3 Reaction::Manual::Overview - Orientation in Reaction
7 This document aims at describing the modular parts of L<Reaction> and explain
8 how they are tied together.
10 =head1 WHAT IS REACTION
12 Reaction is a L<Catalyst> extension providing you with:
18 Model mutations abstracted into Action objects.
22 Reflection to generate interface models using the Action objects from a L<DBIx::Class>
27 An abstract UI expression system based on L<view|Reaction::UI::View::TT>,
28 L<skin|Reaction::UI::Skin>, L<rendering context|Reaction::UI::RenderingContext>,
29 L<widget|Reaction::UI::Widget> and L<layout set|Reaction::UI::LayoutSet>.
33 Stylable via skins. Parts of the skins can be extended and flexibly from large
34 down to very small parts.
38 Full separation of interface rendering structure and templating, making re-usable
39 extensions even easier.
45 A Reaction application is really a L<Catalyst> application under the hood. Reaction
46 uses reflection to build more flexible and re-usable Catalyst components.
48 The main application module (usually called C<MyApp> or C<MyApp.pm> in documentation)
49 looks exactly like a typical Catalyst application module. Reaction's modular architecture
50 allows it therefor to be integrated into other Catalyst applications, or to integrate
51 other Catalyst extensions and components itself.
55 Usually in Catalyst applications the controller's actions will take their arguments,
56 maybe modify them or clean them up. After that they are processed by the model and then
57 stashed away to be later used by the view.
59 Reactions approach is a bit different. The cleanup and validation of values, and the
60 involvement of the model are abstracted into a L<Reaction::InterfaceModel::Action>
61 subclass. Examples for such actions would be C<Create>, C<Update> or C<Delete> in a
64 Controllers that use Reaction have to inherit from L<Reaction::UI::Controller> or a
65 subclass of it. Some other useful controller base classes are:
71 L<Reaction::UI::Controller::Root> should be the base for the root controller to
72 every chain of Reaction actions. It will provide a C<base> action you can chain
73 to which will make sure the L<window viewport|/VIEWPORTS> and
74 L<focus stack|/FOCUS STACK> are set up.
78 L<Reaction::UI::Controller::Collection> to ease the creation of components that act
79 on collections as their model (database results for example). It provides actions
80 to list and view the collection items.
84 L<Reaction::UI::Controller::Collection::CRUD> is a subclass of the above and provides
85 additional C<create>, C<update>, C<delete> and C<delete_all> actions.
91 Viewports represent the components that render your page when combined.
93 The C<begin> action in L<Reaction::Controller::Root> creates a new L<Reaction::UI::Window>
94 object and stores it as C<window> in the stash. The L<focus stack|/FOCUSSTACKS> of that
95 window object is used as the base focus stack for the request.
97 You can add a new inner viewport to the focus stack with the C<push_viewport> method
98 available on your controller:
100 $controller->push_viewport($viewport_class, %viewport_args);
102 This will add a new instance of C<$viewport_class> to the current focus stack using
103 C<%viewport_args> as arguments. For more information on the usage and other options
104 (for example the C<next_action> option, which redirects afterwards) see
105 L<Reaction::UI::FocusStack> and L<Reaction::UI::ViewPort>.
107 You can use the L<Reaction::UI::ViewPort::Action> viewport to build viewports
108 that perform typical form actions like OK, Apply and Close.
112 Viewports are pushed onto the current focus stack. The C<end> action in
113 L<Reaction::Controller::Root> will C<flush> the L<Reaction::UI::Window>
114 object stored as C<window> in the stash.
118 The domain models should be completely decoupled from the application and it's business
119 logic. Normally, you need to decide whether to put your business logic in your controller
120 or in your model. Reaction solves this problem by using L<interface models|/INTERFACE MODELS>
121 as a separation between the two.
123 If you want your domain model to be reflectable (L<DBIx::Class> for example) you will have
124 to use L<Moose> to add attribute metadata to those classes.
126 =head1 INTERFACE MODELS
128 The interface models contain your business logic. That is, the application specific logic
129 representing the model your application will use.
131 An interface model consists of action classes subclassing L<Reaction::InterfaceModel::Action>.
132 These instances will have both the request context and the target model available and can do
133 their work in a C<do_apply> method.
135 To allow your own models to be tied in to reflective controllers like
136 L<Reaction::Controller::Collection>, you can subclass L<Reaction::InterfaceModel::Object>.
137 That will provide you with a way to let the viewports introspect the actions that your
138 interface model defines for this model.
140 An example of this would be:
142 - MyApp::Controller::Foo is a Reaction::Controller::Collection::CRUD
143 for MyApp::Model::Foo
144 - The model_name config setting is 'Model::Foo'
145 - User calls action MyApp::Controller::Foo->delete_old
146 - The 'delete_old' controller action will call
147 $self->basic_model_action($c, \%vp_args)
148 - The 'target' option in %vp_args will be asked for an action that
149 corresponds with the 'delete_old' controller action
150 - An instance of MyApp::Model::Foo::Action::DeleteOld is
152 - This is passed as 'model' to a new instance of
153 Reaction::UI::ViewPort::Action which is then pushed
154 onto the focus stack.
156 Form processing as provided by L<Reaction::UI::ViewPort::Action> is a very good
157 example of Reaction's usefulness; Instead of creating a new dialog for every
158 form using myriads of helper functions, you provide a controller baseclass
159 rendering the dialog by introspecting an interface model object with fields and
162 Then you just need to create a new controller and interface model for your new
163 dialog and it just works.
165 If your model is a L<DBIx::Class::Schema> and contains L<Moose> metadata, you
166 can let L<Reaction::InterfaceModel::Reflector::DBIC> set up your interface
167 model objects and actions.
169 =head1 SKINS, LAYOUTS AND WIDGETS
171 When you push a viewport onto the focus stack like this:
173 $controller->push_viewport('Reaction::UI::ViewPort::SiteLayout');
175 Reaction will look for a layout file named
176 C<$search_path/skin/$skin_name/layout/site_layout.tt>. If it can't find it,
177 it will also look in the base skin and search paths.
179 You can also provide a specific layout:
181 $controller->push_viewport(
182 'Reaction::UI::ViewPort::SiteLayout',
183 layout => 'my_site_layout',
186 A new instance of L<Reaction::UI::LayoutSet> will be created using the layout
187 file. It is then used to determine the class of widget to create. The widget
188 contains the Perl code counterpart of the templating part in the layout file.
190 The widget is either determined by the C<=widget> template directive in the
191 layout file or by the L<Reaction::UI::Skin> object created to represent the
194 The details of skins or layouts are documented in L<Reaction::Manual::Templates>.
200 =item * L<Reaction::Manual>
202 =item * L<Reaction::Manual::Intro>
208 See L<Reaction::Class> for authors.
212 See L<Reaction::Class> for the license.