parsing puppet files

[Dan Bode]

I am having a little trouble understanding the  Puppet::Parser::Parser#parse class.

I am working on some extensions, and it would be very helpful to view my puppet modules and classes as some kind of an API.

I can see code, where the parser is being run from the perspective of a node. Can it be run from the perspective of a class, or of a file?

parse(my_classname)

or

parse(this_file)  (to get all class definitions)

also, are there any assurances that using puppet like this will be compatible with future version? Is there a certain abstraction layer of the code that will be supported, or is it always use internals at your own risk?

thanks,

Dan Bode
Some kind of tech guy