NAME

Mojolicious::Lite - Micro Web Framework

SYNOPSIS

# Using Mojolicious::Lite will enable "strict" and "warnings"
use Mojolicious::Lite;

# Route with placeholder
get '/:foo' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  my $foo  = $self->param('foo');
  $self->render(text => "Hello from $foo!");
};

# Start the Mojolicious command system
app->start;

DESCRIPTION

Mojolicious::Lite is a micro web framework built around Mojolicious.

TUTORIAL

A quick example driven introduction to the wonders of Mojolicious::Lite. Most of what you'll learn here also applies to normal Mojolicious applications.

Hello World!

A minimal Hello World application looks like this, strict and warnings are automatically enabled and a few functions imported when you use Mojolicious::Lite, turning your script into a full featured web application.

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use Mojolicious::Lite;

get '/' => sub { shift->render(text => 'Hello World!') };

app->start;

Generator

There is also a helper command to generate a small example application.

% mojo generate lite_app

Commands

All the normal Mojolicious command options are available from the command line. Note that CGI, FastCGI and PSGI environments can usually be auto detected and will just work without commands.

% ./myapp.pl daemon
Server available at http://127.0.0.1:3000.

% ./myapp.pl daemon --listen http://*:8080
Server available at http://127.0.0.1:8080.

% ./myapp.pl cgi
...CGI output...

% ./myapp.pl fastcgi
...Blocking FastCGI main loop...

% ./myapp.pl
...List of available commands (or automatically detected environment)...

Start

The app->start call that starts the Mojolicious command system can be customized to override normal @ARGV use.

app->start('cgi');

Reloading

Your application will automatically reload itself if you set the --reload option, so you don't have to restart the server after every change.

% ./myapp.pl daemon --reload
Server available at http://127.0.0.1:3000.

Routes

Routes are basically just fancy paths that can contain different kinds of placeholders. $self is an instance of Mojolicious::Controller containing both the HTTP request and response.

# /foo
get '/foo' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->render(text => 'Hello World!');
};

Stash

The stash is used to pass data to templates, which can be inlined in the DATA section.

# /bar
get '/bar' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->stash(one => 23);
  $self->render('baz', two => 24);
};

__DATA__

@@ baz.html.ep
The magic numbers are <%= $one %> and <%= $two %>.

Route Names

All routes can have a name associated with them, this allows automatic template detection and back referencing with url_for, link_to and form_for. Nameless routes get an automatically generated one assigned that is simply equal to the route itself without non-word characters.

# /
get '/' => 'index';

# /hello
get '/hello';

__DATA__

@@ index.html.ep
<%= link_to Hello => 'hello' %>.
<%= link_to Reload => 'index' %>.

@@ hello.html.ep
Hello World!

Layouts

Templates can have layouts.

# GET /with_layout
get '/with_layout' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->render('with_layout');
};

__DATA__

@@ with_layout.html.ep
% title 'Green!';
% layout 'green';
We've got content!

@@ layouts/green.html.ep
<!doctype html><html>
  <head><title><%= title %></title></head>
  <body><%= content %></body>
</html>

Blocks

Template blocks can be used like normal Perl functions and are always delimited by the begin and end keywords.

# GET /with_block
get '/with_block' => 'block';

__DATA__

@@ block.html.ep
<% my $link = begin %>
  <% my ($url, $name) = @_; %>
  Try <%= link_to $url => begin %><%= $name %><% end %>!
<% end %>
<!doctype html><html>
  <head><title>Sebastians Frameworks!</title></head>
  <body>
    <%== $link->('http://mojolicio.us', 'Mojolicious') %>
    <%== $link->('http://catalystframework.org', 'Catalyst') %>
  </body>
</html>

Captured Content

The content_for helper can be used to pass around blocks of captured content.

# GET /captured
get '/captured' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->render('captured');
};

__DATA__

@@ captured.html.ep
% layout 'blue', title => 'Green!';
<% content_for header => begin %>
  <meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache">
<% end %>
We've got content!
<% content_for header => begin %>
  <meta http-equiv="Expires" content="-1">
<% end %>

@@ layouts/blue.html.ep
<!doctype html><html>
  <head>
    <title><%= title %></title>
    <%= content_for 'header' %>
  </head>
  <body><%= content %></body>
</html>

Helpers

You can also extend Mojolicious with your own helpers, a list of all built in ones can be found in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers.

