Commit | Line | Data |
cb93c9d7 |
1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
3 | Catalyst::Manual::Cookbook - Cooking with Catalyst |
4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
6 | |
7 | Yummy code like your mum used to bake! |
8 | |
9 | =head1 RECIPES |
10 | |
11 | =head1 Basics |
12 | |
c718cfb6 |
13 | These recipes cover some basic stuff that is worth knowing for |
46a5f2f5 |
14 | Catalyst developers. |
cb93c9d7 |
15 | |
16 | =head2 Delivering a Custom Error Page |
17 | |
18 | By default, Catalyst will display its own error page whenever it |
19 | encounters an error in your application. When running under C<-Debug> |
c718cfb6 |
20 | mode, the error page is a useful screen including the error message |
21 | and L<Data::Dump> output of the relevant parts of the C<$c> context |
22 | object. When not in C<-Debug>, users see a simple "Please come back |
23 | later" screen. |
cb93c9d7 |
24 | |
c718cfb6 |
25 | To use a custom error page, use a special C<end> method to |
26 | short-circuit the error processing. The following is an example; you |
27 | might want to adjust it further depending on the needs of your |
28 | application (for example, any calls to C<fillform> will probably need |
29 | to go into this C<end> method; see L<Catalyst::Plugin::FillInForm>). |
cb93c9d7 |
30 | |
31 | sub end : Private { |
32 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
33 | |
34 | if ( scalar @{ $c->error } ) { |
35 | $c->stash->{errors} = $c->error; |
bf6900ba |
36 | for my $error ( @{ $c->error } ) { |
37 | $c->log->error($error); |
38 | } |
cb93c9d7 |
39 | $c->stash->{template} = 'errors.tt'; |
40 | $c->forward('MyApp::View::TT'); |
bf6900ba |
41 | $c->clear_errors; |
cb93c9d7 |
42 | } |
43 | |
44 | return 1 if $c->response->status =~ /^3\d\d$/; |
45 | return 1 if $c->response->body; |
46 | |
47 | unless ( $c->response->content_type ) { |
48 | $c->response->content_type('text/html; charset=utf-8'); |
49 | } |
50 | |
51 | $c->forward('MyApp::View::TT'); |
52 | } |
53 | |
54 | You can manually set errors in your code to trigger this page by calling |
55 | |
56 | $c->error( 'You broke me!' ); |
57 | |
58 | =head2 Disable statistics |
59 | |
c718cfb6 |
60 | Just add this line to your application class if you don't want those |
61 | nifty statistics in your debug messages. |
cb93c9d7 |
62 | |
63 | sub Catalyst::Log::info { } |
64 | |
65 | =head2 Enable debug status in the environment |
66 | |
67 | Normally you enable the debugging info by adding the C<-Debug> flag to |
b411df01 |
68 | your C<use Catalyst> statement . However, you can also enable it using |
69 | environment variable, so you can (for example) get debug info without |
70 | modifying your application scripts. Just set C<CATALYST_DEBUG> or |
7c098817 |
71 | C<E<lt>MYAPPE<gt>_DEBUG> to a true value. |
cb93c9d7 |
72 | |
73 | =head2 Sessions |
74 | |
c718cfb6 |
75 | When you have your users identified, you will want to somehow remember |
76 | that fact, to save them from having to identify themselves for every |
77 | single page. One way to do this is to send the username and password |
78 | parameters in every single page, but that's ugly, and won't work for |
79 | static pages. |
cb93c9d7 |
80 | |
c718cfb6 |
81 | Sessions are a method of saving data related to some transaction, and |
82 | giving the whole collection a single ID. This ID is then given to the |
83 | user to return to us on every page they visit while logged in. The |
84 | usual way to do this is using a browser cookie. |
cb93c9d7 |
85 | |
86 | Catalyst uses two types of plugins to represent sessions: |
87 | |
88 | =head3 State |
89 | |
c718cfb6 |
90 | A State module is used to keep track of the state of the session |
91 | between the users browser, and your application. |
cb93c9d7 |
92 | |
c718cfb6 |
93 | A common example is the Cookie state module, which sends the browser a |
94 | cookie containing the session ID. It will use default value for the |
95 | cookie name and domain, so will "just work" when used. |
cb93c9d7 |
96 | |
97 | =head3 Store |
98 | |
c718cfb6 |
99 | A Store module is used to hold all the data relating to your session, |
100 | for example the users ID, or the items for their shopping cart. You |
101 | can store data in memory (FastMmap), in a file (File) or in a database |
102 | (DBI). |
cb93c9d7 |
103 | |
104 | =head3 Authentication magic |
105 | |
106 | If you have included the session modules in your application, the |
107 | Authentication modules will automagically use your session to save and |
108 | retrieve the user data for you. |
109 | |
110 | =head3 Using a session |
111 | |
112 | Once the session modules are loaded, the session is available as C<< |
c718cfb6 |
113 | $c->session >>, and can be writen to and read from as a simple hash |
114 | reference. |
cb93c9d7 |
115 | |
116 | =head3 EXAMPLE |
117 | |
b1a08fe1 |
118 | package MyApp; |
119 | use Moose; |
120 | use namespace::autoclean; |
121 | |
b411df01 |
122 | use Catalyst qw/ |
ca7528df |
123 | Session |
124 | Session::Store::FastMmap |
125 | Session::State::Cookie |
b411df01 |
126 | /; |
b1a08fe1 |
127 | extends 'Catalyst'; |
128 | __PACKAGE__->setup; |
cb93c9d7 |
129 | |
b1a08fe1 |
130 | package MyApp::Controller::Foo; |
131 | use Moose; |
132 | use namespace::autoclean; |
46a5f2f5 |
133 | BEGIN { extends 'Catalyst::Controller' }; |
cb93c9d7 |
134 | ## Write data into the session |
135 | |
136 | sub add_item : Local { |
137 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
138 | |
76776098 |
139 | my $item_id = $c->req->params->{item}; |
cb93c9d7 |
140 | |
141 | push @{ $c->session->{items} }, $item_id; |
142 | |
143 | } |
144 | |
145 | ## A page later we retrieve the data from the session: |
146 | |
147 | sub get_items : Local { |
148 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
149 | |
150 | $c->stash->{items_to_display} = $c->session->{items}; |
151 | |
152 | } |
153 | |
154 | |
155 | =head3 More information |
156 | |
157 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session> |
158 | |
159 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-State-Cookie> |
160 | |
161 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-State-URI> |
162 | |
163 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-Store-FastMmap> |
164 | |
165 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-Store-File> |
166 | |
167 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-Store-DBI> |
168 | |
169 | =head2 Configure your application |
170 | |
171 | You configure your application with the C<config> method in your |
172 | application class. This can be hard-coded, or brought in from a |
173 | separate configuration file. |
174 | |
c010ae0d |
175 | =head3 Using Config::General |
cb93c9d7 |
176 | |
c010ae0d |
177 | L<Config::General|Config::General> is a method for creating flexible |
178 | and readable configuration files. It's a great way to keep your |
179 | Catalyst application configuration in one easy-to-understand location. |
cb93c9d7 |
180 | |
c010ae0d |
181 | Now create C<myapp.conf> in your application home: |
cb93c9d7 |
182 | |
c010ae0d |
183 | name MyApp |
cb93c9d7 |
184 | |
185 | # session; perldoc Catalyst::Plugin::Session::FastMmap |
c010ae0d |
186 | <Session> |
187 | expires 3600 |
188 | rewrite 0 |
189 | storage /tmp/myapp.session |
190 | </Session> |
cb93c9d7 |
191 | |
192 | # emails; perldoc Catalyst::Plugin::Email |
193 | # this passes options as an array :( |
c010ae0d |
194 | Mail SMTP |
195 | Mail localhost |
cb93c9d7 |
196 | |
197 | This is equivalent to: |
198 | |
199 | # configure base package |
200 | __PACKAGE__->config( name => MyApp ); |
201 | # configure authentication |
202 | __PACKAGE__->config->{authentication} = { |
203 | user_class => 'MyApp::Model::MyDB::Customer', |
204 | ... |
205 | }; |
206 | # configure sessions |
207 | __PACKAGE__->config->{session} = { |
208 | expires => 3600, |
209 | ... |
210 | }; |
211 | # configure email sending |
212 | __PACKAGE__->config->{email} = [qw/SMTP localhost/]; |
213 | |
c010ae0d |
214 | See also L<Config::General|Config::General>. |
cb93c9d7 |
215 | |
216 | =head1 Skipping your VCS's directories |
217 | |
46a5f2f5 |
218 | Catalyst uses Module::Pluggable to load Models, Views, and Controllers. |
cb93c9d7 |
219 | Module::Pluggable will scan through all directories and load modules |
220 | it finds. Sometimes you might want to skip some of these directories, |
221 | for example when your version control system makes a subdirectory with |
222 | meta-information in every version-controlled directory. While |
223 | Catalyst skips subversion and CVS directories already, there are other |
224 | source control systems. Here is the configuration you need to add |
225 | their directories to the list to skip. |
226 | |
46a5f2f5 |
227 | You can make Catalyst skip these directories using the Catalyst config: |
cb93c9d7 |
228 | |
229 | # Configure the application |
230 | __PACKAGE__->config( |
231 | name => 'MyApp', |
232 | setup_components => { except => qr/SCCS/ }, |
233 | ); |
234 | |
235 | See the Module::Pluggable manual page for more information on B<except> |
236 | and other options. |
237 | |
238 | =head1 Users and Access Control |
239 | |
46a5f2f5 |
240 | Most multiuser, and some single-user web applications require that |
cb93c9d7 |
241 | users identify themselves, and the application is often required to |
242 | define those roles. The recipes below describe some ways of doing |
243 | this. |
244 | |
245 | =head2 Authentication (logging in) |
246 | |
247 | This is extensively covered in other documentation; see in particular |
248 | L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication> and the Authentication chapter |
5641c0c1 |
249 | of the Tutorial at L<Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::06_Authorization>. |
cb93c9d7 |
250 | |
251 | =head2 Pass-through login (and other actions) |
252 | |
253 | An easy way of having assorted actions that occur during the processing |
254 | of a request that are orthogonal to its actual purpose - logins, silent |
255 | commands etc. Provide actions for these, but when they're required for |
256 | something else fill e.g. a form variable __login and have a sub begin |
257 | like so: |
258 | |
259 | sub begin : Private { |
260 | my ($self, $c) = @_; |
261 | foreach my $action (qw/login docommand foo bar whatever/) { |
262 | if ($c->req->params->{"__${action}"}) { |
263 | $c->forward($action); |
264 | } |
265 | } |
266 | } |
267 | |
cb93c9d7 |
268 | =head2 Authentication/Authorization |
269 | |
270 | This is done in several steps: |
271 | |
272 | =over 4 |
273 | |
274 | =item Verification |
275 | |
276 | Getting the user to identify themselves, by giving you some piece of |
c718cfb6 |
277 | information known only to you and the user. Then you can assume that |
278 | the user is who they say they are. This is called B<credential |
279 | verification>. |
cb93c9d7 |
280 | |
281 | =item Authorization |
282 | |
c718cfb6 |
283 | Making sure the user only accesses functions you want them to |
46a5f2f5 |
284 | access. This is done by checking the verified user's data against your |
c718cfb6 |
285 | internal list of groups, or allowed persons for the current page. |
cb93c9d7 |
286 | |
287 | =back |
288 | |
289 | =head3 Modules |
290 | |
c718cfb6 |
291 | The Catalyst Authentication system is made up of many interacting |
292 | modules, to give you the most flexibility possible. |
cb93c9d7 |
293 | |
294 | =head4 Credential verifiers |
295 | |
c718cfb6 |
296 | A Credential module tables the user input, and passes it to a Store, |
297 | or some other system, for verification. Typically, a user object is |
298 | created by either this module or the Store and made accessible by a |
299 | C<< $c->user >> call. |
cb93c9d7 |
300 | |
301 | Examples: |
302 | |
303 | Password - Simple username/password checking. |
304 | HTTPD - Checks using basic HTTP auth. |
305 | TypeKey - Check using the typekey system. |
306 | |
307 | =head3 Storage backends |
308 | |
c718cfb6 |
309 | A Storage backend contains the actual data representing the users. It |
310 | is queried by the credential verifiers. Updating the store is not done |
46a5f2f5 |
311 | within this system; you will need to do it yourself. |
cb93c9d7 |
312 | |
313 | Examples: |
314 | |
46a5f2f5 |
315 | DBIC - Storage using a database via DBIx::Class. |
cb93c9d7 |
316 | Minimal - Storage using a simple hash (for testing). |
317 | |
318 | =head3 User objects |
319 | |
c718cfb6 |
320 | A User object is created by either the storage backend or the |
46a5f2f5 |
