[catagits/Catalyst-Action-REST.git] / README

NAME
    Catalyst::Controller::REST - A RESTful controller

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',
                },
           );
        }

        # Answer PUT requests to "thing"
        sub thing_PUT { 
          .. some action ..
        }

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. You can override this behavior through implementing a custom
    "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->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 "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.

    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

      use base 'Catalyst::Controller::REST'; 

SERIALIZATION
    Catalyst::Controller::REST will automatically serialize your 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:

    The Content-Type Header
      If the incoming HTTP Request had a Content-Type header set, we will
      use it.

    The content-type Query Parameter
      If this is a GET request, you can supply a content-type query
      parameter.

    Evaluating the Accept Header
      Finally, if the client provided an Accept header, we will evaluate it
      and use the best-ranked choice.

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. Catalyst::Controller::REST
    makes no attempt to svae you from yourself in this regard. :)

    "text/x-yaml" => "YAML::Syck"
      Returns YAML generated by YAML::Syck.

    "text/html" => "YAML::HTML"
      This uses YAML::Syck and URI::Find to generate YAML with all URLs
      turned to hyperlinks. Only useable for Serialization.

    "text/x-json" => "JSON::Syck"
      Uses JSON::Syck to generate JSON output

    "text/x-data-dumper" => "Data::Serializer"
      Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Data::Dumper output.

    "text/x-data-denter" => "Data::Serializer"
      Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Data::Denter output.

    "text/x-data-taxi" => "Data::Serializer"
      Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Data::Taxi output.

    "application/x-storable" => "Data::Serializer"
      Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Storable output.

    "application/x-freezethaw" => "Data::Serializer"
      Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate FreezeThaw output.

    "text/x-config-general" => "Data::Serializer"
      Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Config::General output.

    "text/x-php-serialization" => "Data::Serializer"
      Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate PHP::Serialization
      output.

    "text/xml" => "XML::Simple"
      Uses XML::Simple to generate XML output. This is probably not suitable
      for any real heavy XML work. Due to XML::Simples requirement that the
      data you serialize be a HASHREF, we transform outgoing data to be in
      the form of:

        { data => $yourdata }

    By default, Catalyst::Controller::REST will return a "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
    "default" config option:

       __PACKAGE__->config->{'serialize'}->{'default'} = 'YAML';

    Would make it always fall back to YAML.

    Implementing new Serialization formats is easy! Contributions are most
    welcome! See Catalyst::Action::Serialize and
    Catalyst::Action::Deserialize for more information.

CUSTOM SERIALIZERS
    If you would like to implement a custom serializer, you should create
    two new modules in the Catalyst::Action::Serialize and
    Catalyst::Action::Deserialize namespace. Then assign your new class to
    the content-type's you want, and you're done.

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>. These
    routines are all implemented as regular subroutines, and as such require
    you pass the current context ($c) as the first argument.

    status_ok
        Returns a "200 OK" response. Takes an "entity" to serialize.

        Example:

          $self->status_ok(
            $c, 
            entity => {
                radiohead => "Is a good band!",
            }
          );

    status_created
        Returns a "201 CREATED" response. Takes an "entity" to serialize,
        and a "location" where the created object can be found.

        Example:

          $self->status_created(
            $c, 
            location => $c->req->uri->as_string,
            entity => {
                radiohead => "Is a good band!",
            }
          );

        In the above example, we use the requested URI as our location. This
        is probably what you want for most PUT requests.

    status_accepted
        Returns a "202 ACCEPTED" response. Takes an "entity" to serialize.

        Example:

          $self->status_accepted(
            $c, 
            entity => {
                status => "queued",
            }
          );

    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.

        Example:

          $self->status_bad_request(
            $c, 
            message => "Cannot do what you have asked!",
          );

    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.

        Example:

          $self->status_not_found(
            $c, 
            message => "Cannot find what you were looking for!",
          );

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'}.

IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
    This Controller ties together Catalyst::Action::REST,
    Catalyst::Action::Serialize and Catalyst::Action::Deserialize. It should
    be suitable for most applications. You should be aware that it:

    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::Serializat
        ion' ],
                  },
              }
          );

        You can read the full set of options for this configuration block in
        Catalyst::Action::Serialize.

