NAME

Catalyst::Plugin::InjectionHelpers - Enhance Catalyst Component Injection

SYNOPSIS

Use the plugin in your application class:

package MyApp;
use Catalyst 'InjectionHelpers';

MyApp->config(
  'Model::SingletonA' => {
    -inject => {
      from_class=>'MyApp::Singleton', 
      adaptor=>'Application', 
      roles=>['MyApp::Role::Foo'],
      method=>'new',
    },
    aaa => 100,
  },
  'Model::SingletonB' => {
    -inject => {
      from_class=>'MyApp::Singleton', 
      adaptor=>'Application', 
      method=>sub {
        my ($adaptor_instance, $from_class, $app, %args) = @_;
        return $from_class->new(aaa=>$args{arg});
    },
    arg => 300,
  },
);

MyApp->setup;

Alternatively you can use the 'inject_components' class method:

package MyApp;
use Catalyst 'InjectionHelpers';

MyApp->inject_components(
  'Model::SingletonA' => {
    from_class=>'MyApp::Singleton', 
    adaptor=>'Application', 
    roles=>['MyApp::Role::Foo'],
    method=>'new',
  },
  'Model::SingletonB' => {
    from_class=>'MyApp::Singleton', 
    adaptor=>'Application', 
    method=>sub {
      my ($adaptor_instance, $from_class, $app, %args) = @_;
      return $class->new(aaa=>$args{arg});
    },
  },
);

MyApp->config(
  'Model::SingletonA' => { aaa=>100 },
  'Model::SingletonB' => { arg=>300 },
);

MyApp->setup;

The first method is a better choice if you need to alter how your injections work based on configuration that is controlled per environment.

DESCRIPTION

NOTE Starting with VERSION 0.012 there is a breaking change in the number of arguments that the method and from_code callbacks get. If you need to keep backwards compatibility you should set the version flag to 1:

MyApp->config(
  'Plugin::InjectionHelpers' => { version => 1 },
  ## Additional configuration as needed
);

This plugin enhances the build in component injection features of Catalyst (since v5.90090) to make it easy to bring non Catalyst::Component classes into your application. You may consider using this for what you often used Catalyst::Model::Adaptor in the past for (although there is no reason to stop using that if you are doing so, its not a 'broken' approach, but for the very simple cases this might suffice and allow you to reduce the number of nearly empty 'boilerplate' classes in your application.)

You should be familiar with how component injection works in newer versions of Catalyst (v5.90090+).

It also experimentally supports a mechanism for dependency injection (that is the ability to set other componements as initialization arguments, similar to how you might see this work with inversion of control frameworks such as Bread::Board.) Author has no plan to move this past experimental status; he is merely publishing code that he's used on jobs where the code worked for the exact cases he was using it for the purposes of easing long term maintainance on those projects. If you like this feature and would like to see it stablized it will be on you to help the author validate it; its not impossible more changes and pontentially breaking changes will be needed to make that happen, and its also not impossible that changes to core Catalyst would be needed as well. Reports from users in the wild greatly appreciated.

USAGE

MyApp->config(
  $model_name => +{ 
    -inject => +{ %injection_args },
    \%configuration_args;
or

MyApp->inject_components($model_name => \%injection_args);
MyApp->config($model_name => \%configuration_args);

Where $model_name is the name of the component as it is in your Catalyst application (ie 'Model::User', 'View::HTML', 'Controller::Static') and %injection_args are key /values as described below:

from_class

This is the full namespace of the class you are adapting to use as a Catalyst component. Example 'MyApp::Class'.

from_code

This is a codereference that generates your component instance. Used when you don't have a class you wish to adapt (handy for prototyping or small components).

MyApp->inject_components(
  'Model::Foo' => {
    from_code => sub {
      my ($app_ctx, %args) = @_;
      return $XX;
    },
    adaptor => 'Factory',
  },
);

$app_ctx is either the application class or Catalyst context, depending on the scope of your component.

If you use this you should not define the 'method' key or the 'roles' key (below).

roles

A list of Moose::Roless that will be composed into the 'from_class' prior to creating an instance of that class. Useful if you apply roles for debugging or testing in certain environments.

method

Either a string or a coderef. If left empty this defaults to 'new'.

