3 Catalyst::Manual::Cookbook - Cooking with Catalyst
7 Yummy code like your mum used to bake!
13 These recipes cover some basic stuff that is worth knowing for
16 =head2 Delivering a Custom Error Page
18 By default, Catalyst will display its own error page whenever it
19 encounters an error in your application. When running under C<-Debug>
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
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>).
32 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
34 if ( scalar @{ $c->error } ) {
35 $c->stash->{errors} = $c->error;
36 for my $error ( @{ $c->error } ) {
37 $c->log->error($error);
39 $c->stash->{template} = 'errors.tt';
40 $c->forward('MyApp::View::TT');
44 return 1 if $c->response->status =~ /^3\d\d$/;
45 return 1 if $c->response->body;
47 unless ( $c->response->content_type ) {
48 $c->response->content_type('text/html; charset=utf-8');
51 $c->forward('MyApp::View::TT');
54 You can manually set errors in your code to trigger this page by calling
56 $c->error( 'You broke me!' );
58 =head2 Disable statistics
60 Just add this line to your application class if you don't want those
61 nifty statistics in your debug messages.
63 sub Catalyst::Log::info { }
65 =head2 Enable debug status in the environment
67 Normally you enable the debugging info by adding the C<-Debug> flag to
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
71 C<E<lt>MYAPPE<gt>_DEBUG> to a true value.
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
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.
86 Catalyst uses two types of plugins to represent sessions:
90 A State module is used to keep track of the state of the session
91 between the users browser, and your application.
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.
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
104 =head3 Authentication magic
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.
110 =head3 Using a session
112 Once the session modules are loaded, the session is available as C<<
113 $c->session >>, and can be writen to and read from as a simple hash
120 use namespace::autoclean;
124 Session::Store::FastMmap
125 Session::State::Cookie
130 package MyApp::Controller::Foo;
132 use namespace::autoclean;
133 BEGIN { extends 'Catalyst::Controller' };
134 ## Write data into the session
136 sub add_item : Local {
137 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
139 my $item_id = $c->req->params->{item};
141 push @{ $c->session->{items} }, $item_id;
145 ## A page later we retrieve the data from the session:
147 sub get_items : Local {
148 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
150 $c->stash->{items_to_display} = $c->session->{items};
155 =head3 More information
157 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session>
159 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-State-Cookie>
161 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-State-URI>
163 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-Store-FastMmap>
165 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-Store-File>
167 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Session-Store-DBI>
169 =head2 Configure your application
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.
175 =head3 Using Config::General
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.
181 Now create C<myapp.conf> in your application home:
185 # session; perldoc Catalyst::Plugin::Session::FastMmap
189 storage /tmp/myapp.session
192 # emails; perldoc Catalyst::Plugin::Email
193 # this passes options as an array :(
197 This is equivalent to:
199 # configure base package
200 __PACKAGE__->config( name => MyApp );
201 # configure authentication
203 'Plugin::Authentication' => {
204 user_class => 'MyApp::Model::MyDB::Customer',
215 # configure email sending
216 __PACKAGE__->config( email => [qw/SMTP localhost/] );
218 L<Catalyst> explains precedence of multiple sources for configuration
219 values, how to access the values in your components, and many 'base'
220 config variables used internally.
222 See also L<Config::General|Config::General>.
224 =head1 Skipping your VCS's directories
226 Catalyst uses Module::Pluggable to load Models, Views, and Controllers.
227 Module::Pluggable will scan through all directories and load modules
228 it finds. Sometimes you might want to skip some of these directories,
229 for example when your version control system makes a subdirectory with
230 meta-information in every version-controlled directory. While
231 Catalyst skips subversion and CVS directories already, there are other
232 source control systems. Here is the configuration you need to add
233 their directories to the list to skip.
235 You can make Catalyst skip these directories using the Catalyst config:
237 # Configure the application
240 setup_components => { except => qr/SCCS/ },
243 See the Module::Pluggable manual page for more information on B<except>
246 =head1 Users and Access Control
248 Most multiuser, and some single-user web applications require that
249 users identify themselves, and the application is often required to
250 define those roles. The recipes below describe some ways of doing
253 =head2 Authentication (logging in)
255 This is extensively covered in other documentation; see in particular
256 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication> and the Authentication chapter
257 of the Tutorial at L<Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::06_Authorization>.
259 =head2 Pass-through login (and other actions)
261 An easy way of having assorted actions that occur during the processing
262 of a request that are orthogonal to its actual purpose - logins, silent
263 commands etc. Provide actions for these, but when they're required for
264 something else fill e.g. a form variable __login and have a sub begin
267 sub begin : Private {
269 foreach my $action (qw/login docommand foo bar whatever/) {
270 if ($c->req->params->{"__${action}"}) {
271 $c->forward($action);
276 =head2 Authentication/Authorization
278 This is done in several steps:
284 Getting the user to identify themselves, by giving you some piece of
285 information known only to you and the user. Then you can assume that
286 the user is who they say they are. This is called B<credential
291 Making sure the user only accesses functions you want them to
292 access. This is done by checking the verified user's data against your
293 internal list of groups, or allowed persons for the current page.
299 The Catalyst Authentication system is made up of many interacting
300 modules, to give you the most flexibility possible.
302 =head4 Credential verifiers
304 A Credential module tables the user input, and passes it to a Store,
305 or some other system, for verification. Typically, a user object is
306 created by either this module or the Store and made accessible by a
307 C<< $c->user >> call.
311 Password - Simple username/password checking.
312 HTTPD - Checks using basic HTTP auth.
313 TypeKey - Check using the typekey system.
315 =head3 Storage backends
317 A Storage backend contains the actual data representing the users. It
318 is queried by the credential verifiers. Updating the store is not done
319 within this system; you will need to do it yourself.
323 DBIC - Storage using a database via DBIx::Class.
324 Minimal - Storage using a simple hash (for testing).
328 A User object is created by either the storage backend or the
329 credential verifier, and is filled with the retrieved user information.
333 Hash - A simple hash of keys and values.
335 =head3 ACL authorization
337 ACL stands for Access Control List. The ACL plugin allows you to
338 regulate access on a path-by-path basis, by listing which users, or
339 roles, have access to which paths.
341 =head3 Roles authorization
343 Authorization by roles is for assigning users to groups, which can
344 then be assigned to ACLs, or just checked when needed.
