NAME

Catalyst::Manual::Intro - Introduction to Catalyst

DESCRIPTION

This is a brief overview of why and how to use Catalyst. It explains how Catalyst works and shows how to quickly get a simple application up and running.

What is Catalyst?

Catalyst is an elegant web application framework, extremely flexible yet extremely simple. It's similar to Ruby on Rails, Spring (Java) and Maypole, upon which it was originally based.

MVC

Catalyst follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern, allowing you to easily separate concerns, like content, presentation and flow control, into separate modules. This separation allows you to modify code that handles one concern without affecting code that handles the others. Catalyst promotes re-use of existing Perl modules that already handle common web application concerns well.

Here's how the M, V and C map to those concerns, with examples of well-known Perl modules you may want to use for each.

Model

Access and modify content (data). Class::DBI, Plucene, Net::LDAP...
View

Present content to the user. Template Toolkit, Mason...
Controller

Control the whole request phase, check parameters, dispatch actions, flow control. Catalyst!

If you're unfamiliar with MVC and design patterns, you may want to check out the original book on the subject, Design Patterns, by Gamma, Helm, Johson and Vlissides, also known as the Gang of Four (GoF). You can also just google it. Many, many web application frameworks are based on MVC, including all those listed above.

Flexibility

Catalyst is much more flexible than many other frameworks. We'll talk more about this later, but rest assured you can use your favorite perl modules with Catalyst.

Multiple Models, Views and Controllers

To build a Catalyst application, you handle each type of concern inside special modules called "Components". Often this code will be very simple, just calling out to Perl modules like those listed above under "MVC". Catalyst handles these components in a very flexible way. Use as many Models, Views and Controllers as you like, using as many different Perl modules as you like, all in the same application. Want to manipulate multiple databases, and retrieve some data via LDAP? No problem. Want to present data from the same Model using Template Toolkit and PDF::Template? Easy.
Reuseable Components

Not only does Catalyst promote the re-use of already existing Perl modules, it also allows you to re-use your Catalyst components in multiple Catalyst applications.
Unrestrained URL-to-Action Dispatching

Catalyst allows you to dispatch any URLs to any application Actions, even through regular expressions! Unlike most other frameworks, it doesn't require mod_rewrite or class and method names in URLs.

With Catalyst you register your actions and address them directly. For example:
```
sub hello : Global {
    my ( $self, $context ) = @_;
    $context->response->output('Hello World!');
}
```
Now http://localhost:3000/hello prints "Hello World!".
Support for CGI, mod_perl, Apache::Request

Use Catalyst::Engine::Apache or Catalyst::Engine::CGI.

Simplicity

The best part is that Catalyst implements all this flexibility in a very simple way.

Building Block Interface

Components interoperate very smoothly. For example, Catalyst automatically makes a Context object available to every component. Via the context, you can access the request object, share data between components, and control the flow of your application. Building a Catalyst application feels a lot like snapping together toy building blocks, and everything just works.
Component Auto-Discovery

No need to use all of your components. Catalyst automatically finds and loads them.
Pre-Built Components for Popular Modules

See Catalyst::Model::CDBI for Class::DBI, or Catalyst::View::TT for Template Toolkit. You can even get an instant web database front end with Catalyst::Model::CDBI::CRUD.
Builtin Test Framework

Catalyst comes with a builtin, lightweight http server and test framework, making it easy to test applications from the command line.
Helper Scripts

Catalyst provides helper scripts to quickly generate running starter code for components and unit tests.

Quickstart

Here's how to install Catalyst and get a simple application up and running, using the helper scripts described above.

Install

$ perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::Catalyst'

Setup

$ catalyst.pl MyApp
$ cd MyApp
$ script/create.pl controller My::Controller

Run

$ script/server.pl

Now visit these locations with your favorite browser or user agent to see Catalyst in action:

http://localhost:3000/
http://localhost:3000/my_controller/

Dead easy!

How It Works

Let's see how Catalyst works, by taking a closer look at the components and other parts of a Catalyst application.

Application Class

In addition to the Model, View and Controller components, there's a single class that represents your application itself. This is where you configure your application, load plugins, define application-wide actions and extend Catalyst.

package MyApp;

use strict;
use Catalyst qw/-Debug/;

MyApp->config(
    name => 'My Application',
    root => '/home/joeuser/myapp/root',

    # You can put whatever you want in here:
    # my_param_name => $my_param_value,
);

sub default : Private {
    my ( $self, $context ) = @_;
    $context->response->output('Catalyst rockz!');
}

1;

For most applications, Catalyst requires you to define only two config parameters:

name

Name of your application.
root

Path to additional files like templates, images or other static data.

However, you can define as many parameters as you want for plugins or whatever you need. You can access them anywhere in your application via $context->config->{$param_name}.

Context

Catalyst automatically blesses a Context object into your application class and makes it available everywhere in your application. Use the Context to directly interact with Catalyst and glue your Components together.