    Sets a "begin" and "end" method for you
        The "begin" method uses Catalyst::Action::Deserialize. The "end"
        method uses Catalyst::Action::Serialize. If you want to override
        either behavior, simply implement your own "begin" and "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 ...
          }

A MILD WARNING
        I have code in production using 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. :)

SEE ALSO
        Catalyst::Action::REST, Catalyst::Action::Serialize,
        Catalyst::Action::Deserialize

        For help with REST in general:

        The HTTP 1.1 Spec is required reading.
        http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.txt

        Wikipedia!
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer

        The REST Wiki: http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?FrontPage

AUTHOR
        Adam Jacob <adam@stalecoffee.org>, with lots of help from mst and
        jrockway

        Marchex, Inc. paid me while I developed this module.
        (http://www.marchex.com)

LICENSE
        You may distribute this code under the same terms as Perl itself.
Commit	Line	Data
01f9819a	1	NAME
	2	Catalyst::Controller::REST - A RESTful controller
	3
	4	SYNOPSIS
	5	package Foo::Controller::Bar;
	6
	7	use base 'Catalyst::Controller::REST';
	8
	9	sub thing : Local : ActionClass('REST') { }
	10
	11	# Answer GET requests to "thing"
	12	sub thing_GET {
	13	my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
	14
	15	# Return a 200 OK, with the data in entity
	16	# serialized in the body
	17	$self->status_ok(
	18	$c,
	19	entity => {
	20	some => 'data',
	21	foo => 'is real bar-y',
	22	},
	23	);
	24	}
	25
	26	# Answer PUT requests to "thing"
	27	sub thing_PUT {
	28	.. some action ..
	29	}
	30
	31	DESCRIPTION
	32	Catalyst::Controller::REST implements a mechanism for building RESTful
	33	services in Catalyst. It does this by extending the normal Catalyst
	34	dispatch mechanism to allow for different subroutines to be called based
	35	on the HTTP Method requested, while also transparently handling all the
	36	serialization/deserialization for you.
	37
	38	This is probably best served by an example. In the above controller, we
	39	have declared a Local Catalyst action on "sub thing", and have used the
	40	ActionClass('REST').
	41
	42	Below, we have declared "thing_GET" and "thing_PUT". Any GET requests to
	43	thing will be dispatched to "thing_GET", while any PUT requests will be
	44	dispatched to "thing_PUT".
	45
8f00a41b	46	Any unimplemented HTTP methods will be met with a "405 Method Not
01f9819a	47	Allowed" response, automatically containing the proper list of available
8f00a41b	48	methods. You can override this behavior through implementing a custom
	49	"thing_not_implemented" method.
	50
	51	If you do not provide an OPTIONS handler, we will respond to any OPTIONS
	52	requests with a "200 OK", populating the Allowed header automatically.
	53
	54	Any data included in "$c->stash->{'rest'}" will be serialized for you.
	55	The serialization format will be selected based on the content-type of
	56	the incoming request. It is probably easier to use the "STATUS HELPERS",
	57	which are described below.
01f9819a	58
	59	The HTTP POST, PUT, and OPTIONS methods will all automatically
	60	deserialize the contents of $c->request->body based on the requests
	61	content-type header. A list of understood serialization formats is
	62	below.
	63
8f00a41b	64	If we do not have (or cannot run) a serializer for a given content-type,
8f00a41b	65	a 415 "Unsupported Media Type" error is generated.
01f9819a	66
	67	To make your Controller RESTful, simply have it
	68
	69	use base 'Catalyst::Controller::REST';
	70
	71	SERIALIZATION
8f00a41b	72	Catalyst::Controller::REST will automatically serialize your responses,
	73	and deserialize any POST, PUT or OPTIONS requests. It evaluates which
	74	serializer to use by mapping a content-type to a Serialization module.
	75	We select the content-type based on:
	76
	77	The Content-Type Header
	78	If the incoming HTTP Request had a Content-Type header set, we will
	79	use it.
	80
	81	The content-type Query Parameter
	82	If this is a GET request, you can supply a content-type query
	83	parameter.
	84
	85	Evaluating the Accept Header
