5 Catalyst::Manual::Cookbook - Cooking with Catalyst
9 Yummy code like your mum used to bake!
15 These recipes cover some basic stuff that is worth knowing for
18 =head2 Delivering a Custom Error Page
20 By default, Catalyst will display its own error page whenever it
21 encounters an error in your application. When running under C<-Debug>
22 mode, the error page is a useful screen including the error message
23 and L<Data::Dump> output of the relevant parts of the C<$c> context
24 object. When not in C<-Debug>, users see a simple "Please come back
27 To use a custom error page, use a special C<end> method to
28 short-circuit the error processing. The following is an example; you
29 might want to adjust it further depending on the needs of your
30 application (for example, any calls to C<fillform> will probably need
31 to go into this C<end> method; see L<Catalyst::Plugin::FillInForm>).
34 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
36 if ( scalar @{ $c->error } ) {
37 $c->stash->{errors} = $c->error;
38 for my $error ( @{ $c->error } ) {
39 $c->log->error($error);
41 $c->stash->{template} = 'errors.tt';
42 $c->forward('MyApp::View::TT');
46 return 1 if $c->response->status =~ /^3\d\d$/;
47 return 1 if $c->response->body;
49 unless ( $c->response->content_type ) {
50 $c->response->content_type('text/html; charset=utf-8');
53 $c->forward('MyApp::View::TT');
56 You can manually set errors in your code to trigger this page by calling
58 $c->error( 'You broke me!' );
60 =head2 Disable statistics
62 Just add this line to your application class if you don't want those
63 nifty statistics in your debug messages.
65 sub Catalyst::Log::info { }
67 =head2 Enable debug status in the environment
69 Normally you enable the debugging info by adding the C<-Debug> flag to
70 your C<use Catalyst> statement . However, you can also enable it using
71 environment variable, so you can (for example) get debug info without
72 modifying your application scripts. Just set C<CATALYST_DEBUG> or
73 C<< <MYAPP>_DEBUG >> to a true value.
77 When you have your users identified, you will want to somehow remember
78 that fact, to save them from having to identify themselves for every
79 single page. One way to do this is to send the username and password
80 parameters in every single page, but that's ugly, and won't work for
83 Sessions are a method of saving data related to some transaction, and
84 giving the whole collection a single ID. This ID is then given to the
85 user to return to us on every page they visit while logged in. The
86 usual way to do this is using a browser cookie.
88 Catalyst uses two types of plugins to represent sessions:
92 A State module is used to keep track of the state of the session
93 between the users browser, and your application.
95 A common example is the Cookie state module, which sends the browser a
96 cookie containing the session ID. It will use default value for the
97 cookie name and domain, so will "just work" when used.
101 A Store module is used to hold all the data relating to your session,
102 for example the users ID, or the items for their shopping cart. You
103 can store data in memory (FastMmap), in a file (File) or in a database
106 =head3 Authentication magic
108 If you have included the session modules in your application, the
109 Authentication modules will automagically use your session to save and
110 retrieve the user data for you.
112 =head3 Using a session
114 Once the session modules are loaded, the session is available as C<<
115 $c->session >>, and can be written to and read from as a simple hash
122 use namespace::autoclean;
126 Session::Store::FastMmap
127 Session::State::Cookie
132 package MyApp::Controller::Foo;
134 use namespace::autoclean;
135 BEGIN { extends 'Catalyst::Controller' };
136 ## Write data into the session
138 sub add_item : Local {
139 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
141 my $item_id = $c->req->params->{item};
143 push @{ $c->session->{items} }, $item_id;
146 ## A page later we retrieve the data from the session:
148 sub get_items : Local {
149 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
151 $c->stash->{items_to_display} = $c->session->{items};
155 =head3 More information
157 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session>
159 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session::State::Cookie>
161 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session::State::URI>
163 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::FastMmap>
165 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::File>
167 L<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> 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 F<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>.
224 =head1 Skipping your VCS's directories
226 Catalyst uses L<Module::Pluggable> to load Models, Views, and Controllers.
227 L<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 L<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:
692 Install L<Catalyst> (5.61 or later), L<Catalyst::Plugin::XMLRPC> (0.06 or
693 later) and L<SOAP::Lite> (for F<XMLRPCsh.pl>).
697 Create an application framework:
705 Add the XMLRPC plugin to MyApp.pm
707 use Catalyst qw/-Debug Static::Simple XMLRPC/;
711 Add an API controller
713 % ./script/myapp_create.pl controller API
717 Add a XMLRPC redispatch method and an add method with Remote
718 attribute to F<lib/MyApp/Controller/API.pm>
721 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
726 my ( $self, $c, $a, $b ) = @_;
730 The default action is the entry point for each XMLRPC request. It will
731 redispatch every request to methods with Remote attribute in the same
734 The C<add> method is not a traditional action; it has no private or
735 public path. Only the XMLRPC dispatcher knows it exists.