348 When you have chosen your modules, all you need to do is call the C<<
349 $c->authenticate >> method. If called with no parameters, it will try to find
350 suitable parameters, such as B<username> and B<password>, or you can
351 pass it these values.
353 =head3 Checking roles
355 Role checking is done by using the C<< $c->check_user_roles >> method.
356 This will check using the currently logged-in user (via C<< $c->user
357 >>). You pass it the name of a role to check, and it returns true if
358 the user is a member.
364 use namespace::autoclean;
365 extends qw/Catalyst/;
373 default_realm => 'test',
378 password_field => 'password',
379 password_type => 'self_check',
390 package MyApp::Controller::Root;
392 use namespace::autoclean;
394 BEGIN { extends 'Catalyst::Controller' }
396 __PACKAGE__->config(namespace => '');
401 if ( my $user = $c->req->params->{user}
402 and my $password = $c->req->param->{password} )
404 if ( $c->authenticate( username => $user, password => $password ) ) {
405 $c->res->body( "hello " . $c->user->name );
415 sub restricted : Local {
416 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
418 $c->detach("unauthorized")
419 unless $c->check_user_roles( "admin" );
421 # do something restricted here
424 =head3 Using authentication in a testing environment
426 Ideally, to write tests for authentication/authorization code one would
427 first set up a test database with known data, then use
428 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> to simulate a user logging
429 in. Unfortunately this can be rather awkward, which is why it's a good
430 thing that the authentication framework is so flexible.
432 Instead of using a test database, one can simply change the
433 authentication store to something a bit easier to deal with in a
434 testing environment. Additionally, this has the advantage of not
435 modifying one's database, which can be problematic if one forgets to
436 use the testing instead of production database.
438 Alternatively, if you want to authenticate real users, but not have to
439 worry about their passwords, you can use
440 L<Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::Testing> to force all users to
441 authenticate with a global password.
443 =head3 More information
445 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication> has a longer explanation.
451 Authorization is the step that comes after
452 authentication. Authentication establishes that the user agent is really
453 representing the user we think it's representing, and then authorization
454 determines what this user is allowed to do.
456 =head3 Role Based Access Control
458 Under role based access control each user is allowed to perform any
459 number of roles. For example, at a zoo no one but specially trained
460 personnel can enter the moose cage (Mynd you, møøse bites kan be
461 pretty nasti!). For example:
463 package Zoo::Controller::MooseCage;
465 sub feed_moose : Local {
466 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
468 $c->model( "Moose" )->eat( $c->req->params->{food} );
471 With this action, anyone can just come into the moose cage and feed
472 the moose, which is a very dangerous thing. We need to restrict this
473 action, so that only a qualified moose feeder can perform that action.
475 The Authorization::Roles plugin lets us perform role based access
476 control checks. Let's load it:
478 use parent qw/Catalyst/;
484 And now our action should look like this:
486 sub feed_moose : Local {
487 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
489 if ( $c->check_roles( "moose_feeder" ) ) {
490 $c->model( "Moose" )->eat( $c->req->params->{food} );
492 $c->stash->{error} = "unauthorized";
496 This checks C<< $c->user >>, and only if the user has B<all> the roles
497 in the list, a true value is returned.
499 C<check_roles> has a sister method, C<assert_roles>, which throws an
500 exception if any roles are missing.
502 Some roles that might actually make sense in, say, a forum application:
516 each with a distinct task (system administration versus content
519 =head3 Access Control Lists
521 Checking for roles all the time can be tedious and error prone.
523 The Authorization::ACL plugin lets us declare where we'd like checks
524 to be done automatically for us.
526 For example, we may want to completely block out anyone who isn't a
527 C<moose_feeder> from the entire C<MooseCage> controller:
529 Zoo->deny_access_unless( "/moose_cage", [qw/moose_feeder/] );
531 The role list behaves in the same way as C<check_roles>. However, the
532 ACL plugin isn't limited to just interacting with the Roles plugin. We
533 can use a code reference instead. For example, to allow either moose
534 trainers or moose feeders into the moose cage, we can create a more
537 Zoo->deny_access_unless( "/moose_cage", sub {
539 $c->check_roles( "moose_trainer" ) || $c->check_roles( "moose_feeder" );
542 The more specific a role, the earlier it will be checked. Let's say
543 moose feeders are now restricted to only the C<feed_moose> action,
544 while moose trainers get access everywhere:
546 Zoo->deny_access_unless( "/moose_cage", [qw/moose_trainer/] );
547 Zoo->allow_access_if( "/moose_cage/feed_moose", [qw/moose_feeder/]);
549 When the C<feed_moose> action is accessed the second check will be
550 made. If the user is a C<moose_feeder>, then access will be
551 immediately granted. Otherwise, the next rule in line will be tested -
552 the one checking for a C<moose_trainer>. If this rule is not
553 satisfied, access will be immediately denied.
555 Rules applied to the same path will be checked in the order they were
558 Lastly, handling access denial events is done by creating an
559 C<access_denied> private action:
561 sub access_denied : Private {
562 my ( $self, $c, $action ) = @_;
565 This action works much like auto, in that it is inherited across
566 namespaces (not like object oriented code). This means that the
567 C<access_denied> action which is B<nearest> to the action which was
568 blocked will be triggered.
570 If this action does not exist, an error will be thrown, which you can
571 clean up in your C<end> private action instead.
573 Also, it's important to note that if you restrict access to "/" then
574 C<end>, C<default>, etc. will also be restricted.
576 MyApp->acl_allow_root_internals;
578 will create rules that permit access to C<end>, C<begin>, and C<auto> in the
579 root of your app (but not in any other controller).
