=head1 Basics
These recipes cover some basic stuff that is worth knowing for
-catalyst developers.
+Catalyst developers.
=head2 Delivering a Custom Error Page
if ( scalar @{ $c->error } ) {
$c->stash->{errors} = $c->error;
+ for my $error ( @{ $c->error } ) {
+ $c->log->error($error);
+ }
$c->stash->{template} = 'errors.tt';
$c->forward('MyApp::View::TT');
- $c->error(0);
+ $c->clear_errors;
}
return 1 if $c->response->status =~ /^3\d\d$/;
=head3 EXAMPLE
- use parent qw/Catalyst/;
+ package MyApp;
+ use Moose;
+ use namespace::autoclean;
+
use Catalyst qw/
Session
Session::Store::FastMmap
Session::State::Cookie
/;
+ extends 'Catalyst';
+ __PACKAGE__->setup;
-
+ package MyApp::Controller::Foo;
+ use Moose;
+ use namespace::autoclean;
+ BEGIN { extends 'Catalyst::Controller' };
## Write data into the session
sub add_item : Local {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
- my $item_id = $c->req->param("item");
+ my $item_id = $c->req->params->{item};
push @{ $c->session->{items} }, $item_id;
# configure base package
__PACKAGE__->config( name => MyApp );
# configure authentication
- __PACKAGE__->config->{authentication} = {
- user_class => 'MyApp::Model::MyDB::Customer',
- ...
- };
+ __PACKAGE__->config(
+ 'Plugin::Authentication' => {
+ user_class => 'MyApp::Model::MyDB::Customer',
+ ...
+ },
+ _;
# configure sessions
- __PACKAGE__->config->{session} = {
- expires => 3600,
- ...
- };
+ __PACKAGE__->config(
+ session => {
+ expires => 3600,
+ ...
+ },
+ );
# configure email sending
- __PACKAGE__->config->{email} = [qw/SMTP localhost/];
+ __PACKAGE__->config( email => [qw/SMTP localhost/] );
+
+L<Catalyst> explains precedence of multiple sources for configuration
+values, how to access the values in your components, and many 'base'
+config variables used internally.
See also L<Config::General|Config::General>.
=head1 Skipping your VCS's directories
-Catalyst uses Module::Pluggable to load Models, Views and Controllers.
+Catalyst uses Module::Pluggable to load Models, Views, and Controllers.
Module::Pluggable will scan through all directories and load modules
it finds. Sometimes you might want to skip some of these directories,
for example when your version control system makes a subdirectory with
source control systems. Here is the configuration you need to add
their directories to the list to skip.
-You can make catalyst skip these directories using the Catalyst config:
+You can make Catalyst skip these directories using the Catalyst config:
# Configure the application
__PACKAGE__->config(
=head1 Users and Access Control
-Most multiuser, and some single user web applications require that
+Most multiuser, and some single-user web applications require that
users identify themselves, and the application is often required to
define those roles. The recipes below describe some ways of doing
this.
This is extensively covered in other documentation; see in particular
L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication> and the Authentication chapter
-of the Tutorial at L<Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authorization>.
+of the Tutorial at L<Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::06_Authorization>.
=head2 Pass-through login (and other actions)
}
}
-
-=head2 Role-based Authorization
-
-For more advanced access control, you may want to consider using role-based
-authorization. This means you can assign different roles to each user, e.g.
-"user", "admin", etc.
-
-The C<login> and C<logout> methods and view template are exactly the same as
-in the previous example.
-
-The L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::Roles> plugin is required when
-implementing roles:
-
- use parent qw/Catalyst/;
- use Catalyst qw/
- Authentication
- Authentication::Credential::Password
- Authentication::Store::Htpasswd
- Authorization::Roles/;
-
-Roles are implemented automatically when using
-L<Catalyst::Authentication::Store::Htpasswd>:
-
- # no additional role configuration required
- __PACKAGE__->config->{authentication}{htpasswd} = "passwdfile";
-
-Or can be set up manually when using L<Catalyst::Authentication::Store::DBIC>:
-
- # Authorization using a many-to-many role relationship
- __PACKAGE__->config->{authorization}{dbic} = {
- 'role_class' => 'My::Model::DBIC::Role',
- 'role_field' => 'name',
- 'user_role_user_field' => 'user',
-
- # DBIx::Class only (omit if using Class::DBI)
- 'role_rel' => 'user_role',
-
- # Class::DBI only, (omit if using DBIx::Class)
- 'user_role_class' => 'My::Model::CDBI::UserRole'
- 'user_role_role_field' => 'role',
- };
-
-To restrict access to any action, you can use the C<check_user_roles> method:
-
- sub restricted : Local {
- my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
-
- $c->detach("unauthorized")
- unless $c->check_user_roles( "admin" );
-
- # do something restricted here
- }
-
-You can also use the C<assert_user_roles> method. This just gives an
-error if the current user does not have one of the required roles:
-
- sub also_restricted : Global {
- my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
- $c->assert_user_roles( qw/ user admin / );
- }
-
=head2 Authentication/Authorization
This is done in several steps:
=item Authorization
Making sure the user only accesses functions you want them to
-access. This is done by checking the verified users data against your
+access. This is done by checking the verified user's data against your
internal list of groups, or allowed persons for the current page.
=back
A Storage backend contains the actual data representing the users. It
is queried by the credential verifiers. Updating the store is not done
-within this system, you will need to do it yourself.
+within this system; you will need to do it yourself.
Examples:
- DBIC - Storage using a database.
