/ 
CatalystX-Usul-0.1.443
/ CatalystX::Usul

Name

CatalystX::Usul - A base class for Catalyst MVC components

Version

0.1.$Revision: 443 $

Synopsis

use base qw(CatalystX::Usul);

Description

These modules provide a set of base classes for a Catalyst web application. Features include:

Targeted at intranet applications

The identity model supports multiple backend authentication stores including the underlying operating system accounts

Thin controllers

Most controllers make a single call to the model and so comprise of only a few lines of code. The model stashes data used by the view to render the page

No further view programing required

A single Template::Toolkit template is used to render all pages as either HTML or XHTML. The template forms one component of the "skin", the other components are: a Javascript file containing the use cases for the Javascript libraries, a primary CSS file with support for alternative CSS files, and a set of image files

Designers can create new skins with different layout, presentation and behaviour for the whole application. They can do this for the example application, App::Munchies, whilst the programmers write the "real" application in parallel with the designers work

Agile development methodology

These base classes are used by an example application, App::Munchies, which can be deployed to staging and production servers at the beginning of the project. Setting up the example application allows issues regarding the software technology to be resolved whilst the "real" application is being written. The example application can be deleted leaving these base classes for the "real" application to use

Configuration and Environment

Catalyst will set the $config argument passed to the constructor to the section of the configuration appropriate for the component being initialised

Subroutines/Methods

This module provides methods common to CatalystX::Usul::Controller and CatalystX::Usul::Model which both inherit from this class. This means that you should probably inherit from one of them instead

new

$self = CatalystX::Usul->new( $app, $config );

This class inherits from Catalyst::Component and CatalystX::Usul::Base. The Catalyst application context is $app and $config is a hash ref whose contents are copied to the created object. Defines the following accessors:

content_type

The content type of any markup produced by the Text::Markdown module. Defaults to text/html

debug

The application context debug is used to set this. Defaults to false

encoding

The config supplies the encoding for the query_array, query_value and log methods. Defaults to UTF-8

lock

An IPC::SRLock object which is used to single thread the application where required. This is a singleton object

log

The application context log. Defaults to a Class::Null object

messages

A hash ref of messages in the currently selected language. Used by "localize"

prefix

The prefix applied to executable programs in the bin directory. This is extracted from the suid key in the config hash

secret

This applications secret key as set by the administrators in the configuration. It is used to perturb the encryption methods. Defaults to the prefix attribute value

suid

Supplied by the config hash, it is the name of the setuid root program in the bin directory. Defaults to the null string

tabstop

Supplied by the config hash, it is the number of spaces to expand the tab character to in the call to markdown made by "localize". Defaults to 3

tempdir

Supplied by the config hash, it is the location of any temporary files created by the application. Defaults to the File::Spec tempdir

build_subcomponents

__PACKAGE__->build_subcomponents( $base_class );

Class method that allows us to define components that inherit from the base class at runtime

get_action

$action = $self->get_action( $c, $action_path );

Provide defaults for the get_action method. Return the action object if one exists

loc

localize

$local_text = $self->localize( $message, $args );

Localizes the message. Optionally calls markdown on the text

setup_plugins

@plugins = $self->setup_plugins( $class, $config_ref );

Load the given list of plugins and have the supplies class inherit from them. Returns an array ref of available plugins

uri_for

$uri = $self->uri_for( $c, $action_path, @args );

Turns the action path into an action object by calling "get_action". Calculates the number of capture args by introspecting the dispatcher spilts them of from passed args and then calls uri_for

_lock_obj

$self->_lock_obj( $args );

Provides defaults for and returns a new IPC::SRLock object. The keys of the $args hash are:

debug

Debug status. Defaults to $usul_obj->debug

log

Logging object. Defaults to $usul_obj->log

tempdir

Directory used to store the lock file and lock table if the fcntl backend is used. Defaults to $usul_obj->tempdir

Diagnostics

Setting the debug attribute to true causes messages to be logged at the debug level

Dependencies

Catalyst::Component
CatalystX::Usul::Base
Class::Null
IPC::SRLock
Module::Pluggable::Object
Text::Markdown

Incompatibilities

There are no known incompatibilities in this module

Bugs and Limitations

There are no known bugs in this module. Please report problems to the address below. Patches are welcome

Author

Peter Flanigan, <Support at RoxSoft.co.uk>

License and Copyright

Copyright (c) 2009 Peter Flanigan. All rights reserved

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

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE