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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
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3 | Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::01_Intro - Catalyst Tutorial - Chapter 1: Introduction |
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4 | |
5 | |
6 | =head1 OVERVIEW |
7 | |
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8 | This is B<Chapter 1 of 10> for the Catalyst tutorial. |
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9 | |
10 | L<Tutorial Overview|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial> |
11 | |
12 | =over 4 |
13 | |
14 | =item 1 |
15 | |
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16 | B<01_Introduction> |
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17 | |
18 | =item 2 |
19 | |
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20 | L<Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::02_CatalystBasics> |
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21 | |
22 | =item 3 |
23 | |
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24 | L<More Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::03_MoreCatalystBasics> |
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25 | |
26 | =item 4 |
27 | |
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28 | L<Basic CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::04_BasicCRUD> |
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29 | |
30 | =item 5 |
31 | |
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32 | L<Authentication|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::05_Authentication> |
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33 | |
34 | =item 6 |
35 | |
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36 | L<Authorization|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::06_Authorization> |
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37 | |
38 | =item 7 |
39 | |
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40 | L<Debugging|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::07_Debugging> |
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41 | |
42 | =item 8 |
43 | |
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44 | L<Testing|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::08_Testing> |
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45 | |
46 | =item 9 |
47 | |
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48 | L<Advanced CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::09_AdvancedCRUD> |
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49 | |
50 | =item 10 |
51 | |
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52 | L<Appendices|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::10_Appendices> |
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53 | |
54 | =back |
55 | |
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56 | |
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57 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
58 | |
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59 | This tutorial provides a multi-part introduction to the Catalyst Web |
60 | Framework. It seeks to provide a rapid overview of many of its most |
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61 | commonly used features. The focus is on the real-world best practices |
62 | required in the construction of nearly all Catalyst applications. |
63 | |
64 | Although the primary target of the tutorial is users new to the Catalyst |
65 | framework, experienced users may wish to review specific sections (for |
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66 | example, how to use DBIC for their model classes, how to add |
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67 | authentication and authorization to an existing application, and/or |
68 | form management). |
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69 | |
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70 | The most recent code for the tutorial is included on the Tutorial Virtual |
71 | Machine you can download from: |
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72 | |
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73 | L<http://cattut.shadowcat.co.uk/> |
74 | |
75 | See L</STARTING WITH THE TUTORIAL VIRTUAL MACHINE> below for |
76 | instructions getting and using the VM. |
77 | |
78 | Should you wish to download the code directly, you get pull it via the |
79 | following command (note: will probably be switching to git soon): |
80 | |
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81 | svn co http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/Tutorial/ CatalystTutorial |
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82 | |
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83 | This will download the most recent code for each chapter of the |
84 | tutorial into the CatalystTutorial directory on your machine. |
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85 | |
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86 | These reference implementations are provided so that when you follow |
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87 | the tutorial, you can use the code to ensure that your system is set up |
88 | correctly (which shouldn't be an issue if you use the Tutorial Virtual |
89 | Machine), :-) and that you have not inadvertently made any typographic |
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90 | errors, or accidentally skipped part of the tutorial. |
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91 | |
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92 | B<NOTE: You can use any Perl-supported OS and environment to run |
93 | Catalyst.> It should make little or no difference to Catalyst's |
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94 | operation, B<but this tutorial has been written using the Debian-based |
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95 | Tutorial Virtual Machine> that you can download and use to work through |