321 | credential verifier, and is filled with the retrieved user information. |
cb93c9d7 |
322 | |
323 | Examples: |
324 | |
325 | Hash - A simple hash of keys and values. |
326 | |
327 | =head3 ACL authorization |
328 | |
c718cfb6 |
329 | ACL stands for Access Control List. The ACL plugin allows you to |
46a5f2f5 |
330 | regulate access on a path-by-path basis, by listing which users, or |
c718cfb6 |
331 | roles, have access to which paths. |
cb93c9d7 |
332 | |
333 | =head3 Roles authorization |
334 | |
c718cfb6 |
335 | Authorization by roles is for assigning users to groups, which can |
336 | then be assigned to ACLs, or just checked when needed. |
cb93c9d7 |
337 | |
338 | =head3 Logging in |
339 | |
340 | When you have chosen your modules, all you need to do is call the C<< |
b1a08fe1 |
341 | $c->authenticate >> method. If called with no parameters, it will try to find |
c718cfb6 |
342 | suitable parameters, such as B<username> and B<password>, or you can |
343 | pass it these values. |
cb93c9d7 |
344 | |
345 | =head3 Checking roles |
346 | |
46a5f2f5 |
347 | Role checking is done by using the C<< $c->check_user_roles >> method. |
348 | This will check using the currently logged-in user (via C<< $c->user |
c718cfb6 |
349 | >>). You pass it the name of a role to check, and it returns true if |
350 | the user is a member. |
cb93c9d7 |
351 | |
352 | =head3 EXAMPLE |
353 | |
bbddff00 |
354 | package MyApp; |
355 | use Moose; |
356 | use namespace::autoclean; |
357 | extends qw/Catalyst/; |
358 | use Catalyst qw/ |
359 | Authentication |
360 | Authorization::Roles |
361 | /; |
362 | |
363 | __PACKAGE__->config( |
364 | authentication => { |
365 | default_realm => 'test', |
366 | realms => { |
367 | test => { |
368 | credential => { |
369 | class => 'Password', |
370 | password_field => 'password', |
371 | password_type => 'self_check', |
372 | }, |
373 | store => { |
374 | class => 'Htpasswd', |
375 | file => 'htpasswd', |
376 | }, |
377 | }, |
378 | }, |
31e9c5ef |
379 | }, |
bbddff00 |
380 | ); |
381 | |
382 | package MyApp::Controller::Root; |
383 | use Moose; |
384 | use namespace::autoclean; |
31e9c5ef |
385 | |
bbddff00 |
386 | BEGIN { extends 'Catalyst::Controller' } |
31e9c5ef |
387 | |
bbddff00 |
388 | __PACKAGE__->config(namespace => ''); |
31e9c5ef |
389 | |
bbddff00 |
390 | sub login : Local { |
cb93c9d7 |
391 | my ($self, $c) = @_; |
392 | |
76776098 |
393 | if ( my $user = $c->req->params->{user} |
394 | and my $password = $c->req->param->{password} ) |
cb93c9d7 |
395 | { |
b1a08fe1 |
396 | if ( $c->authenticate( username => $user, password => $password ) ) { |
cb93c9d7 |
397 | $c->res->body( "hello " . $c->user->name ); |
398 | } else { |
399 | # login incorrect |
400 | } |
401 | } |
402 | else { |
403 | # invalid form input |
404 | } |
405 | } |
406 | |
407 | sub restricted : Local { |
408 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
409 | |
410 | $c->detach("unauthorized") |
411 | unless $c->check_user_roles( "admin" ); |
412 | |
413 | # do something restricted here |
414 | } |
415 | |
416 | =head3 Using authentication in a testing environment |
417 | |
46a5f2f5 |
418 | Ideally, to write tests for authentication/authorization code one would |
419 | first set up a test database with known data, then use |
c718cfb6 |
420 | L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> to simulate a user logging |
46a5f2f5 |
421 | in. Unfortunately this can be rather awkward, which is why it's a good |
422 | thing that the authentication framework is so flexible. |
cb93c9d7 |
423 | |
c718cfb6 |
424 | Instead of using a test database, one can simply change the |
425 | authentication store to something a bit easier to deal with in a |
426 | testing environment. Additionally, this has the advantage of not |
427 | modifying one's database, which can be problematic if one forgets to |
428 | use the testing instead of production database. |
cb93c9d7 |
429 | |
46a5f2f5 |
430 | Alternatively, if you want to authenticate real users, but not have to |
431 | worry about their passwords, you can use |
432 | L<Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::Testing> to force all users to |
433 | authenticate with a global password. |
cb93c9d7 |
434 | |
435 | =head3 More information |
436 | |
bbddff00 |
437 | L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication> has a longer explanation. |
cb93c9d7 |
438 | |
439 | =head2 Authorization |
440 | |
441 | =head3 Introduction |
442 | |
c718cfb6 |
443 | Authorization is the step that comes after |
46a5f2f5 |
444 | authentication. Authentication establishes that the user agent is really |
445 | representing the user we think it's representing, and then authorization |
446 | determines what this user is allowed to do. |
cb93c9d7 |
447 | |
448 | =head3 Role Based Access Control |
449 | |
c718cfb6 |
450 | Under role based access control each user is allowed to perform any |
451 | number of roles. For example, at a zoo no one but specially trained |
bfa445ed |
452 | personnel can enter the moose cage (Mynd you, møøse bites kan be |
c718cfb6 |
453 | pretty nasti!). For example: |
cb93c9d7 |
454 | |
455 | package Zoo::Controller::MooseCage; |
456 | |
457 | sub feed_moose : Local { |
458 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
459 | |
76776098 |
460 | $c->model( "Moose" )->eat( $c->req->params->{food} ); |
cb93c9d7 |
461 | } |
462 | |
c718cfb6 |
463 | With this action, anyone can just come into the moose cage and feed |
464 | the moose, which is a very dangerous thing. We need to restrict this |
465 | action, so that only a qualified moose feeder can perform that action. |
cb93c9d7 |
466 | |
46a5f2f5 |
467 | The Authorization::Roles plugin lets us perform role based access |
c718cfb6 |
468 | control checks. Let's load it: |
cb93c9d7 |
469 | |
ca7528df |
470 | use parent qw/Catalyst/; |
b411df01 |
471 | use Catalyst qw/ |
b1a08fe1 |
472 | Authentication |
b411df01 |
473 | Authorization::Roles |
474 | /; |
cb93c9d7 |
475 | |
476 | And now our action should look like this: |
477 | |
478 | sub feed_moose : Local { |
479 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
480 | |
481 | if ( $c->check_roles( "moose_feeder" ) ) { |
76776098 |
482 | $c->model( "Moose" )->eat( $c->req->params->{food} ); |
cb93c9d7 |
483 | } else { |
484 | $c->stash->{error} = "unauthorized"; |
485 | } |
486 | } |
487 | |
c718cfb6 |
488 | This checks C<< $c->user >>, and only if the user has B<all> the roles |
489 | in the list, a true value is returned. |
cb93c9d7 |
490 | |
c718cfb6 |
491 | C<check_roles> has a sister method, C<assert_roles>, which throws an |
492 | exception if any roles are missing. |
cb93c9d7 |
493 | |
494 | Some roles that might actually make sense in, say, a forum application: |
495 | |
496 | =over 4 |
497 | |
498 | =item * |
499 | |
500 | administrator |
501 | |
502 | =item * |
503 | |
504 | moderator |
505 | |
506 | =back |
507 | |
c718cfb6 |
508 | each with a distinct task (system administration versus content |
509 | administration). |
cb93c9d7 |
510 | |
511 | =head3 Access Control Lists |
512 | |
513 | Checking for roles all the time can be tedious and error prone. |
514 | |
46a5f2f5 |
515 | The Authorization::ACL plugin lets us declare where we'd like checks |
c718cfb6 |
516 | to be done automatically for us. |
cb93c9d7 |
517 | |
518 | For example, we may want to completely block out anyone who isn't a |
519 | C<moose_feeder> from the entire C<MooseCage> controller: |
520 | |
521 | Zoo->deny_access_unless( "/moose_cage", [qw/moose_feeder/] ); |
522 | |
c718cfb6 |
523 | The role list behaves in the same way as C<check_roles>. However, the |
524 | ACL plugin isn't limited to just interacting with the Roles plugin. We |
525 | can use a code reference instead. For example, to allow either moose |
526 | trainers or moose feeders into the moose cage, we can create a more |
527 | complex check: |
cb93c9d7 |
528 | |
529 | Zoo->deny_access_unless( "/moose_cage", sub { |
530 | my $c = shift; |
531 | $c->check_roles( "moose_trainer" ) || $c->check_roles( "moose_feeder" ); |
532 | }); |
533 | |
c718cfb6 |
534 | The more specific a role, the earlier it will be checked. Let's say |
535 | moose feeders are now restricted to only the C<feed_moose> action, |
536 | while moose trainers get access everywhere: |
cb93c9d7 |
537 | |
538 | Zoo->deny_access_unless( "/moose_cage", [qw/moose_trainer/] ); |
539 | Zoo->allow_access_if( "/moose_cage/feed_moose", [qw/moose_feeder/]); |
540 | |
c718cfb6 |
541 | When the C<feed_moose> action is accessed the second check will be |
542 | made. If the user is a C<moose_feeder>, then access will be |
543 | immediately granted. Otherwise, the next rule in line will be tested - |
544 | the one checking for a C<moose_trainer>. If this rule is not |
545 | satisfied, access will be immediately denied. |
cb93c9d7 |
546 | |
c718cfb6 |
547 | Rules applied to the same path will be checked in the order they were |
548 | added. |
cb93c9d7 |
549 | |
c718cfb6 |
550 | Lastly, handling access denial events is done by creating an |
551 | C<access_denied> private action: |
cb93c9d7 |
552 | |
553 | sub access_denied : Private { |
554 | my ( $self, $c, $action ) = @_; |
cb93c9d7 |
555 | } |
556 | |
c718cfb6 |
557 | This action works much like auto, in that it is inherited across |
558 | namespaces (not like object oriented code). This means that the |
559 | C<access_denied> action which is B<nearest> to the action which was |
560 | blocked will be triggered. |
cb93c9d7 |
561 | |
c718cfb6 |
562 | If this action does not exist, an error will be thrown, which you can |
563 | clean up in your C<end> private action instead. |
cb93c9d7 |
564 | |
c718cfb6 |
565 | Also, it's important to note that if you restrict access to "/" then |
46a5f2f5 |
566 | C<end>, C<default>, etc. will also be restricted. |
cb93c9d7 |
567 | |
568 | MyApp->acl_allow_root_internals; |
569 | |
570 | will create rules that permit access to C<end>, C<begin>, and C<auto> in the |
571 | root of your app (but not in any other controller). |
572 | |
573 | =head1 Models |
574 | |
433f1ad4 |
575 | Models are where application data belongs. Catalyst is extremely |
cb93c9d7 |
576 | flexible with the kind of models that it can use. The recipes here |
577 | are just the start. |
578 | |
579 | =head2 Using existing DBIC (etc.) classes with Catalyst |
580 | |
c718cfb6 |
581 | Many people have existing Model classes that they would like to use |
582 | with Catalyst (or, conversely, they want to write Catalyst models that |
583 | can be used outside of Catalyst, e.g. in a cron job). It's trivial to |
584 | write a simple component in Catalyst that slurps in an outside Model: |
cb93c9d7 |
585 | |
586 | package MyApp::Model::DB; |
46a5f2f5 |
587 | |
cb93c9d7 |
588 | use base qw/Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema/; |
46a5f2f5 |
589 | |
cb93c9d7 |
590 | __PACKAGE__->config( |
591 | schema_class => 'Some::DBIC::Schema', |
0b60bbb5 |
592 | connect_info => ['dbi:SQLite:foo.db', '', '', {AutoCommit=>1}], |
cb93c9d7 |
593 | ); |
46a5f2f5 |
594 | |
cb93c9d7 |
595 | 1; |
596 | |
597 | and that's it! Now C<Some::DBIC::Schema> is part of your |
598 | Cat app as C<MyApp::Model::DB>. |
599 | |
600 | =head2 DBIx::Class as a Catalyst Model |
601 | |
602 | See L<Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema>. |
603 | |
8428e94d |
604 | =head2 Create accessors to preload static data once per server instance |
605 | |
606 | When you have data that you want to load just once from the model at |
46a5f2f5 |
607 | startup, instead of for each request, use mk_group_accessors to |
8428e94d |
608 | create accessors and tie them to resultsets in your package that |
46a5f2f5 |
609 | inherits from DBIx::Class::Schema: |
8428e94d |
610 | |
611 | package My::Schema; |
612 | use base qw/DBIx::Class::Schema/; |
613 | __PACKAGE__->register_class('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER', |
614 | 'My::Schema::RESULTSOURCE'); |
615 | __PACKAGE__->mk_group_accessors('simple' => |
616 | qw(ACCESSORNAME1 ACCESSORNAME2 ACCESSORNAMEn)); |
617 | |
618 | sub connection { |
619 | my ($self, @rest) = @_; |
620 | $self->next::method(@rest); |
b1a08fe1 |
621 | # $self is now a live My::Schema object, complete with DB connection |
8428e94d |
622 | |
623 | $self->ACCESSORNAME1([ $self->resultset('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER')->all ]); |
624 | $self->ACCESSORNAME2([ $self->resultset('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER')->search({ COLUMN => { '<' => '30' } })->all ]); |
625 | $self->ACCESSORNAMEn([ $self->resultset('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER')->find(1) ]); |