583 Models are where application data belongs. Catalyst is extremely
584 flexible with the kind of models that it can use. The recipes here
587 =head2 Using existing DBIC (etc.) classes with Catalyst
589 Many people have existing Model classes that they would like to use
590 with Catalyst (or, conversely, they want to write Catalyst models that
591 can be used outside of Catalyst, e.g. in a cron job). It's trivial to
592 write a simple component in Catalyst that slurps in an outside Model:
594 package MyApp::Model::DB;
596 use base qw/Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema/;
599 schema_class => 'Some::DBIC::Schema',
600 connect_info => ['dbi:SQLite:foo.db', '', '', {AutoCommit=>1}],
605 and that's it! Now C<Some::DBIC::Schema> is part of your
606 Cat app as C<MyApp::Model::DB>.
608 =head2 DBIx::Class as a Catalyst Model
610 See L<Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema>.
612 =head2 Create accessors to preload static data once per server instance
614 When you have data that you want to load just once from the model at
615 startup, instead of for each request, use mk_group_accessors to
616 create accessors and tie them to resultsets in your package that
617 inherits from DBIx::Class::Schema:
620 use base qw/DBIx::Class::Schema/;
621 __PACKAGE__->register_class('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER',
622 'My::Schema::RESULTSOURCE');
623 __PACKAGE__->mk_group_accessors('simple' =>
624 qw(ACCESSORNAME1 ACCESSORNAME2 ACCESSORNAMEn));
627 my ($self, @rest) = @_;
628 $self->next::method(@rest);
629 # $self is now a live My::Schema object, complete with DB connection
631 $self->ACCESSORNAME1([ $self->resultset('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER')->all ]);
632 $self->ACCESSORNAME2([ $self->resultset('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER')->search({ COLUMN => { '<' => '30' } })->all ]);
633 $self->ACCESSORNAMEn([ $self->resultset('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER')->find(1) ]);
638 and now in the controller, you can now access any of these without a
641 $c->stash->{something} = $c->model('My::Schema')->schema->ACCESSORNAME;
646 Unlike SOAP, XMLRPC is a very simple (and elegant) web-services
647 protocol, exchanging small XML messages like these:
652 TE: deflate,gzip;q=0.3
653 Connection: TE, close
657 User-Agent: SOAP::Lite/Perl/0.60
659 Content-Type: text/xml
661 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
663 <methodName>add</methodName>
665 <param><value><int>1</int></value></param>
666 <param><value><int>2</int></value></param>
673 Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:45:55 GMT
675 Content-Type: text/xml
679 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
682 <param><value><int>3</int></value></param>
686 Now follow these few steps to implement the application:
688 1. Install Catalyst (5.61 or later), Catalyst::Plugin::XMLRPC (0.06 or
689 later) and SOAP::Lite (for XMLRPCsh.pl).
691 2. Create an application framework:
697 3. Add the XMLRPC plugin to MyApp.pm
699 use Catalyst qw/-Debug Static::Simple XMLRPC/;
701 4. Add an API controller
703 % ./script/myapp_create.pl controller API
705 5. Add a XMLRPC redispatch method and an add method with Remote
706 attribute to lib/MyApp/Controller/API.pm
709 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
714 my ( $self, $c, $a, $b ) = @_;
718 The default action is the entry point for each XMLRPC request. It will
719 redispatch every request to methods with Remote attribute in the same
722 The C<add> method is not a traditional action; it has no private or
723 public path. Only the XMLRPC dispatcher knows it exists.
725 6. That's it! You have built your first web service. Let's test it with
726 XMLRPCsh.pl (part of SOAP::Lite):
728 % ./script/myapp_server.pl
730 % XMLRPCsh.pl http://127.0.0.1:3000/api
731 Usage: method[(parameters)]
733 --- XMLRPC RESULT ---
738 Your return data type is usually auto-detected, but you can easily
739 enforce a specific one.
742 my ( $self, $c, $a, $b ) = @_;
743 return RPC::XML::int->new( $a + $b );
748 Views pertain to the display of your application. As with models,
749 Catalyst is uncommonly flexible. The recipes below are just a start.
751 =head2 Catalyst::View::TT
753 One of the first things you probably want to do when starting a new
754 Catalyst application is set up your View. Catalyst doesn't care how you
755 display your data; you can choose to generate HTML, PDF files, or plain
758 Most Catalyst applications use a template system to generate their HTML,
759 and though there are several template systems available,
760 L<Template Toolkit|Template> is probably the most popular.
762 Once again, the Catalyst developers have done all the hard work, and
763 made things easy for the rest of us. Catalyst::View::TT provides the
764 interface to Template Toolkit, and provides Helpers which let us set it
765 up that much more easily.
767 =head3 Creating your View
769 Catalyst::View::TT provides two different helpers for us to use: TT and
774 Create a basic Template Toolkit View using the provided helper script:
776 script/myapp_create.pl view TT TT
778 This will create lib/MyApp/View/MyView.pm, which is going to be pretty
779 empty to start. However, it sets everything up that you need to get
780 started. You can now define which template you want and forward to your
784 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
786 $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt';
788 $c->forward( $c->view('TT') );
791 In practice you wouldn't do the forwarding manually, but would
792 use L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView>.
796 Although the TT helper does create a functional, working view, you may
797 find yourself having to create the same template files and changing the
798 same options every time you create a new application. The TTSite helper
799 saves us even more time by creating the basic templates and setting some
800 common options for us.
802 Once again, you can use the helper script:
804 script/myapp_create.pl view TT TTSite
806 This time, the helper sets several options for us in the generated View.
808 __PACKAGE__->config({
809 CATALYST_VAR => 'Catalyst',
811 MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'src' ),
812 MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'lib' )
814 PRE_PROCESS => 'config/main',
815 WRAPPER => 'site/wrapper',
816 ERROR => 'error.tt2',
824 INCLUDE_PATH defines the directories that Template Toolkit should search
825 for the template files.
829 PRE_PROCESS is used to process configuration options which are common to
834 WRAPPER is a file which is processed with each template, usually used to
835 easily provide a common header and footer for every page.
839 In addition to setting these options, the TTSite helper also created the
840 template and config files for us! In the 'root' directory, you'll notice
841 two new directories: src and lib.
843 Several configuration files in root/lib/config are called by PRE_PROCESS.
845 The files in root/lib/site are the site-wide templates, called by
846 WRAPPER, and display the html framework, control the layout, and provide
847 the templates for the header and footer of your page. Using the template
848 organization provided makes it much easier to standardize pages and make
849 changes when they are (inevitably) needed.
851 The template files that you will create for your application will go
852 into root/src, and you don't need to worry about putting the the <html>
853 or <head> sections; just put in the content. The WRAPPER will the rest
854 of the page around your template for you.
859 Of course, having the template system include the header and footer for
860 you isn't all that we want our templates to do. We need to be able to
861 put data into our templates, and have it appear where and how we want
862 it, right? That's where the stash comes in.