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96 | the full tutorial step by step. B<WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU USE |
97 | THE VIRTUAL MACHINE IMAGE TO WORK THROUGH THE TUTORIAL> to avoid issues |
98 | that may crop up if you are working with a different configuration. We |
99 | have tested the Tutorial Virtual Machine to make sure all of the |
100 | examples work correctly, but it is hard to guarantee this on other |
101 | platforms and versions. |
102 | |
103 | If you would prefer to install directly from CPAN and not use the |
104 | Tutorial Virtual machine, you can download the example program and all |
105 | the necessary dependencies to your local machine by installing the |
106 | C<Task::Catalyst::Tutorial> distribution: |
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107 | |
108 | cpan Task::Catalyst::Tutorial |
109 | |
110 | This will also test to make sure the dependencies are working. If you |
111 | have trouble installing these, please ask for help on the #catalyst |
112 | IRC channel, or the Catalyst mailing list. |
113 | |
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114 | Subjects covered by the tutorial include: |
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115 | |
116 | =over 4 |
117 | |
118 | =item * |
119 | |
120 | A simple application that lists and adds books. |
121 | |
122 | =item * |
123 | |
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124 | The use of L<DBIx::Class> (DBIC) for the model (including |
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125 | some of the more advanced techniques you will probably want to use in |
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126 | your applications). |
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127 | |
128 | =item * |
129 | |
130 | How to write CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) operations in |
131 | Catalyst. |
132 | |
133 | =item * |
134 | |
135 | Authentication ("auth"). |
136 | |
137 | =item * |
138 | |
139 | Role-based authorization ("authz"). |
140 | |
141 | =item * |
142 | |
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143 | Attempts to provide an example showing current (5.9) Catalyst |
144 | practices. |
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145 | |
146 | =item * |
147 | |
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148 | The use of Template Toolkit (TT). |
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149 | |
150 | =item * |
151 | |
152 | Useful techniques for troubleshooting and debugging Catalyst |
153 | applications. |
154 | |
155 | =item * |
156 | |
157 | The use of SQLite as a database (with code also provided for MySQL and |
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158 | PostgreSQL). (Note: Because we make use of the DBIx::Class Object |
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159 | Relational Mapping [ORM] layer, out our application will be database |
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160 | agnostic and can easily be used by any of the databases supported by |
161 | DBIx::Class.) |
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162 | |
163 | =item * |
164 | |
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165 | The use of L<HTML::FormFu> or L<HTML::FormHandler> |
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166 | for automated form processing and validation. |
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167 | |
168 | =back |
169 | |
170 | This tutorial makes the learning process its main priority. For |
171 | example, the level of comments in the code found here would likely be |
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172 | considered excessive in a "normal project." Because of their contextual |
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173 | value, this tutorial will generally favor inline comments over a |
174 | separate discussion in the text. It also deliberately tries to |
175 | demonstrate multiple approaches to various features (in general, you |
176 | should try to be as consistent as possible with your own production |
177 | code). |
178 | |
179 | Furthermore, this tutorial tries to minimize the number of controllers, |
180 | models, TT templates, and database tables. Although this does result in |
181 | things being a bit contrived at times, the concepts should be applicable |
182 | to more complex environments. More complete and complicated example |
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183 | applications can be found at |
184 | L<http://wiki.catalystframework.org/wiki/resources/catalystexamples> and |
185 | in the C<examples> area of the Catalyst Subversion repository at |
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186 | L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/>. |
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187 | |
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188 | |
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189 | =head1 STARTING WITH THE TUTORIAL VIRTUAL MACHINE |
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190 | |
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191 | The steps below briefly outline how you can download the Tutorial |
192 | Virtual Machine. This document uses the term "host machine" to refer to |
193 | the physical machine where you will run the virtualization software and |
194 | boot up the VM. The terms "guest machine" or just "VM" refer to the |
195 | virtual machine itself -- the thing where you actually do the tutorial |
196 | and that you boot up on the "host machine". |
197 | |
198 | Also, to reduce download size, the Tutorial VM just includes a minimal |
199 | command-line environment. In general, it is expected that people will |
200 | boot up the Tutorial VM on their main desktop (the "host machine" using |
201 | the terminology above) and then use that main desktop machine to SSH and |
202 | web browse into the "guest VM" as they work through the tutorial. If |
203 | you wish to install X-Windows (or any other packages), just use the |