+ DBIC - Storage using a database via DBIx::Class.
Minimal - Storage using a simple hash (for testing).
=head3 User objects
A User object is created by either the storage backend or the
-credential verifier, and filled with the retrieved user information.
+credential verifier, and is filled with the retrieved user information.
Examples:
=head3 ACL authorization
ACL stands for Access Control List. The ACL plugin allows you to
-regulate access on a path by path basis, by listing which users, or
+regulate access on a path-by-path basis, by listing which users, or
roles, have access to which paths.
=head3 Roles authorization
=head3 Logging in
When you have chosen your modules, all you need to do is call the C<<
-$c->login >> method. If called with no parameters, it will try to find
+$c->authenticate >> method. If called with no parameters, it will try to find
suitable parameters, such as B<username> and B<password>, or you can
pass it these values.
=head3 Checking roles
-Role checking is done by using the C<< $c->check_user_roles >> method,
-this will check using the currently logged in user (via C<< $c->user
+Role checking is done by using the C<< $c->check_user_roles >> method.
+This will check using the currently logged-in user (via C<< $c->user
>>). You pass it the name of a role to check, and it returns true if
the user is a member.
=head3 EXAMPLE
- use parent qw/Catalyst/;
- use Catalyst qw/Authentication
- Authentication::Credential::Password
- Authentication::Store::Htpasswd
- Authorization::Roles/;
+ package MyApp;
+ use Moose;
+ use namespace::autoclean;
+ extends qw/Catalyst/;
+ use Catalyst qw/
+ Authentication
+ Authorization::Roles
+ /;
+
+ __PACKAGE__->config(
+ authentication => {
+ default_realm => 'test',
+ realms => {
+ test => {
+ credential => {
+ class => 'Password',
+ password_field => 'password',
+ password_type => 'self_check',
+ },
+ store => {
+ class => 'Htpasswd',
+ file => 'htpasswd',
+ },
+ },
+ },
+ },
+ );
+
+ package MyApp::Controller::Root;
+ use Moose;
+ use namespace::autoclean;
+
+ BEGIN { extends 'Catalyst::Controller' }
- __PACKAGE__->config->{authentication}{htpasswd} = "passwdfile";
+ __PACKAGE__->config(namespace => '');
sub login : Local {
my ($self, $c) = @_;
- if ( my $user = $c->req->param("user")
- and my $password = $c->req->param("password") )
+ if ( my $user = $c->req->params->{user}
+ and my $password = $c->req->param->{password} )
{
- if ( $c->login( $user, $password ) ) {
+ if ( $c->authenticate( username => $user, password => $password ) ) {
$c->res->body( "hello " . $c->user->name );
} else {
# login incorrect
=head3 Using authentication in a testing environment
-Ideally, to write tests for authentication/authorization code one
-would first set up a test database with known data, then use
+Ideally, to write tests for authentication/authorization code one would
+first set up a test database with known data, then use
L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst> to simulate a user logging
-in. Unfortunately the former can be rather awkward, which is why it's
-a good thing that the authentication framework is so flexible.
+in. Unfortunately this can be rather awkward, which is why it's a good
+thing that the authentication framework is so flexible.
Instead of using a test database, one can simply change the
authentication store to something a bit easier to deal with in a
modifying one's database, which can be problematic if one forgets to
use the testing instead of production database.
-e.g.,
-
- use Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::Minimal::Backend;
-
- # Sets up the user `test_user' with password `test_pass'
- MyApp->default_auth_store(
- Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::Minimal::Backend->new({
- test_user => { password => 'test_pass' },
- })
- );
-
-Now, your test code can call C<$c->login('test_user', 'test_pass')> and
-successfully login, without messing with the database at all.
+Alternatively, if you want to authenticate real users, but not have to
+worry about their passwords, you can use
+L<Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::Testing> to force all users to
+authenticate with a global password.
=head3 More information
-L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication> has a longer explanation.
+L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication> has a longer explanation.
=head2 Authorization
=head3 Introduction
Authorization is the step that comes after
-authentication. Authentication establishes that the user agent is
-really representing the user we think it's representing, and then
-authorization determines what this user is allowed to do.
+authentication. Authentication establishes that the user agent is really
+representing the user we think it's representing, and then authorization
+determines what this user is allowed to do.
=head3 Role Based Access Control
sub feed_moose : Local {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
- $c->model( "Moose" )->eat( $c->req->param("food") );
+ $c->model( "Moose" )->eat( $c->req->params->{food} );
}
With this action, anyone can just come into the moose cage and feed
the moose, which is a very dangerous thing. We need to restrict this
action, so that only a qualified moose feeder can perform that action.
-The Authorization::Roles plugin let's us perform role based access
+The Authorization::Roles plugin lets us perform role based access
control checks. Let's load it:
use parent qw/Catalyst/;
use Catalyst qw/
- Authentication # yadda yadda
+ Authentication
Authorization::Roles
/;
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
if ( $c->check_roles( "moose_feeder" ) ) {
- $c->model( "Moose" )->eat( $c->req->param("food") );
+ $c->model( "Moose" )->eat( $c->req->params->{food} );
} else {
$c->stash->{error} = "unauthorized";
}
Checking for roles all the time can be tedious and error prone.
-The Authorization::ACL plugin let's us declare where we'd like checks
+The Authorization::ACL plugin lets us declare where we'd like checks
to be done automatically for us.
For example, we may want to completely block out anyone who isn't a
clean up in your C<end> private action instead.
