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.
+Any unimplemented HTTP methods will be met with a "405 Method Not Allowed"
+response, automatically containing the proper list of available methods. You
+can override this behavior through implementing a custom
+C<thing_not_implemented> method.
+
+If you do not provide an OPTIONS handler, we will respond to any OPTIONS
+requests with a "200 OK", populating the Allowed header automatically.
+
+Any data included in C<< $c->stash->{'rest'} >> will be serialized for you.
+The serialization format will be selected based on the content-type
+of the incoming request. It is probably easier to use the L<STATUS HELPERS>,
+which are described below.
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.
+If we do not have (or cannot run) a serializer for a given content-type, a 415
+"Unsupported Media Type" error is generated.
To make your Controller RESTful, simply have it
=head1 SERIALIZATION
Catalyst::Controller::REST will automatically serialize your
-responses. The currently implemented serialization formats are:
+responses, and deserialize any POST, PUT or OPTIONS requests. It evaluates
+which serializer to use by mapping a content-type to a Serialization module.
+We select the content-type based on:
+
+=over 2
+
+=item B<The Content-Type Header>
+
+If the incoming HTTP Request had a Content-Type header set, we will use it.
+
+=item B<The content-type Query Parameter>
+
+If this is a GET request, you can supply a content-type query parameter.
+
+=item B<Evaluating the Accept Header>
+
+Finally, if the client provided an Accept header, we will evaluate
+it and use the best-ranked choice.
+
+=back
+
+=head1 AVAILABLE SERIALIZERS
+
+A given serialization mechanism is only available if you have the underlying
+modules installed. For example, you can't use XML::Simple if it's not already
+installed.
+
+In addition, each serializer has it's quirks in terms of what sorts of data
+structures it will properly handle. L<Catalyst::Controller::REST> makes
+no attempt to svae you from yourself in this regard. :)
+
+=over 2
+
+=item C<text/x-yaml> => C<YAML::Syck>
+
+Returns YAML generated by L<YAML::Syck>.
+
+=item C<text/html> => C<YAML::HTML>
+
+This uses L<YAML::Syck> and L<URI::Find> to generate YAML with all URLs turned
+to hyperlinks. Only useable for Serialization.
+
+=item C<text/x-json> => C<JSON::Syck>
+
+Uses L<JSON::Syck> to generate JSON output
+
+=item C<text/x-data-dumper> => C<Data::Serializer>
+
+Uses the L<Data::Serializer> module to generate L<Data::Dumper> output.
+
+=item C<text/x-data-denter> => C<Data::Serializer>
+
+Uses the L<Data::Serializer> module to generate L<Data::Denter> output.
+
+=item C<text/x-data-taxi> => C<Data::Serializer>
+
+Uses the L<Data::Serializer> module to generate L<Data::Taxi> output.
+
+=item C<application/x-storable> => C<Data::Serializer>
+
+Uses the L<Data::Serializer> module to generate L<Storable> output.
+
+=item C<application/x-freezethaw> => C<Data::Serializer>
+
+Uses the L<Data::Serializer> module to generate L<FreezeThaw> output.
+
+=item C<text/x-config-general> => C<Data::Serializer>
+
+Uses the L<Data::Serializer> module to generate L<Config::General> output.
+
+=item C<text/x-php-serialization> => C<Data::Serializer>
+
+Uses the L<Data::Serializer> module to generate L<PHP::Serialization> output.
+
+=item C<text/xml> => C<XML::Simple>
+
+Uses L<XML::Simple> to generate XML output. This is probably not suitable
+for any real heavy XML work. Due to L<XML::Simple>s requirement that the data
+you serialize be a HASHREF, we transform outgoing data to be in the form of:
+
+ { data => $yourdata }
+
+=item L<View>
+
+Uses a regular Catalyst view. For example, if you wanted to have your
+C<text/html> and C<text/xml> views rendered by TT:
+
+ 'text/html' => [ 'View', 'TT' ],
+ 'text/xml' => [ 'View', 'XML' ],
+
+Will do the trick nicely.