The name of the method used to create the adapted class instance. Generally this is 'new'. If you have complex instantiation requirements you may instead use a coderef. If so, your coderef will receive three arguments. The first is the name of the from_class. The second is either the application or context, depending on the type adaptor. The third is a hash of arguments which merges the global configuration for the named component along with any arguments passed in the request for the component (this only makes sense for non application scoped models, btw).

Example:

MyApp->inject_components(
  'Model::Foo' => {
    from_class => 'Foo',
    method => sub {
      my ($from_class, $app_or_ctx, %args) = @_;
    },
    adaptor => 'Factory',
  },
);

Argument details:

$from_class

The name of the class you set in the 'from_class' parameter.

$app_or_ctx

Either your application class or a reference to the current context, depending on how the adaptore is scoped (PerRequest and Factory get $ctx).

%args

A Hash of the configuration parameters from your application configuration. If the adaptor is context/request scoped, also combines any arguments included in the call for the component. for example:

package MyApp;

use Catalyst;

MyApp->inject_components( 'Model::Foo' => { from_class=>"Foo", adaptor=>'Factory' });
MyApp->config( 'Model::Foo' => { aaa => 111 } )
MyApp->setup;

If in an action you say:

my $model = $c->model('Foo', bbb=>222);

Then %args would be:

(aaa=>111, bbb=>222);

NOTE Please keep in mind supplying arguments in the ->model call (or ->view for that matter) only makes sense for components that ACCEPT_CONTEXT (in this case are Factory, PerRequest or PerSession adaptor types).

transform_args

A coderef that you can use to transform configuration arguments into something more suitable for your class. For example, the configuration args is typically a hash, but your object class may require some positional arguments.

MyApp->inject_components(
  'Model::Foo' => {
    from_class = 'Foo',
    transform_args => sub {
      my (%args) = @_;
      my $path = delete $args{path},
      return ($path, %args);
    },
  },
);

Should return the args as they as used by the initialization method of the 'from_class'.

Use 'transform_args' when you just need to tweak how your object uses arguments and use 'from_code' or 'method' when you need more control on what kind of object is returned (in other words choose the smallest hammer for the job).

adaptor

The adaptor used to bring your 'from_class' into Catalyst. Out of the box there are three adaptors (described in detail below): Application, Factory and PerRequest. The default is Application. You may create your own adaptors; if you do so you should use the full namespace as the value (MyApp::Adaptors::MySpecialAdaptor).

ADAPTORS

Out of the box this plugin comes with the following three adaptors. All canonical adaptors are under the namespace 'Catalyst::Model::InjectionHelpers'.

Application

Model is application scoped. This means you get one instance shared for the entire lifecycle of the application.

Factory

Model is scoped to the request. Each call to $c->model($model_name) returns a new instance of the model. You may pass additional parameters in the model call, which are merged to the global parameters defined in configuration and used as part of the object initialization.

PerRequest

Model is scoped to the request. The first time in a request that you call for the model, a new model is created. After that, all calls to the model return the original instance, until the request is completed, after which the instance is destroyed when the request goes out of scope.

The first time you call this model you may pass additional parameters, which get merged with the global configuration and used to initialize the model.

PerSession.

Scoped to a session. Requires the Session plugin. See Catalyst::Model::InjectionHelpers::PerSession for more.

Creating your own adaptor

Your new adaptor should consume the role Catalyst::ModelRole::InjectionHelpers and provide a method ACCEPT_CONTEXT which must return the component you wish to inject. Please review the existing adaptors and that role for insights.

DEPENDENCY INJECTION

Often when you are setting configuration options for your components, you might desire to 'depend on' other existing components. This design pattern is called 'Inversion of Control', and you might be familiar with it from prior art on CPAN such as IOC, Bread::Board and Beam::Wire.

The IOC features that are exposed via this plugin are basic and marked experimental (please see preceding note). The are however presented to the Catalyst community with the hope of provoking thought and discussion (or at the very least put an end to the idea that this is something people actually care about).

