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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
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3 | Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::01_Intro - Catalyst Tutorial - Chapter 1: Introduction |
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4 | |
5 | |
6 | =head1 OVERVIEW |
7 | |
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8 | This is B<Chapter 1 of 10> for the Catalyst tutorial. |
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9 | |
10 | L<Tutorial Overview|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial> |
11 | |
12 | =over 4 |
13 | |
14 | =item 1 |
15 | |
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16 | B<01_Introduction> |
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17 | |
18 | =item 2 |
19 | |
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20 | L<Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::02_CatalystBasics> |
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21 | |
22 | =item 3 |
23 | |
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24 | L<More Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::03_MoreCatalystBasics> |
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25 | |
26 | =item 4 |
27 | |
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28 | L<Basic CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::04_BasicCRUD> |
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29 | |
30 | =item 5 |
31 | |
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32 | L<Authentication|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::05_Authentication> |
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33 | |
34 | =item 6 |
35 | |
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36 | L<Authorization|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::06_Authorization> |
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37 | |
38 | =item 7 |
39 | |
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40 | L<Debugging|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::07_Debugging> |
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41 | |
42 | =item 8 |
43 | |
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44 | L<Testing|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::08_Testing> |
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45 | |
46 | =item 9 |
47 | |
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48 | L<Advanced CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::09_AdvancedCRUD> |
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49 | |
50 | =item 10 |
51 | |
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52 | L<Appendices|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::10_Appendices> |
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53 | |
54 | =back |
55 | |
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56 | |
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57 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
58 | |
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59 | This tutorial provides a multi-part introduction to the Catalyst Web |
60 | Framework. It seeks to provide a rapid overview of many of its most |
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61 | commonly used features. The focus is on the real-world best practices |
62 | required in the construction of nearly all Catalyst applications. |
63 | |
64 | Although the primary target of the tutorial is users new to the Catalyst |
65 | framework, experienced users may wish to review specific sections (for |
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66 | example, how to use DBIC for their model classes, how to add |
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67 | authentication and authorization to an existing application, and/or |
68 | form management). |
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69 | |
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70 | The most recent code for the tutorial is included on the Tutorial Virtual |
71 | Machine you can download from: |
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72 | |
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73 | svn co http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/Tutorial/ CatalystTutorial |
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74 | |
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75 | This will download the most recent code for each chapter of the |
76 | tutorial into the CatalystTutorial directory on your machine. |
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77 | |
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78 | B<These reference implementations are provided so that when you follow |
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79 | the tutorial, you can use the code to ensure that your system is set up |
80 | correctly (which shouldn't be an issue if you use the Tutorial Virtual |
81 | Machine), :-) and that you have not inadvertently made any typographic |
82 | errors, or accidentally skipped part of the tutorial.> |
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83 | |
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84 | B<NOTE: You can use any Perl-supported OS and environment to run |
85 | Catalyst.> It should make little or no difference to Catalyst's |
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86 | operation, B<but this tutorial has been written using the Debian-based |
87 | Tutorial Virtual Machine that you can download and use to work through |
88 | the full tutorial step by step. B<WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU USE |
89 | THE VIRTUAL MACHINE IMAGE TO WORK THROUGH THE TUTORIAL> to avoid issues |
90 | that may crop up if you are working with a different configuration. We |
91 | have tested the Tutorial Virtual Machine to make sure all of the |