739 That's it! You have built your first web service. Let's test it with
740 F<XMLRPCsh.pl> (part of L<SOAP::Lite>):
742 % ./script/myapp_server.pl
744 % XMLRPCsh.pl http://127.0.0.1:3000/api
745 Usage: method[(parameters)]
747 --- XMLRPC RESULT ---
754 Your return data type is usually auto-detected, but you can easily
755 enforce a specific one.
758 my ( $self, $c, $a, $b ) = @_;
759 return RPC::XML::int->new( $a + $b );
764 Views pertain to the display of your application. As with models,
765 Catalyst is uncommonly flexible. The recipes below are just a start.
767 =head2 L<Catalyst::View::TT>
769 One of the first things you probably want to do when starting a new
770 Catalyst application is set up your View. Catalyst doesn't care how you
771 display your data; you can choose to generate HTML, PDF files, or plain
774 Most Catalyst applications use a template system to generate their HTML,
775 and though there are several template systems available,
776 L<Template Toolkit|Template> is probably the most popular.
778 Once again, the Catalyst developers have done all the hard work, and
779 made things easy for the rest of us. L<Catalyst::View::TT> provides the
780 interface to Template Toolkit, and provides Helpers which let us set it
781 up that much more easily.
783 =head3 Creating your View
785 L<Catalyst::View::TT> provides two different helpers for us to use: TT and
790 Create a basic Template Toolkit View using the provided helper script:
792 script/myapp_create.pl view TT TT
794 This will create F<lib/MyApp/View/MyView.pm>, which is going to be pretty
795 empty to start. However, it sets everything up that you need to get
796 started. You can now define which template you want and forward to your
800 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
802 $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt';
804 $c->forward( $c->view('TT') );
807 In practice you wouldn't do the forwarding manually, but would
808 use L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView>.
812 Although the TT helper does create a functional, working view, you may
813 find yourself having to create the same template files and changing the
814 same options every time you create a new application. The TTSite helper
815 saves us even more time by creating the basic templates and setting some
816 common options for us.
818 Once again, you can use the helper script:
820 script/myapp_create.pl view TT TTSite
822 This time, the helper sets several options for us in the generated View.
824 __PACKAGE__->config({
825 CATALYST_VAR => 'Catalyst',
827 MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'src' ),
828 MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'lib' )
830 PRE_PROCESS => 'config/main',
831 WRAPPER => 'site/wrapper',
832 ERROR => 'error.tt2',
840 C<INCLUDE_PATH> defines the directories that Template Toolkit should search
841 for the template files.
845 C<PRE_PROCESS> is used to process configuration options which are common to
850 C<WRAPPER> is a file which is processed with each template, usually used to
851 easily provide a common header and footer for every page.
855 In addition to setting these options, the TTSite helper also created the
856 template and config files for us! In the 'root' directory, you'll notice
857 two new directories: src and lib.
859 Several configuration files in F<root/lib/config> are called by C<PRE_PROCESS>.
861 The files in F<root/lib/site> are the site-wide templates, called by
862 C<WRAPPER>, and display the html framework, control the layout, and provide
863 the templates for the header and footer of your page. Using the template
864 organization provided makes it much easier to standardize pages and make
865 changes when they are (inevitably) needed.
867 The template files that you will create for your application will go
868 into root/src, and you don't need to worry about putting the C<< <html> >>
869 or C<< <head> >> sections; just put in the content. The C<WRAPPER> will the rest
870 of the page around your template for you.
873 =head3 C<< $c->stash >>
875 Of course, having the template system include the header and footer for
876 you isn't all that we want our templates to do. We need to be able to
877 put data into our templates, and have it appear where and how we want
878 it, right? That's where the stash comes in.
880 In our controllers, we can add data to the stash, and then access it
881 from the template. For instance:
884 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
886 $c->stash->{name} = 'Adam';
888 $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt';
890 $c->forward( $c->view('TT') );
893 Then, in F<hello.tt>:
895 <strong>Hello, [% name %]!</strong>
897 When you view this page, it will display "Hello, Adam!"
899 All of the information in your stash is available, by its name/key, in
900 your templates. And your data don't have to be plain, old, boring
901 scalars. You can pass array references and hash references, too.
906 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
908 $c->stash->{names} = [ 'Adam', 'Dave', 'John' ];
910 $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt';
912 $c->forward( $c->view('TT') );
917 [% FOREACH name IN names %]
918 <strong>Hello, [% name %]!</strong><br />
921 This allowed us to loop through each item in the arrayref, and display a
922 line for each name that we have.
924 This is the most basic usage, but Template Toolkit is quite powerful,
925 and allows you to truly keep your presentation logic separate from the
926 rest of your application.
928 =head3 C<< $c->uri_for() >>
930 One of my favorite things about Catalyst is the ability to move an
931 application around without having to worry that everything is going to
932 break. One of the areas that used to be a problem was with the http
933 links in your template files. For example, suppose you have an
934 application installed at C<http://www.domain.com/Calendar>. The links point
935 to "C</Calendar>", "C</Calendar/2005>", "C</Calendar/2005/10>", etc. If you move
936 the application to be at C<http://www.mydomain.com/Tools/Calendar>, then
937 all of those links will suddenly break.