626 | } |
627 | |
628 | 1; |
629 | |
630 | and now in the controller, you can now access any of these without a |
631 | per-request fetch: |
632 | |
46a5f2f5 |
633 | $c->stash->{something} = $c->model('My::Schema')->schema->ACCESSORNAME; |
8428e94d |
634 | |
635 | |
cb93c9d7 |
636 | =head2 XMLRPC |
637 | |
46a5f2f5 |
638 | Unlike SOAP, XMLRPC is a very simple (and elegant) web-services |
cb93c9d7 |
639 | protocol, exchanging small XML messages like these: |
640 | |
641 | Request: |
642 | |
643 | POST /api HTTP/1.1 |
644 | TE: deflate,gzip;q=0.3 |
645 | Connection: TE, close |
646 | Accept: text/xml |
647 | Accept: multipart/* |
648 | Host: 127.0.0.1:3000 |
649 | User-Agent: SOAP::Lite/Perl/0.60 |
650 | Content-Length: 192 |
651 | Content-Type: text/xml |
652 | |
653 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> |
654 | <methodCall> |
655 | <methodName>add</methodName> |
656 | <params> |
657 | <param><value><int>1</int></value></param> |
658 | <param><value><int>2</int></value></param> |
659 | </params> |
660 | </methodCall> |
661 | |
662 | Response: |
663 | |
664 | Connection: close |
665 | Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:45:55 GMT |
666 | Content-Length: 133 |
667 | Content-Type: text/xml |
668 | Status: 200 |
669 | X-Catalyst: 5.70 |
670 | |
671 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> |
672 | <methodResponse> |
673 | <params> |
674 | <param><value><int>3</int></value></param> |
675 | </params> |
676 | </methodResponse> |
677 | |
678 | Now follow these few steps to implement the application: |
679 | |
680 | 1. Install Catalyst (5.61 or later), Catalyst::Plugin::XMLRPC (0.06 or |
681 | later) and SOAP::Lite (for XMLRPCsh.pl). |
682 | |
683 | 2. Create an application framework: |
684 | |
685 | % catalyst.pl MyApp |
686 | ... |
687 | % cd MyApp |
688 | |
689 | 3. Add the XMLRPC plugin to MyApp.pm |
690 | |
b411df01 |
691 | use Catalyst qw/-Debug Static::Simple XMLRPC/; |
cb93c9d7 |
692 | |
693 | 4. Add an API controller |
694 | |
695 | % ./script/myapp_create.pl controller API |
696 | |
697 | 5. Add a XMLRPC redispatch method and an add method with Remote |
698 | attribute to lib/MyApp/Controller/API.pm |
699 | |
85d49fb6 |
700 | sub default :Path { |
cb93c9d7 |
701 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
702 | $c->xmlrpc; |
703 | } |
704 | |
705 | sub add : Remote { |
706 | my ( $self, $c, $a, $b ) = @_; |
707 | return $a + $b; |
708 | } |
709 | |
710 | The default action is the entry point for each XMLRPC request. It will |
711 | redispatch every request to methods with Remote attribute in the same |
712 | class. |
713 | |
714 | The C<add> method is not a traditional action; it has no private or |
715 | public path. Only the XMLRPC dispatcher knows it exists. |
716 | |
717 | 6. That's it! You have built your first web service. Let's test it with |
718 | XMLRPCsh.pl (part of SOAP::Lite): |
719 | |
720 | % ./script/myapp_server.pl |
721 | ... |
722 | % XMLRPCsh.pl http://127.0.0.1:3000/api |
723 | Usage: method[(parameters)] |
724 | > add( 1, 2 ) |
725 | --- XMLRPC RESULT --- |
726 | '3' |
727 | |
728 | =head3 Tip |
729 | |
730 | Your return data type is usually auto-detected, but you can easily |
731 | enforce a specific one. |
732 | |
733 | sub add : Remote { |
734 | my ( $self, $c, $a, $b ) = @_; |
735 | return RPC::XML::int->new( $a + $b ); |
736 | } |
cb93c9d7 |
737 | |
738 | =head1 Views |
739 | |
740 | Views pertain to the display of your application. As with models, |
46a5f2f5 |
741 | Catalyst is uncommonly flexible. The recipes below are just a start. |
cb93c9d7 |
742 | |
743 | =head2 Catalyst::View::TT |
744 | |
745 | One of the first things you probably want to do when starting a new |
746 | Catalyst application is set up your View. Catalyst doesn't care how you |
747 | display your data; you can choose to generate HTML, PDF files, or plain |
748 | text if you wanted. |
749 | |
750 | Most Catalyst applications use a template system to generate their HTML, |
31e9c5ef |
751 | and though there are several template systems available, |
1febc43a |
752 | L<Template Toolkit|Template> is probably the most popular. |
cb93c9d7 |
753 | |
754 | Once again, the Catalyst developers have done all the hard work, and |
755 | made things easy for the rest of us. Catalyst::View::TT provides the |
756 | interface to Template Toolkit, and provides Helpers which let us set it |
757 | up that much more easily. |
758 | |
759 | =head3 Creating your View |
760 | |
761 | Catalyst::View::TT provides two different helpers for us to use: TT and |
762 | TTSite. |
763 | |
764 | =head4 TT |
765 | |
766 | Create a basic Template Toolkit View using the provided helper script: |
767 | |
768 | script/myapp_create.pl view TT TT |
769 | |
770 | This will create lib/MyApp/View/MyView.pm, which is going to be pretty |
771 | empty to start. However, it sets everything up that you need to get |
772 | started. You can now define which template you want and forward to your |
773 | view. For instance: |
774 | |
775 | sub hello : Local { |
776 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
777 | |
778 | $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt'; |
779 | |
780 | $c->forward( $c->view('TT') ); |
781 | } |
782 | |
783 | In practice you wouldn't do the forwarding manually, but would |
784 | use L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView>. |
785 | |
786 | =head4 TTSite |
787 | |
788 | Although the TT helper does create a functional, working view, you may |
789 | find yourself having to create the same template files and changing the |
790 | same options every time you create a new application. The TTSite helper |
791 | saves us even more time by creating the basic templates and setting some |
792 | common options for us. |
793 | |
794 | Once again, you can use the helper script: |
795 | |
796 | script/myapp_create.pl view TT TTSite |
797 | |
798 | This time, the helper sets several options for us in the generated View. |
799 | |
800 | __PACKAGE__->config({ |
801 | CATALYST_VAR => 'Catalyst', |
802 | INCLUDE_PATH => [ |
803 | MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'src' ), |
804 | MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'lib' ) |
805 | ], |
806 | PRE_PROCESS => 'config/main', |
807 | WRAPPER => 'site/wrapper', |
808 | ERROR => 'error.tt2', |
809 | TIMER => 0 |
810 | }); |
811 | |
812 | =over |
813 | |
b1a08fe1 |
814 | =item |
cb93c9d7 |
815 | |
816 | INCLUDE_PATH defines the directories that Template Toolkit should search |
817 | for the template files. |
818 | |
819 | =item |
820 | |
821 | PRE_PROCESS is used to process configuration options which are common to |
822 | every template file. |
823 | |
824 | =item |
825 | |
826 | WRAPPER is a file which is processed with each template, usually used to |
827 | easily provide a common header and footer for every page. |
828 | |
829 | =back |
830 | |
831 | In addition to setting these options, the TTSite helper also created the |
832 | template and config files for us! In the 'root' directory, you'll notice |
833 | two new directories: src and lib. |
834 | |
835 | Several configuration files in root/lib/config are called by PRE_PROCESS. |
836 | |
837 | The files in root/lib/site are the site-wide templates, called by |
838 | WRAPPER, and display the html framework, control the layout, and provide |
839 | the templates for the header and footer of your page. Using the template |
840 | organization provided makes it much easier to standardize pages and make |
841 | changes when they are (inevitably) needed. |
842 | |
843 | The template files that you will create for your application will go |
844 | into root/src, and you don't need to worry about putting the the <html> |
845 | or <head> sections; just put in the content. The WRAPPER will the rest |
846 | of the page around your template for you. |
847 | |
848 | |
849 | =head3 $c->stash |
850 | |
851 | Of course, having the template system include the header and footer for |
852 | you isn't all that we want our templates to do. We need to be able to |
853 | put data into our templates, and have it appear where and how we want |
854 | it, right? That's where the stash comes in. |
855 | |
856 | In our controllers, we can add data to the stash, and then access it |
857 | from the template. For instance: |
858 | |
859 | sub hello : Local { |
860 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
861 | |
862 | $c->stash->{name} = 'Adam'; |
863 | |
864 | $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt'; |
865 | |
866 | $c->forward( $c->view('TT') ); |
867 | } |
868 | |
869 | Then, in hello.tt: |
870 | |
871 | <strong>Hello, [% name %]!</strong> |
872 | |
873 | When you view this page, it will display "Hello, Adam!" |
874 | |
875 | All of the information in your stash is available, by its name/key, in |
876 | your templates. And your data don't have to be plain, old, boring |
877 | scalars. You can pass array references and hash references, too. |
878 | |
879 | In your controller: |
880 | |
881 | sub hello : Local { |
882 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
883 | |
884 | $c->stash->{names} = [ 'Adam', 'Dave', 'John' ]; |
885 | |
886 | $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt'; |
887 | |
888 | $c->forward( $c->view('TT') ); |
889 | } |
890 | |
891 | In hello.tt: |
892 | |
893 | [% FOREACH name IN names %] |
894 | <strong>Hello, [% name %]!</strong><br /> |
895 | [% END %] |
896 | |
897 | This allowed us to loop through each item in the arrayref, and display a |
898 | line for each name that we have. |
899 | |
900 | This is the most basic usage, but Template Toolkit is quite powerful, |
901 | and allows you to truly keep your presentation logic separate from the |
902 | rest of your application. |
903 | |
904 | =head3 $c->uri_for() |
905 | |
906 | One of my favorite things about Catalyst is the ability to move an |
907 | application around without having to worry that everything is going to |
908 | break. One of the areas that used to be a problem was with the http |
909 | links in your template files. For example, suppose you have an |
910 | application installed at http://www.domain.com/Calendar. The links point |
911 | to "/Calendar", "/Calendar/2005", "/Calendar/2005/10", etc. If you move |
912 | the application to be at http://www.mydomain.com/Tools/Calendar, then |
913 | all of those links will suddenly break. |
914 | |
915 | That's where $c->uri_for() comes in. This function will merge its |
916 | parameters with either the base location for the app, or its current |
917 | namespace. Let's take a look at a couple of examples. |
918 | |
919 | In your template, you can use the following: |
920 | |
921 | <a href="[% c.uri_for('/login') %]">Login Here</a> |
922 | |
c718cfb6 |
923 | Although the parameter starts with a forward slash, this is relative |
924 | to the application root, not the webserver root. This is important to |
925 | remember. So, if your application is installed at |
926 | http://www.domain.com/Calendar, then the link would be |
927 | http://www.mydomain.com/Calendar/Login. If you move your application |
928 | to a different domain or path, then that link will still be correct. |
cb93c9d7 |
929 | |
930 | Likewise, |
931 | |
932 | <a href="[% c.uri_for('2005','10', '24') %]">October, 24 2005</a> |
933 | |
c718cfb6 |
934 | The first parameter does NOT have a forward slash, and so it will be |
935 | relative to the current namespace. If the application is installed at |
936 | http://www.domain.com/Calendar. and if the template is called from |
937 | MyApp::Controller::Display, then the link would become |
938 | http://www.domain.com/Calendar/Display/2005/10/24. |
939 | |
940 | If you want to link to a parent uri of your current namespace you can |
941 | prefix the arguments with multiple '../': |
942 | |
943 | <a href="[% c.uri_for('../../view', stashed_object.id) %]">User view</a> |
cb93c9d7 |
944 | |
c718cfb6 |
945 | Once again, this allows you to move your application around without |
946 | having to worry about broken links. But there's something else, as |
947 | well. Since the links are generated by uri_for, you can use the same |
948 | template file by several different controllers, and each controller |
949 | will get the links that its supposed to. Since we believe in Don't |
950 | Repeat Yourself, this is particularly helpful if you have common |
951 | elements in your site that you want to keep in one file. |
cb93c9d7 |
952 | |
953 | Further Reading: |
954 | |
955 | L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Catalyst> |