+
+=back
- text/x-yaml -> YAML::Syck
- text/x-data-dumper -> Data::Serializer
+By default, L<Catalyst::Controller::REST> will return a C<415 Unsupported Media Type>
+response if an attempt to use an unsupported content-type is made. You
+can ensure that something is always returned by setting the C<default>
+config option:
-By default, L<Catalyst::Controller::REST> will use YAML as
-the serialization format.
+ __PACKAGE__->config->{'default'} = 'text/x-yaml';
+
+Would make it always fall back to the serializer plugin defined for text/x-yaml.
Implementing new Serialization formats is easy! Contributions
are most welcome! See L<Catalyst::Action::Serialize> and
L<Catalyst::Action::Deserialize> for more information.
+=head1 CUSTOM SERIALIZERS
+
+If you would like to implement a custom serializer, you should create two new
+modules in the L<Catalyst::Action::Serialize> and
+L<Catalyst::Action::Deserialize> namespace. Then assign your new class
+to the content-type's you want, and you're done.
+
=head1 STATUS HELPERS
+Since so much of REST is in using HTTP, we provide these Status Helpers.
+Using them will ensure that you are responding with the proper codes,
+headers, and entities.
+
These helpers try and conform to the HTTP 1.1 Specification. You can
-refer to it at: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.txt.
+refer to it at: L<http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.txt>.
These routines are all implemented as regular subroutines, and as
such require you pass the current context ($c) as the first argument.
use strict;
use warnings;
use base 'Catalyst::Controller';
-use Params::Validate qw(:all);
+use Params::Validate qw(SCALAR OBJECT);
__PACKAGE__->mk_accessors(qw(serialize));
__PACKAGE__->config(
- serialize => {
- 'default' => 'YAML',
'stash_key' => 'rest',
'map' => {
+ 'text/html' => 'YAML::HTML',
+ 'text/xml' => 'XML::Simple',
'text/x-yaml' => 'YAML',
+ 'text/x-json' => 'JSON',
'text/x-data-dumper' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Dumper' ],
+ 'text/x-data-denter' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Denter' ],
+ 'text/x-data-taxi' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Taxi' ],
+ 'application/x-storable' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Storable' ],
+ 'application/x-freezethaw' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'FreezeThaw' ],
+ 'text/x-config-general' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Config::General' ],
+ 'text/x-php-serialization' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'PHP::Serialization' ],
},
- }
);
+sub begin : ActionClass('Deserialize') {
+}
-sub begin : ActionClass('Deserialize') {}
-
-sub end : ActionClass('Serialize') { }
+sub end : ActionClass('Serialize') {
+}
=item status_ok
sub status_ok {
my $self = shift;
- my $c = shift;
- my %p = validate(@_,
- {
- entity => 1,
- },
- );
+ my $c = shift;
+ my %p = Params::Validate::validate( @_, { entity => 1, }, );
$c->response->status(200);
- $self->_set_entity($c, $p{'entity'});
+ $self->_set_entity( $c, $p{'entity'} );
return 1;
}
sub status_created {
my $self = shift;
- my $c = shift;
- my %p = validate(@_,
+ my $c = shift;
+ my %p = Params::Validate::validate(
+ @_,
{
- location => { type => SCALAR | OBJECT },
- entity => { optional => 1 },
+ location => { type => SCALAR | OBJECT },
+ entity => { optional => 1 },
},
);
my $location;
- if (ref($p{'location'})) {
+ if ( ref( $p{'location'} ) ) {
$location = $p{'location'}->as_string;
} else {
$location = $p{'location'};
}
$c->response->status(201);
- $c->response->header('Location' => $location);
- $self->_set_entity($c, $p{'entity'});
+ $c->response->header( 'Location' => $location );
+ $self->_set_entity( $c, $p{'entity'} );
return 1;
}
);
=cut
+
sub status_accepted {
my $self = shift;
- my $c = shift;
- my %p = validate(@_,
- {
- entity => 1,
- },
- );
+ my $c = shift;
+ my %p = Params::Validate::validate( @_, { entity => 1, }, );
$c->response->status(202);