92 | examples work correctly, but it is hard to guarantee this on other |
93 | platforms and versions. |
94 | |
95 | If you would prefer to install directly from CPAN and not use the |
96 | Tutorial Virtual machine, you can download the example program and all |
97 | the necessary dependencies to your local machine by installing the |
98 | C<Task::Catalyst::Tutorial> distribution: |
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99 | |
100 | cpan Task::Catalyst::Tutorial |
101 | |
102 | This will also test to make sure the dependencies are working. If you |
103 | have trouble installing these, please ask for help on the #catalyst |
104 | IRC channel, or the Catalyst mailing list. |
105 | |
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106 | Subjects covered by the tutorial include: |
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107 | |
108 | =over 4 |
109 | |
110 | =item * |
111 | |
112 | A simple application that lists and adds books. |
113 | |
114 | =item * |
115 | |
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116 | The use of L<DBIx::Class> (DBIC) for the model (including |
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117 | some of the more advanced techniques you will probably want to use in |
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118 | your applications). |
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119 | |
120 | =item * |
121 | |
122 | How to write CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) operations in |
123 | Catalyst. |
124 | |
125 | =item * |
126 | |
127 | Authentication ("auth"). |
128 | |
129 | =item * |
130 | |
131 | Role-based authorization ("authz"). |
132 | |
133 | =item * |
134 | |
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135 | Attempts to provide an example showing current (5.9) Catalyst |
136 | practices. |
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137 | |
138 | =item * |
139 | |
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140 | The use of Template Toolkit (TT). |
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141 | |
142 | =item * |
143 | |
144 | Useful techniques for troubleshooting and debugging Catalyst |
145 | applications. |
146 | |
147 | =item * |
148 | |
149 | The use of SQLite as a database (with code also provided for MySQL and |
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150 | PostgreSQL). (Note: Because we make use of the DBIx::Class Object |
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151 | Relational Mapping [ORM] layer, out our application will be database |
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152 | agnostic and can easily be used by any of the databases supported by |
153 | DBIx::Class.) |
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154 | |
155 | =item * |
156 | |
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157 | The use of L<HTML::FormFu> or L<HTML::FormHandler> |
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158 | for automated form processing and validation. |
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159 | |
160 | =back |
161 | |
162 | This tutorial makes the learning process its main priority. For |
163 | example, the level of comments in the code found here would likely be |
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164 | considered excessive in a "normal project." Because of their contextual |
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165 | value, this tutorial will generally favor inline comments over a |
166 | separate discussion in the text. It also deliberately tries to |
167 | demonstrate multiple approaches to various features (in general, you |
168 | should try to be as consistent as possible with your own production |
169 | code). |
170 | |
171 | Furthermore, this tutorial tries to minimize the number of controllers, |
172 | models, TT templates, and database tables. Although this does result in |
173 | things being a bit contrived at times, the concepts should be applicable |
174 | to more complex environments. More complete and complicated example |
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175 | applications can be found at |
176 | L<http://wiki.catalystframework.org/wiki/resources/catalystexamples> and |
177 | in the C<examples> area of the Catalyst Subversion repository at |
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178 | L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/>. |
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179 | ***Todo: update link above? |
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180 | |
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181 | |
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182 | |
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183 | =head1 STARTING WITH THE TUTORIAL VIRTUAL MACHINE |
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184 | |
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185 | The steps below briefly outline how you can download the Tutorial |
186 | Virtual Machine. This document uses the term "host machine" to refer to |
187 | the physical machine where you will run the virtualization software and |
188 | boot up the VM. The terms "guest machine" or just "VM" refer to the |
189 | virtual machine itself -- the thing where you actually do the tutorial |
190 | and that you boot up on the "host machine". |
191 | |
192 | Also, to reduce download size, the Tutorial VM just includes a minimal |
193 | command-line environment. In general, it is expected that people will |
194 | boot up the Tutorial VM on their main desktop (the "host machine" using |
195 | the terminology above) and then use that main desktop machine to SSH and |
196 | web browse into the "guest VM" as they work through the tutorial. If |
197 | you wish to install X-Windows (or any other packages), just use the |
198 | C<aptitude> (or C<apt-get>) Debian commands. |