956 | |
957 | L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Catalyst%3A%3AView%3A%3ATT> |
958 | |
959 | L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Template> |
960 | |
b1a08fe1 |
961 | =head2 Adding RSS feeds |
cb93c9d7 |
962 | |
963 | Adding RSS feeds to your Catalyst applications is simple. We'll see two |
433f1ad4 |
964 | different approaches here, but the basic premise is that you forward to |
cb93c9d7 |
965 | the normal view action first to get the objects, then handle the output |
966 | differently. |
967 | |
cb93c9d7 |
968 | =head3 Using XML::Feed |
969 | |
32cebe9b |
970 | Assuming we have a C<view> action that populates |
cb93c9d7 |
971 | 'entries' with some DBIx::Class iterator, the code would look something |
972 | like this: |
973 | |
974 | sub rss : Local { |
975 | my ($self,$c) = @_; |
976 | $c->forward('view'); # get the entries |
977 | |
978 | my $feed = XML::Feed->new('RSS'); |
979 | $feed->title( $c->config->{name} . ' RSS Feed' ); |
980 | $feed->link( $c->req->base ); # link to the site. |
981 | $feed->description('Catalyst advent calendar'); Some description |
982 | |
983 | # Process the entries |
984 | while( my $entry = $c->stash->{entries}->next ) { |
985 | my $feed_entry = XML::Feed::Entry->new('RSS'); |
986 | $feed_entry->title($entry->title); |
987 | $feed_entry->link( $c->uri_for($entry->link) ); |
988 | $feed_entry->issued( DateTime->from_epoch(epoch => $entry->created) ); |
989 | $feed->add_entry($feed_entry); |
990 | } |
991 | $c->res->body( $feed->as_xml ); |
992 | } |
993 | |
32cebe9b |
994 | With this approach you're |
b1a08fe1 |
995 | pretty sure to get something that validates. |
cb93c9d7 |
996 | |
433f1ad4 |
997 | Note that for both of the above approaches, you'll need to set the |
cb93c9d7 |
998 | content type like this: |
999 | |
1000 | $c->res->content_type('application/rss+xml'); |
1001 | |
1002 | =head3 Final words |
1003 | |
1004 | You could generalize the second variant easily by replacing 'RSS' with a |
1005 | variable, so you can generate Atom feeds with the same code. |
1006 | |
1007 | Now, go ahead and make RSS feeds for all your stuff. The world *needs* |
1008 | updates on your goldfish! |
1009 | |
1010 | =head2 Forcing the browser to download content |
1011 | |
1012 | Sometimes you need your application to send content for download. For |
1013 | example, you can generate a comma-separated values (CSV) file for your |
1014 | users to download and import into their spreadsheet program. |
1015 | |
1016 | Let's say you have an C<Orders> controller which generates a CSV file |
1017 | in the C<export> action (i.e., C<http://localhost:3000/orders/export>): |
1018 | |
1019 | sub export : Local Args(0) { |
1020 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
1021 | |
1022 | # In a real application, you'd generate this from the database |
1023 | my $csv = "1,5.99\n2,29.99\n3,3.99\n"; |
1024 | |
1025 | $c->res->content_type('text/comma-separated-values'); |
1026 | $c->res->body($csv); |
1027 | } |
1028 | |
1029 | Normally the browser uses the last part of the URI to generate a |
1030 | filename for data it cannot display. In this case your browser would |
1031 | likely ask you to save a file named C<export>. |
1032 | |
1033 | Luckily you can have the browser download the content with a specific |
1034 | filename by setting the C<Content-Disposition> header: |
1035 | |
1036 | my $filename = 'Important Orders.csv'; |
1037 | $c->res->header('Content-Disposition', qq[attachment; filename="$filename"]); |
1038 | |
1039 | Note the use of quotes around the filename; this ensures that any |
1040 | spaces in the filename are handled by the browser. |
1041 | |
1042 | Put this right before calling C<< $c->res->body >> and your browser |
1043 | will download a file named C<Important Orders.csv> instead of |
1044 | C<export>. |
1045 | |
1046 | You can also use this to have the browser download content which it |
1047 | normally displays, such as JPEG images or even HTML. Just be sure to |
1048 | set the appropriate content type and disposition. |
1049 | |
1050 | |
1051 | =head1 Controllers |
1052 | |
1053 | Controllers are the main point of communication between the web server |
1054 | and your application. Here we explore some aspects of how they work. |
1055 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1056 | =head2 Action Types |
1057 | |
1058 | =head3 Introduction |
1059 | |
c718cfb6 |
1060 | A Catalyst application is driven by one or more Controller |
1061 | modules. There are a number of ways that Catalyst can decide which of |
1062 | the methods in your controller modules it should call. Controller |
1063 | methods are also called actions, because they determine how your |
1064 | catalyst application should (re-)act to any given URL. When the |
1065 | application is started up, catalyst looks at all your actions, and |
1066 | decides which URLs they map to. |
cb93c9d7 |
1067 | |
1068 | =head3 Type attributes |
1069 | |
1070 | Each action is a normal method in your controller, except that it has an |
a7b39a0c |
1071 | L<attribute|attributes> |
cb93c9d7 |
1072 | attached. These can be one of several types. |
1073 | |
1074 | Assume our Controller module starts with the following package declaration: |
1075 | |
1076 | package MyApp::Controller::Buckets; |
1077 | |
1078 | and we are running our application on localhost, port 3000 (the test |
1079 | server default). |
1080 | |
1081 | =over 4 |
1082 | |
1083 | =item Path |
1084 | |
1085 | A Path attribute also takes an argument, this can be either a relative |
c718cfb6 |
1086 | or an absolute path. A relative path will be relative to the |
1087 | controller namespace, an absolute path will represent an exact |
1088 | matching URL. |
cb93c9d7 |
1089 | |
1090 | sub my_handles : Path('handles') { .. } |
1091 | |
1092 | becomes |
1093 | |
1094 | http://localhost:3000/buckets/handles |
1095 | |
1096 | and |
1097 | |
1098 | sub my_handles : Path('/handles') { .. } |
1099 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1100 | becomes |
cb93c9d7 |
1101 | |
1102 | http://localhost:3000/handles |
1103 | |
6daaedc0 |
1104 | See also: L<Catalyst::DispatchType::Path> |
1105 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1106 | =item Local |
1107 | |
c718cfb6 |
1108 | When using a Local attribute, no parameters are needed, instead, the |
1109 | name of the action is matched in the URL. The namespaces created by |
1110 | the name of the controller package is always part of the URL. |
cb93c9d7 |
1111 | |
1112 | sub my_handles : Local { .. } |
1113 | |
1114 | becomes |
1115 | |
1116 | http://localhost:3000/buckets/my_handles |
1117 | |
1118 | =item Global |
1119 | |
c718cfb6 |
1120 | A Global attribute is similar to a Local attribute, except that the |
1121 | namespace of the controller is ignored, and matching starts at root. |
cb93c9d7 |
1122 | |
1123 | sub my_handles : Global { .. } |
1124 | |
1125 | becomes |
1126 | |
1127 | http://localhost:3000/my_handles |
1128 | |
1129 | =item Regex |
1130 | |
c718cfb6 |
1131 | By now you should have figured that a Regex attribute is just what it |
1132 | sounds like. This one takes a regular expression, and matches starting |
1133 | from root. These differ from the rest as they can match multiple URLs. |
cb93c9d7 |
1134 | |
1135 | sub my_handles : Regex('^handles') { .. } |
1136 | |
1137 | matches |
1138 | |
1139 | http://localhost:3000/handles |
1140 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1141 | and |
cb93c9d7 |
1142 | |
1143 | http://localhost:3000/handles_and_other_parts |
1144 | |
1145 | etc. |
1146 | |
6daaedc0 |
1147 | See also: L<Catalyst::DispatchType::Regex> |
1148 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1149 | =item LocalRegex |
1150 | |
1151 | A LocalRegex is similar to a Regex, except it only matches below the current |
1152 | controller namespace. |
1153 | |
1154 | sub my_handles : LocalRegex(^handles') { .. } |
1155 | |
1156 | matches |
1157 | |
1158 | http://localhost:3000/buckets/handles |
1159 | |
1160 | and |
1161 | |
1162 | http://localhost:3000/buckets/handles_and_other_parts |
1163 | |
1164 | etc. |
1165 | |
6daaedc0 |
1166 | =item Chained |
1167 | |
1168 | See L<Catalyst::DispatchType::Chained> for a description of how the chained |
1169 | dispatch type works. |
1170 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1171 | =item Private |
1172 | |
c718cfb6 |
1173 | Last but not least, there is the Private attribute, which allows you |
1174 | to create your own internal actions, which can be forwarded to, but |
1175 | won't be matched as URLs. |
cb93c9d7 |
1176 | |
1177 | sub my_handles : Private { .. } |
1178 | |
1179 | becomes nothing at all.. |
1180 | |
c718cfb6 |
1181 | Catalyst also predefines some special Private actions, which you can |
1182 | override, these are: |
cb93c9d7 |
1183 | |
1184 | =over 4 |
1185 | |
1186 | =item default |
1187 | |
c718cfb6 |
1188 | The default action will be called, if no other matching action is |
1189 | found. If you don't have one of these in your namespace, or any sub |
1190 | part of your namespace, you'll get an error page instead. If you want |
1191 | to find out where it was the user was trying to go, you can look in |
1192 | the request object using C<< $c->req->path >>. |
cb93c9d7 |
1193 | |
85d49fb6 |
1194 | sub default :Path { .. } |
cb93c9d7 |
1195 | |
c718cfb6 |
1196 | works for all unknown URLs, in this controller namespace, or every one |
1197 | if put directly into MyApp.pm. |
cb93c9d7 |
1198 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1199 | =item index |
cb93c9d7 |
1200 | |
c718cfb6 |
1201 | The index action is called when someone tries to visit the exact |
1202 | namespace of your controller. If index, default and matching Path |
1203 | actions are defined, then index will be used instead of default and |
1204 | Path. |
cb93c9d7 |
1205 | |
85d49fb6 |
1206 | sub index :Path :Args(0) { .. } |
cb93c9d7 |
1207 | |
1208 | becomes |
1209 | |
1210 | http://localhost:3000/buckets |
1211 | |
1212 | =item begin |
1213 | |
c718cfb6 |
1214 | The begin action is called at the beginning of every request involving |
1215 | this namespace directly, before other matching actions are called. It |
1216 | can be used to set up variables/data for this particular part of your |
1217 | app. A single begin action is called, its always the one most relevant |
1218 | to the current namespace. |
cb93c9d7 |
1219 | |
1220 | sub begin : Private { .. } |
1221 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1222 | is called once when |
cb93c9d7 |
1223 | |
1224 | http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)? |
1225 | |
1226 | is visited. |
1227 | |
1228 | =item end |
1229 | |
c718cfb6 |
1230 | Like begin, this action is always called for the namespace it is in, |
1231 | after every other action has finished. It is commonly used to forward |
1232 | processing to the View component. A single end action is called, its |
1233 | always the one most relevant to the current namespace. |
cb93c9d7 |
1234 | |
1235 | |
1236 | sub end : Private { .. } |
1237 | |
1238 | is called once after any actions when |
1239 | |
1240 | http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)? |
1241 | |
1242 | is visited. |
1243 | |
1244 | =item auto |
1245 | |
c718cfb6 |
1246 | Lastly, the auto action is magic in that B<every> auto action in the |
1247 | chain of paths up to and including the ending namespace, will be |
1248 | called. (In contrast, only one of the begin/end/default actions will |
1249 | be called, the relevant one). |
cb93c9d7 |
1250 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1251 | package MyApp::Controller::Root; |
cb93c9d7 |
1252 | sub auto : Private { .. } |
1253 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1254 | and |
cb93c9d7 |
1255 | |
1256 | sub auto : Private { .. } |
1257 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1258 | will both be called when visiting |
cb93c9d7 |
1259 | |
1260 | http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)? |
1261 | |
1262 | =back |
1263 | |
1264 | =back |
1265 | |
1266 | =head3 A word of warning |
1267 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1268 | You can put root actions in your main MyApp.pm file, but this is deprecated, |
1269 | please put your actions into your Root controller. |
cb93c9d7 |
1270 | |
7cfce6e1 |
1271 | =head3 Flowchart |
cb93c9d7 |
1272 | |
7cfce6e1 |
1273 | A graphical flowchart of how the dispatcher works can be found on the wiki at |
1274 | L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/attachment/wiki/WikiStart/catalyst-flow.png>. |
