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WebDyne-3.005
/ README.md

README

Introduction

WebDyne is a dynamic content generation engine for Apache/mod_perl, PSGI web servers such as Plack and Starman, and PAGI runtimes. HTML documents with embedded Perl code are processed to produce dynamic HTML output.

An installer is included in the base WebDyne module for Apache, and wrapper scripts are included for PSGI, PAGI, and temporary local Apache/mod_perl development. Once WebDyne is installed any file with a .psp extension is treated as a WebDyne source file. It is parsed for WebDyne tags such as <perl> and <block>, which are interpreted and executed on the server as appropriate to generate a compliant HTML document. The resulting output is then sent to the browser.

Once parsed, pages are optionally stored in a partially compiled format, speeding up subsequent processing. The aim of WebDyne is to make coding web pages with Perl components a faster, easier and more enjoyable experience.

Full documentation for WebDyne (with examples) is available at https://webdyne.org.

Overview

WebDyne is primarily intended to operate as the main rendering and request-handling module within the wider WebDyne framework under a web server or application runtime. In current codebase terms that includes Apache/mod_perl, PSGI, and PAGI environments.

It can also be used directly from the command line or from standalone Perl scripts to render .psp templates to HTML, which makes it useful for diagnostics, testing, and simple offline generation.

WebDyne pages are HTML documents with embedded Perl and optional WebDyne-specific tags such as <perl>, <block>, <include>, processing instructions such as <? ... ?>, and shortcut tags such as <start_html>.

WebDyne Features

Quick Example

Save the following as app.psp:

<html><head><title>Server Time</title></head><body>
The local server time is: <? localtime() ?>
</body></html>

You can render it directly from the command line:

wdrender app.psp

WebDyne supports sytactic shortcuts which still render as compliant HTML. The following produces the exact same output as the first example:

<start_html title="Server Time">
The local server time is: <? localtime() ?>

Example output:

<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head><title>Server Time</title><meta charset="UTF-8"></head>
<body><p>The local server time is: ...</p></body></html>

If you prefer to keep Perl logic in a dedicated section:

<start_html title="Server Time">
The local server time is: <? print_time() ?>
__PERL__
sub print_time {
    print scalar localtime;
}

Getting Started

Install the Core Module

Install WebDyne from CPAN using cpan or cpanm:

cpanm WebDyne

This installs the core WebDyne modules and command-line tools.

Depending on how you want to run WebDyne, you may also need additional runtime components:

Hello World

The fastest way to confirm WebDyne is working is to render a .psp file directly:

wdrender app.psp

You can also start the PSGI wrapper in test mode:

webdyne.psgi --test

Or serve a document root directory with the PSGI wrapper:

webdyne.psgi /path/to/site-root

The PAGI wrapper can be started in the same style:

webdyne.pagi --test
webdyne.pagi /path/to/site-root

For Apache/mod_perl development without installing system-wide Apache configuration, use the temporary Apache runner:

webdyne.apache --test
webdyne.apache /path/to/site-root

A Simple PSGI Site

Create a directory with an app.psp file:

<start_html>
My first WebDyne page. Server time: <? localtime() ?>

Then run:

webdyne.psgi /path/to/site-root/

WebDyne will serve .psp files from that directory through the PSGI runtime.

Runtime Modes

WebDyne can be used in several ways:

Features

WebDyne supports:

Further Reading

Repository documentation includes:

Useful entry points include: