NAME

PLP::Fields - Special hashes for PLP

DESCRIPTION

For your convenience, PLP uses hashes to put things in. Some of these are tied hashes, so they contain a bit magic. For example, building the hash can be delayed until you actually use the hash.

%get and %post

These are built from the key=value&key=value (or key=value;key=value strings in query string and post content. %post is not built if the content type is not application/x-www-form-urlencoded. In post content, the semi-colon is not a valid separator.

These hashes aren't built until they are used, to speed up your script if you don't use them. Because POST content can only be read once, you can use CGI; and just never access %post to avoid its building.

With a query string of key=firstvalue&key=secondvalue, $get{key} will contain only secondvalue. You can access both elements by using the array reference $get{'@key'}, which will contain [ 'firstvalue', 'secondvalue' ].

%fields

This hash combines %get and %post, and triggers creation of both. POST gets precedence over GET (note: not even the @-keys contain both values).

%cookie, %cookies

This is built immediately, because cookies are usually short in length. Cookies are not automatically url-decoded.

%header, %headers

In this hash, you can set headers. Underscores are converted to normal minus signs, so you can leave out quotes. The hash is case insensitive: the case used when sending the headers is the one you used first. The following are equal:

$header{CONTENT_TYPE}
$header{'Content-Type'}
$header{Content_Type}
$headers{CONTENT_type}

AUTHOR

Juerd Waalboer <juerd@juerd.nl>