cb93c9d7 |
1275 | |
7cfce6e1 |
1276 | =head2 DRY Controllers with Chained actions |
6daaedc0 |
1277 | |
1278 | Imagine that you would like the following paths in your application: |
1279 | |
1280 | =over |
1281 | |
1b4425c5 |
1282 | =item B<< /cd/<ID>/track/<ID> >> |
6daaedc0 |
1283 | |
1284 | Displays info on a particular track. |
b1a08fe1 |
1285 | |
6daaedc0 |
1286 | In the case of a multi-volume CD, this is the track sequence. |
1287 | |
1b4425c5 |
1288 | =item B<< /cd/<ID>/volume/<ID>/track/<ID> >> |
6daaedc0 |
1289 | |
1290 | Displays info on a track on a specific volume. |
1291 | |
1292 | =back |
1293 | |
1294 | Here is some example code, showing how to do this with chained controllers: |
1295 | |
1296 | package CD::Controller; |
1297 | use base qw/Catalyst::Controller/; |
b1a08fe1 |
1298 | |
6daaedc0 |
1299 | sub root : Chained('/') PathPart('/cd') CaptureArgs(1) { |
1300 | my ($self, $c, $cd_id) = @_; |
1301 | $c->stash->{cd_id} = $cd_id; |
1302 | $c->stash->{cd} = $self->model('CD')->find_by_id($cd_id); |
1303 | } |
b1a08fe1 |
1304 | |
6daaedc0 |
1305 | sub trackinfo : Chained('track') PathPart('') Args(0) RenderView { |
1306 | my ($self, $c) = @_; |
1307 | } |
b1a08fe1 |
1308 | |
6daaedc0 |
1309 | package CD::Controller::ByTrackSeq; |
1310 | use base qw/CD::Controller/; |
b1a08fe1 |
1311 | |
6daaedc0 |
1312 | sub track : Chained('root') PathPart('track') CaptureArgs(1) { |
1313 | my ($self, $c, $track_seq) = @_; |
1314 | $c->stash->{track} = $self->stash->{cd}->find_track_by_seq($track_seq); |
1315 | } |
b1a08fe1 |
1316 | |
6daaedc0 |
1317 | package CD::Controller::ByTrackVolNo; |
1318 | use base qw/CD::Controller/; |
b1a08fe1 |
1319 | |
6daaedc0 |
1320 | sub volume : Chained('root') PathPart('volume') CaptureArgs(1) { |
1321 | my ($self, $c, $volume) = @_; |
1322 | $c->stash->{volume} = $volume; |
1323 | } |
b1a08fe1 |
1324 | |
6daaedc0 |
1325 | sub track : Chained('volume') PathPart('track') CaptureArgs(1) { |
1326 | my ($self, $c, $track_no) = @_; |
1327 | $c->stash->{track} = $self->stash->{cd}->find_track_by_vol_and_track_no( |
1328 | $c->stash->{volume}, $track_no |
1329 | ); |
1330 | } |
b1a08fe1 |
1331 | |
1332 | Note that adding other actions (i.e. chain endpoints) which operate on a track |
6daaedc0 |
1333 | is simply a matter of adding a new sub to CD::Controller - no code is duplicated, |
1334 | even though there are two different methods of looking up a track. |
1335 | |
1336 | This technique can be expanded as needed to fulfil your requirements - for example, |
1337 | if you inherit the first action of a chain from a base class, then mixing in a |
433f1ad4 |
1338 | different base class can be used to duplicate an entire URL hierarchy at a different |
6daaedc0 |
1339 | point within your application. |
1340 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1341 | =head2 Component-based Subrequests |
1342 | |
1343 | See L<Catalyst::Plugin::SubRequest>. |
1344 | |
1345 | =head2 File uploads |
1346 | |
1347 | =head3 Single file upload with Catalyst |
1348 | |
1349 | To implement uploads in Catalyst, you need to have a HTML form similar to |
1350 | this: |
1351 | |
1352 | <form action="/upload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"> |
1353 | <input type="hidden" name="form_submit" value="yes"> |
1354 | <input type="file" name="my_file"> |
1355 | <input type="submit" value="Send"> |
1356 | </form> |
1357 | |
1358 | It's very important not to forget C<enctype="multipart/form-data"> in |
1359 | the form. |
1360 | |
1361 | Catalyst Controller module 'upload' action: |
1362 | |
1363 | sub upload : Global { |
1364 | my ($self, $c) = @_; |
1365 | |
1366 | if ( $c->request->parameters->{form_submit} eq 'yes' ) { |
1367 | |
1368 | if ( my $upload = $c->request->upload('my_file') ) { |
1369 | |
1370 | my $filename = $upload->filename; |
1371 | my $target = "/tmp/upload/$filename"; |
1372 | |
1373 | unless ( $upload->link_to($target) || $upload->copy_to($target) ) { |
1374 | die( "Failed to copy '$filename' to '$target': $!" ); |
1375 | } |
1376 | } |
1377 | } |
1378 | |
1379 | $c->stash->{template} = 'file_upload.html'; |
1380 | } |
1381 | |
1382 | =head3 Multiple file upload with Catalyst |
1383 | |
1384 | Code for uploading multiple files from one form needs a few changes: |
1385 | |
1386 | The form should have this basic structure: |
1387 | |
1388 | <form action="/upload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"> |
1389 | <input type="hidden" name="form_submit" value="yes"> |
1390 | <input type="file" name="file1" size="50"><br> |
1391 | <input type="file" name="file2" size="50"><br> |
1392 | <input type="file" name="file3" size="50"><br> |
1393 | <input type="submit" value="Send"> |
1394 | </form> |
1395 | |
1396 | And in the controller: |
1397 | |
1398 | sub upload : Local { |
1399 | my ($self, $c) = @_; |
1400 | |
1401 | if ( $c->request->parameters->{form_submit} eq 'yes' ) { |
1402 | |
1403 | for my $field ( $c->req->upload ) { |
1404 | |
1405 | my $upload = $c->req->upload($field); |
1406 | my $filename = $upload->filename; |
1407 | my $target = "/tmp/upload/$filename"; |
1408 | |
1409 | unless ( $upload->link_to($target) || $upload->copy_to($target) ) { |
1410 | die( "Failed to copy '$filename' to '$target': $!" ); |
1411 | } |
1412 | } |
1413 | } |
1414 | |
1415 | $c->stash->{template} = 'file_upload.html'; |
1416 | } |
1417 | |
1418 | C<for my $field ($c-E<gt>req->upload)> loops automatically over all file |
1419 | input fields and gets input names. After that is basic file saving code, |
1420 | just like in single file upload. |
1421 | |
1422 | Notice: C<die>ing might not be what you want to do, when an error |
1423 | occurs, but it works as an example. A better idea would be to store |
1424 | error C<$!> in $c->stash->{error} and show a custom error template |
1425 | displaying this message. |
1426 | |
1427 | For more information about uploads and usable methods look at |
1428 | L<Catalyst::Request::Upload> and L<Catalyst::Request>. |
1429 | |
1430 | =head2 Forwarding with arguments |
1431 | |
1432 | Sometimes you want to pass along arguments when forwarding to another |
1433 | action. As of version 5.30, arguments can be passed in the call to |
1434 | C<forward>; in earlier versions, you can manually set the arguments in |
1435 | the Catalyst Request object: |
1436 | |
1437 | # version 5.30 and later: |
1438 | $c->forward('/wherever', [qw/arg1 arg2 arg3/]); |
1439 | |
1440 | # pre-5.30 |
1441 | $c->req->args([qw/arg1 arg2 arg3/]); |
1442 | $c->forward('/wherever'); |
1443 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1444 | (See the L<Catalyst::Manual::Intro> Flow_Control section for more |
cb93c9d7 |
1445 | information on passing arguments via C<forward>.) |
1446 | |
6daaedc0 |
1447 | =head2 Chained dispatch using base classes, and inner packages. |
1448 | |
1449 | package MyApp::Controller::Base; |
1450 | use base qw/Catalyst::Controller/; |
1451 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1452 | sub key1 : Chained('/') |
31e9c5ef |
1453 | |
e2728084 |
1454 | =head2 Extending RenderView (formerly DefaultEnd) |
1455 | |
1456 | The recommended approach for an C<end> action is to use |
1457 | L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView> (taking the place of |
1458 | L<Catalyst::Plugin::DefaultEnd>), which does what you usually need. |
1459 | However there are times when you need to add a bit to it, but don't want |
1460 | to write your own C<end> action. |
1461 | |
1462 | You can extend it like this: |
1463 | |
1464 | To add something to an C<end> action that is called before rendering |
1465 | (this is likely to be what you want), simply place it in the C<end> |
1466 | method: |
1467 | |
1468 | sub end : ActionClass('RenderView') { |
1469 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
1470 | # do stuff here; the RenderView action is called afterwards |
1471 | } |
1472 | |
1473 | To add things to an C<end> action that are called I<after> rendering, |
1474 | you can set it up like this: |
1475 | |
1476 | sub render : ActionClass('RenderView') { } |
1477 | |
1478 | sub end : Private { |
1479 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
1480 | $c->forward('render'); |
1481 | # do stuff here |
1482 | } |
1483 | |
31e9c5ef |
1484 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1485 | |
1486 | =head1 Deployment |
1487 | |
1488 | The recipes below describe aspects of the deployment process, |
1489 | including web server engines and tips to improve application efficiency. |
1490 | |
1491 | =head2 mod_perl Deployment |
1492 | |
97e6fe89 |
1493 | mod_perl is not the best solution for many applications, but we'll list some |
1494 | pros and cons so you can decide for yourself. The other (recommended) |
1495 | deployment option is FastCGI, for which see below. |
cb93c9d7 |
1496 | |
1497 | =head3 Pros |
1498 | |
1499 | =head4 Speed |
1500 | |
97e6fe89 |
1501 | mod_perl is fast and your app will be loaded in memory |
cb93c9d7 |
1502 | within each Apache process. |
1503 | |
1504 | =head4 Shared memory for multiple apps |
1505 | |
1506 | If you need to run several Catalyst apps on the same server, mod_perl will |
1507 | share the memory for common modules. |
1508 | |
1509 | =head3 Cons |
1510 | |
1511 | =head4 Memory usage |
1512 | |
1513 | Since your application is fully loaded in memory, every Apache process will |
1514 | be rather large. This means a large Apache process will be tied up while |
1515 | serving static files, large files, or dealing with slow clients. For this |
1516 | reason, it is best to run a two-tiered web architecture with a lightweight |
1517 | frontend server passing dynamic requests to a large backend mod_perl |
1518 | server. |
1519 | |
1520 | =head4 Reloading |
1521 | |
1522 | Any changes made to the core code of your app require a full Apache restart. |
1523 | Catalyst does not support Apache::Reload or StatINC. This is another good |
1524 | reason to run a frontend web server where you can set up an |
1525 | C<ErrorDocument 502> page to report that your app is down for maintenance. |
1526 | |
1527 | =head4 Cannot run multiple versions of the same app |
1528 | |
1529 | It is not possible to run two different versions of the same application in |
1530 | the same Apache instance because the namespaces will collide. |
1531 | |
97e6fe89 |
1532 | =head4 Cannot run different versions of libraries. |
1533 | |
433f1ad4 |
1534 | If you have two different applications which run on the same machine, |
97e6fe89 |
1535 | which need two different versions of a library then the only way to do |
1536 | this is to have per-vhost perl interpreters (with different library paths). |
1537 | This is entirely possible, but nullifies all the memory sharing benefits that |
1538 | you get from having multiple applications sharing the same interpreter. |
1539 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1540 | =head4 Setup |
1541 | |
1542 | Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about setting up mod_perl |
1543 | to run a Catalyst app. |
1544 | |
1545 | =head4 1. Install Catalyst::Engine::Apache |
1546 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1547 | You should install the latest versions of both Catalyst and |
cb93c9d7 |
1548 | Catalyst::Engine::Apache. The Apache engines were separated from the |
1549 | Catalyst core in version 5.50 to allow for updates to the engine without |
1550 | requiring a new Catalyst release. |
1551 | |
1552 | =head4 2. Install Apache with mod_perl |
1553 | |
1554 | Both Apache 1.3 and Apache 2 are supported, although Apache 2 is highly |
1555 | recommended. With Apache 2, make sure you are using the prefork MPM and not |
1556 | the worker MPM. The reason for this is that many Perl modules are not |
1557 | thread-safe and may have problems running within the threaded worker |
1558 | environment. Catalyst is thread-safe however, so if you know what you're |
1559 | doing, you may be able to run using worker. |
1560 | |
1561 | In Debian, the following commands should get you going. |
1562 | |
1563 | apt-get install apache2-mpm-prefork |
1564 | apt-get install libapache2-mod-perl2 |
1565 | |
1566 | =head4 3. Configure your application |
1567 | |
1568 | Every Catalyst application will automagically become a mod_perl handler |
1569 | when run within mod_perl. This makes the configuration extremely easy. |
1570 | Here is a basic Apache 2 configuration. |
1571 | |
1572 | PerlSwitches -I/var/www/MyApp/lib |
1573 | PerlModule MyApp |
b1a08fe1 |
1574 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1575 | <Location /> |
