NAME

Catalyst::Controller - Catalyst Controller base class

SYNOPSIS

package MyApp::Controller::Search
use base qw/Catalyst::Controller/;

sub foo : Local {
  my ($self,$c,@args) = @_;
  ...
} # Dispatches to /search/foo

DESCRIPTION

Controllers are where the actions in the Catalyst framework reside. Each action is represented by a function with an attribute to identify what kind of action it is. See the Catalyst::Dispatcher for more info about how Catalyst dispatches to actions.

CONFIGURATION

Like any other Catalyst::Component, controllers have a config hash, accessible through $self->config from the controller actions. Some settings are in use by the Catalyst framework:

namespace

This specifies the internal namespace the controller should be bound to. By default the controller is bound to the URI version of the controller name. For instance controller 'MyApp::Controller::Foo::Bar' will be bound to 'foo/bar'. The default Root controller is an example of setting namespace to '' (the null string).

path

Sets 'path_prefix', as described below.

action

Allows you to set the attributes that the dispatcher creates actions out of. This allows you to do 'rails style routes', or override some of the attribute defintions of actions composed from Roles. You can set arguments globally (for all actions of the controller) and specifically (for a single action).

__PACKAGE__->config(
    action => {
        '*' => { Chained => 'base', Args => 0  },
        base => { Chained => '/', PathPart => '', CaptureArgs => 0 },
    },
 );

In the case above every sub in the package would be made into a Chain endpoint with a URI the same as the sub name for each sub, chained to the sub named base. Ergo dispatch to /example would call the base method, then the example method.

action_args

Allows you to set constructor arguments on your actions. You can set arguments globally and specifically (as above). This is particularly useful when using ActionRoles (Catalyst::Controller::ActionRole) and custom ActionClasses.

__PACKAGE__->config(
    action_args => {
        '*' => { globalarg1 => 'hello', globalarg2 => 'goodbye' },
        'specific_action' => { customarg => 'arg1' },
    },
 );

In the case above the action class associated with specific_action would get passed the following arguments, in addition to the normal action constructor arguments, when it is instantiated:

(globalarg1 => 'hello', globalarg2 => 'goodbye', customarg => 'arg1')

METHODS

BUILDARGS ($app, @args)

From Catalyst::Component::ApplicationAttribute, stashes the application instance as $self->_application.

$self->action_for('name')

Returns the Catalyst::Action object (if any) for a given method name in this component.

$self->action_namespace($c)

Returns the private namespace for actions in this component. Defaults to a value from the controller name (for e.g. MyApp::Controller::Foo::Bar becomes "foo/bar") or can be overridden from the "namespace" config key.

$self->path_prefix($c)

Returns the default path prefix for :PathPrefix, :Local, :LocalRegex and relative :Path actions in this component. Defaults to the action_namespace or can be overridden from the "path" config key.

$self->register_actions($c)

Finds all applicable actions for this component, creates Catalyst::Action objects (using $self->create_action) for them and registers them with $c->dispatcher.

$self->get_action_methods()

Returns a list of Moose::Meta::Method objects, doing the MooseX::MethodAttributes::Role::Meta::Method role, which are the set of action methods for this package.

$self->register_action_methods($c, @methods)

Creates action objects for a set of action methods using create_action , and registers them with the dispatcher.

$self->action_class(%args)

Used when a controller is creating an action to determine the correct base action class to use.

$self->create_action(%args)

Called with a hash of data to be use for construction of a new Catalyst::Action (or appropriate sub/alternative class) object.

$self->_application

$self->_app

Returns the application instance stored by new()

AUTHORS

Catalyst Contributors, see Catalyst.pm

COPYRIGHT

This library is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.