199 | |
200 | |
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201 | =over 4 |
202 | |
203 | =item 1 |
204 | |
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205 | Download the C<debian-live-6.0.1-i386-rescue.iso> image from |
206 | L<http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/current-live/i386/iso-hybrid/>. |
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207 | |
208 | =item 2 |
209 | |
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210 | Uncompress the image: |
211 | |
212 | tar zxvf CatalystTutorial.tgz |
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213 | |
214 | =item 3 |
215 | |
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216 | Boot the virtual machine using a tool like VMWare Player |
217 | L<http://www.vmware.com/products/player> or VirtualBox |
218 | L<http://www.virtualbox.org/>. |
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219 | |
220 | =item 4 |
221 | |
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222 | Once you get a login prompt, enter the username B<root> and a password |
223 | for C<catalyst>. You should now be at a prompt that looks like: |
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224 | |
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225 | catalyst login: root |
226 | Password: catalyst |
227 | ... |
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228 | root@catalyst:~# |
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229 | |
230 | =item 5 |
231 | |
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232 | Type "C<ifconfig>" to get the IP address assigned to the virtual |
233 | machine. You should get output along the lines of: |
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234 | |
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235 | eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:01:22:3b:45:69 |
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236 | inet addr:192.168.0.12 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 |
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237 | ... |
238 | |
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239 | You want the IP address on the second line below the C<eth0> interface. |
240 | The image it design to automatically use a DHCP-assigned address. |
241 | |
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242 | |
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243 | Try to ping this IP address from your "host machine" (main desktop): |
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244 | |
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245 | |
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246 | MainComputer:~$ ping 192.168.0.12 |
247 | PING 192.168.0.12 (192.168.0.12) 56(84) bytes of data. |
248 | 64 bytes from 192.168.0.12: icmp_req=1 ttl=255 time=4.97 ms |
249 | 64 bytes from 192.168.0.12: icmp_req=2 ttl=255 time=3.43 ms |
250 | ... |
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251 | |
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252 | |
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253 | B<Note:> The ping above is being originated B<from> your B<host machine> |
254 | (main desktop) and going B<to> your guest B<virtual machine>, not the |
255 | other way around. |
256 | |
257 | If you are not seeing a valid IP address or it's not responding to pings |
258 | (for example, you get error messages along the lines of "Request timed |
259 | out", "100% packet loss", or "Destination Host Unreachable"), there |
260 | could be a few network-related issues you might need to sort out. See |
261 | the section below L<Sorting Out Virtual Machine Network-Related Issues> |
262 | for additional information and troubleshooting advice. |
263 | |
264 | L<Note:> Remember this IP address... you will be using it throughout the |
265 | tutorial. |
266 | |
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267 | |
268 | =item 6 |
269 | |
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270 | B<From your main desktop machine>, open an SSH client and connect to the |
271 | IP address found in the previous step. You should get a login prompt |
272 | (accept the SSH key if you get a warning message about that). Login |
273 | with the same username and password as we used in Step 4: B<root> / |
274 | B<catalyst> |
275 | |
276 | catalyst login: root |
277 | Password: catalyst |
278 | ... |
279 | root@catalyst:~# |
280 | |
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281 | |
282 | =item 7 |
283 | |
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284 | B<Using the SSH session>, change to the sample code directory for |
285 | Chapter 3 included with the Tutorial Virtual Machine and start the |
286 | Catalyst Development Server: |
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287 | |
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288 | $ cd Final/Chapter03/MyApp |
289 | $ perl scripts/myapp_server |
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290 | |
291 | =item 8 |
292 | |
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293 | B<From your main desktop machine> (the "host machine"), open a web |
294 | browser and go to B<http://A.B.C.D:3000/>, where C<A.B.C.D> is the IP |
295 | address to your virtual machine that you looked up in Step 5. For |
296 | example, if your virtual machine is using the IP address |
297 | C<192.168.0.12>, you would put the following URL into your web browser: |
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298 | |
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299 | http://192.168.0.12:3000/ |
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300 | |
301 | Make sure you don't forget the B<:3000> to use port 3000 instead of the |
302 | usual port 80 that is used by HTTP by default. |
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303 | |