# "whois" helper
app->helper(whois => sub {
  my $self  = shift;
  my $agent = $self->req->headers->user_agent || 'Anonymous';
  my $ip    = $self->tx->remote_address;
  return "$agent ($ip)";
});

# GET /secret
get '/secret' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  my $user = $self->whois;
  $self->app->log->debug("Request from $user.");
};

__DATA__

@@ secret.html.ep
We know who you are <%= whois %>.

Placeholders

Route placeholders allow capturing parts of a request path until a / or . separator occurs, results will be stored by name in the stash and param.

# /foo/* (everything except "/" and ".")
# /foo/test
# /foo/test123
get '/foo/:bar' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  my $bar  = $self->stash('bar');
  $self->render(text => "Our :bar placeholder matched $bar");
};

# /*something/foo (everything except "/" and ".")
# /test/foo
# /test123/foo
get '/(:bar)something/foo' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  my $bar  = $self->param('bar');
  $self->render(text => "Our :bar placeholder matched $bar");
};

Relaxed Placeholders

Relaxed placeholders allow matching of everything until a / occurs.

# /*/hello (everything except "/")
# /test/hello
# /test123/hello
# /test.123/hello
get '/(.you)/hello' => sub {
  shift->render('groovy');
};

__DATA__

@@ groovy.html.ep
Your name is <%= $you %>.

Wildcard Placeholders

Wildcard placeholders allow matching absolutely everything, including / and ..

# /hello/* (everything)
# /hello/test
# /hello/test123
# /hello/test.123/test/123
get '/hello/(*you)' => sub {
  shift->render('groovy');
};

__DATA__

@@ groovy.html.ep
Your name is <%= $you %>.

HTTP Methods

Routes can be restricted to specific request methods.

# GET /bye
get '/bye' => sub { shift->render(text => 'Bye!') };

# POST /bye
post '/bye' => sub { shift->render(text => 'Bye!') };

# GET|POST|DELETE /bye
any [qw/get post delete/] => '/bye' => sub {
  shift->render(text => 'Bye!');
};

# /baz
any '/baz' => sub {
  my $self   = shift;
  my $method = $self->req->method;
  $self->render(text => "You called /baz with $method");
};

Route Constraints

All placeholders get compiled to a regex internally, with regex constraints this process can be easily customized.

# /* (digits)
any '/:foo' => [foo => qr/\d+/] => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  my $foo  = $self->param('foo');
  $self->render(text => "Our :foo placeholder matched $foo");
};

# /* (everything else)
any '/:bar' => [bar => qr/.*/] => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  my $bar  = $self->param('bar');
  $self->render(text => "Our :bar placeholder matched $bar");
};

Optional Placeholders

Routes allow default values to make placeholders optional.

# /hello/*
get '/hello/:name' => {name => 'Sebastian'} => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->render('groovy', format => 'txt');
};

__DATA__

@@ groovy.txt.ep
My name is <%= $name %>.

A Little Bit Of Everything

All those features can be easily used together.

# /everything/*?name=*
get '/everything/:stuff' => [stuff => qr/\d+/] => {stuff => 23} => sub {
  shift->render('welcome');
};

__DATA__

@@ welcome.html.ep
Stuff is <%= $stuff %>.
Query param name is <%= param 'name' %>.

Here's a fully functional example for a html form handling application using multiple features at once.

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use Mojolicious::Lite;

get '/' => 'index';

post '/test' => sub {
  my $self = shift;

  my $groovy = $self->param('groovy') || 'Austin Powers';
  $groovy =~ s/[^\w\s]+//g;

  $self->render(
    template => 'welcome',
    title    => 'Welcome!',
    layout   => 'funky',
    groovy   => $groovy
  );
} => 'test';

app->start;
__DATA__

@@ index.html.ep
% title 'Groovy!';
% layout 'funky';
Who is groovy?
<%= form_for test => (method => 'post') => begin %>
  <%= text_field 'groovy' %>
  <%= submit_button 'Woosh!' %>
<% end %>