939 That's where C<< $c->uri_for() >> comes in. This function will merge its
940 parameters with either the base location for the app, or its current
941 namespace. Let's take a look at a couple of examples.
943 In your template, you can use the following:
945 <a href="[% c.uri_for('/login') %]">Login Here</a>
947 Although the parameter starts with a forward slash, this is relative
948 to the application root, not the webserver root. This is important to
949 remember. So, if your application is installed at
950 C<http://www.domain.com/Calendar>, then the link would be
951 C<http://www.mydomain.com/Calendar/Login>. If you move your application
952 to a different domain or path, then that link will still be correct.
956 <a href="[% c.uri_for('2005','10', '24') %]">October, 24 2005</a>
958 The first parameter does NOT have a forward slash, and so it will be
959 relative to the current namespace. If the application is installed at
960 C<http://www.domain.com/Calendar>. and if the template is called from
961 C<MyApp::Controller::Display>, then the link would become
962 C<http://www.domain.com/Calendar/Display/2005/10/24>.
964 If you want to link to a parent uri of your current namespace you can
965 prefix the arguments with multiple 'C<../>':
967 <a href="[% c.uri_for('../../view', stashed_object.id) %]">User view</a>
969 Once again, this allows you to move your application around without
970 having to worry about broken links. But there's something else, as
971 well. Since the links are generated by C<uri_for>, you can use the same
972 template file by several different controllers, and each controller
973 will get the links that its supposed to. Since we believe in Don't
974 Repeat Yourself, this is particularly helpful if you have common
975 elements in your site that you want to keep in one file.
981 L<Catalyst::View::TT>
985 =head2 Adding RSS feeds
987 Adding RSS feeds to your Catalyst applications is simple. We'll see two
988 different approaches here, but the basic premise is that you forward to
989 the normal view action first to get the objects, then handle the output
992 =head3 Using L<XML::Feed>
994 Assuming we have a C<view> action that populates
995 'entries' with some L<DBIx::Class> iterator, the code would look something
1000 $c->forward('view'); # get the entries
1002 my $feed = XML::Feed->new('RSS');
1003 $feed->title( $c->config->{name} . ' RSS Feed' );
1004 $feed->link( $c->req->base ); # link to the site.
1005 $feed->description('Catalyst advent calendar'); Some description
1007 # Process the entries
1008 while( my $entry = $c->stash->{entries}->next ) {
1009 my $feed_entry = XML::Feed::Entry->new('RSS');
1010 $feed_entry->title($entry->title);
1011 $feed_entry->link( $c->uri_for($entry->link) );
1012 $feed_entry->issued( DateTime->from_epoch(epoch => $entry->created) );
1013 $feed->add_entry($feed_entry);
1015 $c->res->body( $feed->as_xml );
1018 With this approach you're
1019 pretty sure to get something that validates.
1021 Note that for both of the above approaches, you'll need to set the
1022 content type like this:
1024 $c->res->content_type('application/rss+xml');
1028 You could generalize the second variant easily by replacing 'RSS' with a
1029 variable, so you can generate Atom feeds with the same code.
1031 Now, go ahead and make RSS feeds for all your stuff. The world *needs*
1032 updates on your goldfish!
1034 =head2 Forcing the browser to download content
1036 Sometimes you need your application to send content for download. For
1037 example, you can generate a comma-separated values (CSV) file for your
1038 users to download and import into their spreadsheet program.
1040 Let's say you have an C<Orders> controller which generates a CSV file
1041 in the C<export> action (i.e., C<http://localhost:3000/orders/export>):
1043 sub export : Local Args(0) {
1044 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1046 # In a real application, you'd generate this from the database
1047 my $csv = "1,5.99\n2,29.99\n3,3.99\n";
1049 $c->res->content_type('text/comma-separated-values');
1050 $c->res->body($csv);
1053 Normally the browser uses the last part of the URI to generate a
1054 filename for data it cannot display. In this case your browser would
1055 likely ask you to save a file named C<export>.
1057 Luckily you can have the browser download the content with a specific
1058 filename by setting the C<Content-Disposition> header:
1060 my $filename = 'Important Orders.csv';
1061 $c->res->header('Content-Disposition', qq[attachment; filename="$filename"]);
1063 Note the use of quotes around the filename; this ensures that any
1064 spaces in the filename are handled by the browser.
1066 Put this right before calling C<< $c->res->body >> and your browser
1067 will download a file named F<Important Orders.csv> instead of
1070 You can also use this to have the browser download content which it
1071 normally displays, such as JPEG images or even HTML. Just be sure to
1072 set the appropriate content type and disposition.
1077 Controllers are the main point of communication between the web server
1078 and your application. Here we explore some aspects of how they work.
1084 A Catalyst application is driven by one or more Controller
1085 modules. There are a number of ways that Catalyst can decide which of
1086 the methods in your controller modules it should call. Controller
1087 methods are also called actions, because they determine how your
1088 catalyst application should (re-)act to any given URL. When the
1089 application is started up, catalyst looks at all your actions, and
1090 decides which URLs they map to.