Also, it's important to note that if you restrict access to "/" then
-C<end>, C<default>, etc will also be restricted.
+C<end>, C<default>, etc. will also be restricted.
MyApp->acl_allow_root_internals;
=head1 Models
-Models are where application data belongs. Catalyst is exteremely
+Models are where application data belongs. Catalyst is extremely
flexible with the kind of models that it can use. The recipes here
are just the start.
write a simple component in Catalyst that slurps in an outside Model:
package MyApp::Model::DB;
+
use base qw/Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema/;
+
__PACKAGE__->config(
schema_class => 'Some::DBIC::Schema',
- connect_info => ['dbi:SQLite:foo.db', '', '', {AutoCommit=>1}];
+ connect_info => ['dbi:SQLite:foo.db', '', '', {AutoCommit=>1}],
);
+
1;
and that's it! Now C<Some::DBIC::Schema> is part of your
=head2 Create accessors to preload static data once per server instance
When you have data that you want to load just once from the model at
-server load instead of for each request, use mk_group_accessors to
+startup, instead of for each request, use mk_group_accessors to
create accessors and tie them to resultsets in your package that
-inherits from DBIx::Class::Schema
+inherits from DBIx::Class::Schema:
package My::Schema;
use base qw/DBIx::Class::Schema/;
sub connection {
my ($self, @rest) = @_;
$self->next::method(@rest);
- # $self is now a live My::Schema object, complete with DB connection
+ # $self is now a live My::Schema object, complete with DB connection
$self->ACCESSORNAME1([ $self->resultset('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER')->all ]);
$self->ACCESSORNAME2([ $self->resultset('RESULTSOURCEMONIKER')->search({ COLUMN => { '<' => '30' } })->all ]);
and now in the controller, you can now access any of these without a
per-request fetch:
- $c->stash->{something} = $c->model('My::Schema')->schema->ACCESSORNAMEn;
+ $c->stash->{something} = $c->model('My::Schema')->schema->ACCESSORNAME;
=head2 XMLRPC
-Unlike SOAP, XMLRPC is a very simple (and imo elegant) web-services
+Unlike SOAP, XMLRPC is a very simple (and elegant) web-services
protocol, exchanging small XML messages like these:
Request:
my ( $self, $c, $a, $b ) = @_;
return RPC::XML::int->new( $a + $b );
}
-
-
=head1 Views
Views pertain to the display of your application. As with models,
-catalyst is uncommonly flexible. The recipes below are just a start.
+Catalyst is uncommonly flexible. The recipes below are just a start.
=head2 Catalyst::View::TT
text if you wanted.
Most Catalyst applications use a template system to generate their HTML,
-and though there are several template systems available, Template
-Toolkit is probably the most popular.
+and though there are several template systems available,
+L<Template Toolkit|Template> is probably the most popular.
Once again, the Catalyst developers have done all the hard work, and
made things easy for the rest of us. Catalyst::View::TT provides the
=over
-=item
+=item
INCLUDE_PATH defines the directories that Template Toolkit should search
for the template files.
L<http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Template>
-=head2 Adding RSS feeds
+=head2 Adding RSS feeds
Adding RSS feeds to your Catalyst applications is simple. We'll see two
-different aproaches here, but the basic premise is that you forward to
+different approaches here, but the basic premise is that you forward to
the normal view action first to get the objects, then handle the output
differently.
-=head3 Using TT templates
-
-This is the aproach used in Agave (L<http://dev.rawmode.org/>).
-
- sub rss : Local {
- my ($self,$c) = @_;
- $c->forward('view');
- $c->stash->{template}='rss.tt';
- }
-
-Then you need a template. Here's the one from Agave:
-
- <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
- <rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
- <channel>
- <title>[ [% blog.name || c.config.name || "Agave" %] ] RSS Feed</title>
- <link>[% base %]</link>
- <description>Recent posts</description>
- <language>en-us</language>
- <ttl>40</ttl>
- [% WHILE (post = posts.next) %]
- <item>
- <title>[% post.title %]</title>
- <description>[% post.formatted_teaser|html%]</description>
- <pubDate>[% post.pub_date %]</pubDate>
- <guid>[% post.full_uri %]</guid>
- <link>[% post.full_uri %]</link>
- <dc:creator>[% post.author.screenname %]</dc:creator>
- </item>
- [% END %]
- </channel>
- </rss>
-
=head3 Using XML::Feed
-A more robust solution is to use XML::Feed, as was done in the Catalyst
-Advent Calendar. Assuming we have a C<view> action that populates
+Assuming we have a C<view> action that populates
'entries' with some DBIx::Class iterator, the code would look something
like this:
$c->res->body( $feed->as_xml );
}
-A little more code in the controller, but with this approach you're
-pretty sure to get something that validates.
+With this approach you're
+pretty sure to get something that validates.
-Note that for both of the above aproaches, you'll need to set the
+Note that for both of the above approaches, you'll need to set the
content type like this:
$c->res->content_type('application/rss+xml');
Controllers are the main point of communication between the web server
and your application. Here we explore some aspects of how they work.
-=head2 Extending RenderView (formerly DefaultEnd)
-
-The recommended approach for an C<end> action is to use
-L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView> (taking the place of
-L<Catalyst::Plugin::DefaultEnd>), which does what you usually need.
-However there are times when you need to add a bit to it, but don't want
-to write your own C<end> action.