As illustrated earlier in our URL-to-Action dispatching example, the Context is always the second method parameter, behind the Component object reference or class name itself. Previously we called it $context for clarity, but most Catalyst developers just call it $c:

sub hello : Global {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->res->output('Hello World!');
}

The Context contains several important objects:

Catalyst::Request
```
$c->request
$c->req # alias
```
The request object contains all kinds of request-specific information, like query parameters, cookies, uploads, headers and more.
```
$c->req->params->{foo};
$c->req->cookies->{sessionid};
$c->req->headers->content_type;
$c->req->base;
```

Catalyst::Response

$c->response
$c->res # alias

The response is like the request, but contains just response-specific information.

$c->res->output('Hello World');
$c->res->status(404);
$c->res->redirect('http://oook.de');

Catalyst::Config

$c->config

$c->config->root;
$c->config->name;

Catalyst::Log

$c->log

$c->log->debug('Something happened');
$c->log->info('Something you should know');

Stash
```
$c->stash

$c->stash->{foo} = 'bar';
```

The last of these, the stash, is a universal hash for sharing data among application components. For an example, we return to our 'hello' action:

sub hello : Global {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->stash->{message} = 'Hello World!';
    $c->forward('show_message');
}

sub show_message : Private {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->res->output( $c->stash->{message} );
}

Actions

A Catalyst controller is defined by it's actions. An action is a sub with a special attribute. You've already seen some example of actions

in this document.

Catalyst supports several types of actions:

Literal
```
sub bar : Path('/foo/bar') { }
```
Matches only http://localhost:3000/foo/bar.
Regex
```
sub bar : Regex('^foo(\d+)/bar(\d+)$') { }
```
Matches any URL that matches the pattern in the action key, e.g. http://localhost:3000/foo23/bar42. The '' around the regexp is optional, but perltidy likes it. :)

If you use capturing parantheses to extract values within the matching URL (23, 42 in the above example), those values are available in the $c->req->snippets array. If you want to pass arguments at the end of your URL, you must use regex action keys. See "URL Argument Handling" below.
Toplevel
```
package MyApp; 
sub foo : Global { }
```
Matches http://localhost:3000/foo. The function name is mapped directly to the application base.
Namespace-Prefixed
```
package MyApp::C::My::Controller; 
sub foo : Local { }
```
Matches http://localhost:3000/my/controller/foo.

This action type indicates that the matching URL must be prefixed with a modified form of the component's class (package) name. This modified class name excludes the parts that have a pre-defined meaning in Catalyst ("MyApp::C" in the above example), replaces "::" with "/" and converts the name to lower case. See "Components" for a full explanation of the pre-defined meaning of Catalyst component class names.
Private
```
sub foo : Private { }
```
Matches no URL, and cannot be executed by requesting a URL that corresponds to the action key. Private actions can be executed only inside a Catalyst application, by calling the forward method:
```
$c->forward('foo');
```
See "Flow Control" for a full explanation of forward.

Note After seeing these examples, you probably wonder what the point is of defining names for regex and path actions. Actually, every public action is also a private one, so you have one unified way of addressing components in your forwards.

Builtin Private Actions

In response to specific application states, Catalyst will automatically call these built in private actions:

default : Private

Called when no other action matches.
begin : Private

Called at the beginning of a request, before any matching actions are called.
end : Private

Called at the end of a request, after all matching actions are called.

Builtin actions in controllers/autochaining

Package MyApp::C::Foo;
sub begin : Private { }
sub default : Private { }

You can define the Builtin Private Actions within your controllers as well. The actions will override the ones in lower level controllers/ global.

In addition to the normal builtins, you have a special action for making inheritance chains, 'auto'. These will be run after begin, but before your action is processed.

for a request for /foo/foo

MyApp::begin
MyApp::auto
MyApp::C::Foo::default
MyApp::end

for a request for /foo/bar/foo

MyApp::C::Foo::Bar::begin
MyApp::auto
MyApp::C::Foo::auto
MyApp::C::Foo::Bar::default
MyApp::C::Foo::Bar::end

Also, if you need to break out of the chain in one of your auto actions, you can return 0, if so, your action will not be processed, but the end will, so for the request above, if the first auto returns false, it would look like this:

for a request for /foo/bar/foo where auto returns false

MyApp::C::Foo::Bar::begin
MyApp::auto
MyApp::C::Foo::Bar::end

Note: auto actions have to return a true value to continue processing! You can also die in the autochain action, in that case, the request will go straight to the finalize stage, without processing further actions.

URL Argument Handling

If you want to pass variable arguments at the end of a URL, you must use regex actions keys with '^' and '$' anchors, and the arguments must be separated with forward slashes (/) in the URL. For example, suppose you want to handle /foo/$bar/$baz, where $bar and $baz may vary:

sub foo : Regex('^foo$') { my ($self, $context, $bar, $baz) = @_; }

But what if you also defined actions for /foo/boo and /foo/boo/hoo ?

sub boo : Path('/foo/boo') { .. }
sub hoo : Path('/foo/boo/hoo') { .. }

Catalyst matches actions in most specific to least specific order:

/foo/boo/hoo
/foo/boo
/foo # might be /foo/bar/baz

So Catalyst would never mistakenly dispatch the first two URLs to the '^foo$' action.

