NAME

CatalystX::Controller::Sugar - Sugar for Catalyst controller

VERSION

0.08

DESCRIPTION

This module is written to simplify the way controllers are written. I personally think that shifting off $c and $self in every action is tidious. I also wanted a simpler API to created chained actions, since I rarely use any other actions - except of "private".

SYNOPSIS

 package MyApp::Controller::Root;
 use CatalystX::Controller::Sugar;

 __PACKAGE__->config->{'namespace'} = q();

 # Private action
 private authenticate => sub {
   c->user_exists and return 1;
 };

 # Chain /
 chain sub {
   report debug => 'Someone tries to access %s', c->action;
 };

 # Endpioint /*
 chain '' => sub {
   res->body('not found');
 };

 # Endpoint /login
 chain login => {
   get => sub {}, # show template
   post => sub {
     forward 'authenticate' and go '';
   },
 };

 # Chain /user/[id]/*
 chain user => ['id'], sub {
   stash user => c->model('DB::User')->find($_[0]);
 };

 # Endpoint /user/[id]/view/*
 chain 'user:1' => view => sub {
   res->body(
     sprintf 'Person is called: %s', stash->{'user'}->name
   );
 };

Same with standard Catalyst syntax

 package MyApp::Controller::Root;
 use Moose;
 BEGIN { extends 'Catalyst::Controller' }

 __PACKAGE__->config->{'namespace'} = q();

 # Private action
 sub authenticate :Private {
   my($self, $c) = @_;
   $c->user_exists and return 1;
 }

 # Chain /
 sub root :Chained("/") PathPart("") CaptureArgs(0) {
   my($self, $c) = @_;
   $c->log->debug(sprintf 'Someone tries to access %s', $c->action);
 }

 # Endpioint /*
 sub default :Chained("/root") PathPart("") Args {
   my($self, $c) = @_;
   $c->res->body('not found');
 }

 # Endpoint /login
 sub login :Chained("/root") PathPart Args {
   my($self, $c) = @_;

   if(lc $c->req->method eq 'get') {
     return; # show template
   }
   elsif(lc $c->req->method eq 'post') {
     $c->forward('authenticate') and go('');
   }
 }

 # Chain /user/[id]/*
 sub user :Chained("/root") PathPart CaptureArgs(1) {
   my($self, $c, $id) = @_;

   $c->stash->{'id'} = $id; # alternative to captured('id');
   $c->stash->{'user'} = $c->model('DB::User')->find($id);
 }

 # Endpoint /user/[id]/view/*
 sub user_view :Chained("/user") PathPart('view') Args {
   my($self, $c) = @_;
   $c->res->body(sprintf 'Person is called: %s', $c->stash->{'user'}->name);
 }

NOTE

$self and $c is not part of the argument list inside a chain() or private() action. $c is acquired by calling c(), and $self is available by calling controller().

EXPORTED FUNCTIONS

chain

1. chain sub { };

2. chain $PathPart => sub { };
3. chain $PathPart => $Int, sub { };
4. chain $PathPart => \@CaptureArgs, sub { };

5. chain $Chained => $PathPart => sub { };
6. chain $Chained => $PathPart => $Int, sub { };
7. chain $Chained => $PathPart => \@CaptureArgs, sub { };

8. chain ..., \%method_map;

Same as:

1. sub root : Chained('/') PathPart('') CaptureArgs(0) { }

2. sub $PathPart : Chained('/root') Args { }
3. sub $PathPart : Chained('/root') Args($Int) { }
4. sub $PathPart : Chained('/root') CaptureArgs($Int) { }

5. sub $PathPart : Chained($Chained) Args { }
6. sub $PathPart : Chained($Chained) Args($Int) { }
7. sub $PathPart : Chained($Chained) CaptureArgs($Int) { }

8. Special case: See below

@CaptureArgs is a list of names of the captured arguments, which can be retrieved using captured().

$Int is a number of Args to capture at the endpoint of a chain. These cannot be aquired using captured(), but is instead available in @_.

%method_map can be used if you want to dispatch to a specific method, for a certain HTTP method: (The HTTP method is in lowercase)

%method_map = (
   post => sub { ... },
   get => sub { ... },
   delete => sub { ... },
   default => sub { ... },
   #...
);

private

private $name => sub {};

Same as:

sub $name :Private {}

forward

@Any = forward $action;
@Any = forward $action, \@arguments;

See Catalyst::forward().

go

go $action;
go $action, \@arguments;

See Catalyst::go().

c

$context_obj = c;

Returns the context object for this request, an instance of Catalyst.

controller

$controller_obj = controller;

Returns the current controller object.

req

$request_obj = req;

Returns the request object for this request, an instance of Catalyst::Request.

res

$response_obj = res;

Returns the response object for this request, an instance of Catalyst::Response.

captured

$value = captured($name);

Retrieve data captured in a chain, using the names set with chain().

chain '/' => 'user' => ['id'], sub {
  res->body( captured('id') );
};

stash

$value = stash $key;
$hash_ref = stash $key => $value, ...;
$hash_ref = stash;

Set/get data from the stash. The $hash_ref is a reference to what the stash is holding.

This will be the same as:

$c->stash->{$key} = $value;

session

$value = session $key;
$hash_ref == session $key => $value;
$hash_ref == session;

Set/get data from the session. The $hash_ref is a reference to what the session is holding.

This function will only work if a session module/plugin is loaded into Catalyst.

report

report $level, $format, @args;

Almost the same as:

$c->log->$level(sprintf $format, @args);

But undef values from @args are turned into "__UNDEF__", and objects and/or datastructructures are flatten, using Data::Dumper.

METHODS

init_meta

See Moose::Exporter.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-catalystx-controller-sugar at rt.cpan.org. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

Copyright 2007 Jan Henning Thorsen, all rights reserved.

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

AUTHOR

Jan Henning Thorsen, <jhthorsen at cpan.org>

cpanm CatalystX::Controller::Sugar

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install CatalystX::Controller::Sugar