-
-You can extend it like this:
-
-To add something to an C<end> action that is called before rendering
-(this is likely to be what you want), simply place it in the C<end>
-method:
-
- sub end : ActionClass('RenderView') {
- my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
- # do stuff here; the RenderView action is called afterwards
- }
-
-To add things to an C<end> action that are called I<after> rendering,
-you can set it up like this:
-
- sub render : ActionClass('RenderView') { }
-
- sub end : Private {
- my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
- $c->forward('render');
- # do stuff here
- }
-
=head2 Action Types
=head3 Introduction
=head3 Type attributes
Each action is a normal method in your controller, except that it has an
-L<attribute|http://search.cpan.org/~nwclark/perl-5.8.7/lib/attributes.pm>
+L<attribute|attributes>
attached. These can be one of several types.
Assume our Controller module starts with the following package declaration:
sub my_handles : Path('/handles') { .. }
-becomes
+becomes
http://localhost:3000/handles
http://localhost:3000/handles
-and
+and
http://localhost:3000/handles_and_other_parts
works for all unknown URLs, in this controller namespace, or every one
if put directly into MyApp.pm.
-=item index
+=item index
The index action is called when someone tries to visit the exact
namespace of your controller. If index, default and matching Path
sub begin : Private { .. }
-is called once when
+is called once when
http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)?
called. (In contrast, only one of the begin/end/default actions will
be called, the relevant one).
- package MyApp.pm;
+ package MyApp::Controller::Root;
sub auto : Private { .. }
-and
+and
sub auto : Private { .. }
-will both be called when visiting
+will both be called when visiting
http://localhost:3000/bucket/(anything)?
=head3 A word of warning
-Due to possible namespace conflicts with Plugins, it is advised to
-only put the pre-defined Private actions in your main MyApp.pm file,
-all others should go in a Controller module.
+You can put root actions in your main MyApp.pm file, but this is deprecated,
+please put your actions into your Root controller.
-=head3 More Information
-
-L<http://search.cpan.org/author/SRI/Catalyst-5.61/lib/Catalyst/Manual/Intro.pod>
+=head3 Flowchart
-L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/wiki/FlowChart>
+A graphical flowchart of how the dispatcher works can be found on the wiki at
+L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/attachment/wiki/WikiStart/catalyst-flow.png>.
-=head2 DRY Controllers with Chained actions.
+=head2 DRY Controllers with Chained actions
Imagine that you would like the following paths in your application:
=over
-=item B</cd/<ID>/track/<ID>>
+=item B<< /cd/<ID>/track/<ID> >>
Displays info on a particular track.
-
+
In the case of a multi-volume CD, this is the track sequence.
-=item B</cd/<ID>/volume/<ID>/track/<ID>>
+=item B<< /cd/<ID>/volume/<ID>/track/<ID> >>
Displays info on a track on a specific volume.
package CD::Controller;
use base qw/Catalyst::Controller/;
-
+
sub root : Chained('/') PathPart('/cd') CaptureArgs(1) {
my ($self, $c, $cd_id) = @_;
$c->stash->{cd_id} = $cd_id;
$c->stash->{cd} = $self->model('CD')->find_by_id($cd_id);
}
-
+
sub trackinfo : Chained('track') PathPart('') Args(0) RenderView {
my ($self, $c) = @_;
}
-
+
package CD::Controller::ByTrackSeq;
use base qw/CD::Controller/;
-
+
sub track : Chained('root') PathPart('track') CaptureArgs(1) {
my ($self, $c, $track_seq) = @_;
$c->stash->{track} = $self->stash->{cd}->find_track_by_seq($track_seq);
}
-
+
package CD::Controller::ByTrackVolNo;
use base qw/CD::Controller/;
-
+
sub volume : Chained('root') PathPart('volume') CaptureArgs(1) {
my ($self, $c, $volume) = @_;
$c->stash->{volume} = $volume;
}
-
+
sub track : Chained('volume') PathPart('track') CaptureArgs(1) {
my ($self, $c, $track_no) = @_;
$c->stash->{track} = $self->stash->{cd}->find_track_by_vol_and_track_no(
$c->stash->{volume}, $track_no
);
}
-
-Note that adding other actions (i.e. chain endpoints) which operate on a track
+
+Note that adding other actions (i.e. chain endpoints) which operate on a track
is simply a matter of adding a new sub to CD::Controller - no code is duplicated,
even though there are two different methods of looking up a track.
This technique can be expanded as needed to fulfil your requirements - for example,
if you inherit the first action of a chain from a base class, then mixing in a
-different base class can be used to duplicate an entire URL hieratchy at a different
+different base class can be used to duplicate an entire URL hierarchy at a different
point within your application.
=head2 Component-based Subrequests
$c->req->args([qw/arg1 arg2 arg3/]);
$c->forward('/wherever');
-(See the L<Catalyst::Manual::Intro> Flow_Control section for more
+(See the L<Catalyst::Manual::Intro> Flow_Control section for more
information on passing arguments via C<forward>.)
=head2 Chained dispatch using base classes, and inner packages.
package MyApp::Controller::Base;
use base qw/Catalyst::Controller/;
- sub key1 : Chained('/')
-
-=head1 Deployment
-
-The recipes below describe aspects of the deployment process,
-including web server engines and tips to improve application efficiency.
-
-=head2 mod_perl Deployment
-
-mod_perl is the best solution for many applications, but we'll list some pros
-and cons so you can decide for yourself. The other production deployment
-option is FastCGI, for which see below.
-
-=head3 Pros
-
-=head4 Speed
+ sub key1 : Chained('/')
-mod_perl is very fast and your app will benefit from being loaded in memory
-within each Apache process.
