=head1 DESCRIPTION
-This tutorial provides a multipart introduction to the Catalyst web
+This tutorial provides a multi-part introduction to the Catalyst web
framework. It seeks to provide a rapid overview of many of its most
commonly used features. The focus is on the real-world best practices
required in the construction of nearly all Catalyst applications.
inadvertently made any typographic errors, or accidentally skipped
part of the tutorial.>
-B<NOTE: You can use any perl-supported OS and environment to run
+B<NOTE: You can use any Perl-supported OS and environment to run
Catalyst.> It should make little or no difference to Catalyst's
-operation, but this tutorial has been written using Ubuntu 8.10
+operation, B<but this tutorial has been written using Ubuntu 8.10>
because that represents a quick and easy for most people to try out
-Catalyst with virtually zero setup time and hassles. See the Catalyst
-installation section below for more information.
+Catalyst with virtually zero setup time and hassles. Also, the tutorial
+has been tested to work correctly with the versions of Catalyst and all
+the supporting modules in Ubuntu 8.10 (see "VERSIONS AND CONVENTIONS
+USED IN THIS TUTORIAL" below for the specific versions for some of the
+key modules), so B<if you think you might be running into an issue
+related to versions> (for example, a module changed its behavior in a
+newer version or a bug was introduced), B<it might be worth giving
+Ubuntu 8.10 a try>. See the "CATALYST INSTALLATION" section below for
+more information.
If you're reading this manual online, you can download the example
program and all the necessary dependencies to your local machine by
=item *
-The use of Template Toolkit (TT) and the
-L<Catalyst::Helper::View::TTSite|Catalyst::Helper::View::TTSite>
-view helper.
+The use of Template Toolkit (TT).
=item *
L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/wiki/UserIntroductions> and
L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/>.
+
=head1 VERSIONS AND CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS TUTORIAL
This tutorial was built using the following resources. Please note that
=item *
-Depending on the web browser you are using, you might need to hit
-C<Shift+Reload> to pull a fresh page when testing your application at
-various points. Also, the C<-k> keepalive option to the development
-server can be necessary with some browsers (especially Internet
-Explorer).
+Depending on the web browser you are using, you might need to hit
+C<Shift+Reload> or C<Ctrl+Reload> to pull a fresh page when testing
+your application at various points (see
+L<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bypass_your_cache> for a comprehensive
+list of options for each browser). Also, the C<-k> keepalive option
+to the development server can be necessary with some browsers
+(especially Internet Explorer).
=back
+
=head1 CATALYST INSTALLATION
While the rough edges of Catalyst installation have been a problem in
Ubuntu
-Given the popularity of Ubuntu and its ease of use, Ubuntu can be
-a great way for newcomers to experiment with Catalyst. Because it
-is a "live CD," you can simply boot from the CD, run a few commands,
-and you should have a fully functional environment in which to do
-this tutorial in a matter of minutes.
+Given the popularity of Ubuntu and its ease of use, Ubuntu can be a
+great way for newcomers to experiment with Catalyst. Because it is a
+"live CD," you can simply boot from the CD, run a few commands, and you
+should have a fully functional environment in which to do this tutorial
+in a matter of minutes. B<The tutorial was fully tested to work under
+Ubuntu 8.10. Although it SHOULD work under any Catalyst installation
+method you might choose, it can be hard to guarantee this.>
=over 4
Matt Trout's C<cat-install>
-Available at L<http://www.shadowcatsystems.co.uk/static/cat-install>,
-C<cat-install> can be a quick and painless way to get Catalyst up and
-running. Just download the script from the link above and type C<perl
-cat-install>.
+Available at L<http://www.shadowcatsystems.co.uk/static/cat-install>,
+C<cat-install> can be a fairly painless way to get Catalyst up and
+running. Just download the script from the link above and type C<perl
+cat-install>. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection and
+your computer, it will probably take 30 to 60 minutes to install because
+it downloads, makes, compiles, and tests every module. But this is an
+excellent way to automate the installation of all the latest modules
+used by Catalyst from CPAN.
+
=item *
-Chris Laco's CatInABox
+Other Possibilities
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+OpenBSD Packages
+
+The 2008 Advent Day 4 entry has more information on using OpenBSD
+packages to quickly build a system:
+L<http://www.catalystframework.org/calendar/2008/4>.
+
+=item *
+
+NetBSD Package Collection on Solaris
-Download the tarball from
-L<http://handelframework.com/downloads/CatInABox.tar.gz> and unpack it
-on your machine. Depending on your OS platform, either run C<start.bat>
-or C<start.sh>.
+The 2008 Advent Day 15 entry has more information on using C<pkgsrc> and
+NetBSD packages on Solaris:
+L<http://www.catalystframework.org/calendar/2008/15|>.
=item *
+CatInABox
+
+You can get more information at
+L<http://www.catalystframework.org/calendar/2008/7>
+or L<Perl::Dist::CatInABox|Perl::Dist::CatInABox>.
+
+
+=item *
+
Pre-Built VMWare Images
Under the VMWare community program, work is ongoing to develop a number
=back
+=back
+
For additional information and recommendations on Catalyst installation,
please refer to
L<Catalyst::Manual::Installation|Catalyst::Manual::Installation>.
4.X server with Catalyst and all the plugins required to run this
tutorial.
+
=head1 DATABASES
This tutorial will primarily focus on SQLite because of its simplicity
change between database systems: the Catalyst code generally remains the
same.
+
=head1 WHERE TO GET WORKING CODE
Each part of the tutorial has complete code available in the main
Catalyst Subversion repository (see the note at the beginning of each
part for the appropriate svn command to use). Additionally, the final
-code is available as a ready-to-run tarball at
-L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/Tutorial/Final_Tarball/MyApp.tgz>.
+code through Part 8 of the tutorial is available as a ready-to-run
+tarball at
+L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/Tutorial/Final_Tarball/MyApp_Part8.tgz>.
+The final code for other parts of the tutorial are available at:
+L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/Tutorial/Final_Tarballs_Per_Part/>.
+
B<NOTE:> You can run the test cases for the final code with the following
commands:
- wget http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/Tutorial/Final_Tarball/MyApp.tgz
+ wget http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/Tutorial/Final_Tarball/MyApp_Part8.tgz
tar zxvf MyApp.tgz
cd MyApp
CATALYST_DEBUG=0 prove --lib lib t
Please report any errors, issues or suggestions to the author. The
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/>.
+L<http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/Catalyst-Manual/5.70/trunk/lib/Catalyst/Manual/Tutorial/>.
Copyright 2006-2008, Kennedy Clark, under Creative Commons License
(L<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/>).