	86	Finally, if the client provided an Accept header, we will evaluate it
	87	and use the best-ranked choice.
	88
	89	AVAILABLE SERIALIZERS
	90	A given serialization mechanism is only available if you have the
	91	underlying modules installed. For example, you can't use XML::Simple if
	92	it's not already installed.
	93
	94	In addition, each serializer has it's quirks in terms of what sorts of
	95	data structures it will properly handle. Catalyst::Controller::REST
	96	makes no attempt to svae you from yourself in this regard. :)
	97
	98	"text/x-yaml" => "YAML::Syck"
	99	Returns YAML generated by YAML::Syck.
	100
	101	"text/html" => "YAML::HTML"
	102	This uses YAML::Syck and URI::Find to generate YAML with all URLs
	103	turned to hyperlinks. Only useable for Serialization.
	104
	105	"text/x-json" => "JSON::Syck"
	106	Uses JSON::Syck to generate JSON output
	107
	108	"text/x-data-dumper" => "Data::Serializer"
	109	Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Data::Dumper output.
	110
	111	"text/x-data-denter" => "Data::Serializer"
	112	Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Data::Denter output.
	113
	114	"text/x-data-taxi" => "Data::Serializer"
	115	Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Data::Taxi output.
	116
	117	"application/x-storable" => "Data::Serializer"
	118	Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Storable output.
	119
	120	"application/x-freezethaw" => "Data::Serializer"
	121	Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate FreezeThaw output.
01f9819a	122
8f00a41b	123	"text/x-config-general" => "Data::Serializer"
8f00a41b	124	Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate Config::General output.
01f9819a	125
8f00a41b	126	"text/x-php-serialization" => "Data::Serializer"
	127	Uses the Data::Serializer module to generate PHP::Serialization
	128	output.
	129
	130	"text/xml" => "XML::Simple"
	131	Uses XML::Simple to generate XML output. This is probably not suitable
	132	for any real heavy XML work. Due to XML::Simples requirement that the
	133	data you serialize be a HASHREF, we transform outgoing data to be in
	134	the form of:
	135
	136	{ data => $yourdata }
	137
	138	By default, Catalyst::Controller::REST will return a "415 Unsupported
	139	Media Type" response if an attempt to use an unsupported content-type is
	140	made. You can ensure that something is always returned by setting the
	141	"default" config option:
	142
	143	__PACKAGE__->config->{'serialize'}->{'default'} = 'YAML';
	144
	145	Would make it always fall back to YAML.
01f9819a	146
	147	Implementing new Serialization formats is easy! Contributions are most
	148	welcome! See Catalyst::Action::Serialize and
	149	Catalyst::Action::Deserialize for more information.
	150
8f00a41b	151	CUSTOM SERIALIZERS
	152	If you would like to implement a custom serializer, you should create
	153	two new modules in the Catalyst::Action::Serialize and
	154	Catalyst::Action::Deserialize namespace. Then assign your new class to
	155	the content-type's you want, and you're done.
	156
01f9819a	157	STATUS HELPERS
8f00a41b	158	Since so much of REST is in using HTTP, we provide these Status Helpers.
	159	Using them will ensure that you are responding with the proper codes,
	160	headers, and entities.
	161
01f9819a	162	These helpers try and conform to the HTTP 1.1 Specification. You can
8f00a41b	163	refer to it at: <http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.txt>. These
01f9819a	164	routines are all implemented as regular subroutines, and as such require
	165	you pass the current context ($c) as the first argument.
	166
	167	status_ok
	168	Returns a "200 OK" response. Takes an "entity" to serialize.
	169
	170	Example:
	171
	172	$self->status_ok(
	173	$c,
	174	entity => {
	175	radiohead => "Is a good band!",
	176	}
	177	);
	178
	179	status_created
	180	Returns a "201 CREATED" response. Takes an "entity" to serialize,
	181	and a "location" where the created object can be found.
	182
	183	Example:
	184
	185	$self->status_created(
	186	$c,
	187	location => $c->req->uri->as_string,
	188	entity => {
	189	radiohead => "Is a good band!",
	190	}
	191	);
	192
	193	In the above example, we use the requested URI as our location. This
	194	is probably what you want for most PUT requests.
	195
	196	status_accepted
	197	Returns a "202 ACCEPTED" response. Takes an "entity" to serialize.