864 In our controllers, we can add data to the stash, and then access it
865 from the template. For instance:
868 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
870 $c->stash->{name} = 'Adam';
872 $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt';
874 $c->forward( $c->view('TT') );
879 <strong>Hello, [% name %]!</strong>
881 When you view this page, it will display "Hello, Adam!"
883 All of the information in your stash is available, by its name/key, in
884 your templates. And your data don't have to be plain, old, boring
885 scalars. You can pass array references and hash references, too.
890 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
892 $c->stash->{names} = [ 'Adam', 'Dave', 'John' ];
894 $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt';
896 $c->forward( $c->view('TT') );
901 [% FOREACH name IN names %]
902 <strong>Hello, [% name %]!</strong><br />
905 This allowed us to loop through each item in the arrayref, and display a
906 line for each name that we have.
908 This is the most basic usage, but Template Toolkit is quite powerful,
909 and allows you to truly keep your presentation logic separate from the
910 rest of your application.
914 One of my favorite things about Catalyst is the ability to move an
915 application around without having to worry that everything is going to
916 break. One of the areas that used to be a problem was with the http
917 links in your template files. For example, suppose you have an
918 application installed at http://www.domain.com/Calendar. The links point
919 to "/Calendar", "/Calendar/2005", "/Calendar/2005/10", etc. If you move
920 the application to be at http://www.mydomain.com/Tools/Calendar, then
921 all of those links will suddenly break.
923 That's where $c->uri_for() comes in. This function will merge its
924 parameters with either the base location for the app, or its current
925 namespace. Let's take a look at a couple of examples.
927 In your template, you can use the following:
929 <a href="[% c.uri_for('/login') %]">Login Here</a>
931 Although the parameter starts with a forward slash, this is relative
932 to the application root, not the webserver root. This is important to
933 remember. So, if your application is installed at
934 http://www.domain.com/Calendar, then the link would be
935 http://www.mydomain.com/Calendar/Login. If you move your application
936 to a different domain or path, then that link will still be correct.
940 <a href="[% c.uri_for('2005','10', '24') %]">October, 24 2005</a>
942 The first parameter does NOT have a forward slash, and so it will be
943 relative to the current namespace. If the application is installed at
944 http://www.domain.com/Calendar. and if the template is called from
945 MyApp::Controller::Display, then the link would become
946 http://www.domain.com/Calendar/Display/2005/10/24.
948 If you want to link to a parent uri of your current namespace you can
949 prefix the arguments with multiple '../':
951 <a href="[% c.uri_for('../../view', stashed_object.id) %]">User view</a>
953 Once again, this allows you to move your application around without
954 having to worry about broken links. But there's something else, as
955 well. Since the links are generated by uri_for, you can use the same
956 template file by several different controllers, and each controller
957 will get the links that its supposed to. Since we believe in Don't
958 Repeat Yourself, this is particularly helpful if you have common
959 elements in your site that you want to keep in one file.
963 L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Catalyst>
965 L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Catalyst%3A%3AView%3A%3ATT>
967 L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Template>
969 =head2 Adding RSS feeds
971 Adding RSS feeds to your Catalyst applications is simple. We'll see two
972 different approaches here, but the basic premise is that you forward to
973 the normal view action first to get the objects, then handle the output
976 =head3 Using XML::Feed
978 Assuming we have a C<view> action that populates
979 'entries' with some DBIx::Class iterator, the code would look something
984 $c->forward('view'); # get the entries
986 my $feed = XML::Feed->new('RSS');
987 $feed->title( $c->config->{name} . ' RSS Feed' );
988 $feed->link( $c->req->base ); # link to the site.
989 $feed->description('Catalyst advent calendar'); Some description
991 # Process the entries
992 while( my $entry = $c->stash->{entries}->next ) {
993 my $feed_entry = XML::Feed::Entry->new('RSS');
994 $feed_entry->title($entry->title);
995 $feed_entry->link( $c->uri_for($entry->link) );
996 $feed_entry->issued( DateTime->from_epoch(epoch => $entry->created) );
997 $feed->add_entry($feed_entry);
999 $c->res->body( $feed->as_xml );
1002 With this approach you're
1003 pretty sure to get something that validates.
1005 Note that for both of the above approaches, you'll need to set the
1006 content type like this:
1008 $c->res->content_type('application/rss+xml');
1012 You could generalize the second variant easily by replacing 'RSS' with a
1013 variable, so you can generate Atom feeds with the same code.
1015 Now, go ahead and make RSS feeds for all your stuff. The world *needs*
1016 updates on your goldfish!
1018 =head2 Forcing the browser to download content
1020 Sometimes you need your application to send content for download. For
1021 example, you can generate a comma-separated values (CSV) file for your
1022 users to download and import into their spreadsheet program.
1024 Let's say you have an C<Orders> controller which generates a CSV file
1025 in the C<export> action (i.e., C<http://localhost:3000/orders/export>):
1027 sub export : Local Args(0) {
1028 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1030 # In a real application, you'd generate this from the database
1031 my $csv = "1,5.99\n2,29.99\n3,3.99\n";
1033 $c->res->content_type('text/comma-separated-values');
1034 $c->res->body($csv);
1037 Normally the browser uses the last part of the URI to generate a
1038 filename for data it cannot display. In this case your browser would
1039 likely ask you to save a file named C<export>.
1041 Luckily you can have the browser download the content with a specific
1042 filename by setting the C<Content-Disposition> header:
1044 my $filename = 'Important Orders.csv';
1045 $c->res->header('Content-Disposition', qq[attachment; filename="$filename"]);
1047 Note the use of quotes around the filename; this ensures that any
1048 spaces in the filename are handled by the browser.
1050 Put this right before calling C<< $c->res->body >> and your browser
1051 will download a file named C<Important Orders.csv> instead of
1054 You can also use this to have the browser download content which it
1055 normally displays, such as JPEG images or even HTML. Just be sure to
1056 set the appropriate content type and disposition.
1061 Controllers are the main point of communication between the web server
1062 and your application. Here we explore some aspects of how they work.
1068 A Catalyst application is driven by one or more Controller
1069 modules. There are a number of ways that Catalyst can decide which of
1070 the methods in your controller modules it should call. Controller
1071 methods are also called actions, because they determine how your
1072 catalyst application should (re-)act to any given URL. When the
1073 application is started up, catalyst looks at all your actions, and
1074 decides which URLs they map to.