Flow Control

You control the application flow with the forward method, which accepts the key of an action to execute.

sub hello : Global {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->stash->{message} = 'Hello World!';
    $c->forward('check_message');
}

sub check_message : Private {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    return unless $c->stash->{message};
    $c->forward('show_message');
}

sub show_message : Private {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->res->output( $c->stash->{message} );
}

As you can see from these examples, you can just use the method name as long as you are referring to methods in the same controller. If you want to forward to a method in another controller, or the main application, you will have to refer to the method by asbolute path.

$c->forward('/my/controller/action');
$c->forward('/default');

You can also forward to classes and methods.

sub hello : Global {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->forward(qw/MyApp::M::Hello say_hello/);
}

sub bye : Global {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->forward('MyApp::M::Hello');
}

package MyApp::M::Hello;

sub say_hello {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->res->output('Hello World!');
}

sub process {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->res->output('Goodbye World!');
}

Note that forward returns to the calling action and continues processing after the action finishes. Catalyst will automatically try to call process() if you omit the method.

Components

Again, Catalyst has an uncommonly flexible component system. You can define as many Models, Views and Controllers as you like.

All components must inherit from Catalyst::Base, which provides a simple class structure and some common class methods like config and new (constructor).

package MyApp::C::MyController;

use strict;
use base 'Catalyst::Base';

__PACKAGE__->config( foo => 'bar' );

1;

You don't have to use or otherwise register Models, Views and Controllers. Catalyst automatically discovers and instantiates them when you call setup in the main application. All you need to do is put them in directories named for each Component type. Notice that you can use some very terse aliases for each one.

MyApp/Model/
MyApp/M/
MyApp/View/
MyApp/V/
MyApp/Controller/
MyApp/C/

Views

To show how to define views, we'll use an already-existing base class for the Template Toolkit, Catalyst::View::TT. All we need to do is inherit from this class:

package MyApp::V::TT;

use strict;
use base 'Catalyst::View::TT';

1;

This gives us a process() method and we can now just do $c->forward('MyApp::V::TT') to render our templates. The base class makes process() implicit, so we don't have to say $c->forward(qw/MyApp::V::TT process/).

sub hello : Global {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->stash->{template} = 'hello.tt';
}

sub end : Private {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->forward('MyApp::V::TT');
}

You normally render templates at the end of a request, so it's a perfect use for the global end action.

Also, be sure to put the template under the directory specified in $c->config-{root}>, or you'll be forced to look at our eyecandy debug screen. ;)

Models

To show how to define models, again we'll use an already-existing base class, this time for Class::DBI: Catalyst::Model::CDBI.

But first, we need a database.

-- myapp.sql
CREATE TABLE foo (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
    data TEXT
);

CREATE TABLE bar (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
    foo INTEGER REFERENCES foo,
    data TEXT
);

INSERT INTO foo (data) VALUES ('TEST!');


% sqlite /tmp/myapp.db < myapp.sql

Now we can create a CDBI component for this database.

package MyApp::M::CDBI;

use strict;
use base 'Catalyst::Model::CDBI';

__PACKAGE__->config(
    dsn           => 'dbi:SQLite:/tmp/myapp.db',
    relationships => 1
);

1;

Catalyst automatically loads table layouts and relationships. Use the stash to pass data to your templates.

package MyApp;

use strict;
use Catalyst '-Debug';

__PACKAGE__->config(
    name => 'My Application',
    root => '/home/joeuser/myapp/root'
);

__PACKAGE__->setup;

sub end : Private {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
    $c->stash->{template} ||= 'index.tt';
    $c->forward('MyApp::V::TT');
}

sub view : Global {
    my ( $self, $c, $id ) = @_;
    $c->stash->{item} = MyApp::M::CDBI::Foo->retrieve($id);
}

1;

The id is [% item.data %]

Controllers

Multiple Controllers are a good way to separate logical domains of your application.

package MyApp::C::Login;

sign-in : Relative { }
new-password :Relative { }
sign-out : Relative { }

package MyApp::C::Catalog;

sub view : Local { }
sub list : Local { }

package MyApp::C::Cart;

sub add : Local { }
sub update : Local { }
sub order : Local { }

Testing

Catalyst has a built in http server for testing! (Later, you can easily use a more powerful server, e.g. Apache/mod_perl, in a production environment).

Start your application on the command line...

script/server.pl

...then visit http://localhost:3000/ in a browser to view the output.

You can also do it all from the command line:

script/test.pl http://localhost/

Have fun!

SUPPORT

IRC:

Join #catalyst on irc.perl.org.

Mailing-Lists:

http://lists.rawmode.org/mailman/listinfo/catalyst
http://lists.rawmode.org/mailman/listinfo/catalyst-dev

AUTHOR

Sebastian Riedel, sri@oook.de David Naughton, naughton@umn.edu Marcus Ramberg, mramberg@cpan.org

COPYRIGHT

This program is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

To install Catalyst, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Catalyst

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Catalyst

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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