	198
	199	Example:
	200
	201	$self->status_accepted(
	202	$c,
	203	entity => {
	204	status => "queued",
	205	}
	206	);
	207
	208	status_bad_request
	209	Returns a "400 BAD REQUEST" response. Takes a "message" argument as
	210	a scalar, which will become the value of "error" in the serialized
	211	response.
	212
	213	Example:
	214
	215	$self->status_bad_request(
	216	$c,
8f00a41b	217	message => "Cannot do what you have asked!",
01f9819a	218	);
	219
	220	status_not_found
	221	Returns a "404 NOT FOUND" response. Takes a "message" argument as a
	222	scalar, which will become the value of "error" in the serialized
	223	response.
	224
	225	Example:
	226
	227	$self->status_not_found(
	228	$c,
8f00a41b	229	message => "Cannot find what you were looking for!",
01f9819a	230	);
	231
	232	MANUAL RESPONSES
	233	If you want to construct your responses yourself, all you need to do is
	234	put the object you want serialized in $c->stash->{'rest'}.
	235
8f00a41b	236	IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
	237	This Controller ties together Catalyst::Action::REST,
	238	Catalyst::Action::Serialize and Catalyst::Action::Deserialize. It should
	239	be suitable for most applications. You should be aware that it:
	240
	241	Configures the Serialization Actions
	242	This class provides a default configuration for Serialization. It is
	243	currently:
	244
	245	__PACKAGE__->config(
	246	serialize => {
	247	'stash_key' => 'rest',
	248	'map' => {
	249	'text/html' => 'YAML::HTML',
	250	'text/xml' => 'XML::Simple',
	251	'text/x-yaml' => 'YAML',
	252	'text/x-json' => 'JSON',
	253	'text/x-data-dumper' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Dumper' ],
	254	'text/x-data-denter' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Denter' ],
	255	'text/x-data-taxi' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Taxi' ],
	256	'application/x-storable' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Storable'
	257	],
	258	'application/x-freezethaw' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'FreezeThaw'
	259	],
	260	'text/x-config-general' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Config::General' ]
	261	,
	262	'text/x-php-serialization' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'PHP::Serializat
	263	ion' ],
	264	},
	265	}
	266	);
	267
	268	You can read the full set of options for this configuration block in
	269	Catalyst::Action::Serialize.
	270
	271	Sets a "begin" and "end" method for you
	272	The "begin" method uses Catalyst::Action::Deserialize. The "end"
	273	method uses Catalyst::Action::Serialize. If you want to override
	274	either behavior, simply implement your own "begin" and "end" actions
	275	and use NEXT:
	276
	277	my Foo::Controller::Monkey;
	278	use base qw(Catalyst::Controller::REST);
	279
	280	sub begin :Private {
	281	my ($self, $c) = @_;
	282	... do things before Deserializing ...
	283	$self->NEXT::begin($c);
	284	... do things after Deserializing ...
	285	}
	286
	287	sub end :Private {
	288	my ($self, $c) = @_;
	289	... do things before Serializing ...
	290	$self->NEXT::end($c);
	291	... do things after Serializing ...
	292	}
	293
	294	A MILD WARNING
	295	I have code in production using Catalyst::Controller::REST. That
	296	said, it is still under development, and it's possible that things
	297	may change between releases. I promise to not break things
	298	unneccesarily. :)
	299
01f9819a	300	SEE ALSO
8f00a41b	301	Catalyst::Action::REST, Catalyst::Action::Serialize,
8f00a41b	302	Catalyst::Action::Deserialize
01f9819a	303
8f00a41b	304	For help with REST in general:
01f9819a	305
8f00a41b	306	The HTTP 1.1 Spec is required reading.
8f00a41b	307	http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.txt
01f9819a	308
8f00a41b	309	Wikipedia!
8f00a41b	310	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer
01f9819a	311
8f00a41b	312	The REST Wiki: http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?FrontPage
01f9819a	313
01f9819a	314	AUTHOR
8f00a41b	315	Adam Jacob <adam@stalecoffee.org>, with lots of help from mst and
8f00a41b	316	jrockway
01f9819a	317
8f00a41b	318	Marchex, Inc. paid me while I developed this module.
8f00a41b	319	(http://www.marchex.com)
01f9819a	320
01f9819a	321	LICENSE
8f00a41b	322	You may distribute this code under the same terms as Perl itself.
01f9819a	323