- $self->_set_entity($c, $p{'entity'});
+ $self->_set_entity( $c, $p{'entity'} );
return 1;
}
);
=cut
+
sub status_bad_request {
my $self = shift;
- my $c = shift;
- my %p = validate(@_,
- {
- message => { type => SCALAR },
- },
- );
+ my $c = shift;
+ my %p = Params::Validate::validate( @_, { message => { type => SCALAR }, }, );
$c->response->status(400);
- $c->log->debug("Status Bad Request: " . $p{'message'});
- $self->_set_entity($c, { error => $p{'message'} });
+ $c->log->debug( "Status Bad Request: " . $p{'message'} ) if $c->debug;
+ $self->_set_entity( $c, { error => $p{'message'} } );
return 1;
}
);
=cut
+
sub status_not_found {
my $self = shift;
- my $c = shift;
- my %p = validate(@_,
- {
- message => { type => SCALAR },
- },
- );
+ my $c = shift;
+ my %p = Params::Validate::validate( @_, { message => { type => SCALAR }, }, );
$c->response->status(404);
- $c->log->debug("Status Not Found: " . $p{'message'});
- $self->_set_entity($c, { error => $p{'message'} });
+ $c->log->debug( "Status Not Found: " . $p{'message'} ) if $c->debug;
+ $self->_set_entity( $c, { error => $p{'message'} } );
return 1;
}
sub _set_entity {
- my $self = shift;
- my $c = shift;
+ my $self = shift;
+ my $c = shift;
my $entity = shift;
- if (defined($entity)) {
- $c->stash->{$self->config->{'serialize'}->{'stash_key'}} = $entity;
+ if ( defined($entity) ) {
+ $c->stash->{ $self->{'stash_key'} } = $entity;
}
return 1;
}
If you want to construct your responses yourself, all you need to
do is put the object you want serialized in $c->stash->{'rest'}.
+=head1 IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
+
+This Controller ties together L<Catalyst::Action::REST>,
+L<Catalyst::Action::Serialize> and L<Catalyst::Action::Deserialize>. It should be suitable for most applications. You should be aware that it:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item Configures the Serialization Actions
+
+This class provides a default configuration for Serialization. It is currently:
+
+ __PACKAGE__->config(
+ serialize => {
+ 'stash_key' => 'rest',
+ 'map' => {
+ 'text/html' => 'YAML::HTML',
+ 'text/xml' => 'XML::Simple',
+ 'text/x-yaml' => 'YAML',
+ 'text/x-json' => 'JSON',
+ 'text/x-data-dumper' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Dumper' ],
+ 'text/x-data-denter' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Denter' ],
+ 'text/x-data-taxi' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Taxi' ],
+ 'application/x-storable' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Storable'
+],
+ 'application/x-freezethaw' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'FreezeThaw'
+],
+ 'text/x-config-general' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Config::General' ]
+,
+ 'text/x-php-serialization' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'PHP::Serialization' ],
+ },
+ }
+ );
+
+You can read the full set of options for this configuration block in
+L<Catalyst::Action::Serialize>.
+
+=item Sets a C<begin> and C<end> method for you
+
+The C<begin> method uses L<Catalyst::Action::Deserialize>. The C<end>
+method uses L<Catalyst::Action::Serialize>. If you want to override
+either behavior, simply implement your own C<begin> and C<end> actions
+and use NEXT:
+
+ my Foo::Controller::Monkey;
+ use base qw(Catalyst::Controller::REST);
+
+ sub begin :Private {
+ my ($self, $c) = @_;
+ ... do things before Deserializing ...
+ $self->NEXT::begin($c);
+ ... do things after Deserializing ...
+ }
+
+ sub end :Private {
+ my ($self, $c) = @_;
+ ... do things before Serializing ...
+ $self->NEXT::end($c);
+ ... do things after Serializing ...
+ }
+
+=head1 A MILD WARNING
+
+I have code in production using L<Catalyst::Controller::REST>. That said,
+it is still under development, and it's possible that things may change
+between releases. I promise to not break things unneccesarily. :)
+
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<Catalyst::Action::REST>, L<Catalyst::Action::Serialize>,