=head1 NAME
-Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::BasicCRUD - Catalyst Tutorial - Part 3: Basic CRUD
+Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::BasicCRUD - Catalyst Tutorial - Part 4: Basic CRUD
=head1 OVERVIEW
-This is B<Part 3 of 9> for the Catalyst tutorial.
+This is B<Part 4 of 10> for the Catalyst tutorial.
L<Tutorial Overview|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial>
=item 3
-B<Basic CRUD>
+L<More Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::MoreCatalystBasics>
=item 4
-L<Authentication|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authentication>
+B<Basic CRUD>
=item 5
-L<Authorization|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authorization>
+L<Authentication|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authentication>
=item 6
-L<Debugging|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Debugging>
+L<Authorization|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authorization>
=item 7
-L<Testing|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Testing>
+L<Debugging|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Debugging>
=item 8
-L<AdvancedCRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::AdvancedCRUD>
+L<Testing|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Testing>
=item 9
+L<Advanced CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::AdvancedCRUD>
+
+=item 10
+
L<Appendices|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Appendices>
=back
-
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This part of the tutorial builds on the fairly primitive application
-created in Part 2 to add basic support for Create, Read, Update, and
+created in Part 3 to add basic support for Create, Read, Update, and
Delete (CRUD) of C<Book> objects. Note that the 'list' function in Part
2 already implements the Read portion of CRUD (although Read normally
refers to reading a single object; you could implement full read
functionality using the techniques introduced below). This section will
focus on the Create and Delete aspects of CRUD. More advanced
capabilities, including full Update functionality, will be addressed in
-Part 8.
+Part 9.
+
+Although this part of the tutorial will show you how to build CRUD
+functionality yourself, another option is to use a "CRUD builder" type
+of tool to automate the process. You get less control, but it's quick
+and easy. For example, see
+L<CatalystX::ListFramework::Builder|CatalystX::ListFramework::Builder>,
+L<CatalystX::CRUD|CatalystX::CRUD>, and
+L<CatalystX::CRUD:YUI|CatalystX::CRUD:YUI>.
You can checkout the source code for this example from the catalyst
subversion repository as per the instructions in
-L<Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro>
+L<Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro>.
+
=head1 FORMLESS SUBMISSION
-Our initial attempt at object creation will utilize the "URL arguments"
-feature of Catalyst (we will employ the more common form-based
-submission in the sections that follow).
+Our initial attempt at object creation will utilize the "URL
+arguments" feature of Catalyst (we will employ the more common form-
+based submission in the sections that follow).
=head2 Include a Create Action in the Books Controller
# Call create() on the book model object. Pass the table
# columns/field values we want to set as hash values
- my $book = $c->model('MyAppDB::Book')->create({
+ my $book = $c->model('DB::Books')->create({
title => $title,
rating => $rating
});
[% # Provide a link back to the list page -%]
[% # 'uri_for()' builds a full URI; e.g., 'http://localhost:3000/books/list' -%]
- <p><a href="[% Catalyst.uri_for('/books/list') %]">Return to list</a></p>
+ <p><a href="[% c.uri_for('/books/list') %]">Return to list</a></p>
[% # Try out the TT Dumper (for development only!) -%]
<pre>
[% Dumper.dump(book) %]
</pre>
-The TT C<USE> directive allows access to a variety of plugin modules (TT
-plugins, that is, not Catalyst plugins) to add extra functionality to
-the base TT capabilities. Here, the plugin allows L<Data::Dumper>
-"pretty printing" of objects and variables. Other than that, the rest
-of the code should be familiar from the examples in Part 2.
+The TT C<USE> directive allows access to a variety of plugin modules
+(TT plugins, that is, not Catalyst plugins) to add extra functionality
+to the base TT capabilities. Here, the plugin allows
+L<Data::Dumper|Data::Dumper> "pretty printing" of objects and
+variables. Other than that, the rest of the code should be familiar
+from the examples in Part 3.
