NAME
- Catalyst::Controller::REST - A RESTful controller
+ Catalyst::Action::REST - Automated REST Method Dispatching
SYNOPSIS
- package Foo::Controller::Bar;
-
- use base 'Catalyst::Controller::REST';
-
- sub thing : Local : ActionClass('REST') { }
-
- # Answer GET requests to "thing"
- sub thing_GET {
- my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
-
- # Return a 200 OK, with the data in entity
- # serialized in the body
- $self->status_ok(
- $c,
- entity => {
- some => 'data',
- foo => 'is real bar-y',
- },
- );
+ sub foo :Local :ActionClass('REST') {
+ ... do setup for HTTP method specific handlers ...
}
- # Answer PUT requests to "thing"
- sub thing_PUT {
- .. some action ..
+ sub foo_GET {
+ ... do something for GET requests ...
}
-DESCRIPTION
- Catalyst::Controller::REST implements a mechanism for building RESTful
- services in Catalyst. It does this by extending the normal Catalyst
- dispatch mechanism to allow for different subroutines to be called based
- on the HTTP Method requested, while also transparently handling all the
- serialization/deserialization for you.
-
- This is probably best served by an example. In the above controller, we
- have declared a Local Catalyst action on "sub thing", and have used the
- ActionClass('REST').
-
- Below, we have declared "thing_GET" and "thing_PUT". Any GET requests to
- thing will be dispatched to "thing_GET", while any PUT requests will be
- dispatched to "thing_PUT".
-
- Any unimplemented HTTP METHODS will be met with a "405 Method Not
- Allowed" response, automatically containing the proper list of available
- methods.
-
- The HTTP POST, PUT, and OPTIONS methods will all automatically
- deserialize the contents of $c->request->body based on the requests
- content-type header. A list of understood serialization formats is
- below.
-
- Also included in this class are several helper methods, which will
- automatically handle setting up proper response objects for you.
-
- To make your Controller RESTful, simply have it
-
- use base 'Catalyst::Controller::REST';
-
-SERIALIZATION
- Catalyst::Controller::REST will automatically serialize your responses.
- The currently implemented serialization formats are:
-
- text/x-yaml -> YAML::Syck
- text/x-data-dumper -> Data::Serializer
-
- By default, Catalyst::Controller::REST will use YAML as the
- serialization format.
+ # alternatively use an Action
+ sub foo_PUT : Action {
+ ... do something for PUT requests ...
+ }
- Implementing new Serialization formats is easy! Contributions are most
- welcome! See Catalyst::Action::Serialize and
- Catalyst::Action::Deserialize for more information.
+DESCRIPTION
+ This Action handles doing automatic method dispatching for REST
+ requests. It takes a normal Catalyst action, and changes the dispatch to
+ append an underscore and method name. First it will try dispatching to
+ an action with the generated name, and failing that it will try to
+ dispatch to a regular method.
-STATUS HELPERS
- These helpers try and conform to the HTTP 1.1 Specification. You can
- refer to it at: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.txt. These
- routines are all implemented as regular subroutines, and as such require
- you pass the current context ($c) as the first argument.
+ For example, in the synopsis above, calling GET on "/foo" would result
+ in the foo_GET method being dispatched.
- status_ok
- Returns a "200 OK" response. Takes an "entity" to serialize.
+ If a method is requested that is not implemented, this action will
+ return a status 405 (Method Not Found). It will populate the "Allow"
+ header with the list of implemented request methods. You can override
+ this behavior by implementing a custom 405 handler like so:
- Example:
+ sub foo_not_implemented {
+ ... handle not implemented methods ...
+ }
- $self->status_ok(
- $c,
- entity => {
- radiohead => "Is a good band!",
- }
- );
+ If you do not provide an _OPTIONS subroutine, we will automatically
+ respond with a 200 OK. The "Allow" header will be populated with the
+ list of implemented request methods.
- status_created
- Returns a "201 CREATED" response. Takes an "entity" to serialize,
- and a "location" where the created object can be found.