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304 | You should get a Catalyst Welcome Screen. If you do, feel free to jump |
305 | right in to L<Chapter 2|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::02_CatalystBasics> |
306 | of the tutorial. If you don't go get the Catalyst Welcome Screen, go |
307 | back and carefully check each of the steps above. |
308 | |
309 | =item 9 |
310 | |
311 | B<Optional:> The VI/VIM editor is already installed on the Tutorial |
312 | Virtual Machine. In order to reduce the size of the download, Emacs is |
313 | not pre-installed. Since people obviously have very strong opinions |
314 | about which editor is best, :-) Debian fortunately make it very easy to |
315 | install Emacs: |
316 | |
317 | $ aptitude install emacs |
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318 | |
319 | =back |
320 | |
321 | |
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322 | You may note that the Tutorial Virtual Machine uses L<local::lib> so |
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323 | that the Perl modules are run from ~/perl5 (in this case, /root/perl5) |
324 | vs. the usual location of your "system Perl". We recommend that you |
325 | also consider using this very handy module. It can greatly ease the |
326 | process of maintaining and testing different combinations or Perl |
327 | modules across development, staging, and production servers. (The |
328 | "relocatable Perl" feature can also be used to to run both the modules |
329 | B<and> Perl itself from your home directory [or any other directory you |
330 | chose]). |
331 | |
332 | |
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333 | =head2 Sorting Out Virtual Machine Network-Related Issues |
334 | |
335 | In general, using a virtual machine to work through the tutorial is |
336 | *much* easier than trying to do it in other environments, especially if |
337 | you are new to Catalyst (or Perl or CPAN or ...). However, it's |
338 | possible that you could run into a few network-related issues. The good |
339 | news is that there is lots of information about the issue available via |
340 | search engines on the Internet. Here is some background information to |
341 | get you started. |
342 | |
343 | In Step 5 of the prior section above, we assumed that a "Bridged Mode" |
344 | configuration and DHCP will work (it should for most people). If DHCP |
345 | is not working or is not available in your location, most virtual |
346 | machine "host" environments let you select between one of several |
347 | different types of networking between the "guest" and the "host" |
348 | machine. |
349 | |
350 | 1) Bridged |
351 | 2) NAT |
352 | 3) Local host only |
353 | |
354 | The Tutorial Virtual Machine defaults to "Bridged" -- this should result |
355 | in the VM acting like another device on your network that will get a |
356 | different DHCP IP address than the host machine. The advantage of this |
357 | approach, is that you can easily SSH and web browse to the guest virtual |
358 | machine. In general, this is the best option if you want to be able to |
359 | boot up the VM and then use your SSH client and web browser from your |
360 | main machine to connect into the virtual machine. |
361 | |
362 | In some environments, you might have better luck with "NAT" (Network |
363 | Address Translation) mode. With this configuration, the guest VM shares |
364 | the same IP address as the host machine. The downside of this approach |
365 | is that special configuration is required if you want to be able to SSH |
366 | or web browse to the guest VM. The NAT option should automatically |
367 | allow the VM "outbound connection" (e.g., to the Internet if you want to |
368 | install additional Debian packages), but it requires special |
369 | configuration if you want to get "inbound connections" that go from some |
370 | other machine (including the "host machine") into the VM. Some virtual |
371 | machine host environments let you configure a "static NAT" or "port |
372 | forwarding" to reach the guest OS, but others omit this functionality. |
373 | |
374 | "Local host only" mode let's the guest VM and the host machine talk on a |
375 | "private subnet" that other devices in your network cannot reach. This |
376 | can work as long as you don't need to go from the VM to the Internet |
377 | (for example, to install other Debian packages). |
378 | |
379 | Consult the documentation on your virtual machine host environment for |
380 | help configuring the options above. Here are some links that might |
381 | help: |
382 | |
383 | =over 4 |
384 | |
385 | =item * |
386 | |
387 | L<VMFAQ.com|http://vmfaq.com/entry/34/> |
388 | |
389 | =item * |
390 | |
391 | L<VMWare Player Docs|http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/player_pubs.html> |
392 | |
393 | =item * |
394 | |
395 | L<Virtual Box Documentation|http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch06.html> |
396 | |
397 | =back |
398 | |
399 | |
400 | |
401 | |
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402 | =head1 VERSIONS AND CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS TUTORIAL |
403 | |
404 | This tutorial was built using the following resources. Please note that |
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405 | you may need to make adjustments for different environments and versions |
406 | (note that trailing zeros in version numbers are not significant and may |
407 | get dropped with some techniques for viewing them; for example, Catalyst |
408 | v5.80020 might show up as 5.8002): |
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409 | |
410 | =over 4 |
411 | |
412 | =item * |
413 | |
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414 | Debian 6 (Squeeze) |
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415 | |
416 | =item * |
417 | |
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418 | Catalyst v5.90002 |