1576 | SetHandler modperl |
1577 | PerlResponseHandler MyApp |
1578 | </Location> |
1579 | |
1580 | The most important line here is C<PerlModule MyApp>. This causes mod_perl |
1581 | to preload your entire application into shared memory, including all of your |
1582 | controller, model, and view classes and configuration. If you have -Debug |
1583 | mode enabled, you will see the startup output scroll by when you first |
1584 | start Apache. |
1585 | |
1586 | For an example Apache 1.3 configuration, please see the documentation for |
1587 | L<Catalyst::Engine::Apache::MP13>. |
1588 | |
1589 | =head3 Test It |
1590 | |
1591 | That's it, your app is now a full-fledged mod_perl application! Try it out |
1592 | by going to http://your.server.com/. |
1593 | |
1594 | =head3 Other Options |
1595 | |
1596 | =head4 Non-root location |
1597 | |
1598 | You may not always want to run your app at the root of your server or virtual |
1599 | host. In this case, it's a simple change to run at any non-root location |
1600 | of your choice. |
1601 | |
1602 | <Location /myapp> |
1603 | SetHandler modperl |
1604 | PerlResponseHandler MyApp |
1605 | </Location> |
b1a08fe1 |
1606 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1607 | When running this way, it is best to make use of the C<uri_for> method in |
1608 | Catalyst for constructing correct links. |
1609 | |
1610 | =head4 Static file handling |
1611 | |
1612 | Static files can be served directly by Apache for a performance boost. |
1613 | |
1614 | DocumentRoot /var/www/MyApp/root |
1615 | <Location /static> |
1616 | SetHandler default-handler |
1617 | </Location> |
b1a08fe1 |
1618 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1619 | This will let all files within root/static be handled directly by Apache. In |
1620 | a two-tiered setup, the frontend server should handle static files. |
1621 | The configuration to do this on the frontend will vary. |
1622 | |
3cca8359 |
1623 | The same is accomplished in lighttpd with the following snippet: |
1624 | |
1625 | $HTTP["url"] !~ "^/(?:img/|static/|css/|favicon.ico$)" { |
1626 | fastcgi.server = ( |
1627 | "" => ( |
1628 | "MyApp" => ( |
1629 | "socket" => "/tmp/myapp.socket", |
1630 | "check-local" => "disable", |
1631 | ) |
1632 | ) |
1633 | ) |
1634 | } |
1635 | |
1636 | Which serves everything in the img, static, css directories |
1637 | statically, as well as the favicon file. |
1638 | |
c1c35b01 |
1639 | Note the path of the application needs to be stated explicitly in the |
1640 | web server configuration for both these recipes. |
3cca8359 |
1641 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1642 | =head2 Catalyst on shared hosting |
1643 | |
1644 | So, you want to put your Catalyst app out there for the whole world to |
1645 | see, but you don't want to break the bank. There is an answer - if you |
1646 | can get shared hosting with FastCGI and a shell, you can install your |
1647 | Catalyst app in a local directory on your shared host. First, run |
1648 | |
1649 | perl -MCPAN -e shell |
1650 | |
1651 | and go through the standard CPAN configuration process. Then exit out |
1652 | without installing anything. Next, open your .bashrc and add |
1653 | |
1654 | export PATH=$HOME/local/bin:$HOME/local/script:$PATH |
1655 | perlversion=`perl -v | grep 'built for' | awk '{print $4}' | sed -e 's/v//;'` |
1656 | export PERL5LIB=$HOME/local/share/perl/$perlversion:$HOME/local/lib/perl/$perlversion:$HOME/local/lib:$PERL5LIB |
1657 | |
1658 | and log out, then back in again (or run C<". .bashrc"> if you |
1659 | prefer). Finally, edit C<.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm> and add |
1660 | |
1661 | 'make_install_arg' => qq[SITEPREFIX=$ENV{HOME}/local], |
1662 | 'makepl_arg' => qq[INSTALLDIRS=site install_base=$ENV{HOME}/local], |
1663 | |
1664 | Now you can install the modules you need using CPAN as normal; they |
1665 | will be installed into your local directory, and perl will pick them |
1666 | up. Finally, change directory into the root of your virtual host and |
1667 | symlink your application's script directory in: |
1668 | |
1669 | cd path/to/mydomain.com |
1670 | ln -s ~/lib/MyApp/script script |
1671 | |
1672 | And add the following lines to your .htaccess file (assuming the server |
1673 | is setup to handle .pl as fcgi - you may need to rename the script to |
1674 | myapp_fastcgi.fcgi and/or use a SetHandler directive): |
1675 | |
1676 | RewriteEngine On |
1677 | RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/?script/myapp_fastcgi.pl |
1678 | RewriteRule ^(.*)$ script/myapp_fastcgi.pl/$1 [PT,L] |
1679 | |
1680 | Now C<http://mydomain.com/> should now Just Work. Congratulations, now |
1681 | you can tell your friends about your new website (or in our case, tell |
1682 | the client it's time to pay the invoice :) ) |
1683 | |
1684 | =head2 FastCGI Deployment |
1685 | |
1686 | FastCGI is a high-performance extension to CGI. It is suitable |
1687 | for production environments. |
1688 | |
1689 | =head3 Pros |
1690 | |
1691 | =head4 Speed |
1692 | |
1693 | FastCGI performs equally as well as mod_perl. Don't let the 'CGI' fool you; |
1694 | your app runs as multiple persistent processes ready to receive connections |
1695 | from the web server. |
1696 | |
1697 | =head4 App Server |
1698 | |
1699 | When using external FastCGI servers, your application runs as a standalone |
1700 | application server. It may be restarted independently from the web server. |
1701 | This allows for a more robust environment and faster reload times when |
1702 | pushing new app changes. The frontend server can even be configured to |
1703 | display a friendly "down for maintenance" page while the application is |
1704 | restarting. |
1705 | |
1706 | =head4 Load-balancing |
1707 | |
1708 | You can launch your application on multiple backend servers and allow the |
1709 | frontend web server to load-balance between all of them. And of course, if |
1710 | one goes down, your app continues to run fine. |
1711 | |
1712 | =head4 Multiple versions of the same app |
1713 | |
1714 | Each FastCGI application is a separate process, so you can run different |
1715 | versions of the same app on a single server. |
1716 | |
1717 | =head4 Can run with threaded Apache |
1718 | |
1719 | Since your app is not running inside of Apache, the faster mpm_worker module |
1720 | can be used without worrying about the thread safety of your application. |
1721 | |
1722 | =head3 Cons |
1723 | |
278f816d |
1724 | You may have to disable mod_deflate. If you experience page hangs with |
1725 | mod_fastcgi then remove deflate.load and deflate.conf from mods-enabled/ |
1726 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1727 | =head4 More complex environment |
1728 | |
1729 | With FastCGI, there are more things to monitor and more processes running |
1730 | than when using mod_perl. |
1731 | |
1732 | =head3 Setup |
1733 | |
1734 | =head4 1. Install Apache with mod_fastcgi |
1735 | |
1736 | mod_fastcgi for Apache is a third party module, and can be found at |
1737 | L<http://www.fastcgi.com/>. It is also packaged in many distributions, |
31e9c5ef |
1738 | for example, libapache2-mod-fastcgi in Debian. You will also need to install |
1739 | the L<FCGI> module from cpan. |
cb93c9d7 |
1740 | |
b1d4f0ad |
1741 | Important Note! If you experience difficulty properly rendering pages, |
1742 | try disabling Apache's mod_deflate (Deflate Module), e.g. 'a2dismod deflate'. |
1743 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1744 | =head4 2. Configure your application |
1745 | |
1746 | # Serve static content directly |
1747 | DocumentRoot /var/www/MyApp/root |
1748 | Alias /static /var/www/MyApp/root/static |
1749 | |
1750 | FastCgiServer /var/www/MyApp/script/myapp_fastcgi.pl -processes 3 |
1751 | Alias /myapp/ /var/www/MyApp/script/myapp_fastcgi.pl/ |
b1a08fe1 |
1752 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1753 | # Or, run at the root |
1754 | Alias / /var/www/MyApp/script/myapp_fastcgi.pl/ |
b1a08fe1 |
1755 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1756 | The above commands will launch 3 app processes and make the app available at |
1757 | /myapp/ |
1758 | |
1759 | =head3 Standalone server mode |
1760 | |
1761 | While not as easy as the previous method, running your app as an external |
1762 | server gives you much more flexibility. |
1763 | |
1764 | First, launch your app as a standalone server listening on a socket. |
1765 | |
1766 | script/myapp_fastcgi.pl -l /tmp/myapp.socket -n 5 -p /tmp/myapp.pid -d |
b1a08fe1 |
1767 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1768 | You can also listen on a TCP port if your web server is not on the same |
1769 | machine. |
1770 | |
1771 | script/myapp_fastcgi.pl -l :8080 -n 5 -p /tmp/myapp.pid -d |
b1a08fe1 |
1772 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1773 | You will probably want to write an init script to handle starting/stopping |
1774 | of the app using the pid file. |
1775 | |
1776 | Now, we simply configure Apache to connect to the running server. |
1777 | |
1778 | # 502 is a Bad Gateway error, and will occur if the backend server is down |
1779 | # This allows us to display a friendly static page that says "down for |
1780 | # maintenance" |
1781 | Alias /_errors /var/www/MyApp/root/error-pages |
1782 | ErrorDocument 502 /_errors/502.html |
1783 | |
31bdf270 |
1784 | FastCgiExternalServer /tmp/myapp.fcgi -socket /tmp/myapp.socket |
1785 | Alias /myapp/ /tmp/myapp.fcgi/ |
b1a08fe1 |
1786 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1787 | # Or, run at the root |
31bdf270 |
1788 | Alias / /tmp/myapp.fcgi/ |
b1a08fe1 |
1789 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1790 | =head3 More Info |
1791 | |
1792 | L<Catalyst::Engine::FastCGI>. |
1793 | |
1794 | =head2 Development server deployment |
1795 | |
1796 | The development server is a mini web server written in perl. If you |
1797 | expect a low number of hits or you don't need mod_perl/FastCGI speed, |
1798 | you could use the development server as the application server with a |
ad2a47ab |
1799 | lightweight proxy web server at the front. However, consider using |
816fc503 |
1800 | L<Catalyst::Engine::HTTP::Prefork> for this kind of deployment instead, since |
ad2a47ab |
1801 | it can better handle multiple concurrent requests without forking, or can |
1802 | prefork a set number of servers for improved performance. |
cb93c9d7 |
1803 | |
1804 | =head3 Pros |
1805 | |
1806 | As this is an application server setup, the pros are the same as |
1807 | FastCGI (with the exception of speed). |
1808 | It is also: |
1809 | |
1810 | =head4 Simple |
1811 | |
1812 | The development server is what you create your code on, so if it works |
1813 | here, it should work in production! |
1814 | |
1815 | =head3 Cons |
1816 | |
1817 | =head4 Speed |
1818 | |
1819 | Not as fast as mod_perl or FastCGI. Needs to fork for each request |
1820 | that comes in - make sure static files are served by the web server to |
1821 | save forking. |
1822 | |
1823 | =head3 Setup |
1824 | |
1825 | =head4 Start up the development server |
1826 | |
ad2a47ab |
1827 | script/myapp_server.pl -p 8080 -k -f -pidfile=/tmp/myapp.pid |
cb93c9d7 |
1828 | |
1829 | You will probably want to write an init script to handle stop/starting |
1830 | the app using the pid file. |
1831 | |
1832 | =head4 Configuring Apache |
1833 | |
1834 | Make sure mod_proxy is enabled and add: |
1835 | |
1836 | # Serve static content directly |
1837 | DocumentRoot /var/www/MyApp/root |
1838 | Alias /static /var/www/MyApp/root/static |
1839 | |
1840 | ProxyRequests Off |
1841 | <Proxy *> |
1842 | Order deny,allow |
1843 | Allow from all |
1844 | </Proxy> |
816fc503 |
1845 | |
1846 | # Need to specifically stop these paths from being passed to proxy |
1847 | ProxyPass /static ! |
1848 | ProxyPass /favicon.ico ! |
1849 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1850 | ProxyPass / http://localhost:8080/ |
1851 | ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8080/ |
1852 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1853 | # This is optional if you'd like to show a custom error page |
816fc503 |
1854 | # if the proxy is not available |
1855 | ErrorDocument 502 /static/error_pages/http502.html |
1856 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1857 | You can wrap the above within a VirtualHost container if you want |
1858 | different apps served on the same host. |
1859 | |
1860 | =head2 Quick deployment: Building PAR Packages |
1861 | |
