<?php
/**
 * Parses text in a variety of ways.
 * 
 * Called from a template by $Content.Parse(SubClassName), similar to $Content.XML.
 * This will work on any Text database field (Or a sub-class, such as HTMLText, 
 * although it's usefulness in this situation is more limited).
 * 
 * Any sub-classes of TextParser must implement a parse() method. 
 * This should take $this->content and parse it however you want. For an example
 * of the implementation, @see BBCodeParser.
 * 
 * Your sub-class will be initialized with a string of text, then parse() will be called.
 * parse() should (after processing) return the formatted string.
 * 
 * Note: $this->content will have NO conversions applied to it. 
 * You should run Covert::raw2xml or whatever is appropriate before using it. 
 * 
 * Optionally (but recommended), is creating a static usable_tags method, 
 * which will return a DataObjectSet of all the usable tags that can be parsed.
 * This will (mostly) be used to create helper blocks - telling users what things will be parsed.
 * Again, @see BBCodeParser for an example of the syntax
 * 
 * @todo Define a proper syntax for (or refactor) usable_tags that can be extended as needed.
 * @package sapphire
 * @subpackage misc
 */
abstract class TextParser extends Object {
	protected $content;
	
	/**
	 * Creates a new TextParser object.
	 * 
	 * @param string $content The contents of the dbfield
	 */
	function __construct($content = "") {
		$this->content = $content;
	}
	
	/**
	 * Convenience method, shouldn't really be used, but it's here if you want it
	 */
	function setContent($content = "") {
		$this->content = $content;
	}
	
	/**
	 * Define your own parse method to parse $this->content appropriately.
	 * See the class doc-block for more implementation details.
	 */
	abstract function parse();
}
?>