204 | C<aptitude> (or C<apt-get>) Debian commands. |
205 | |
206 | |
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207 | =over 4 |
208 | |
209 | =item 1 |
210 | |
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211 | Download a Tutorial Virtual Machine image from |
212 | L<http://cattut.shadowcat.co.uk/> |
213 | |
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214 | B<A big thanks to Shadowcat Systems for hosting the virtual machines> |
215 | B<(and everything else they do for the Perl community)!> |
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216 | |
217 | =item 2 |
218 | |
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219 | Uncompress the image: |
220 | |
221 | tar zxvf CatalystTutorial.tgz |
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222 | |
223 | =item 3 |
224 | |
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225 | Boot the virtual machine using a tool like VMWare Player |
226 | L<http://www.vmware.com/products/player> or VirtualBox |
227 | L<http://www.virtualbox.org/>. |
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228 | |
229 | =item 4 |
230 | |
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231 | Once you get a login prompt, enter the username B<root> and a password |
232 | for C<catalyst>. You should now be at a prompt that looks like: |
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233 | |
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234 | catalyst login: root |
235 | Password: catalyst |
236 | ... |
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237 | root@catalyst:~# |
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238 | |
239 | =item 5 |
240 | |
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241 | Type "C<ifconfig>" to get the IP address assigned to the virtual |
242 | machine. You should get output along the lines of: |
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243 | |
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244 | eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:01:22:3b:45:69 |
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245 | inet addr:192.168.0.12 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 |
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246 | ... |
247 | |
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248 | You want the IP address on the second line below the C<eth0> interface. |
249 | The image it design to automatically use a DHCP-assigned address. |
250 | |
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251 | |
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252 | Try to ping this IP address from your "host machine" (main desktop): |
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253 | |
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254 | |
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255 | MainComputer:~$ ping 192.168.0.12 |
256 | PING 192.168.0.12 (192.168.0.12) 56(84) bytes of data. |
257 | 64 bytes from 192.168.0.12: icmp_req=1 ttl=255 time=4.97 ms |
258 | 64 bytes from 192.168.0.12: icmp_req=2 ttl=255 time=3.43 ms |
259 | ... |
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260 | |
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261 | |
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262 | B<Note:> The ping above is being originated B<from> your B<host machine> |
263 | (main desktop) and going B<to> your guest B<virtual machine>, not the |
264 | other way around. |
265 | |
266 | If you are not seeing a valid IP address or it's not responding to pings |
267 | (for example, you get error messages along the lines of "Request timed |
268 | out", "100% packet loss", or "Destination Host Unreachable"), there |
269 | could be a few network-related issues you might need to sort out. See |
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270 | the section below L</Sorting Out Virtual Machine Network-Related Issues> |
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271 | for additional information and troubleshooting advice. |
272 | |
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273 | B<Note:> Remember this IP address... you will be using it throughout the |
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274 | tutorial. |
275 | |
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276 | |
277 | =item 6 |
278 | |
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279 | B<From your main desktop machine>, open an SSH client and connect to the |
280 | IP address found in the previous step. You should get a login prompt |
281 | (accept the SSH key if you get a warning message about that). Login |
282 | with the same username and password as we used in Step 4: B<root> / |
283 | B<catalyst> |
284 | |
285 | catalyst login: root |
286 | Password: catalyst |
287 | ... |
288 | root@catalyst:~# |
289 | |
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290 | |
291 | =item 7 |
292 | |
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293 | B<Using the SSH session>, change to the sample code directory for |
294 | Chapter 3 included with the Tutorial Virtual Machine and start the |
295 | Catalyst Development Server: |
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296 | |
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297 | $ cd Final/Chapter03/MyApp |
298 | $ perl scripts/myapp_server |
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299 | |
300 | =item 8 |
301 | |
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302 | B<From your main desktop machine> (the "host machine"), open a web |
303 | browser and go to B<http://A.B.C.D:3000/>, where C<A.B.C.D> is the IP |
304 | address to your virtual machine that you looked up in Step 5. For |
305 | example, if your virtual machine is using the IP address |
306 | C<192.168.0.12>, you would put the following URL into your web browser: |
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307 | |
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308 | http://192.168.0.12:3000/ |
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309 | |
