mash.name # => "Bob"
  mash.name? # => true

Hash Conversion Example

  hash = {:a => {:b => 23, :d => {:e => "abc"}}, :f => [{:g => 44, :h => 29}, 12]}
  mash = Mash.new(hash)
  mash.a.b # => 23
  mash.a.d.e # => "abc"
  mash.f.first.g # => 44
  mash.f.last # => 12

Bang Example

  mash = Mash.new
  mash.author # => nil
  mash.author! # => <Mash>

  mash = Mash.new
  mash.author!.name = "Michael Bleigh"
  mash.author # => <Mash name="Michael Bleigh">

Under Bang Example

  mash = Mash.new
  mash.author # => nil
  mash.author_ # => <Mash>
  mash.author_.name # => nil

  mash = Mash.new
  mash.author_.name = "Michael Bleigh"  (assigned to temp object)
  mash.author # => <Mash>