1862 | You have an application running on your development box, but then you |
1863 | have to quickly move it to another one for |
1864 | demonstration/deployment/testing... |
1865 | |
1866 | PAR packages can save you from a lot of trouble here. They are usual Zip |
1867 | files that contain a blib tree; you can even include all prereqs and a |
1868 | perl interpreter by setting a few flags! |
1869 | |
1870 | =head3 Follow these few points to try it out! |
1871 | |
1872 | 1. Install Catalyst and PAR 0.89 (or later) |
1873 | |
1874 | % perl -MCPAN -e 'install Catalyst' |
1875 | ... |
1876 | % perl -MCPAN -e 'install PAR' |
1877 | ... |
1878 | |
1879 | 2. Create a application |
1880 | |
1881 | % catalyst.pl MyApp |
1882 | ... |
1883 | % cd MyApp |
1884 | |
1885 | Recent versions of Catalyst (5.62 and up) include |
1886 | L<Module::Install::Catalyst>, which simplifies the process greatly. From the shell in your application directory: |
1887 | |
1888 | % perl Makefile.PL |
1889 | % make catalyst_par |
1890 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1891 | You can customise the PAR creation process by special "catalyst_par_*" commands |
1892 | available from L<Module::Install::Catalyst>. You can add these commands in your |
3f3d414b |
1893 | Makefile.PL just before the line containing "catalyst;" |
1894 | |
b1a08fe1 |
1895 | #Makefile.PL example with extra PAR options |
3f3d414b |
1896 | use inc::Module::Install; |
1897 | |
1898 | name 'MyApp'; |
1899 | all_from 'lib\MyApp.pm'; |
1900 | |
1901 | requires 'Catalyst::Runtime' => '5.80005'; |
1902 | <snip> |
1903 | ... |
1904 | <snip> |
1905 | |
1906 | catalyst_par_core(1); # bundle perl core modules in the resulting PAR |
1907 | catalyst_par_multiarch(1); # build a multi-architecture PAR file |
1908 | catalyst_par_classes(qw/ |
1909 | Some::Additional::Module |
1910 | Some::Other::Module |
1911 | /); # specify additional modules you want to be included into PAR |
1912 | catalyst; |
1913 | |
1914 | install_script glob('script/*.pl'); |
1915 | auto_install; |
1916 | WriteAll; |
1917 | |
cb93c9d7 |
1918 | Congratulations! Your package "myapp.par" is ready, the following |
1919 | steps are just optional. |
1920 | |
1921 | 3. Test your PAR package with "parl" (no typo) |
1922 | |
1923 | % parl myapp.par |
1924 | Usage: |
1925 | [parl] myapp[.par] [script] [arguments] |
1926 | |
1927 | Examples: |
1928 | parl myapp.par myapp_server.pl -r |
1929 | myapp myapp_cgi.pl |
1930 | |
1931 | Available scripts: |
1932 | myapp_cgi.pl |
1933 | myapp_create.pl |
1934 | myapp_fastcgi.pl |
1935 | myapp_server.pl |
1936 | myapp_test.pl |
1937 | |
1938 | % parl myapp.par myapp_server.pl |
1939 | You can connect to your server at http://localhost:3000 |
1940 | |
1941 | Yes, this nifty little starter application gets automatically included. |
1942 | You can also use "catalyst_par_script('myapp_server.pl')" to set a |
1943 | default script to execute. |
1944 | |
1945 | 6. Want to create a binary that includes the Perl interpreter? |
1946 | |
1947 | % pp -o myapp myapp.par |
1948 | % ./myapp myapp_server.pl |
1949 | You can connect to your server at http://localhost:3000 |
1950 | |
1951 | =head2 Serving static content |
1952 | |
1953 | Serving static content in Catalyst used to be somewhat tricky; the use |
1954 | of L<Catalyst::Plugin::Static::Simple> makes everything much easier. |
1955 | This plugin will automatically serve your static content during development, |
1956 | but allows you to easily switch to Apache (or other server) in a |
1957 | production environment. |
1958 | |
1959 | =head3 Introduction to Static::Simple |
1960 | |
1961 | Static::Simple is a plugin that will help to serve static content for your |
1962 | application. By default, it will serve most types of files, excluding some |
1963 | standard Template Toolkit extensions, out of your B<root> file directory. All |
1964 | files are served by path, so if B<images/me.jpg> is requested, then |
1965 | B<root/images/me.jpg> is found and served. |
1966 | |
1967 | =head3 Usage |
1968 | |
1969 | Using the plugin is as simple as setting your use line in MyApp.pm to include: |
1970 | |
b411df01 |
1971 | use Catalyst qw/Static::Simple/; |
cb93c9d7 |
1972 | |
1973 | and already files will be served. |
1974 | |
1975 | =head3 Configuring |
1976 | |
1977 | Static content is best served from a single directory within your root |
1978 | directory. Having many different directories such as C<root/css> and |
1979 | C<root/images> requires more code to manage, because you must separately |
1980 | identify each static directory--if you decide to add a C<root/js> |
1981 | directory, you'll need to change your code to account for it. In |
1982 | contrast, keeping all static directories as subdirectories of a main |
1983 | C<root/static> directory makes things much easier to manage. Here's an |
1984 | example of a typical root directory structure: |
1985 | |
1986 | root/ |
1987 | root/content.tt |
1988 | root/controller/stuff.tt |
1989 | root/header.tt |
1990 | root/static/ |
1991 | root/static/css/main.css |
1992 | root/static/images/logo.jpg |
1993 | root/static/js/code.js |
1994 | |
1995 | |
1996 | All static content lives under C<root/static>, with everything else being |
1997 | Template Toolkit files. |
1998 | |
1999 | =over 4 |
2000 | |
2001 | =item Include Path |
2002 | |
2003 | You may of course want to change the default locations, and make |
2004 | Static::Simple look somewhere else, this is as easy as: |
2005 | |
2006 | MyApp->config->{static}->{include_path} = [ |
2007 | MyApp->config->{root}, |
b1a08fe1 |
2008 | '/path/to/my/files' |
cb93c9d7 |
2009 | ]; |
2010 | |
2011 | When you override include_path, it will not automatically append the |
2012 | normal root path, so you need to add it yourself if you still want |
2013 | it. These will be searched in order given, and the first matching file |
2014 | served. |
2015 | |
2016 | =item Static directories |
2017 | |
2018 | If you want to force some directories to be only static, you can set |
2019 | them using paths relative to the root dir, or regular expressions: |
2020 | |
2021 | MyApp->config->{static}->{dirs} = [ |
2022 | 'static', |
2023 | qr/^(images|css)/, |
2024 | ]; |
2025 | |
2026 | =item File extensions |
2027 | |
2028 | By default, the following extensions are not served (that is, they will |
2029 | be processed by Catalyst): B<tmpl, tt, tt2, html, xhtml>. This list can |
2030 | be replaced easily: |
2031 | |
2032 | MyApp->config->{static}->{ignore_extensions} = [ |
b1a08fe1 |
2033 | qw/tmpl tt tt2 html xhtml/ |
cb93c9d7 |
2034 | ]; |
2035 | |
2036 | =item Ignoring directories |
2037 | |
2038 | Entire directories can be ignored. If used with include_path, |
2039 | directories relative to the include_path dirs will also be ignored: |
2040 | |
2041 | MyApp->config->{static}->{ignore_dirs} = [ qw/tmpl css/ ]; |
2042 | |
2043 | =back |
2044 | |
2045 | =head3 More information |
2046 | |
2047 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Static-Simple/> |
2048 | |
2049 | =head3 Serving manually with the Static plugin with HTTP::Daemon (myapp_server.pl) |
2050 | |
2051 | In some situations you might want to control things more directly, |
2052 | using L<Catalyst::Plugin::Static>. |
2053 | |
2054 | In your main application class (MyApp.pm), load the plugin: |
2055 | |
b411df01 |
2056 | use Catalyst qw/-Debug FormValidator Static OtherPlugin/; |
cb93c9d7 |
2057 | |
2058 | You will also need to make sure your end method does I<not> forward |
2059 | static content to the view, perhaps like this: |
2060 | |
2061 | sub end : Private { |
2062 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
2063 | |
b1a08fe1 |
2064 | $c->forward( 'MyApp::View::TT' ) |
cb93c9d7 |
2065 | unless ( $c->res->body || !$c->stash->{template} ); |
2066 | } |
2067 | |
2068 | This code will only forward to the view if a template has been |
2069 | previously defined by a controller and if there is not already data in |
2070 | C<$c-E<gt>res-E<gt>body>. |
2071 | |
2072 | Next, create a controller to handle requests for the /static path. Use |
2073 | the Helper to save time. This command will create a stub controller as |
2074 | C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Static.pm>. |
2075 | |
2076 | $ script/myapp_create.pl controller Static |
2077 | |
2078 | Edit the file and add the following methods: |
2079 | |
2080 | # serve all files under /static as static files |
2081 | sub default : Path('/static') { |
2082 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
2083 | |
2084 | # Optional, allow the browser to cache the content |
2085 | $c->res->headers->header( 'Cache-Control' => 'max-age=86400' ); |
2086 | |
2087 | $c->serve_static; # from Catalyst::Plugin::Static |
2088 | } |
2089 | |
2090 | # also handle requests for /favicon.ico |
2091 | sub favicon : Path('/favicon.ico') { |
2092 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
2093 | |
2094 | $c->serve_static; |
2095 | } |
2096 | |
2097 | You can also define a different icon for the browser to use instead of |
2098 | favicon.ico by using this in your HTML header: |
2099 | |
2100 | <link rel="icon" href="/static/myapp.ico" type="image/x-icon" /> |
2101 | |
2102 | =head3 Common problems with the Static plugin |
2103 | |
2104 | The Static plugin makes use of the C<shared-mime-info> package to |
2105 | automatically determine MIME types. This package is notoriously |
2106 | difficult to install, especially on win32 and OS X. For OS X the easiest |
2107 | path might be to install Fink, then use C<apt-get install |
2108 | shared-mime-info>. Restart the server, and everything should be fine. |
2109 | |
2110 | Make sure you are using the latest version (>= 0.16) for best |
2111 | results. If you are having errors serving CSS files, or if they get |
2112 | served as text/plain instead of text/css, you may have an outdated |
2113 | shared-mime-info version. You may also wish to simply use the following |
2114 | code in your Static controller: |
2115 | |
2116 | if ($c->req->path =~ /css$/i) { |
2117 | $c->serve_static( "text/css" ); |
2118 | } else { |
2119 | $c->serve_static; |
2120 | } |
2121 | |
2122 | =head3 Serving Static Files with Apache |
2123 | |
2124 | When using Apache, you can bypass Catalyst and any Static |
2125 | plugins/controllers controller by intercepting requests for the |
2126 | C<root/static> path at the server level. All that is required is to |
2127 | define a DocumentRoot and add a separate Location block for your static |
2128 | content. Here is a complete config for this application under mod_perl |
2129 | 1.x: |
2130 | |
2131 | <Perl> |
2132 | use lib qw(/var/www/MyApp/lib); |
2133 | </Perl> |
2134 | PerlModule MyApp |
2135 | |
2136 | <VirtualHost *> |
2137 | ServerName myapp.example.com |
2138 | DocumentRoot /var/www/MyApp/root |
2139 | <Location /> |
2140 | SetHandler perl-script |
2141 | PerlHandler MyApp |
2142 | </Location> |
2143 | <LocationMatch "/(static|favicon.ico)"> |
2144 | SetHandler default-handler |
2145 | </LocationMatch> |
2146 | </VirtualHost> |
2147 | |
2148 | And here's a simpler example that'll get you started: |
2149 | |
2150 | Alias /static/ "/my/static/files/" |
2151 | <Location "/static"> |
2152 | SetHandler none |
2153 | </Location> |
2154 | |
2155 | =head2 Caching |
2156 | |
2157 | Catalyst makes it easy to employ several different types of caching to |
2158 | speed up your applications. |
2159 | |
2160 | =head3 Cache Plugins |
2161 | |
2162 | There are three wrapper plugins around common CPAN cache modules: |
2163 | Cache::FastMmap, Cache::FileCache, and Cache::Memcached. These can be |
2164 | used to cache the result of slow operations. |
2165 | |
ca7528df |
2166 | The Catalyst Advent Calendar uses the FileCache plugin to cache the |
cb93c9d7 |
2167 | rendered XHTML version of the source POD document. This is an ideal |
ca7528df |
2168 | application for a cache because the source document changes |
2169 | infrequently but may be viewed many times. |
cb93c9d7 |
2170 | |
b411df01 |
2171 | use Catalyst qw/Cache::FileCache/; |
b1a08fe1 |
2172 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2173 | ... |
b1a08fe1 |
2174 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2175 | use File::stat; |
2176 | sub render_pod : Local { |
2177 | my ( self, $c ) = @_; |
b1a08fe1 |
2178 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2179 | # the cache is keyed on the filename and the modification time |
2180 | # to check for updates to the file. |
2181 | my $file = $c->path_to( 'root', '2005', '11.pod' ); |
2182 | my $mtime = ( stat $file )->mtime; |
b1a08fe1 |