To use this feature you simply tag configuration keys as 'dependent' using a hashref for the key value. For example, here we define an inline model that is a DBI $dbh and a User model that depends on it:

MyApp->config(
  'Model::DBH' => {
    -inject => {
      adaptor => 'Application',
      from_code => sub {
        my ($app, @args) = @_;
        return DBI->connect(@args);
      },
    },
    %DBI_Connection_Args,
  },
  'Model::User' => {
    -inject => {
      from_class => 'MyApp::User',
      adaptor => 'Factory',
    },
    dbh => { -model => 'DBH' },
  },
  # Additional configuration as needed
);

Now in you code (say in a controller if you do:

my $user = $c->model('User');

We automatically resolve the value for dbh to be $c->model('DBH') and supply it as an argument.

Currently we only support dependency substitutions on the first level of arguments.

All injection syntax takes the form of "$argument_key => { $type => $parameter }" where the following $types are supported

-model => $model_name

-view => $view_name

-controller => $controller_name

Provide dependency in the form of $c->model($model_name) (or $c->view($view_name), $c->controller($controller_name)).

-code => $subref

Custom dependency that resolves from a subref. Example:

MyApp->config(
  'Model::User' => {
    current_time => {
      -code => sub {
        my $app_or_context = shift;
        return DateTime->now;
      },
    },
  },
  # Rest of configuration
);

Please keep in mind that you must return an object. $app_or_context will be either the application class or $c (context) depending on the type of model (if it accepts context or not).

-core => $target

This exposes some core objects such as $app, $c etc. Where $target is:

$app

The name of the application class.

$ctx

The result of $c. Please note its probably bad form to pass the entire context object as it leads to unnecessary tight coupling.

$req

The result of $c->req

$res

The result of $c->res

$log

The result of $c->log

$user

The result of $c->user (if it exists, you should either define it or use the Authentication plugin).

CONFIGURATION

This plugin defines the following possible configuration. As per Catalyst standards, these configuration keys fall under the 'Plugin::InjectionHelpers' namespace in the configuration hash.

adaptor_namespace

Default namespace to look for adaptors. Defaults to Catalyst::Model::InjectionHelpers

default_adaptor

The default adaptor to use, should you not set one. Defaults to 'Application'.

dispatchers

Allows you to add to the default dependency injection handers:

MyApp->config(
  'Plugin::InjectionHelpers' => {
    dispatchers => {
      '-my' => sub {
        my ($app_ctx, $what) = @_;
        warn "asking for a -my $what";
        return ....;
      },
    },
  },
  # Rest of configuration
);

version

Default is 2. Set to 1 if you are need compatibility version 0.011 or older style of arguments for 'method' and 'from_code'.

Catalyst::Plugin::ConfigLoader

When using this plugin with Catalyst::Plugin::ConfigLoader you should add it to the plugin list afterward, for example:

package MyApp;

use Catalyst 'ConfigLoader', 
  'InjectionHelpers';

Please keep in mind that due to the way Configloader merges the configuration files you might have to set some things to undef in order to get the correct behavior. For example you might define a model by default using from_code:

package MyApp;

use Catalyst 'ConfigLoader', 
  'InjectionHelpers';

MyApp->config(
  'Model::Foo' => {
    -inject => {
      from_code => sub {
        my ($app, %args) = @_;
        return bless +{ %args, app=>$app }, 'Dummy1';
      },
    },
    bar => 'baz',
  },
);

MyApp->setup;

But then in youe configuration file overlay, you want to specify a class. In that case you will need to undefine the default keys:

# File:myapp_local.pl
return +{
  'Model::Foo' => {
    -inject => {
      from_class => 'MyApp::Dummy2',
      from_code => undef, # Need to blow away the existing...
    },
  },
};

Its probably not ideal that the configuration overlay doesn't permit you to tag refs as 'replace' rather than 'merge' but this is not a problem with this plugin. If it bothers you that a configuration overlay would require to have understanding of how 'lower' configurations are setup you should be able to avoid it by using all the same keys.

PRIOR ART

You may wish to review other similar approach on CPAN:

Catalyst::Model::Adaptor.

AUTHOR

John Napiorkowski email:jjnapiork@cpan.org

SEE ALSO

Catalyst, Catalyst::Model::InjectionHelpers::Application, Catalyst::Model::InjectionHelpers::Factory, Catalyst::Model::InjectionHelpers::PerRequest Catalyst::ModelRole::InjectionHelpers

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

Copyright 2016, John Napiorkowski email:jjnapiork@cpan.org

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

cpanm Catalyst::Plugin::InjectionHelpers

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Catalyst::Plugin::InjectionHelpers