1076 =head3 Type attributes
1078 Each action is a normal method in your controller, except that it has an
1079 L<attribute|attributes>
1080 attached. These can be one of several types.
1082 Assume our Controller module starts with the following package declaration:
1084 package MyApp::Controller::Buckets;
1086 and we are running our application on localhost, port 3000 (the test
1093 A Path attribute also takes an argument, this can be either a relative
1094 or an absolute path. A relative path will be relative to the
1095 controller namespace, an absolute path will represent an exact
1098 sub my_handles : Path('handles') { .. }
1102 http://localhost:3000/buckets/handles
1106 sub my_handles : Path('/handles') { .. }
1110 http://localhost:3000/handles
1112 See also: L<Catalyst::DispatchType::Path>
1116 When using a Local attribute, no parameters are needed, instead, the
1117 name of the action is matched in the URL. The namespaces created by
1118 the name of the controller package is always part of the URL.
1120 sub my_handles : Local { .. }
1124 http://localhost:3000/buckets/my_handles
1128 A Global attribute is similar to a Local attribute, except that the
1129 namespace of the controller is ignored, and matching starts at root.
1131 sub my_handles : Global { .. }
1135 http://localhost:3000/my_handles
1139 By now you should have figured that a Regex attribute is just what it
1140 sounds like. This one takes a regular expression, and matches starting
1141 from root. These differ from the rest as they can match multiple URLs.
1143 sub my_handles : Regex('^handles') { .. }
1147 http://localhost:3000/handles
1151 http://localhost:3000/handles_and_other_parts
1155 See also: L<Catalyst::DispatchType::Regex>
1159 A LocalRegex is similar to a Regex, except it only matches below the current
1160 controller namespace.
1162 sub my_handles : LocalRegex(^handles') { .. }
1166 http://localhost:3000/buckets/handles
1170 http://localhost:3000/buckets/handles_and_other_parts
1176 See L<Catalyst::DispatchType::Chained> for a description of how the chained
1177 dispatch type works.
1181 Last but not least, there is the Private attribute, which allows you
1182 to create your own internal actions, which can be forwarded to, but
1183 won't be matched as URLs.
1185 sub my_handles : Private { .. }
1187 becomes nothing at all..
1189 Catalyst also predefines some special Private actions, which you can
1190 override, these are:
1196 The default action will be called, if no other matching action is
1197 found. If you don't have one of these in your namespace, or any sub
1198 part of your namespace, you'll get an error page instead. If you want
1199 to find out where it was the user was trying to go, you can look in
1200 the request object using C<< $c->req->path >>.
1202 sub default :Path { .. }
1204 works for all unknown URLs, in this controller namespace, or every one
1205 if put directly into MyApp.pm.
1209 The index action is called when someone tries to visit the exact
1210 namespace of your controller. If index, default and matching Path
1211 actions are defined, then index will be used instead of default and
1214 sub index :Path :Args(0) { .. }
1218 http://localhost:3000/buckets
1222 The begin action is called at the beginning of every request involving
1223 this namespace directly, before other matching actions are called. It
1224 can be used to set up variables/data for this particular part of your
1225 app. A single begin action is called, its always the one most relevant
1226 to the current namespace.
1228 sub begin : Private { .. }
1232 http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)?
1238 Like begin, this action is always called for the namespace it is in,
1239 after every other action has finished. It is commonly used to forward
1240 processing to the View component. A single end action is called, its
1241 always the one most relevant to the current namespace.
1244 sub end : Private { .. }
1246 is called once after any actions when
1248 http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)?
1254 Lastly, the auto action is magic in that B<every> auto action in the
1255 chain of paths up to and including the ending namespace, will be
1256 called. (In contrast, only one of the begin/end/default actions will
1257 be called, the relevant one).
1259 package MyApp::Controller::Root;
1260 sub auto : Private { .. }
1264 sub auto : Private { .. }
1266 will both be called when visiting
1268 http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)?
1274 =head3 A word of warning
1276 You can put root actions in your main MyApp.pm file, but this is deprecated,
1277 please put your actions into your Root controller.
1281 A graphical flowchart of how the dispatcher works can be found on the wiki at
1282 L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/attachment/wiki/WikiStart/catalyst-flow.png>.
1284 =head2 DRY Controllers with Chained actions
1286 Imagine that you would like the following paths in your application:
1290 =item B<< /cd/<ID>/track/<ID> >>
1292 Displays info on a particular track.
1294 In the case of a multi-volume CD, this is the track sequence.
1296 =item B<< /cd/<ID>/volume/<ID>/track/<ID> >>
1298 Displays info on a track on a specific volume.
1302 Here is some example code, showing how to do this with chained controllers:
1304 package CD::Controller;
1305 use base qw/Catalyst::Controller/;
1307 sub root : Chained('/') PathPart('/cd') CaptureArgs(1) {
1308 my ($self, $c, $cd_id) = @_;
1309 $c->stash->{cd_id} = $cd_id;
1310 $c->stash->{cd} = $self->model('CD')->find_by_id($cd_id);
1313 sub trackinfo : Chained('track') PathPart('') Args(0) RenderView {
1314 my ($self, $c) = @_;
1317 package CD::Controller::ByTrackSeq;
1318 use base qw/CD::Controller/;
1320 sub track : Chained('root') PathPart('track') CaptureArgs(1) {
1321 my ($self, $c, $track_seq) = @_;
1322 $c->stash->{track} = $self->stash->{cd}->find_track_by_seq($track_seq);
1325 package CD::Controller::ByTrackVolNo;
1326 use base qw/CD::Controller/;
1328 sub volume : Chained('root') PathPart('volume') CaptureArgs(1) {
1329 my ($self, $c, $volume) = @_;
1330 $c->stash->{volume} = $volume;
1333 sub track : Chained('volume') PathPart('track') CaptureArgs(1) {
1334 my ($self, $c, $track_no) = @_;
1335 $c->stash->{track} = $self->stash->{cd}->find_track_by_vol_and_track_no(
1336 $c->stash->{volume}, $track_no
1340 Note that adding other actions (i.e. chain endpoints) which operate on a track
1341 is simply a matter of adding a new sub to CD::Controller - no code is duplicated,
1342 even though there are two different methods of looking up a track.