-B<IMPORTANT NOTE> As mentioned earlier, the C<MyApp::View::TT.pm> view
-class created by TTSite redefines the name used to access the Catalyst
-context object in TT templates from the usual C<c> to C<Catalyst>.
=head2 Try the C<url_create> Feature
If the application is still running from before, use C<Ctrl-C> to kill
it. Then restart the server:
- $ script/myapp_server.pl
+ $ DBIC_TRACE=1 script/myapp_server.pl
Note that new path for C</books/url_create> appears in the startup debug
output.
Your browser should display " Added book 'TCPIP_Illustrated_Vol-2' by
'Stevens' with a rating of 5." along with a dump of the new book model
object. You should also see the following DBIC debug messages displayed
-in the development server log messages:
+in the development server log messages if you have DBIC_TRACE set:
INSERT INTO books (rating, title) VALUES (?, ?): `5', `TCPIP_Illustrated_Vol-2'
INSERT INTO book_authors (author_id, book_id) VALUES (?, ?): `4', `6'
the existing record for Richard Stevens. The C<SELECT> statement results
from DBIC automatically fetching the book for the C<Dumper.dump(book)>.
-If you then click the "Return to list" link, you should find that there
-are now six books shown (if necessary, Shift-Reload your browser at the
-C</books/list> page).
+If you then click the "Return to list" link, you should find that
+there are now six books shown (if necessary, Shift+Reload or
+Ctrl+Reload your browser at the C</books/list> page).
Then I<add 2 more copies of the same book> so that we have some extras for
our delete logic that will be coming up soon. Enter the same URL above
This action simply invokes a view containing a book creation form.
+
=head2 Add a Template for the Form
Open C<root/src/books/form_create.tt2> in your editor and enter:
[% META title = 'Manual Form Book Create' -%]
- <form method="post" action="[% Catalyst.uri_for('form_create_do') %]">
+ <form method="post" action="[% c.uri_for('form_create_do') %]">
<table>
<tr><td>Title:</td><td><input type="text" name="title"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Rating:</td><td><input type="text" name="rating"></td></tr>
Note that we have specified the target of the form data as
C<form_create_do>, the method created in the section that follows.
+
=head2 Add a Method to Process Form Values and Update Database
Edit C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Books.pm> and add the following method to
my $author_id = $c->request->params->{author_id} || '1';
# Create the book
- my $book = $c->model('MyAppDB::Book')->create({
+ my $book = $c->model('DB::Books')->create({
title => $title,
rating => $rating,
});
Point your browser to L<http://localhost:3000/books/form_create> and
enter "TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol 3" for the title, a rating of 5, and an
-author ID of 4. You should then be forwarded to the same
+author ID of 4. You should then see the output of the same
C<create_done.tt2> template seen in earlier examples. Finally, click
"Return to list" to view the full list of books.
B<Note:> Having the user enter the primary key ID for the author is
obviously crude; we will address this concern with a drop-down list in
-Part 8.
+Part 9.
=head1 A SIMPLE DELETE FEATURE
</td>
<td>
[% # Add a link to delete a book %]
- <a href="[% Catalyst.uri_for('delete/') _ book.id %]">Delete</a>
+ <a href="[% c.uri_for('delete', book.id) %]">Delete</a>
</td>
</tr>
[% END -%]
right side of the table with a C<Delete> "button" (for simplicity, links
will be used instead of full HTML buttons).