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419 | |
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420 | =item * |
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421 | |
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422 | Catalyst::Devel v1.34 |
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423 | |
424 | =item * |
425 | |
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426 | DBIx::Class v0.08195 |
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427 | |
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428 | =item * |
429 | |
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430 | Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema v0.54 |
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431 | |
432 | =item * |
433 | |
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434 | Template Toolkit v2.22 |
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435 | |
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436 | |
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437 | =item * |
438 | |
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439 | HTML::FormFu -- v0.09004 |
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440 | |
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441 | =item * |
442 | |
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443 | B<NOTE:> You can check the versions you have installed with the |
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444 | following command (note the slash before the space): |
445 | |
446 | perl -M<_mod_name_>\ 999 |
447 | |
448 | or: |
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449 | |
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450 | perl -M<_mod_name_> -e 'print "$<_mod_name_>::VERSION\n"' |
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451 | |
452 | For example: |
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453 | |
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454 | perl -MCatalyst::Devel\ 999 |
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455 | |
456 | or: |
457 | |
458 | perl -MCatalyst::Devel -e 'print "$Catalyst::Devel::VERSION\n";' |
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459 | |
460 | =item * |
461 | |
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462 | This tutorial will show URLs in the format of C<http://localhost:3000>, |
463 | but if you are running your web browser from outside the Tutorial |
464 | Virtual Machine, you will want to substitute the IP address of your VM |
465 | for the C<localhost> in the URLs (again, you can get the IP address for |
466 | eth0 from the C<ifconfig> command). For example, if your VM has an |
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467 | IP address of 192.168.0.12, you will want to use a base URL of |
468 | C<http://192.168.0.12:3000>. Note that the development server |
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469 | defaults to port 3000 (you can change with with the "-p" option on the |
470 | command line. |
471 | |
472 | B<Please Note:> Depending on the web browser you are using, you might need |
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473 | to hit C<Shift+Reload> or C<Ctrl+Reload> to pull a fresh page when |
474 | testing your application at various points (see |
475 | L<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bypass_your_cache> for a comprehensive |
476 | list of options for each browser). Also, the C<-k> keepalive option to |
477 | the development server can be necessary with some browsers (especially |
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478 | Internet Explorer). |
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479 | |
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480 | =back |
481 | |
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482 | |
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483 | =head1 DATABASES |
484 | |
485 | This tutorial will primarily focus on SQLite because of its simplicity |
486 | of installation and use; however, modifications in the script required |
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487 | to support MySQL and PostgreSQL will be presented in the Appendix. |
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488 | |
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489 | B<Note:> One of the advantages of using tools like Catalyst and DBIC is |
490 | that applications become much more database independent. As such, you |
491 | will notice that only the C<.sql> files used to initialize the database |
492 | change between database systems: most of the code generally remains the |
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493 | same. |
494 | |
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495 | |
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496 | You can jump to the next chapter of the tutorial here: |
497 | L<Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::02_CatalystBasics> |
498 | |
499 | |
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500 | =head1 AUTHOR |
501 | |
502 | Kennedy Clark, C<hkclark@gmail.com> |
503 | |
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504 | Please report any errors, issues or suggestions to the author. The |
505 | most recent version of the Catalyst Tutorial can be found at |
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506 | L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/Catalyst-Manual/5.80/trunk/lib/Catalyst/Manual/Tutorial/>. |
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507 | |
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508 | Copyright 2006-2010, Kennedy Clark, under the |
509 | Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License Version 3.0 |
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510 | (L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/>). |