1092 =head3 Type attributes
1094 Each action is a normal method in your controller, except that it has an
1095 L<attribute|attributes>
1096 attached. These can be one of several types.
1098 Assume our Controller module starts with the following package declaration:
1100 package MyApp::Controller::Buckets;
1102 and we are running our application on localhost, port 3000 (the test
1109 A Path attribute also takes an argument, this can be either a relative
1110 or an absolute path. A relative path will be relative to the
1111 controller namespace, an absolute path will represent an exact
1114 sub my_handles : Path('handles') { .. }
1118 http://localhost:3000/buckets/handles
1122 sub my_handles : Path('/handles') { .. }
1126 http://localhost:3000/handles
1128 See also: L<Catalyst::DispatchType::Path>
1132 When using a Local attribute, no parameters are needed, instead, the
1133 name of the action is matched in the URL. The namespaces created by
1134 the name of the controller package is always part of the URL.
1136 sub my_handles : Local { .. }
1140 http://localhost:3000/buckets/my_handles
1144 A Global attribute is similar to a Local attribute, except that the
1145 namespace of the controller is ignored, and matching starts at root.
1147 sub my_handles : Global { .. }
1151 http://localhost:3000/my_handles
1155 By now you should have figured that a Regex attribute is just what it
1156 sounds like. This one takes a regular expression, and matches starting
1157 from root. These differ from the rest as they can match multiple URLs.
1159 sub my_handles : Regex('^handles') { .. }
1163 http://localhost:3000/handles
1167 http://localhost:3000/handles_and_other_parts
1171 See also: L<Catalyst::DispatchType::Regex>
1175 A LocalRegex is similar to a Regex, except it only matches below the current
1176 controller namespace.
1178 sub my_handles : LocalRegex(^handles') { .. }
1182 http://localhost:3000/buckets/handles
1186 http://localhost:3000/buckets/handles_and_other_parts
1192 See L<Catalyst::DispatchType::Chained> for a description of how the chained
1193 dispatch type works.
1197 Last but not least, there is the Private attribute, which allows you
1198 to create your own internal actions, which can be forwarded to, but
1199 won't be matched as URLs.
1201 sub my_handles : Private { .. }
1203 becomes nothing at all..
1205 Catalyst also predefines some special Private actions, which you can
1206 override, these are:
1212 The default action will be called, if no other matching action is
1213 found. If you don't have one of these in your namespace, or any sub
1214 part of your namespace, you'll get an error page instead. If you want
1215 to find out where it was the user was trying to go, you can look in
1216 the request object using C<< $c->req->path >>.
1218 sub default :Path { .. }
1220 works for all unknown URLs, in this controller namespace, or every one
1221 if put directly into MyApp.pm.
1225 The index action is called when someone tries to visit the exact
1226 namespace of your controller. If index, default and matching Path
1227 actions are defined, then index will be used instead of default and
1230 sub index :Path :Args(0) { .. }
1234 http://localhost:3000/buckets
1238 The begin action is called at the beginning of every request involving
1239 this namespace directly, before other matching actions are called. It
1240 can be used to set up variables/data for this particular part of your
1241 app. A single begin action is called, its always the one most relevant
1242 to the current namespace.
1244 sub begin : Private { .. }
1248 http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)?
1254 Like begin, this action is always called for the namespace it is in,
1255 after every other action has finished. It is commonly used to forward
1256 processing to the View component. A single end action is called, its
1257 always the one most relevant to the current namespace.
1260 sub end : Private { .. }
1262 is called once after any actions when
1264 http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)?
1270 Lastly, the auto action is magic in that B<every> auto action in the
1271 chain of paths up to and including the ending namespace, will be
1272 called. (In contrast, only one of the begin/end/default actions will
1273 be called, the relevant one).
1275 package MyApp::Controller::Root;
1276 sub auto : Private { .. }
1280 sub auto : Private { .. }
1282 will both be called when visiting
1284 http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)?
1290 =head3 A word of warning
1292 You can put root actions in your main F<MyApp.pm> file, but this is deprecated,
1293 please put your actions into your Root controller.
1297 A graphical flowchart of how the dispatcher works can be found on the wiki at
1298 L<https://web.archive.org/web/20190919010727/http://dev.catalystframework.org/attachment/wiki/WikiStart/catalyst-flow.png>.
