DBIx-Class-InflateColumn-Boolean Perl does not have a native boolean data type by itself, it takes certain several scalar values as "false" (like '', 0, 0.0) as well as empty lists and "undef", and everything else is "true". It is also possible to set the boolean value of an object instance. As in most program code you have boolean data in nearly every database. But for a database it is up to the designer to decide what is "true" and what is "false". This module maps such "database booleans" into "Perl booleans" and back by inflating designated columns into some sort of boolean objects, that happen to be instances of Contextual::Return::Value. Objects of this class can store the original value and a boolean meaning at the same time. Therefore - if "Yes" in the database means "true" and "No" means "false", in the application the following two lines virtually mean the same: if ($table->field eq "No") { ... } if (not $table->field) { ... } That means that "$table->field" has the scalar value "No", but is taken as "false" in a boolean context, whereas without the little magic from Contextual::Return Perl would regard the string "No" as "true". When writing to the database, of course "$table->field" would be deflated to the original value "No" and not some Perlish form of a boolean. INSTALLATION To install this module, run the following commands: perl Makefile.PL make make test make install SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION After installing, you can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command. perldoc DBIx::Class::InflateColumn::Boolean You can also look for information at: RT, CPAN's request tracker http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=DBIx-Class-InflateColumn-Boolean AnnoCPAN, Annotated CPAN documentation http://annocpan.org/dist/DBIx-Class-InflateColumn-Boolean CPAN Ratings http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/DBIx-Class-InflateColumn-Boolean Search CPAN http://search.cpan.org/dist/DBIx-Class-InflateColumn-Boolean COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE Copyright (C) 2008 Bernhard Graf This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.