1344 This technique can be expanded as needed to fulfil your requirements - for example,
1345 if you inherit the first action of a chain from a base class, then mixing in a
1346 different base class can be used to duplicate an entire URL hierarchy at a different
1347 point within your application.
1349 =head2 Component-based Subrequests
1351 See L<Catalyst::Plugin::SubRequest>.
1355 =head3 Single file upload with Catalyst
1357 To implement uploads in Catalyst, you need to have a HTML form similar to
1360 <form action="/upload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
1361 <input type="hidden" name="form_submit" value="yes">
1362 <input type="file" name="my_file">
1363 <input type="submit" value="Send">
1366 It's very important not to forget C<enctype="multipart/form-data"> in
1369 Catalyst Controller module 'upload' action:
1371 sub upload : Global {
1372 my ($self, $c) = @_;
1374 if ( $c->request->parameters->{form_submit} eq 'yes' ) {
1376 if ( my $upload = $c->request->upload('my_file') ) {
1378 my $filename = $upload->filename;
1379 my $target = "/tmp/upload/$filename";
1381 unless ( $upload->link_to($target) || $upload->copy_to($target) ) {
1382 die( "Failed to copy '$filename' to '$target': $!" );
1387 $c->stash->{template} = 'file_upload.html';
1390 =head3 Multiple file upload with Catalyst
1392 Code for uploading multiple files from one form needs a few changes:
1394 The form should have this basic structure:
1396 <form action="/upload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
1397 <input type="hidden" name="form_submit" value="yes">
1398 <input type="file" name="file1" size="50"><br>
1399 <input type="file" name="file2" size="50"><br>
1400 <input type="file" name="file3" size="50"><br>
1401 <input type="submit" value="Send">
1404 And in the controller:
1406 sub upload : Local {
1407 my ($self, $c) = @_;
1409 if ( $c->request->parameters->{form_submit} eq 'yes' ) {
1411 for my $field ( $c->req->upload ) {
1413 my $upload = $c->req->upload($field);
1414 my $filename = $upload->filename;
1415 my $target = "/tmp/upload/$filename";
1417 unless ( $upload->link_to($target) || $upload->copy_to($target) ) {
1418 die( "Failed to copy '$filename' to '$target': $!" );
1423 $c->stash->{template} = 'file_upload.html';
1426 C<for my $field ($c-E<gt>req->upload)> loops automatically over all file
1427 input fields and gets input names. After that is basic file saving code,
1428 just like in single file upload.
1430 Notice: C<die>ing might not be what you want to do, when an error
1431 occurs, but it works as an example. A better idea would be to store
1432 error C<$!> in $c->stash->{error} and show a custom error template
1433 displaying this message.
1435 For more information about uploads and usable methods look at
1436 L<Catalyst::Request::Upload> and L<Catalyst::Request>.
1438 =head2 Forwarding with arguments
1440 Sometimes you want to pass along arguments when forwarding to another
1441 action. As of version 5.30, arguments can be passed in the call to
1442 C<forward>; in earlier versions, you can manually set the arguments in
1443 the Catalyst Request object:
1445 # version 5.30 and later:
1446 $c->forward('/wherever', [qw/arg1 arg2 arg3/]);
1449 $c->req->args([qw/arg1 arg2 arg3/]);
1450 $c->forward('/wherever');
1452 (See the L<Catalyst::Manual::Intro> Flow_Control section for more
1453 information on passing arguments via C<forward>.)
1455 =head2 Chained dispatch using base classes, and inner packages.
1457 package MyApp::Controller::Base;
1458 use base qw/Catalyst::Controller/;
1460 sub key1 : Chained('/')
1462 =head2 Extending RenderView (formerly DefaultEnd)
1464 The recommended approach for an C<end> action is to use
1465 L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView> (taking the place of
1466 L<Catalyst::Plugin::DefaultEnd>), which does what you usually need.
1467 However there are times when you need to add a bit to it, but don't want
1468 to write your own C<end> action.
1470 You can extend it like this:
1472 To add something to an C<end> action that is called before rendering
1473 (this is likely to be what you want), simply place it in the C<end>
1476 sub end : ActionClass('RenderView') {
1477 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1478 # do stuff here; the RenderView action is called afterwards
1481 To add things to an C<end> action that are called I<after> rendering,
1482 you can set it up like this:
1484 sub render : ActionClass('RenderView') { }
1487 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1488 $c->forward('render');
1493 =head2 Serving static content
1495 Serving static content in Catalyst used to be somewhat tricky; the use
1496 of L<Catalyst::Plugin::Static::Simple> makes everything much easier.
1497 This plugin will automatically serve your static content during development,
1498 but allows you to easily switch to Apache (or other server) in a
1499 production environment.
1501 =head3 Introduction to Static::Simple
1503 Static::Simple is a plugin that will help to serve static content for your
1504 application. By default, it will serve most types of files, excluding some
1505 standard Template Toolkit extensions, out of your B<root> file directory. All
1506 files are served by path, so if B<images/me.jpg> is requested, then
1507 B<root/images/me.jpg> is found and served.
1511 Using the plugin is as simple as setting your use line in MyApp.pm to include:
1513 use Catalyst qw/Static::Simple/;
1515 and already files will be served.
1519 Static content is best served from a single directory within your root
1520 directory. Having many different directories such as C<root/css> and
1521 C<root/images> requires more code to manage, because you must separately
1522 identify each static directory--if you decide to add a C<root/js>
1523 directory, you'll need to change your code to account for it. In
1524 contrast, keeping all static directories as subdirectories of a main
1525 C<root/static> directory makes things much easier to manage. Here's an
1526 example of a typical root directory structure:
1530 root/controller/stuff.tt
1533 root/static/css/main.css
1534 root/static/images/logo.jpg
1535 root/static/js/code.js
1538 All static content lives under C<root/static>, with everything else being
1539 Template Toolkit files.
1545 You may of course want to change the default locations, and make
1546 Static::Simple look somewhere else, this is as easy as:
1551 MyApp->path_to('/'),
1552 '/path/to/my/files',
1557 When you override include_path, it will not automatically append the
1558 normal root path, so you need to add it yourself if you still want
1559 it. These will be searched in order given, and the first matching file
1562 =item Static directories
1564 If you want to force some directories to be only static, you can set
1565 them using paths relative to the root dir, or regular expressions:
1576 =item File extensions
1578 By default, the following extensions are not served (that is, they will
1579 be processed by Catalyst): B<tmpl, tt, tt2, html, xhtml>. This list can
1584 ignore_extensions => [
1585 qw/tmpl tt tt2 html xhtml/
1590 =item Ignoring directories
1592 Entire directories can be ignored. If used with include_path,
1593 directories relative to the include_path dirs will also be ignored:
1595 MyApp->config( static => {
1596 ignore_dirs => [ qw/tmpl css/ ],
1601 =head3 More information
1603 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-Plugin-Static-Simple/>
1605 =head3 Serving manually with the Static plugin with HTTP::Daemon (myapp_server.pl)
1607 In some situations you might want to control things more directly,
1608 using L<Catalyst::Plugin::Static>.