310 | Make sure you don't forget the B<:3000> to use port 3000 instead of the |
311 | usual port 80 that is used by HTTP by default. |
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312 | |
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313 | You should get a Catalyst Welcome Screen. If you do, feel free to jump |
314 | right in to L<Chapter 2|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::02_CatalystBasics> |
315 | of the tutorial. If you don't go get the Catalyst Welcome Screen, go |
316 | back and carefully check each of the steps above. |
317 | |
318 | =item 9 |
319 | |
320 | B<Optional:> The VI/VIM editor is already installed on the Tutorial |
321 | Virtual Machine. In order to reduce the size of the download, Emacs is |
322 | not pre-installed. Since people obviously have very strong opinions |
323 | about which editor is best, :-) Debian fortunately make it very easy to |
324 | install Emacs: |
325 | |
326 | $ aptitude install emacs |
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327 | |
328 | =back |
329 | |
330 | |
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331 | You may note that the Tutorial Virtual Machine uses L<local::lib> so |
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332 | that the Perl modules are run from ~/perl5 (in this case, /root/perl5) |
333 | vs. the usual location of your "system Perl". We recommend that you |
334 | also consider using this very handy module. It can greatly ease the |
335 | process of maintaining and testing different combinations or Perl |
336 | modules across development, staging, and production servers. (The |
337 | "relocatable Perl" feature can also be used to to run both the modules |
338 | B<and> Perl itself from your home directory [or any other directory you |
339 | chose]). |
340 | |
341 | |
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342 | =head2 Sorting Out Virtual Machine Network-Related Issues |
343 | |
344 | In general, using a virtual machine to work through the tutorial is |
345 | *much* easier than trying to do it in other environments, especially if |
346 | you are new to Catalyst (or Perl or CPAN or ...). However, it's |
347 | possible that you could run into a few network-related issues. The good |
348 | news is that there is lots of information about the issue available via |
349 | search engines on the Internet. Here is some background information to |
350 | get you started. |
351 | |
352 | In Step 5 of the prior section above, we assumed that a "Bridged Mode" |
353 | configuration and DHCP will work (it should for most people). If DHCP |
354 | is not working or is not available in your location, most virtual |
355 | machine "host" environments let you select between one of several |
356 | different types of networking between the "guest" and the "host" |
357 | machine. |
358 | |
359 | 1) Bridged |
360 | 2) NAT |
361 | 3) Local host only |
362 | |
363 | The Tutorial Virtual Machine defaults to "Bridged" -- this should result |
364 | in the VM acting like another device on your network that will get a |
365 | different DHCP IP address than the host machine. The advantage of this |
366 | approach, is that you can easily SSH and web browse to the guest virtual |
367 | machine. In general, this is the best option if you want to be able to |
368 | boot up the VM and then use your SSH client and web browser from your |
369 | main machine to connect into the virtual machine. |
370 | |
371 | In some environments, you might have better luck with "NAT" (Network |
372 | Address Translation) mode. With this configuration, the guest VM shares |
373 | the same IP address as the host machine. The downside of this approach |
374 | is that special configuration is required if you want to be able to SSH |
375 | or web browse to the guest VM. The NAT option should automatically |
376 | allow the VM "outbound connection" (e.g., to the Internet if you want to |
377 | install additional Debian packages), but it requires special |
378 | configuration if you want to get "inbound connections" that go from some |
379 | other machine (including the "host machine") into the VM. Some virtual |
380 | machine host environments let you configure a "static NAT" or "port |
381 | forwarding" to reach the guest OS, but others omit this functionality. |
382 | |
383 | "Local host only" mode let's the guest VM and the host machine talk on a |
384 | "private subnet" that other devices in your network cannot reach. This |
385 | can work as long as you don't need to go from the VM to the Internet |
386 | (for example, to install other Debian packages). |
387 | |
388 | Consult the documentation on your virtual machine host environment for |
389 | help configuring the options above. Here are some links that might |
390 | help: |
391 | |
392 | =over 4 |
393 | |
394 | =item * |
395 | |
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396 | L<http://vmfaq.com/entry/34/> |
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397 | |
398 | =item * |
399 | |
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400 | L<http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/player_pubs.html> |
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401 | |
402 | =item * |
403 | |
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404 | L<http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch06.html> |
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405 | |
406 | =back |
407 | |
408 | |
409 | |
410 | |
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411 | =head1 VERSIONS AND CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS TUTORIAL |
412 | |
413 | This tutorial was built using the following resources. Please note that |
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414 | you may need to make adjustments for different environments and versions |
415 | (note that trailing zeros in version numbers are not significant and may |
416 | get dropped with some techniques for viewing them; for example, Catalyst |
417 | v5.80020 might show up as 5.8002): |