2183 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2184 | my $cached_pod = $c->cache->get("$file $mtime"); |
2185 | if ( !$cached_pod ) { |
2186 | $cached_pod = do_slow_pod_rendering(); |
2187 | # cache the result for 12 hours |
2188 | $c->cache->set( "$file $mtime", $cached_pod, '12h' ); |
2189 | } |
2190 | $c->stash->{pod} = $cached_pod; |
2191 | } |
b1a08fe1 |
2192 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2193 | We could actually cache the result forever, but using a value such as 12 hours |
2194 | allows old entries to be automatically expired when they are no longer needed. |
2195 | |
2196 | =head3 Page Caching |
2197 | |
2198 | Another method of caching is to cache the entire HTML page. While this is |
2199 | traditionally handled by a front-end proxy server like Squid, the Catalyst |
2200 | PageCache plugin makes it trivial to cache the entire output from |
2201 | frequently-used or slow actions. |
2202 | |
2203 | Many sites have a busy content-filled front page that might look something |
2204 | like this. It probably takes a while to process, and will do the exact same |
2205 | thing for every single user who views the page. |
2206 | |
2207 | sub front_page : Path('/') { |
2208 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
b1a08fe1 |
2209 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2210 | $c->forward( 'get_news_articles' ); |
2211 | $c->forward( 'build_lots_of_boxes' ); |
2212 | $c->forward( 'more_slow_stuff' ); |
b1a08fe1 |
2213 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2214 | $c->stash->{template} = 'index.tt'; |
2215 | } |
2216 | |
2217 | We can add the PageCache plugin to speed things up. |
2218 | |
b411df01 |
2219 | use Catalyst qw/Cache::FileCache PageCache/; |
b1a08fe1 |
2220 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2221 | sub front_page : Path ('/') { |
2222 | my ( $self, $c ) = @_; |
b1a08fe1 |
2223 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2224 | $c->cache_page( 300 ); |
b1a08fe1 |
2225 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2226 | # same processing as above |
2227 | } |
b1a08fe1 |
2228 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2229 | Now the entire output of the front page, from <html> to </html>, will be |
2230 | cached for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, the next request will rebuild the |
2231 | page and it will be re-cached. |
2232 | |
2233 | Note that the page cache is keyed on the page URI plus all parameters, so |
2234 | requests for / and /?foo=bar will result in different cache items. Also, |
2235 | only GET requests will be cached by the plugin. |
2236 | |
2237 | You can even get that front-end Squid proxy to help out by enabling HTTP |
2238 | headers for the cached page. |
2239 | |
2240 | MyApp->config->{page_cache}->{set_http_headers} = 1; |
b1a08fe1 |
2241 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2242 | This would now set the following headers so proxies and browsers may cache |
2243 | the content themselves. |
2244 | |
2245 | Cache-Control: max-age=($expire_time - time) |
2246 | Expires: $expire_time |
2247 | Last-Modified: $cache_created_time |
b1a08fe1 |
2248 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2249 | =head3 Template Caching |
2250 | |
2251 | Template Toolkit provides support for caching compiled versions of your |
2252 | templates. To enable this in Catalyst, use the following configuration. |
2253 | TT will cache compiled templates keyed on the file mtime, so changes will |
2254 | still be automatically detected. |
2255 | |
2256 | package MyApp::View::TT; |
b1a08fe1 |
2257 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2258 | use strict; |
2259 | use warnings; |
2260 | use base 'Catalyst::View::TT'; |
b1a08fe1 |
2261 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2262 | __PACKAGE__->config( |
2263 | COMPILE_DIR => '/tmp/template_cache', |
2264 | ); |
b1a08fe1 |
2265 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2266 | 1; |
b1a08fe1 |
2267 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2268 | =head3 More Info |
2269 | |
2270 | See the documentation for each cache plugin for more details and other |
2271 | available configuration options. |
2272 | |
2273 | L<Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::FastMmap> |
2274 | L<Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::FileCache> |
2275 | L<Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::Memcached> |
2276 | L<Catalyst::Plugin::PageCache> |
2277 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Template-Toolkit/lib/Template/Manual/Config.pod#Caching_and_Compiling_Options> |
2278 | |
2279 | =head1 Testing |
2280 | |
2281 | Testing is an integral part of the web application development |
2282 | process. Tests make multi developer teams easier to coordinate, and |
2283 | they help ensure that there are no nasty surprises after upgrades or |
2284 | alterations. |
2285 | |
2286 | =head2 Testing |
2287 | |
b1a08fe1 |
2288 | Catalyst provides a convenient way of testing your application during |
cb93c9d7 |
2289 | development and before deployment in a real environment. |
2290 | |
b1a08fe1 |
2291 | C<Catalyst::Test> makes it possible to run the same tests both locally |
cb93c9d7 |
2292 | (without an external daemon) and against a remote server via HTTP. |
2293 | |
2294 | =head3 Tests |
2295 | |
2296 | Let's examine a skeleton application's C<t/> directory: |
2297 | |
2298 | mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ ls -l t/ |
2299 | total 24 |
2300 | -rw-r--r-- 1 chansen chansen 95 18 Dec 20:50 01app.t |
2301 | -rw-r--r-- 1 chansen chansen 190 18 Dec 20:50 02pod.t |
2302 | -rw-r--r-- 1 chansen chansen 213 18 Dec 20:50 03podcoverage.t |
2303 | |
2304 | =over 4 |
2305 | |
2306 | =item C<01app.t> |
2307 | |
2308 | Verifies that the application loads, compiles, and returns a successful |
2309 | response. |
2310 | |
2311 | =item C<02pod.t> |
2312 | |
b1a08fe1 |
2313 | Verifies that all POD is free from errors. Only executed if the C<TEST_POD> |
cb93c9d7 |
2314 | environment variable is true. |
2315 | |
2316 | =item C<03podcoverage.t> |
2317 | |
2318 | Verifies that all methods/functions have POD coverage. Only executed if the |
2319 | C<TEST_POD> environment variable is true. |
2320 | |
2321 | =back |
2322 | |
2323 | =head3 Creating tests |
2324 | |
2325 | mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ cat t/01app.t | perl -ne 'printf( "%2d %s", $., $_ )' |
2326 | 1 use Test::More tests => 2; |
e5415384 |
2327 | 2 BEGIN { use_ok( Catalyst::Test, 'MyApp' ) } |
cb93c9d7 |
2328 | 3 |
2329 | 4 ok( request('/')->is_success ); |
2330 | |
2331 | The first line declares how many tests we are going to run, in this case |
2332 | two. The second line tests and loads our application in test mode. The |
2333 | fourth line verifies that our application returns a successful response. |
2334 | |
2335 | C<Catalyst::Test> exports two functions, C<request> and C<get>. Each can |
2336 | take three different arguments: |
2337 | |
2338 | =over 4 |
2339 | |
2340 | =item A string which is a relative or absolute URI. |
2341 | |
2342 | request('/my/path'); |
2343 | request('http://www.host.com/my/path'); |
2344 | |
2345 | =item An instance of C<URI>. |
2346 | |
2347 | request( URI->new('http://www.host.com/my/path') ); |
2348 | |
2349 | =item An instance of C<HTTP::Request>. |
2350 | |
2351 | request( HTTP::Request->new( GET => 'http://www.host.com/my/path') ); |
2352 | |
2353 | =back |
2354 | |
b1a08fe1 |
2355 | C<request> returns an instance of C<HTTP::Response> and C<get> returns the |
cb93c9d7 |
2356 | content (body) of the response. |
2357 | |
2358 | =head3 Running tests locally |
2359 | |
2360 | mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib/ t/ |
b1a08fe1 |
2361 | t/01app............ok |
2362 | t/02pod............ok |
2363 | t/03podcoverage....ok |
cb93c9d7 |
2364 | All tests successful. |
2365 | Files=3, Tests=4, 2 wallclock secs ( 1.60 cusr + 0.36 csys = 1.96 CPU) |
b1a08fe1 |
2366 | |
cb93c9d7 |
2367 | C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0> ensures that debugging is off; if it's enabled you |
2368 | will see debug logs between tests. |
2369 | |
2370 | C<TEST_POD=1> enables POD checking and coverage. |
2371 | |
2372 | C<prove> A command-line tool that makes it easy to run tests. You can |
2373 | find out more about it from the links below. |
2374 | |
2375 | =head3 Running tests remotely |
2376 | |
2377 | mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ CATALYST_SERVER=http://localhost:3000/ prove --lib lib/ t/01app.t |
b1a08fe1 |
2378 | t/01app....ok |
cb93c9d7 |
2379 | All tests successful. |
2380 | Files=1, Tests=2, 0 wallclock secs ( 0.40 cusr + 0.01 csys = 0.41 CPU) |
2381 | |
b1a08fe1 |
2382 | C<CATALYST_SERVER=http://localhost:3000/> is the absolute deployment URI of |
2383 | your application. In C<CGI> or C<FastCGI> it should be the host and path |
cb93c9d7 |
2384 | to the script. |
2385 | |
2386 | =head3 C<Test::WWW::Mechanize> and Catalyst |
2387 | |
2388 | Be sure to check out C<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>. It makes it easy to |
2389 | test HTML, forms and links. A short example of usage: |
2390 | |
2391 | use Test::More tests => 6; |
e5415384 |
2392 | BEGIN { use_ok( Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst, 'MyApp' ) } |
cb93c9d7 |
2393 | |
2394 | my $mech = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new; |
2395 | $mech->get_ok("http://localhost/", 'Got index page'); |
2396 | $mech->title_like( qr/^MyApp on Catalyst/, 'Got right index title' ); |
2397 | ok( $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/^Wiki/i ), 'Found link to Wiki' ); |
2398 | ok( $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/^Mailing-List/i ), 'Found link to Mailing-List' ); |
2399 | ok( $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/^IRC channel/i ), 'Found link to IRC channel' ); |
2400 | |
2401 | =head3 Further Reading |
2402 | |
2403 | =over 4 |
2404 | |
2405 | =item Catalyst::Test |
2406 | |
e5415384 |
2407 | L<Catalyst::Test> |
cb93c9d7 |
2408 | |
2409 | =item Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst |
2410 | |
2411 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-WWW-Mechanize-Catalyst/lib/Test/WWW/Mechanize/Catalyst.pm> |
2412 | |
2413 | =item Test::WWW::Mechanize |
2414 | |
2415 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-WWW-Mechanize/Mechanize.pm> |
2416 | |
2417 | =item WWW::Mechanize |
2418 | |
2419 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/WWW-Mechanize/lib/WWW/Mechanize.pm> |
2420 | |
2421 | =item LWP::UserAgent |
2422 | |
2423 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/LWP/UserAgent.pm> |
2424 | |
2425 | =item HTML::Form |
2426 | |
2427 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTML/Form.pm> |
2428 | |
2429 | =item HTTP::Message |
2430 | |
2431 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Message.pm> |
2432 | |
2433 | =item HTTP::Request |
2434 | |
2435 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Request.pm> |
2436 | |
2437 | =item HTTP::Request::Common |
2438 | |
2439 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Request/Common.pm> |
2440 | |
2441 | =item HTTP::Response |
2442 | |
2443 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Response.pm> |
2444 | |
2445 | =item HTTP::Status |
2446 | |
2447 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Status.pm> |
2448 | |
2449 | =item URI |
2450 | |
2451 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/URI/URI.pm> |
2452 | |
2453 | =item Test::More |
2454 | |
2455 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Simple/lib/Test/More.pm> |
2456 | |
2457 | =item Test::Pod |
2458 | |
2459 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Pod/Pod.pm> |
2460 | |
2461 | =item Test::Pod::Coverage |
2462 | |
2463 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Pod-Coverage/Coverage.pm> |
2464 | |
2465 | =item prove (Test::Harness) |
2466 | |
2467 | L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Harness/bin/prove> |
2468 | |
2469 | =back |
2470 | |
2471 | =head3 More Information |
2472 | |
2473 | L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::Roles> |
2474 | L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::ACL> |
2475 | |
2476 | =head1 AUTHORS |
2477 | |
bbddff00 |
2478 | Catalyst Contributors, see Catalyst.pm |
cb93c9d7 |
2479 | |
2480 | =head1 COPYRIGHT |
2481 | |
bbddff00 |
2482 | This library is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under |
2483 | the same terms as Perl itself. |
cb93c9d7 |
2484 | |
bbddff00 |
2485 | =cut |