@@ welcome.html.ep
<%= $groovy %> is groovy!
<%= include 'menu' %>

@@ menu.html.ep
<%= link_to index => begin %>
  Try again
<% end %>

@@ layouts/funky.html.ep
<!doctype html><html>
  <head><title><%= title %></title></head>
  <body><%= content %></body>
</html>

Under

Authentication and code shared between multiple routes can be realized easily with the under statement. All following routes are only evaluated if the under callback returned a true value.

use Mojolicious::Lite;

# Authenticate based on name parameter
under sub {
  my $self = shift;

  # Authenticated
  my $name = $self->param('name') || '';
  return 1 if $name eq 'Bender';

  # Not authenticated
  $self->render('denied');
  return;
};

# GET / (with authentication)
get '/' => 'index';

app->start;
__DATA__;

@@ denied.html.ep
You are not Bender, permission denied!

@@ index.html.ep
Hi Bender!

Prefixing multiple routes is another good use for under.

use Mojolicious::Lite;

# /foo
under '/foo';

# GET /foo/bar
get '/bar' => sub { shift->render(text => 'bar!') };

# GET /foo/baz
get '/baz' => sub { shift->render(text => 'baz!') };

app->start;

Conditions

Conditions such as agent allow even more powerful route constructs.

# /foo
get '/foo' => (agent => qr/Firefox/) => sub {
  shift->render(text => 'Congratulations, you are using a cool browser!');
};

# /foo
get '/foo' => (agent => qr/Internet Explorer/) => sub {
  shift->render(text => 'Dude, you really need to upgrade to Firefox!');
};

Formats

Formats can be automatically detected by looking at file extensions.

# /detection.html
# /detection.txt
get '/detection' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->render('detected');
};

__DATA__

@@ detected.html.ep
<!doctype html><html>
  <head><title>Detected!</title></head>
  <body>HTML was detected.</body>
</html>

@@ detected.txt.ep
TXT was detected.

Sessions

Signed cookie based sessions just work out of the box as soon as you start using them. The flash can be used to store values that will only be available for the next request (unlike stash, which is only available for the current request), this is very useful in combination with redirect_to.

use Mojolicious::Lite;

get '/login' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  my $name = $self->param('name') || '';
  my $pass = $self->param('pass') || '';
  return $self->render unless $name eq 'sebastian' && $pass eq '1234';
  $self->session(name => $name);
  $self->flash(message => 'Thanks for logging in!');
  $self->redirect_to('index');
} => 'login';

get '/' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  return $self->redirect_to('login') unless $self->session('name');
  $self->render;
} => 'index';

get '/logout' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->session(expires => 1);
  $self->redirect_to('index');
} => 'logout';

app->start;
__DATA__

@@ layouts/default.html.ep
<!doctype html><html>
  <head><title><%= title %></title></head>
  <body><%= content %></body>
</html>

@@ login.html.ep
% layout 'default';
% title 'Login';
<%= form_for login => begin %>
  <% if (param 'name') { %>
    <b>Wrong name or password, please try again.</b><br>
  <% } %>
  Name:<br>
  <%= text_field 'name' %><br>
  Password:<br>
  <%= password_field 'pass' %><br>
  <%= submit_button 'Login' %>
<% end %>

@@ index.html.ep
% layout 'default';
% title 'Welcome';
<% if (my $message = flash 'message' ) { %>
  <b><%= $message %></b><br>
<% } %>
Welcome <%= session 'name' %>!<br>
<%= link_to logout => begin %>
  Logout
<% end %>

Secret

Note that you should use a custom secret to make signed cookies really secure.

app->secret('My secret passphrase here!');

User Agent

A full featured HTTP 1.1 and WebSocket user agent is built right in. Especially in combination with Mojo::JSON and Mojo::DOM this can be a very powerful tool.

get '/test' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->render(data => $self->ua->get('http://mojolicio.us')->res->body);
};

WebSockets

WebSocket applications have never been this easy before.

websocket '/echo' => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->on_message(sub {
    my ($self, $message) = @_;
    $self->send_message("echo: $message");
  });
};

External Templates

External templates will be searched by the renderer in a templates directory.

# /external
any '/external' => sub {
  my $self = shift;

  # templates/foo/bar.html.ep
  $self->render('foo/bar');
};

Static Files

Static files will be automatically served from the DATA section (even Base 64 encoded) or a public directory if it exists.