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418 | |
419 | =over 4 |
420 | |
421 | =item * |
422 | |
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423 | Debian 6 (Squeeze) |
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424 | |
425 | =item * |
426 | |
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427 | Catalyst v5.90002 |
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428 | |
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429 | =item * |
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430 | |
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431 | Catalyst::Devel v1.34 |
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432 | |
433 | =item * |
434 | |
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435 | DBIx::Class v0.08195 |
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436 | |
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437 | =item * |
438 | |
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439 | Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema v0.54 |
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440 | |
441 | =item * |
442 | |
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443 | Template Toolkit v2.22 |
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444 | |
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445 | |
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446 | =item * |
447 | |
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448 | HTML::FormFu -- v0.09004 |
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449 | |
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450 | =item * |
451 | |
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452 | B<NOTE:> You can check the versions you have installed with the |
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453 | following command (note the slash before the space): |
454 | |
455 | perl -M<_mod_name_>\ 999 |
456 | |
457 | or: |
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458 | |
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459 | perl -M<_mod_name_> -e 'print "$<_mod_name_>::VERSION\n"' |
865d3efb |
460 | |
461 | For example: |
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462 | |
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463 | perl -MCatalyst::Devel\ 999 |
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464 | |
465 | or: |
466 | |
467 | perl -MCatalyst::Devel -e 'print "$Catalyst::Devel::VERSION\n";' |
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468 | |
469 | =item * |
470 | |
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471 | This tutorial will show URLs in the format of C<http://localhost:3000>, |
472 | but if you are running your web browser from outside the Tutorial |
473 | Virtual Machine, you will want to substitute the IP address of your VM |
474 | for the C<localhost> in the URLs (again, you can get the IP address for |
475 | eth0 from the C<ifconfig> command). For example, if your VM has an |
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476 | IP address of 192.168.0.12, you will want to use a base URL of |
477 | C<http://192.168.0.12:3000>. Note that the development server |
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478 | defaults to port 3000 (you can change with with the "-p" option on the |
479 | command line. |
480 | |
481 | B<Please Note:> Depending on the web browser you are using, you might need |
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482 | to hit C<Shift+Reload> or C<Ctrl+Reload> to pull a fresh page when |
483 | testing your application at various points (see |
484 | L<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bypass_your_cache> for a comprehensive |
485 | list of options for each browser). Also, the C<-k> keepalive option to |
486 | the development server can be necessary with some browsers (especially |
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487 | Internet Explorer). |
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488 | |
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489 | =back |
490 | |
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491 | |
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492 | =head1 DATABASES |
493 | |
494 | This tutorial will primarily focus on SQLite because of its simplicity |
495 | of installation and use; however, modifications in the script required |
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496 | to support MySQL and PostgreSQL will be presented in the Appendix. |
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497 | |
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498 | B<Note:> One of the advantages of using tools like Catalyst and DBIC is |
499 | that applications become much more database independent. As such, you |
500 | will notice that only the C<.sql> files used to initialize the database |
501 | change between database systems: most of the code generally remains the |
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502 | same. |
503 | |
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504 | |
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505 | You can jump to the next chapter of the tutorial here: |
506 | L<Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::02_CatalystBasics> |
507 | |
508 | |
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509 | =head1 AUTHOR |
510 | |
511 | Kennedy Clark, C<hkclark@gmail.com> |
512 | |
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513 | Please report any errors, issues or suggestions to the author. The |
514 | most recent version of the Catalyst Tutorial can be found at |
59884771 |
515 | L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/Catalyst-Manual/5.80/trunk/lib/Catalyst/Manual/Tutorial/>. |
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516 | |
ec3ef4ad |
517 | Copyright 2006-2010, Kennedy Clark, under the |
518 | Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License Version 3.0 |
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519 | (L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/>). |