1300 =head2 DRY Controllers with Chained actions
1302 Imagine that you would like the following paths in your application:
1306 =item B<< /cd/<ID>/track/<ID> >>
1308 Displays info on a particular track.
1310 In the case of a multi-volume CD, this is the track sequence.
1312 =item B<< /cd/<ID>/volume/<ID>/track/<ID> >>
1314 Displays info on a track on a specific volume.
1318 Here is some example code, showing how to do this with chained controllers:
1320 package CD::Controller;
1321 use base qw/Catalyst::Controller/;
1323 sub root : Chained('/') PathPart('/cd') CaptureArgs(1) {
1324 my ($self, $c, $cd_id) = @_;
1325 $c->stash->{cd_id} = $cd_id;
1326 $c->stash->{cd} = $self->model('CD')->find_by_id($cd_id);
1329 sub trackinfo : Chained('track') PathPart('') Args(0) RenderView {
1330 my ($self, $c) = @_;
1333 package CD::Controller::ByTrackSeq;
1334 use base qw/CD::Controller/;
1336 sub track : Chained('root') PathPart('track') CaptureArgs(1) {
1337 my ($self, $c, $track_seq) = @_;
1338 $c->stash->{track} = $self->stash->{cd}->find_track_by_seq($track_seq);
1341 package CD::Controller::ByTrackVolNo;
1342 use base qw/CD::Controller/;
1344 sub volume : Chained('root') PathPart('volume') CaptureArgs(1) {
1345 my ($self, $c, $volume) = @_;
1346 $c->stash->{volume} = $volume;
1349 sub track : Chained('volume') PathPart('track') CaptureArgs(1) {
1350 my ($self, $c, $track_no) = @_;
1351 $c->stash->{track} = $self->stash->{cd}->find_track_by_vol_and_track_no(
1352 $c->stash->{volume}, $track_no
1356 Note that adding other actions (i.e. chain endpoints) which operate on a track
1357 is simply a matter of adding a new sub to CD::Controller - no code is duplicated,
1358 even though there are two different methods of looking up a track.
1360 This technique can be expanded as needed to fulfil your requirements - for example,
1361 if you inherit the first action of a chain from a base class, then mixing in a
1362 different base class can be used to duplicate an entire URL hierarchy at a different
1363 point within your application.
1365 =head2 Component-based Subrequests
1367 See L<Catalyst::Plugin::SubRequest>.
1371 =head3 Single file upload with Catalyst
1373 To implement uploads in Catalyst, you need to have a HTML form similar to
1376 <form action="/upload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
1377 <input type="hidden" name="form_submit" value="yes">
1378 <input type="file" name="my_file">
1379 <input type="submit" value="Send">
1382 It's very important not to forget C<enctype="multipart/form-data"> in
1385 Catalyst Controller module 'upload' action:
1387 sub upload : Global {
1388 my ($self, $c) = @_;
1390 if ( $c->request->parameters->{form_submit} eq 'yes' ) {
1392 if ( my $upload = $c->request->upload('my_file') ) {
1394 my $filename = $upload->filename;
1395 my $target = "/tmp/upload/$filename";
1397 unless ( $upload->link_to($target) || $upload->copy_to($target) ) {
1398 die( "Failed to copy '$filename' to '$target': $!" );
1403 $c->stash->{template} = 'file_upload.html';
1406 =head3 Multiple file upload with Catalyst
1408 Code for uploading multiple files from one form needs a few changes:
1410 The form should have this basic structure:
1412 <form action="/upload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
1413 <input type="hidden" name="form_submit" value="yes">
1414 <input type="file" name="file1" size="50"><br>
1415 <input type="file" name="file2" size="50"><br>
1416 <input type="file" name="file3" size="50"><br>
1417 <input type="submit" value="Send">
1420 And in the controller:
1422 sub upload : Local {
1423 my ($self, $c) = @_;
1425 if ( $c->request->parameters->{form_submit} eq 'yes' ) {
1427 for my $field ( $c->req->upload ) {
1429 my $upload = $c->req->upload($field);
1430 my $filename = $upload->filename;
1431 my $target = "/tmp/upload/$filename";
1433 unless ( $upload->link_to($target) || $upload->copy_to($target) ) {
1434 die( "Failed to copy '$filename' to '$target': $!" );
1439 $c->stash->{template} = 'file_upload.html';
1442 C<< for my $field ($c->req->upload) >> loops automatically over all file
1443 input fields and gets input names. After that is basic file saving code,
1444 just like in single file upload.
1446 Notice: C<die>ing might not be what you want to do, when an error
1447 occurs, but it works as an example. A better idea would be to store
1448 error C<$!> in C<< $c->stash->{error} >> and show a custom error template
1449 displaying this message.
1451 For more information about uploads and usable methods look at
1452 L<Catalyst::Request::Upload> and L<Catalyst::Request>.
1454 =head2 Forwarding with arguments
1456 Sometimes you want to pass along arguments when forwarding to another
1457 action. As of version 5.30, arguments can be passed in the call to
1458 C<forward>; in earlier versions, you can manually set the arguments in
1459 the Catalyst Request object:
1461 # version 5.30 and later:
1462 $c->forward('/wherever', [qw/arg1 arg2 arg3/]);
1465 $c->req->args([qw/arg1 arg2 arg3/]);
1466 $c->forward('/wherever');
1468 (See the L<Catalyst::Manual::Intro> Flow_Control section for more
1469 information on passing arguments via C<forward>.)
1471 =head2 Chained dispatch using base classes, and inner packages.
