WWW::Mechanize field methods

Question

What is the difference between

$mech -> field($name, $value)

and

$mech -> set_fields($name => $value)

and why do they both exist? It seems like they each set the field named $name to $value.

Answer 1

$mech -> field($name, $value)

field() only lets you set one name at a time. But

$mech -> set_fields($name => $value, $name2 => $value2,... $nameN => $valueN)

...set_fields() allows you to set multiple names at the same time.

That's not really such a big deal because you could always use the first one in a loop:

my @data = (
    first => 'A',
    last  => 'B',
    age   => 22,
    #possibly 100,000 other name/value pairs
);

my($name, $value);

while(@data) {
   ($name, $value) = splice(@data, 0, 2);
   $mech->field($name, $value); 
}

...but it's more convenient to write:

$mech->set_fields(@data);