1610 In your main application class (MyApp.pm), load the plugin:
1612 use Catalyst qw/-Debug FormValidator Static OtherPlugin/;
1614 You will also need to make sure your end method does I<not> forward
1615 static content to the view, perhaps like this:
1618 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1620 $c->forward( 'MyApp::View::TT' )
1621 unless ( $c->res->body || !$c->stash->{template} );
1624 This code will only forward to the view if a template has been
1625 previously defined by a controller and if there is not already data in
1626 C<$c-E<gt>res-E<gt>body>.
1628 Next, create a controller to handle requests for the /static path. Use
1629 the Helper to save time. This command will create a stub controller as
1630 C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Static.pm>.
1632 $ script/myapp_create.pl controller Static
1634 Edit the file and add the following methods:
1636 # serve all files under /static as static files
1637 sub default : Path('/static') {
1638 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1640 # Optional, allow the browser to cache the content
1641 $c->res->headers->header( 'Cache-Control' => 'max-age=86400' );
1643 $c->serve_static; # from Catalyst::Plugin::Static
1646 # also handle requests for /favicon.ico
1647 sub favicon : Path('/favicon.ico') {
1648 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1653 You can also define a different icon for the browser to use instead of
1654 favicon.ico by using this in your HTML header:
1656 <link rel="icon" href="/static/myapp.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
1658 =head3 Common problems with the Static plugin
1660 The Static plugin makes use of the C<shared-mime-info> package to
1661 automatically determine MIME types. This package is notoriously
1662 difficult to install, especially on win32 and OS X. For OS X the easiest
1663 path might be to install Fink, then use C<apt-get install
1664 shared-mime-info>. Restart the server, and everything should be fine.
1666 Make sure you are using the latest version (>= 0.16) for best
1667 results. If you are having errors serving CSS files, or if they get
1668 served as text/plain instead of text/css, you may have an outdated
1669 shared-mime-info version. You may also wish to simply use the following
1670 code in your Static controller:
1672 if ($c->req->path =~ /css$/i) {
1673 $c->serve_static( "text/css" );
1678 =head3 Serving Static Files with Apache
1680 When using Apache, you can bypass Catalyst and any Static
1681 plugins/controllers controller by intercepting requests for the
1682 C<root/static> path at the server level. All that is required is to
1683 define a DocumentRoot and add a separate Location block for your static
1684 content. Here is a complete config for this application under mod_perl
1688 use lib qw(/var/www/MyApp/lib);
1693 ServerName myapp.example.com
1694 DocumentRoot /var/www/MyApp/root
1696 SetHandler perl-script
1699 <LocationMatch "/(static|favicon.ico)">
1700 SetHandler default-handler
1704 And here's a simpler example that'll get you started:
1706 Alias /static/ "/my/static/files/"
1707 <Location "/static">
1713 Catalyst makes it easy to employ several different types of caching to
1714 speed up your applications.
1716 =head3 Cache Plugins
1718 There are three wrapper plugins around common CPAN cache modules:
1719 Cache::FastMmap, Cache::FileCache, and Cache::Memcached. These can be
1720 used to cache the result of slow operations.
1722 The Catalyst Advent Calendar uses the FileCache plugin to cache the
1723 rendered XHTML version of the source POD document. This is an ideal
1724 application for a cache because the source document changes
1725 infrequently but may be viewed many times.
1727 use Catalyst qw/Cache::FileCache/;
1732 sub render_pod : Local {
1733 my ( self, $c ) = @_;
1735 # the cache is keyed on the filename and the modification time
1736 # to check for updates to the file.
1737 my $file = $c->path_to( 'root', '2005', '11.pod' );
1738 my $mtime = ( stat $file )->mtime;
1740 my $cached_pod = $c->cache->get("$file $mtime");
1741 if ( !$cached_pod ) {
1742 $cached_pod = do_slow_pod_rendering();
1743 # cache the result for 12 hours
1744 $c->cache->set( "$file $mtime", $cached_pod, '12h' );
1746 $c->stash->{pod} = $cached_pod;
1749 We could actually cache the result forever, but using a value such as 12 hours
1750 allows old entries to be automatically expired when they are no longer needed.
1754 Another method of caching is to cache the entire HTML page. While this is
1755 traditionally handled by a frontend proxy server like Squid, the Catalyst
1756 PageCache plugin makes it trivial to cache the entire output from
1757 frequently-used or slow actions.
1759 Many sites have a busy content-filled front page that might look something
1760 like this. It probably takes a while to process, and will do the exact same
1761 thing for every single user who views the page.
1763 sub front_page : Path('/') {
1764 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1766 $c->forward( 'get_news_articles' );
1767 $c->forward( 'build_lots_of_boxes' );
1768 $c->forward( 'more_slow_stuff' );
1770 $c->stash->{template} = 'index.tt';
1773 We can add the PageCache plugin to speed things up.
1775 use Catalyst qw/Cache::FileCache PageCache/;
1777 sub front_page : Path ('/') {
1778 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1780 $c->cache_page( 300 );
1782 # same processing as above
1785 Now the entire output of the front page, from <html> to </html>, will be
1786 cached for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, the next request will rebuild the
1787 page and it will be re-cached.
1789 Note that the page cache is keyed on the page URI plus all parameters, so
1790 requests for / and /?foo=bar will result in different cache items. Also,
1791 only GET requests will be cached by the plugin.
1793 You can even get that frontend Squid proxy to help out by enabling HTTP
1794 headers for the cached page.