+ It is likely that you really want to look at Catalyst::Controller::REST,
+ which brings this class together with automatic Serialization of
+ requests and responses.
- Example:
+ When you use this module, it adds the Catalyst::TraitFor::Request::REST
+ role to your request class.
- $self->status_created(
- $c,
- location => $c->req->uri->as_string,
- entity => {
- radiohead => "Is a good band!",
- }
- );
+METHODS
+ dispatch
+ This method overrides the default dispatch mechanism to the
+ re-dispatching mechanism described above.
- In the above example, we use the requested URI as our location. This
- is probably what you want for most PUT requests.
+SEE ALSO
+ You likely want to look at Catalyst::Controller::REST, which implements
+ a sensible set of defaults for a controller doing REST.
- status_accepted
- Returns a "202 ACCEPTED" response. Takes an "entity" to serialize.
+ This class automatically adds the Catalyst::TraitFor::Request::REST role
+ to your request class. If you're writing a web application which
+ provides RESTful responses and still needs to accommodate web browsers,
+ you may prefer to use Catalyst::TraitFor::Request::REST::ForBrowsers
+ instead.
- Example:
+ Catalyst::Action::Serialize, Catalyst::Action::Deserialize
- $self->status_accepted(
- $c,
- entity => {
- status => "queued",
- }
- );
+TROUBLESHOOTING
+ Q: I'm getting a "415 Unsupported Media Type" error. What gives?!
+ A: Most likely, you haven't set Content-type equal to
+ "application/json", or one of the accepted return formats. You can
+ do this by setting it in your query accepted return formats. You can
+ do this by setting it in your query string thusly:
+ "?content-type=application%2Fjson (where %2F == / uri escaped)."
- status_bad_request
- Returns a "400 BAD REQUEST" response. Takes a "message" argument as
- a scalar, which will become the value of "error" in the serialized
- response.
+ NOTE Apache will refuse %2F unless configured otherwise. Make sure
+ "AllowEncodedSlashes On" is in your httpd.conf file in order for
+ this to run smoothly.
- Example:
+AUTHOR
+ Adam Jacob <adam@stalecoffee.org>, with lots of help from mst and
+ jrockway
- $self->status_bad_request(
- $c,
- entity => {
- message => "Cannot do what you have asked!",
- }
- );
+ Marchex, Inc. paid me while I developed this module.
+ (<http://www.marchex.com>)
- status_not_found
- Returns a "404 NOT FOUND" response. Takes a "message" argument as a
- scalar, which will become the value of "error" in the serialized
- response.
+CONTRIBUTORS
+ Tomas Doran (t0m) <bobtfish@bobtfish.net>
- Example:
+ John Goulah
- $self->status_not_found(
- $c,
- entity => {
- message => "Cannot find what you were looking for!",
- }
- );
+ Christopher Laco
-MANUAL RESPONSES
- If you want to construct your responses yourself, all you need to do is
- put the object you want serialized in $c->stash->{'rest'}.
+ Daisuke Maki <daisuke@endeworks.jp>
-SEE ALSO
- Catalyst::Action::REST, Catalyst::Action::Serialize,
- Catalyst::Action::Deserialize
+ Hans Dieter Pearcey
- For help with REST in general:
+ Brian Phillips <bphillips@cpan.org>
- The HTTP 1.1 Spec is required reading.
- http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.txt
+ Dave Rolsky <autarch@urth.org>
- Wikipedia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer
+ Luke Saunders
- The REST Wiki: http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?FrontPage
+ Arthur Axel "fREW" Schmidt <frioux@gmail.com>
-AUTHOR
- Adam Jacob <adam@stalecoffee.org>, with lots of help from mst and
- jrockway
+ J. Shirley <jshirley@gmail.com>
- Marchex, Inc. paid me while I developed this module.
- (http://www.marchex.com)
+COPYRIGHT
+ Copyright (c) 2006-2011 the above named AUTHOR and CONTRIBUTORS
LICENSE
You may distribute this code under the same terms as Perl itself.