1473 package MyApp::Controller::Base;
1474 use base qw/Catalyst::Controller/;
1476 sub key1 : Chained('/')
1478 =head2 Extending RenderView (formerly DefaultEnd)
1480 The recommended approach for an C<end> action is to use
1481 L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView> (taking the place of
1482 L<Catalyst::Plugin::DefaultEnd>), which does what you usually need.
1483 However there are times when you need to add a bit to it, but don't want
1484 to write your own C<end> action.
1486 You can extend it like this:
1488 To add something to an C<end> action that is called before rendering
1489 (this is likely to be what you want), simply place it in the C<end>
1492 sub end : ActionClass('RenderView') {
1493 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1494 # do stuff here; the RenderView action is called afterwards
1497 To add things to an C<end> action that are called I<after> rendering,
1498 you can set it up like this:
1500 sub render : ActionClass('RenderView') { }
1503 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1504 $c->forward('render');
1509 =head2 Serving static content
1511 Serving static content in Catalyst used to be somewhat tricky; the use
1512 of L<Catalyst::Plugin::Static::Simple> makes everything much easier.
1513 This plugin will automatically serve your static content during development,
1514 but allows you to easily switch to Apache (or other server) in a
1515 production environment.
1517 =head3 Introduction to Static::Simple
1519 Static::Simple is a plugin that will help to serve static content for your
1520 application. By default, it will serve most types of files, excluding some
1521 standard Template Toolkit extensions, out of your B<root> file directory. All
1522 files are served by path, so if F<images/me.jpg> is requested, then
1523 F<root/images/me.jpg> is found and served.
1527 Using the plugin is as simple as setting your use line in MyApp.pm to include:
1529 use Catalyst qw/Static::Simple/;
1531 and already files will be served.
1535 Static content is best served from a single directory within your root
1536 directory. Having many different directories such as F<root/css> and
1537 F<root/images> requires more code to manage, because you must separately
1538 identify each static directory--if you decide to add a F<root/js>
1539 directory, you'll need to change your code to account for it. In
1540 contrast, keeping all static directories as subdirectories of a main
1541 F<root/static> directory makes things much easier to manage. Here's an
1542 example of a typical root directory structure:
1546 root/controller/stuff.tt
1549 root/static/css/main.css
1550 root/static/images/logo.jpg
1551 root/static/js/code.js
1554 All static content lives under F<root/static>, with everything else being
1555 Template Toolkit files.
1561 You may of course want to change the default locations, and make
1562 Static::Simple look somewhere else, this is as easy as:
1567 MyApp->path_to('/'),
1568 '/path/to/my/files',
1573 When you override include_path, it will not automatically append the
1574 normal root path, so you need to add it yourself if you still want
1575 it. These will be searched in order given, and the first matching file
1578 =item Static directories
1580 If you want to force some directories to be only static, you can set
1581 them using paths relative to the root dir, or regular expressions:
1592 =item File extensions
1594 By default, the following extensions are not served (that is, they will
1595 be processed by Catalyst): B<tmpl, tt, tt2, html, xhtml>. This list can
1600 ignore_extensions => [
1601 qw/tmpl tt tt2 html xhtml/
1606 =item Ignoring directories
1608 Entire directories can be ignored. If used with include_path,
1609 directories relative to the include_path dirs will also be ignored:
1611 MyApp->config( static => {
1612 ignore_dirs => [ qw/tmpl css/ ],
1617 =head3 More information
1619 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Static::Simple>
1621 =head3 Serving manually with the Static plugin with HTTP::Daemon (myapp_server.pl)
1623 In some situations you might want to control things more directly,
1624 using L<Catalyst::Plugin::Static>.
1626 In your main application class (MyApp.pm), load the plugin:
1628 use Catalyst qw/-Debug FormValidator Static OtherPlugin/;
1630 You will also need to make sure your end method does I<not> forward
1631 static content to the view, perhaps like this:
1634 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1636 $c->forward( 'MyApp::View::TT' )
1637 unless ( $c->res->body || !$c->stash->{template} );
1640 This code will only forward to the view if a template has been
1641 previously defined by a controller and if there is not already data in
1642 C<< $c->res->body >>.
1644 Next, create a controller to handle requests for the /static path. Use
1645 the Helper to save time. This command will create a stub controller as
1646 F<lib/MyApp/Controller/Static.pm>.
1648 $ script/myapp_create.pl controller Static
1650 Edit the file and add the following methods:
1652 # serve all files under /static as static files
1653 sub default : Path('/static') {
1654 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1656 # Optional, allow the browser to cache the content
1657 $c->res->headers->header( 'Cache-Control' => 'max-age=86400' );
1659 $c->serve_static; # from Catalyst::Plugin::Static
1662 # also handle requests for /favicon.ico
1663 sub favicon : Path('/favicon.ico') {
1664 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1669 You can also define a different icon for the browser to use instead of
1670 favicon.ico by using this in your HTML header:
1672 <link rel="icon" href="/static/myapp.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
1674 =head3 Common problems with the Static plugin
1676 The Static plugin makes use of the C<shared-mime-info> package to
1677 automatically determine MIME types. This package is notoriously
1678 difficult to install, especially on win32 and OS X. For OS X the easiest
1679 path might be to install Fink, then use C<apt-get install
1680 shared-mime-info>. Restart the server, and everything should be fine.
