Name

PLP::HowTo - Some examples of commong web things in PLP.

How to...

Additional Perl functionality is often available in modules. All of the modules used in this document are available (for free) at CPAN: http://search.cpan.org/

send a cookie

    <: 
	BEGIN {
	    use CGI::Cookie;
	    AddCookie( CGI::Cookie->new(
		-name => 'ID',
		-value => 123456,
		-domain => 'foo.com',
		-path => '/'
	    )->as_string );
	}
    :>

get a cookie

Your user ID is <:= $cookie{ID} :>

set a header

    <:
	BEGIN {
	    $header{Content_Type} = 'text/plain';
	}
    :>

use a database

Use DBI, and alternatively, one of the many simplifying modules. Drivers for DBI are in the DBD:: namespace. DBI loads the driver automatically, but it has to be available.

    <:
	use DBIx::Simple; # and read its documentation for examples.
    :>

allow a user to upload a file

Use CGI.pm, which can be used with CGI::Upload to make things easier

    <:
	use CGI;         # and don't use %post in your PLP document.
	use CGI::Upload; # and read its documentation for examples.
	my $cgi = CGI->new;
	my $upload = CGI::Upload->new($cgi);
	...
    :>
=item download a file into a variable

    <:
	use LWP::Simple;
	my $page = get("http://foo.com/bar.html");
    :>

If you have good, simple examples of how to do common things with PLP, please send them! (juerd@cpan.org)