=head1 NAME

Tangram::Type::Hash::Scalar - map Perl hash of scalar keys and values

=head1 SYNOPSIS

   use Tangram::Core;
   use Tangram::Type::Hash::Scalar; # always

   $schema = Tangram::Schema->new(
      classes => { NaturalPerson => { fields => {

      flat_hash =>
      {
         opinions =>
         {
            table => 'NP_ops',
            key_sql => 'VARCHAR(10)',
            type => 'int',
            sql => 'NUMERIC(1)',
         },

         lucky_numbers => 'int', # use defaults
      }

=head1 DESCRIPTION

Maps references to a Perl hash. The persistent fields are grouped in
a hash under the C<flat_hash> key in the field hash.

The hash may contain as keys and values only 'simple' scalars like
integers, strings or real numbers. It may not contain references. For
hashs of objects, see L<Tangram::Type::Hash::FromMany> and L<Tangram::Type::Hash::FromOne>.

Tangram uses a table to save the state of the collection. The table
has three columns, which contain

=over 4

=item * the id of the container object

=item * the key of the element in the hash

=item * the value of the element

=back

The field names are passed in a hash that associates a field name with
a field descriptor. The field descriptor may be either a hash or a
string. The hash uses the following fields:

=over 4

=item * key_type

=item * key_sql

=item * type

=item * sql

=item * table

=back

The optional fields C<key_type> and C<type> specify the key and value
types of the hash. If the type is C<string> Tangram quotes the values
as they are passed to the database. Not specifying a C<type> is
exactly equivalent to specifying C<string>.

Optional field C<table> sets the name of the table that contains the
elements. This defaults to 'C_F', where C is the class of the
containing object and F is the field name.

The optional fields C<key_sql> and C<sql> specify the type that
deploy() (see L<Tangram::Deploy>) should use for the column containing
the key and value of the hash. If this field is not present, the SQL
type is derived from the C<type> field: if C<type> is C<string> (or is
absent) VARCHAR(255) is used; otherwise, the C<type> field is
interpreted as a SQL type.

If the descriptor is a string, it is interpreted as the value of the
C<type> field and all the other fields take the default value.

=head1 AUTHOR

This mapping was contributed by Gabor Herr
<herr@iti.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de>