-
-=head4 Shared memory for multiple apps
-
-If you need to run several Catalyst apps on the same server, mod_perl will
-share the memory for common modules.
-
-=head3 Cons
-
-=head4 Memory usage
-
-Since your application is fully loaded in memory, every Apache process will
-be rather large. This means a large Apache process will be tied up while
-serving static files, large files, or dealing with slow clients. For this
-reason, it is best to run a two-tiered web architecture with a lightweight
-frontend server passing dynamic requests to a large backend mod_perl
-server.
-
-=head4 Reloading
-
-Any changes made to the core code of your app require a full Apache restart.
-Catalyst does not support Apache::Reload or StatINC. This is another good
-reason to run a frontend web server where you can set up an
-C<ErrorDocument 502> page to report that your app is down for maintenance.
-
-=head4 Cannot run multiple versions of the same app
-
-It is not possible to run two different versions of the same application in
-the same Apache instance because the namespaces will collide.
-
-=head4 Setup
-
-Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about setting up mod_perl
-to run a Catalyst app.
-
-=head4 1. Install Catalyst::Engine::Apache
-
-You should install the latest versions of both Catalyst and
-Catalyst::Engine::Apache. The Apache engines were separated from the
-Catalyst core in version 5.50 to allow for updates to the engine without
-requiring a new Catalyst release.
-
-=head4 2. Install Apache with mod_perl
-
-Both Apache 1.3 and Apache 2 are supported, although Apache 2 is highly
-recommended. With Apache 2, make sure you are using the prefork MPM and not
-the worker MPM. The reason for this is that many Perl modules are not
-thread-safe and may have problems running within the threaded worker
-environment. Catalyst is thread-safe however, so if you know what you're
-doing, you may be able to run using worker.
-
-In Debian, the following commands should get you going.
-
- apt-get install apache2-mpm-prefork
- apt-get install libapache2-mod-perl2
-
-=head4 3. Configure your application
-
-Every Catalyst application will automagically become a mod_perl handler
-when run within mod_perl. This makes the configuration extremely easy.
-Here is a basic Apache 2 configuration.
-
- PerlSwitches -I/var/www/MyApp/lib
- PerlModule MyApp
-
- <Location />
- SetHandler modperl
- PerlResponseHandler MyApp
- </Location>
-
-The most important line here is C<PerlModule MyApp>. This causes mod_perl
-to preload your entire application into shared memory, including all of your
-controller, model, and view classes and configuration. If you have -Debug
-mode enabled, you will see the startup output scroll by when you first
-start Apache.
-
-For an example Apache 1.3 configuration, please see the documentation for
-L<Catalyst::Engine::Apache::MP13>.
-
-=head3 Test It
-
-That's it, your app is now a full-fledged mod_perl application! Try it out
-by going to http://your.server.com/.
-
-=head3 Other Options
-
-=head4 Non-root location
-
-You may not always want to run your app at the root of your server or virtual
-host. In this case, it's a simple change to run at any non-root location
-of your choice.
+=head2 Extending RenderView (formerly DefaultEnd)
- <Location /myapp>
- SetHandler modperl
- PerlResponseHandler MyApp
- </Location>
-
-When running this way, it is best to make use of the C<uri_for> method in
-Catalyst for constructing correct links.
+The recommended approach for an C<end> action is to use
+L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView> (taking the place of
+L<Catalyst::Plugin::DefaultEnd>), which does what you usually need.
+However there are times when you need to add a bit to it, but don't want
+to write your own C<end> action.
-=head4 Static file handling
+You can extend it like this:
-Static files can be served directly by Apache for a performance boost.
+To add something to an C<end> action that is called before rendering
+(this is likely to be what you want), simply place it in the C<end>
+method:
- DocumentRoot /var/www/MyApp/root
- <Location /static>
- SetHandler default-handler
- </Location>
-
-This will let all files within root/static be handled directly by Apache. In
-a two-tiered setup, the frontend server should handle static files.
-The configuration to do this on the frontend will vary.
-
-The same is accomplished in lighttpd with the following snippet:
-
- $HTTP["url"] !~ "^/(?:img/|static/|css/|favicon.ico$)" {
- fastcgi.server = (
- "" => (
- "MyApp" => (
- "socket" => "/tmp/myapp.socket",
- "check-local" => "disable",
- )
- )
- )
+ sub end : ActionClass('RenderView') {
+ my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
+ # do stuff here; the RenderView action is called afterwards
}
-Which serves everything in the img, static, css directories
-statically, as well as the favicon file.
-
-Note the path of the application needs to be stated explicitly in the
-web server configuration for both these recipes.