1682 Make sure you are using the latest version (>= 0.16) for best
1683 results. If you are having errors serving CSS files, or if they get
1684 served as text/plain instead of text/css, you may have an outdated
1685 shared-mime-info version. You may also wish to simply use the following
1686 code in your Static controller:
1688 if ($c->req->path =~ /css$/i) {
1689 $c->serve_static( "text/css" );
1694 =head3 Serving Static Files with Apache
1696 When using Apache, you can bypass Catalyst and any Static
1697 plugins/controllers controller by intercepting requests for the
1698 F<root/static> path at the server level. All that is required is to
1699 define a DocumentRoot and add a separate Location block for your static
1700 content. Here is a complete config for this application under mod_perl
1704 use lib qw(/var/www/MyApp/lib);
1709 ServerName myapp.example.com
1710 DocumentRoot /var/www/MyApp/root
1712 SetHandler perl-script
1715 <LocationMatch "/(static|favicon.ico)">
1716 SetHandler default-handler
1720 And here's a simpler example that'll get you started:
1722 Alias /static/ "/my/static/files/"
1723 <Location "/static">
1729 Catalyst makes it easy to employ several different types of caching to
1730 speed up your applications.
1732 =head3 Cache Plugins
1734 There are three wrapper plugins around common CPAN cache modules:
1735 Cache::FastMmap, Cache::FileCache, and Cache::Memcached. These can be
1736 used to cache the result of slow operations.
1738 The Catalyst Advent Calendar uses the FileCache plugin to cache the
1739 rendered XHTML version of the source POD document. This is an ideal
1740 application for a cache because the source document changes
1741 infrequently but may be viewed many times.
1743 use Catalyst qw/Cache::FileCache/;
1748 sub render_pod : Local {
1749 my ( self, $c ) = @_;
1751 # the cache is keyed on the filename and the modification time
1752 # to check for updates to the file.
1753 my $file = $c->path_to( 'root', '2005', '11.pod' );
1754 my $mtime = ( stat $file )->mtime;
1756 my $cached_pod = $c->cache->get("$file $mtime");
1757 if ( !$cached_pod ) {
1758 $cached_pod = do_slow_pod_rendering();
1759 # cache the result for 12 hours
1760 $c->cache->set( "$file $mtime", $cached_pod, '12h' );
1762 $c->stash->{pod} = $cached_pod;
1765 We could actually cache the result forever, but using a value such as 12 hours
1766 allows old entries to be automatically expired when they are no longer needed.
1770 Another method of caching is to cache the entire HTML page. While this is
1771 traditionally handled by a frontend proxy server like Squid, the Catalyst
1772 PageCache plugin makes it trivial to cache the entire output from
1773 frequently-used or slow actions.
1775 Many sites have a busy content-filled front page that might look something
1776 like this. It probably takes a while to process, and will do the exact same
1777 thing for every single user who views the page.
1779 sub front_page : Path('/') {
1780 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1782 $c->forward( 'get_news_articles' );
1783 $c->forward( 'build_lots_of_boxes' );
1784 $c->forward( 'more_slow_stuff' );
1786 $c->stash->{template} = 'index.tt';
1789 We can add the PageCache plugin to speed things up.
1791 use Catalyst qw/Cache::FileCache PageCache/;
1793 sub front_page : Path ('/') {
1794 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
1796 $c->cache_page( 300 );
1798 # same processing as above
1801 Now the entire output of the front page, from <html> to </html>, will be
1802 cached for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, the next request will rebuild the
1803 page and it will be re-cached.
1805 Note that the page cache is keyed on the page URI plus all parameters, so
1806 requests for / and /?foo=bar will result in different cache items. Also,
1807 only GET requests will be cached by the plugin.
1809 You can even get that frontend Squid proxy to help out by enabling HTTP
1810 headers for the cached page.
1814 set_http_headers => 1,
1818 This would now set the following headers so proxies and browsers may cache
1819 the content themselves.
1821 Cache-Control: max-age=($expire_time - time)
1822 Expires: $expire_time
1823 Last-Modified: $cache_created_time
1825 =head3 Template Caching
1827 Template Toolkit provides support for caching compiled versions of your
1828 templates. To enable this in Catalyst, use the following configuration.
1829 TT will cache compiled templates keyed on the file mtime, so changes will
1830 still be automatically detected.
1832 package MyApp::View::TT;
1836 use base 'Catalyst::View::TT';
1838 __PACKAGE__->config(
1839 COMPILE_DIR => '/tmp/template_cache',
1846 See the documentation for each cache plugin for more details and other
1847 available configuration options.