1798 set_http_headers => 1,
1802 This would now set the following headers so proxies and browsers may cache
1803 the content themselves.
1805 Cache-Control: max-age=($expire_time - time)
1806 Expires: $expire_time
1807 Last-Modified: $cache_created_time
1809 =head3 Template Caching
1811 Template Toolkit provides support for caching compiled versions of your
1812 templates. To enable this in Catalyst, use the following configuration.
1813 TT will cache compiled templates keyed on the file mtime, so changes will
1814 still be automatically detected.
1816 package MyApp::View::TT;
1820 use base 'Catalyst::View::TT';
1822 __PACKAGE__->config(
1823 COMPILE_DIR => '/tmp/template_cache',
1830 See the documentation for each cache plugin for more details and other
1831 available configuration options.
1833 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::FastMmap>
1834 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::FileCache>
1835 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::Memcached>
1836 L<Catalyst::Plugin::PageCache>
1837 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Template-Toolkit/lib/Template/Manual/Config.pod#Caching_and_Compiling_Options>
1841 Testing is an integral part of the web application development
1842 process. Tests make multi developer teams easier to coordinate, and
1843 they help ensure that there are no nasty surprises after upgrades or
1848 Catalyst provides a convenient way of testing your application during
1849 development and before deployment in a real environment.
1851 C<Catalyst::Test> makes it possible to run the same tests both locally
1852 (without an external daemon) and against a remote server via HTTP.
1856 Let's examine a skeleton application's C<t/> directory:
1858 mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ ls -l t/
1860 -rw-r--r-- 1 chansen chansen 95 18 Dec 20:50 01app.t
1861 -rw-r--r-- 1 chansen chansen 190 18 Dec 20:50 02pod.t
1862 -rw-r--r-- 1 chansen chansen 213 18 Dec 20:50 03podcoverage.t
1868 Verifies that the application loads, compiles, and returns a successful
1873 Verifies that all POD is free from errors. Only executed if the C<TEST_POD>
1874 environment variable is true.
1876 =item C<03podcoverage.t>
1878 Verifies that all methods/functions have POD coverage. Only executed if the
1879 C<TEST_POD> environment variable is true.
1883 =head3 Creating tests
1885 mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ cat t/01app.t | perl -ne 'printf( "%2d %s", $., $_ )'
1886 1 use Test::More tests => 2;
1887 2 BEGIN { use_ok( Catalyst::Test, 'MyApp' ) }
1889 4 ok( request('/')->is_success );
1891 The first line declares how many tests we are going to run, in this case
1892 two. The second line tests and loads our application in test mode. The
1893 fourth line verifies that our application returns a successful response.
1895 C<Catalyst::Test> exports two functions, C<request> and C<get>. Each can
1896 take three different arguments:
1900 =item A string which is a relative or absolute URI.
1902 request('/my/path');
1903 request('http://www.host.com/my/path');
1905 =item An instance of C<URI>.
1907 request( URI->new('http://www.host.com/my/path') );
1909 =item An instance of C<HTTP::Request>.
1911 request( HTTP::Request->new( GET => 'http://www.host.com/my/path') );
1915 C<request> returns an instance of C<HTTP::Response> and C<get> returns the
1916 content (body) of the response.
1918 =head3 Running tests locally
1920 mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib/ t/
1921 t/01app............ok
1922 t/02pod............ok
1923 t/03podcoverage....ok
1924 All tests successful.
1925 Files=3, Tests=4, 2 wallclock secs ( 1.60 cusr + 0.36 csys = 1.96 CPU)
1927 C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0> ensures that debugging is off; if it's enabled you
1928 will see debug logs between tests.
1930 C<TEST_POD=1> enables POD checking and coverage.
1932 C<prove> A command-line tool that makes it easy to run tests. You can
1933 find out more about it from the links below.
1935 =head3 Running tests remotely
1937 mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ CATALYST_SERVER=http://localhost:3000/ prove --lib lib/ t/01app.t
1939 All tests successful.
1940 Files=1, Tests=2, 0 wallclock secs ( 0.40 cusr + 0.01 csys = 0.41 CPU)
1942 C<CATALYST_SERVER=http://localhost:3000/> is the absolute deployment URI of
1943 your application. In C<CGI> or C<FastCGI> it should be the host and path
1946 =head3 C<Test::WWW::Mechanize> and Catalyst
1948 Be sure to check out C<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>. It makes it easy to
1949 test HTML, forms and links. A short example of usage:
1951 use Test::More tests => 6;
1952 BEGIN { use_ok( Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst, 'MyApp' ) }
1954 my $mech = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
1955 $mech->get_ok("http://localhost/", 'Got index page');
1956 $mech->title_like( qr/^MyApp on Catalyst/, 'Got right index title' );
1957 ok( $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/^Wiki/i ), 'Found link to Wiki' );
1958 ok( $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/^Mailing-List/i ), 'Found link to Mailing-List' );
1959 ok( $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/^IRC channel/i ), 'Found link to IRC channel' );
1961 =head3 Further Reading
1965 =item Catalyst::Test
1969 =item Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst
1971 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-WWW-Mechanize-Catalyst/lib/Test/WWW/Mechanize/Catalyst.pm>
1973 =item Test::WWW::Mechanize
1975 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-WWW-Mechanize/Mechanize.pm>
1977 =item WWW::Mechanize
1979 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/WWW-Mechanize/lib/WWW/Mechanize.pm>
1981 =item LWP::UserAgent
1983 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/LWP/UserAgent.pm>
1987 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTML/Form.pm>
1991 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Message.pm>
1995 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Request.pm>
1997 =item HTTP::Request::Common
1999 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Request/Common.pm>
2001 =item HTTP::Response
2003 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Response.pm>
2007 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/lib/HTTP/Status.pm>
2011 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/URI/URI.pm>
2015 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Simple/lib/Test/More.pm>
2019 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Pod/Pod.pm>
2021 =item Test::Pod::Coverage
2023 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Pod-Coverage/Coverage.pm>
2025 =item prove (Test::Harness)
2027 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Harness/bin/prove>
2031 =head3 More Information
2033 L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::Roles>
2034 L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::ACL>
2038 Catalyst Contributors, see Catalyst.pm
2042 This library is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under
2043 the same terms as Perl itself.