-
-=head2 Catalyst on shared hosting
-
-So, you want to put your Catalyst app out there for the whole world to
-see, but you don't want to break the bank. There is an answer - if you
-can get shared hosting with FastCGI and a shell, you can install your
-Catalyst app in a local directory on your shared host. First, run
-
- perl -MCPAN -e shell
-
-and go through the standard CPAN configuration process. Then exit out
-without installing anything. Next, open your .bashrc and add
-
- export PATH=$HOME/local/bin:$HOME/local/script:$PATH
- perlversion=`perl -v | grep 'built for' | awk '{print $4}' | sed -e 's/v//;'`
- export PERL5LIB=$HOME/local/share/perl/$perlversion:$HOME/local/lib/perl/$perlversion:$HOME/local/lib:$PERL5LIB
-
-and log out, then back in again (or run C<". .bashrc"> if you
-prefer). Finally, edit C<.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm> and add
-
- 'make_install_arg' => qq[SITEPREFIX=$ENV{HOME}/local],
- 'makepl_arg' => qq[INSTALLDIRS=site install_base=$ENV{HOME}/local],
-
-Now you can install the modules you need using CPAN as normal; they
-will be installed into your local directory, and perl will pick them
-up. Finally, change directory into the root of your virtual host and
-symlink your application's script directory in:
-
- cd path/to/mydomain.com
- ln -s ~/lib/MyApp/script script
-
-And add the following lines to your .htaccess file (assuming the server
-is setup to handle .pl as fcgi - you may need to rename the script to
-myapp_fastcgi.fcgi and/or use a SetHandler directive):
-
- RewriteEngine On
- RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/?script/myapp_fastcgi.pl
- RewriteRule ^(.*)$ script/myapp_fastcgi.pl/$1 [PT,L]
-
-Now C<http://mydomain.com/> should now Just Work. Congratulations, now
-you can tell your friends about your new website (or in our case, tell
-the client it's time to pay the invoice :) )
-
-=head2 FastCGI Deployment
-
-FastCGI is a high-performance extension to CGI. It is suitable
-for production environments.
-
-=head3 Pros
-
-=head4 Speed
-
-FastCGI performs equally as well as mod_perl. Don't let the 'CGI' fool you;
-your app runs as multiple persistent processes ready to receive connections
-from the web server.
-
-=head4 App Server
-
-When using external FastCGI servers, your application runs as a standalone
-application server. It may be restarted independently from the web server.
-This allows for a more robust environment and faster reload times when
-pushing new app changes. The frontend server can even be configured to
-display a friendly "down for maintenance" page while the application is
-restarting.
-
-=head4 Load-balancing
-
-You can launch your application on multiple backend servers and allow the
-frontend web server to load-balance between all of them. And of course, if
-one goes down, your app continues to run fine.
-
-=head4 Multiple versions of the same app
-
-Each FastCGI application is a separate process, so you can run different
-versions of the same app on a single server.
-
-=head4 Can run with threaded Apache
-
-Since your app is not running inside of Apache, the faster mpm_worker module
-can be used without worrying about the thread safety of your application.
-
-=head3 Cons
-
-=head4 More complex environment
-
-With FastCGI, there are more things to monitor and more processes running
-than when using mod_perl.
-
-=head3 Setup
-
-=head4 1. Install Apache with mod_fastcgi
-
-mod_fastcgi for Apache is a third party module, and can be found at
-L<http://www.fastcgi.com/>. It is also packaged in many distributions,
-for example, libapache2-mod-fastcgi in Debian.
-
-=head4 2. Configure your application
-
- # Serve static content directly
- DocumentRoot /var/www/MyApp/root
- Alias /static /var/www/MyApp/root/static
-
- FastCgiServer /var/www/MyApp/script/myapp_fastcgi.pl -processes 3
- Alias /myapp/ /var/www/MyApp/script/myapp_fastcgi.pl/
-
- # Or, run at the root
- Alias / /var/www/MyApp/script/myapp_fastcgi.pl/
-
-The above commands will launch 3 app processes and make the app available at
-/myapp/
-
-=head3 Standalone server mode
-
-While not as easy as the previous method, running your app as an external
-server gives you much more flexibility.
-
-First, launch your app as a standalone server listening on a socket.
-
- script/myapp_fastcgi.pl -l /tmp/myapp.socket -n 5 -p /tmp/myapp.pid -d
-
-You can also listen on a TCP port if your web server is not on the same
-machine.
-
- script/myapp_fastcgi.pl -l :8080 -n 5 -p /tmp/myapp.pid -d
-
-You will probably want to write an init script to handle starting/stopping
-of the app using the pid file.
-
-Now, we simply configure Apache to connect to the running server.
-
- # 502 is a Bad Gateway error, and will occur if the backend server is down
- # This allows us to display a friendly static page that says "down for
- # maintenance"
- Alias /_errors /var/www/MyApp/root/error-pages
- ErrorDocument 502 /_errors/502.html
-
- FastCgiExternalServer /tmp/myapp.fcgi -socket /tmp/myapp.socket
- Alias /myapp/ /tmp/myapp.fcgi/
-
- # Or, run at the root
- Alias / /tmp/myapp.fcgi/
-
-=head3 More Info
-
-L<Catalyst::Engine::FastCGI>.
-
-=head2 Development server deployment
-
-The development server is a mini web server written in perl. If you
-expect a low number of hits or you don't need mod_perl/FastCGI speed,
-you could use the development server as the application server with a
-lightweight proxy web server at the front. However, consider using
-L<Catalyst::Engine::HTTP::Prefork> for this kind of deployment instead, since
-it can better handle multiple concurrent requests without forking, or can
-prefork a set number of servers for improved performance.
-
-=head3 Pros
-
-As this is an application server setup, the pros are the same as
-FastCGI (with the exception of speed).
-It is also:
-
-=head4 Simple
-
-The development server is what you create your code on, so if it works
-here, it should work in production!
-
-=head3 Cons
-
-=head4 Speed
-
-Not as fast as mod_perl or FastCGI. Needs to fork for each request
-that comes in - make sure static files are served by the web server to
-save forking.
-
-=head3 Setup
-
-=head4 Start up the development server
-
- script/myapp_server.pl -p 8080 -k -f -pidfile=/tmp/myapp.pid
-
-You will probably want to write an init script to handle stop/starting
-the app using the pid file.