1849 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::FastMmap>
1850 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::FileCache>
1851 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::Memcached>
1852 L<Catalyst::Plugin::PageCache>
1853 L<Template::Manual::Config/Caching and Compiling Options>
1857 Testing is an integral part of the web application development
1858 process. Tests make multi developer teams easier to coordinate, and
1859 they help ensure that there are no nasty surprises after upgrades or
1864 Catalyst provides a convenient way of testing your application during
1865 development and before deployment in a real environment.
1867 L<Catalyst::Test> makes it possible to run the same tests both locally
1868 (without an external daemon) and against a remote server via HTTP.
1872 Let's examine a skeleton application's F<t/> directory:
1874 mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ ls -l t/
1876 -rw-r--r-- 1 chansen chansen 95 18 Dec 20:50 01app.t
1877 -rw-r--r-- 1 chansen chansen 190 18 Dec 20:50 02pod.t
1878 -rw-r--r-- 1 chansen chansen 213 18 Dec 20:50 03podcoverage.t
1884 Verifies that the application loads, compiles, and returns a successful
1889 Verifies that all POD is free from errors. Only executed if the C<TEST_POD>
1890 environment variable is true.
1892 =item F<03podcoverage.t>
1894 Verifies that all methods/functions have POD coverage. Only executed if the
1895 C<TEST_POD> environment variable is true.
1899 =head3 Creating tests
1901 mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ cat t/01app.t | perl -ne 'printf( "%2d %s", $., $_ )'
1902 1 use Test::More tests => 2;
1903 2 BEGIN { use_ok( Catalyst::Test, 'MyApp' ) }
1905 4 ok( request('/')->is_success );
1907 The first line declares how many tests we are going to run, in this case
1908 two. The second line tests and loads our application in test mode. The
1909 fourth line verifies that our application returns a successful response.
1911 L<Catalyst::Test> exports two functions, C<request> and C<get>. Each can
1912 take three different arguments:
1916 =item A string which is a relative or absolute URI.
1918 request('/my/path');
1919 request('http://www.host.com/my/path');
1921 =item An instance of L<URI>.
1923 request( URI->new('http://www.host.com/my/path') );
1925 =item An instance of L<HTTP::Request>.
1927 request( HTTP::Request->new( GET => 'http://www.host.com/my/path') );
1931 C<request> returns an instance of L<HTTP::Response> and C<get> returns the
1932 content (body) of the response.
1934 =head3 Running tests locally
1936 mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib/ t/
1937 t/01app............ok
1938 t/02pod............ok
1939 t/03podcoverage....ok
1940 All tests successful.
1941 Files=3, Tests=4, 2 wallclock secs ( 1.60 cusr + 0.36 csys = 1.96 CPU)
1943 C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0> ensures that debugging is off; if it's enabled you
1944 will see debug logs between tests.
1946 C<TEST_POD=1> enables POD checking and coverage.
1948 C<prove> A command-line tool that makes it easy to run tests. You can
1949 find out more about it from the links below.
1951 =head3 Running tests remotely
1953 mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ CATALYST_SERVER=http://localhost:3000/ prove --lib lib/ t/01app.t
1955 All tests successful.
1956 Files=1, Tests=2, 0 wallclock secs ( 0.40 cusr + 0.01 csys = 0.41 CPU)
1958 C<CATALYST_SERVER=http://localhost:3000/> is the absolute deployment URI of
1959 your application. In C<CGI> or C<FastCGI> it should be the host and path
1962 =head3 L<Test::WWW::Mechanize> and Catalyst
1964 Be sure to check out L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>. It makes it easy to
1965 test HTML, forms and links. A short example of usage:
1967 use Test::More tests => 6;
1968 BEGIN { use_ok( Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst, 'MyApp' ) }
1970 my $mech = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
1971 $mech->get_ok("http://localhost/", 'Got index page');
1972 $mech->title_like( qr/^MyApp on Catalyst/, 'Got right index title' );
1973 ok( $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/^Wiki/i ), 'Found link to Wiki' );
1974 ok( $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/^Mailing-List/i ), 'Found link to Mailing-List' );
1975 ok( $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/^IRC channel/i ), 'Found link to IRC channel' );
1977 =head3 Further Reading
1981 =item * L<Catalyst::Test>
1983 =item * L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>
1985 =item * L<Test::WWW::Mechanize>
1987 =item * L<WWW::Mechanize>
1989 =item * L<LWP::UserAgent>
1991 =item * L<HTML::Form>
1993 =item * L<HTTP::Message>
1995 =item * L<HTTP::Request>
1997 =item * L<HTTP::Request::Common>
1999 =item * L<HTTP::Response>
2001 =item * L<HTTP::Status>
2005 =item * L<Test::More>
2007 =item * L<Test::Pod>
2009 =item * L<Test::Pod::Coverage>
2011 =item * L<prove> (L<Test::Harness>)
2015 =head3 More Information
2019 =item * L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::Roles>
2021 =item * L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::ACL>
2027 Catalyst Contributors, see Catalyst.pm
2031 This library is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under
2032 the same terms as Perl itself.