@@ something.js
alert('hello!');

@@ test.txt (base64)
dGVzdCAxMjMKbGFsYWxh

% mkdir public
% mv something.js public/something.js

Testing

Testing your application is as easy as creating a t directory and filling it with normal Perl unit tests. Some plugins depend on the actual script name, so a test file for the application myapp.pl should be named t/myapp.t.

use Test::More tests => 3;
use Test::Mojo;

use FindBin;
$ENV{MOJO_HOME} = "$FindBin::Bin/../";
require "$ENV{MOJO_HOME}/myapp.pl";

my $t = Test::Mojo->new;
$t->get_ok('/')->status_is(200)->content_like(qr/Funky!/);

Run all unit tests with the test command.

% ./myapp.pl test

To make your tests more noisy and show you all log messages you can also change the application log level directly in your test files.

$t->app->log->level('debug');

Mode

To disable debug messages later in a production setup you can change the Mojolicious mode, default will be development.

% ./myapp.pl --mode production

Logging

Log messages will be automatically written to a log/$mode.log file if a log directory exists.

% mkdir log

For more control the Mojolicious instance can be accessed directly.

app->log->level('error');
app->routes->route('/foo/:bar')->via('get')->to(cb => sub {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->render(text => 'Hello Mojo!');
});

Growing

In case a lite app needs to grow, lite and real Mojolicious applications can be easily mixed to make the transition process very smooth.

package MyApp::Foo;
use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Controller';

sub index { shift->render(text => 'It works!') }

package main;
use Mojolicious::Lite;

get '/bar' => sub { shift->render(text => 'This too!') };

app->routes->namespace('MyApp');
app->routes->route('/foo/:action')->via('get')->to('foo#index');

app->start;

There is also a helper command to generate a full Mojolicious example that will let you explore the astonishing similarities between Mojolicious::Lite and Mojolicious applications. Both share about 99% of the same code, so almost everything you learned in this tutorial applies there too. :)

% mojo generate app

You can continue with Mojolicious::Guides now, and don't forget to have fun!

FUNCTIONS

Mojolicious::Lite implements the following functions.

`any`

my $route = any '/:foo' => sub {...};
my $route = any [qw/get post/] => '/:foo' => sub {...};

Generate route matching any of the listed HTTP request methods or all. See also the tutorial above for more argument variations.

`app`

my $app = app;

The Mojolicious::Lite application.

`del`

my $route = del '/:foo' => sub {...};

Generate route matching only DELETE requests. See also the tutorial above for more argument variations.

`get`

my $route = get '/:foo' => sub {...};

Generate route matching only GET requests. See also the tutorial above for more argument variations.

`plugin`

plugin 'something';
plugin 'something', foo => 23;
plugin 'something', {foo => 23};
plugin 'Foo::Bar';
plugin 'Foo::Bar', foo => 23;
plugin 'Foo::Bar', {foo => 23};

Load a plugin.

`post`

my $route = post '/:foo' => sub {...};

Generate route matching only POST requests. See also the tutorial above for more argument variations.

`put`

my $route = put '/:foo' => sub {...};

Generate route matching only PUT requests. See also the tutorial above for more argument variations.

`under`

my $route = under sub {...};
my $route = under '/:foo';

Generate bridge to which all following routes are automatically appended. See also the tutorial above for more argument variations.

`websocket`

my $route = websocket '/:foo' => sub {...};

Generate route matching only WebSocket handshakes. See also the tutorial above for more argument variations.

ATTRIBUTES

Mojolicious::Lite inherits all attributes from Mojolicious.

METHODS

Mojolicious::Lite inherits all methods from Mojolicious.

	Global
`s`	Focus search bar
`?`	Bring up this help dialog

	GitHub
`g` `p`	Go to pull requests
`g` `i`	go to github issues (only if github is preferred repository)

	POD
`g` `a`	Go to author
`g` `c`	Go to changes
`g` `i`	Go to issues
`g` `d`	Go to dist
`g` `r`	Go to repository/SCM
`g` `s`	Go to source
`g` `b`	Go to file browse

	Search terms
module: (e.g. module:Plugin)
distribution: (e.g. distribution:Dancer auth)
author: (e.g. author:SONGMU Redis)
version: (e.g. version:1.00)