-
-=head4 Configuring Apache
-
-Make sure mod_proxy is enabled and add:
-
- # Serve static content directly
- DocumentRoot /var/www/MyApp/root
- Alias /static /var/www/MyApp/root/static
-
- ProxyRequests Off
- <Proxy *>
- Order deny,allow
- Allow from all
- </Proxy>
-
- # Need to specifically stop these paths from being passed to proxy
- ProxyPass /static !
- ProxyPass /favicon.ico !
-
- ProxyPass / http://localhost:8080/
- ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8080/
-
- # This is optional if you'd like to show a custom error page
- # if the proxy is not available
- ErrorDocument 502 /static/error_pages/http502.html
-
-You can wrap the above within a VirtualHost container if you want
-different apps served on the same host.
-
-=head2 Quick deployment: Building PAR Packages
-
-You have an application running on your development box, but then you
-have to quickly move it to another one for
-demonstration/deployment/testing...
-
-PAR packages can save you from a lot of trouble here. They are usual Zip
-files that contain a blib tree; you can even include all prereqs and a
-perl interpreter by setting a few flags!
-
-=head3 Follow these few points to try it out!
-
-1. Install Catalyst and PAR 0.89 (or later)
-
- % perl -MCPAN -e 'install Catalyst'
- ...
- % perl -MCPAN -e 'install PAR'
- ...
-
-2. Create a application
-
- % catalyst.pl MyApp
- ...
- % cd MyApp
-
-Recent versions of Catalyst (5.62 and up) include
-L<Module::Install::Catalyst>, which simplifies the process greatly. From the shell in your application directory:
-
- % perl Makefile.PL
- % make catalyst_par
-
-Congratulations! Your package "myapp.par" is ready, the following
-steps are just optional.
-
-3. Test your PAR package with "parl" (no typo)
-
- % parl myapp.par
- Usage:
- [parl] myapp[.par] [script] [arguments]
-
- Examples:
- parl myapp.par myapp_server.pl -r
- myapp myapp_cgi.pl
-
- Available scripts:
- myapp_cgi.pl
- myapp_create.pl
- myapp_fastcgi.pl
- myapp_server.pl
- myapp_test.pl
-
- % parl myapp.par myapp_server.pl
- You can connect to your server at http://localhost:3000
+To add things to an C<end> action that are called I<after> rendering,
+you can set it up like this:
-Yes, this nifty little starter application gets automatically included.
-You can also use "catalyst_par_script('myapp_server.pl')" to set a
-default script to execute.
+ sub render : ActionClass('RenderView') { }
-6. Want to create a binary that includes the Perl interpreter?
+ sub end : Private {
+ my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
+ $c->forward('render');
+ # do stuff here
+ }
- % pp -o myapp myapp.par
- % ./myapp myapp_server.pl
- You can connect to your server at http://localhost:3000
=head2 Serving static content
You may of course want to change the default locations, and make
Static::Simple look somewhere else, this is as easy as:
- MyApp->config->{static}->{include_path} = [
- MyApp->config->{root},
- '/path/to/my/files'
- ];
+ MyApp->config(
+ static => {
+ include_path => [
+ MyApp->path_to('/'),
+ '/path/to/my/files',
+ ],
+ },
+ );
When you override include_path, it will not automatically append the
normal root path, so you need to add it yourself if you still want
If you want to force some directories to be only static, you can set
them using paths relative to the root dir, or regular expressions:
- MyApp->config->{static}->{dirs} = [
- 'static',
- qr/^(images|css)/,
- ];
+ MyApp->config(
+ static => {
+ dirs => [
+ 'static',
+ qr/^(images|css)/,
+ ],
+ },
+ );
=item File extensions
be processed by Catalyst): B<tmpl, tt, tt2, html, xhtml>. This list can
be replaced easily:
- MyApp->config->{static}->{ignore_extensions} = [
- qw/tmpl tt tt2 html xhtml/
- ];
+ MyApp->config(
+ static => {
+ ignore_extensions => [
+ qw/tmpl tt tt2 html xhtml/
+ ],
+ },
+ );
=item Ignoring directories
Entire directories can be ignored. If used with include_path,
directories relative to the include_path dirs will also be ignored:
- MyApp->config->{static}->{ignore_dirs} = [ qw/tmpl css/ ];
+ MyApp->config( static => {
+ ignore_dirs => [ qw/tmpl css/ ],
+ });
=back
sub end : Private {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
- $c->forward( 'MyApp::View::TT' )
+ $c->forward( 'MyApp::View::TT' )
unless ( $c->res->body || !$c->stash->{template} );
}
infrequently but may be viewed many times.
use Catalyst qw/Cache::FileCache/;
-
+
...
-
+
use File::stat;
sub render_pod : Local {
my ( self, $c ) = @_;
-
+
# the cache is keyed on the filename and the modification time
# to check for updates to the file.
my $file = $c->path_to( 'root', '2005', '11.pod' );
my $mtime = ( stat $file )->mtime;
-
+
my $cached_pod = $c->cache->get("$file $mtime");
if ( !$cached_pod ) {
$cached_pod = do_slow_pod_rendering();
}
$c->stash->{pod} = $cached_pod;
}
-
+
We could actually cache the result forever, but using a value such as 12 hours
allows old entries to be automatically expired when they are no longer needed.