+
=head2 Add a Delete Action to the Controller
Open C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Books.pm> in your editor and add the
following method:
- =head2 delete
+ =head2 delete
Delete a book
my ($self, $c, $id) = @_;
# Search for the book and then delete it
- $c->model('MyAppDB::Book')->search({id => $id})->delete_all;
+ $c->model('DB::Books')->search({id => $id})->delete_all;
# Set a status message to be displayed at the top of the view
$c->stash->{status_msg} = "Book deleted.";
=head2 Fixing a Dangerous URL
-Note the URL in your browser once you have performed the deletetion in the
+Note the URL in your browser once you have performed the deletion in the
prior step -- it is still referencing the delete action:
http://localhost:3000/books/delete/6
We can improve the logic by converting to a redirect. Unlike
C<$c-E<gt>forward('list'))> or C<$c-E<gt>detach('list'))> that perform
a server-side alteration in the flow of processing, a redirect is a
-client-side mechanism that causes the brower to issue an entirely
+client-side mechanism that causes the browser to issue an entirely
new request. As a result, the URL in the browser is updated to match
the destination of the redirection URL.
my ($self, $c, $id) = @_;
# Search for the book and then delete it
- $c->model('MyAppDB::Book')->search({id => $id})->delete_all;
+ $c->model('DB::Books')->search({id => $id})->delete_all;
# Set a status message to be displayed at the top of the view
$c->stash->{status_msg} = "Book deleted.";
=head2 Try the Delete and Redirect Logic
Restart the development server and point your browser to
-L<http://localhost:3000/books/list>. Delete the first copy of
-"TCPIP_Illustrated_Vol-2", but notice that I<no green "Book deleted"
-status message is displayed>. Because the stash is reset on every
-request (and a redirect involves a second request), the
-C<status_msg> is cleared before it can be displayed.
+L<http://localhost:3000/books/list> and delete the first copy of
+"TCPIP_Illustrated_Vol-2". The URL in your browser should return to
+the L<http://localhost:3000/books/list> URL, so that is an
+improvement, but notice that I<no green "Book deleted" status message
+is displayed>. Because the stash is reset on every request (and a
+redirect involves a second request), the C<status_msg> is cleared
+before it can be displayed.
=head2 Using C<uri_for> to Pass Query Parameters
There are several ways to pass information across a redirect.
In general, the best option is to use the C<flash> technique that we
-will see in Part 4 of the tutorial; however, here we will pass the
+will see in Part 5 of the tutorial; however, here we will pass the
information via query parameters on the redirect itself. Open
C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Books.pm> and update the existing
C<sub delete> method to match the following:
my ($self, $c, $id) = @_;
# Search for the book and then delete it
- $c->model('MyAppDB::Book')->search({id => $id})->delete_all;
+ $c->model('DB::Books')->search({id => $id})->delete_all;
# Redirect the user back to the list page with status msg as an arg
$c->response->redirect($c->uri_for('/books/list',
This modification simply leverages the ability of C<uri_for> to include
an arbitrary number of name/value pairs in a hash reference. Next, we
-need to update C<root/lib/site/layout> to handle C<status_msg> as a
+need to update C<root/src/wrapper> to handle C<status_msg> as a
query parameter:
- <div id="header">[% PROCESS site/header %]</div>
-
+ ...
<div id="content">
- <span class="message">[% status_msg || Catalyst.request.params.status_msg %]</span>
- <span class="error">[% error_msg %]</span>
- [% content %]
- </div>
-
- <div id="footer">[% PROCESS site/footer %]</div>
+ [%# Status and error messages %]
+ <span class="message">[% status_msg || c.request.params.status_msg %]</span>
+ <span class="error">[% error_msg %]</span>
+ [%# This is where TT will stick all of your template's contents. -%]
+ [% content %]
+ </div><!-- end content -->
+ ...
+
+Although the sample above only shows the C<content> div, leave the
+rest of the file intact -- the only change we made to the C<wrapper.tt2>
+was to add "C<|| c.request.params.status_msg>" to the
+C<E<lt>span class="message"E<gt>> line.
=head2 Try the Delete and Redirect With Query Param Logic
most recent version of the Catalyst Tutorial can be found at
L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/Catalyst-Manual/lib/Catalyst/Manual/Tutorial/>.
-Copyright 2006, Kennedy Clark, under Creative Commons License
-(L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/>).
+Copyright 2006-2008, Kennedy Clark, under Creative Commons License
+(L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/>).