=head3 Page Caching
Another method of caching is to cache the entire HTML page. While this is
-traditionally handled by a front-end proxy server like Squid, the Catalyst
+traditionally handled by a frontend proxy server like Squid, the Catalyst
PageCache plugin makes it trivial to cache the entire output from
frequently-used or slow actions.
sub front_page : Path('/') {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
-
+
$c->forward( 'get_news_articles' );
$c->forward( 'build_lots_of_boxes' );
$c->forward( 'more_slow_stuff' );
-
+
$c->stash->{template} = 'index.tt';
}
We can add the PageCache plugin to speed things up.
use Catalyst qw/Cache::FileCache PageCache/;
-
+
sub front_page : Path ('/') {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
-
+
$c->cache_page( 300 );
-
+
# same processing as above
}
-
+
Now the entire output of the front page, from <html> to </html>, will be
cached for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, the next request will rebuild the
page and it will be re-cached.
requests for / and /?foo=bar will result in different cache items. Also,
only GET requests will be cached by the plugin.
-You can even get that front-end Squid proxy to help out by enabling HTTP
+You can even get that frontend Squid proxy to help out by enabling HTTP
headers for the cached page.
- MyApp->config->{page_cache}->{set_http_headers} = 1;
-
+ MyApp->config(
+ page_cache => {
+ set_http_headers => 1,
+ },
+ );
+
This would now set the following headers so proxies and browsers may cache
the content themselves.
Cache-Control: max-age=($expire_time - time)
Expires: $expire_time
Last-Modified: $cache_created_time
-
+
=head3 Template Caching
Template Toolkit provides support for caching compiled versions of your
still be automatically detected.
package MyApp::View::TT;
-
+
use strict;
use warnings;
use base 'Catalyst::View::TT';
-
+
__PACKAGE__->config(
COMPILE_DIR => '/tmp/template_cache',
);
-
+
1;
-
+
=head3 More Info
See the documentation for each cache plugin for more details and other
=head2 Testing
-Catalyst provides a convenient way of testing your application during
+Catalyst provides a convenient way of testing your application during
development and before deployment in a real environment.
-C<Catalyst::Test> makes it possible to run the same tests both locally
+C<Catalyst::Test> makes it possible to run the same tests both locally
(without an external daemon) and against a remote server via HTTP.
=head3 Tests
=item C<02pod.t>
-Verifies that all POD is free from errors. Only executed if the C<TEST_POD>
+Verifies that all POD is free from errors. Only executed if the C<TEST_POD>
environment variable is true.
=item C<03podcoverage.t>
mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ cat t/01app.t | perl -ne 'printf( "%2d %s", $., $_ )'
1 use Test::More tests => 2;
- 2 use_ok( Catalyst::Test, 'MyApp' );
+ 2 BEGIN { use_ok( Catalyst::Test, 'MyApp' ) }
3
4 ok( request('/')->is_success );
=back
-C<request> returns an instance of C<HTTP::Response> and C<get> returns the
+C<request> returns an instance of C<HTTP::Response> and C<get> returns the
content (body) of the response.
=head3 Running tests locally
mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ CATALYST_DEBUG=0 TEST_POD=1 prove --lib lib/ t/
- t/01app............ok
- t/02pod............ok
- t/03podcoverage....ok
+ t/01app............ok
+ t/02pod............ok
+ t/03podcoverage....ok
All tests successful.
Files=3, Tests=4, 2 wallclock secs ( 1.60 cusr + 0.36 csys = 1.96 CPU)
-
+
C<CATALYST_DEBUG=0> ensures that debugging is off; if it's enabled you
will see debug logs between tests.
=head3 Running tests remotely
mundus:~/MyApp chansen$ CATALYST_SERVER=http://localhost:3000/ prove --lib lib/ t/01app.t
- t/01app....ok
+ t/01app....ok
All tests successful.
Files=1, Tests=2, 0 wallclock secs ( 0.40 cusr + 0.01 csys = 0.41 CPU)
-C<CATALYST_SERVER=http://localhost:3000/> is the absolute deployment URI of
-your application. In C<CGI> or C<FastCGI> it should be the host and path
+C<CATALYST_SERVER=http://localhost:3000/> is the absolute deployment URI of
+your application. In C<CGI> or C<FastCGI> it should be the host and path
to the script.
=head3 C<Test::WWW::Mechanize> and Catalyst
test HTML, forms and links. A short example of usage:
use Test::More tests => 6;
- use_ok( Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst, 'MyApp' );
+ BEGIN { use_ok( Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst, 'MyApp' ) }
my $mech = Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst->new;
$mech->get_ok("http://localhost/", 'Got index page');
=item Catalyst::Test
-L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst/lib/Catalyst/Test.pm>
+L<Catalyst::Test>
=item Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst
=head1 AUTHORS
-Sebastian Riedel C<sri@oook.de>
-
-Danijel Milicevic C<me@danijel.de>
-
-Viljo Marrandi C<vilts@yahoo.com>
-
-Marcus Ramberg C<mramberg@cpan.org>
-
-Jesse Sheidlower C<jester@panix.com>
-
-Andy Grundman C<andy@hybridized.org>
-
-Chisel Wright C<pause@herlpacker.co.uk>
-
-Will Hawes C<info@whawes.co.uk>
-
-Gavin Henry C<ghenry@perl.me.uk>
-
-Kieren Diment C<kd@totaldatasolution.com>
+Catalyst Contributors, see Catalyst.pm
=head1 COPYRIGHT
-This document is free, you can redistribute it and/or modify it
-under the same terms as Perl itself.
+This library is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+the same terms as Perl itself.
+=cut