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 simple Hello World application can look 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 {
my $self = shift;
$self->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::Commands 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 start it with the morbo
development web server, so you don't have to restart the server after every change.
$ morbo myapp.pl
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!');
};
GET/POST Parameters
All GET
and POST
parameters are accessible via param
.
# /foo?user=sri
get '/foo' => sub {
my $self = shift;
my $user = $self->param('user');
$self->render(text => "Hello $user!");
};
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 %>.
HTTP
Mojo::Message::Request and Mojo::Message::Response give you full access to all HTTP features and information.
# /agent
get '/agent' => sub {
my $self = shift;
$self->res->headers->header('X-Bender' => 'Bite my shiny metal ass!');
$self->render(text => $self->req->headers->user_agent);
};
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.
# /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.
# /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.
# /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
helper whois => sub {
my $self = shift;
my $agent = $self->req->headers->user_agent || 'Anonymous';
my $ip = $self->tx->remote_address;
return "$agent ($ip)";
};
# /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/test
# /foo/test123
get '/foo/:bar' => sub {
my $self = shift;
my $bar = $self->stash('bar');
$self->render(text => "Our :bar placeholder matched $bar");
};
# /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");
};
Wildcard Placeholders
Wildcard placeholders allow matching absolutely everything, including /
and .
.
# /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");
};
Optional Placeholders
Routes allow default values to make placeholders optional.
# /hello
# /hello/Sara
get '/hello/:name' => {name => 'Sebastian'} => sub {
my $self = shift;
$self->render('groovy', format => 'txt');
};
__DATA__
@@ groovy.txt.ep
My name is <%= $name %>.
Restrictive Placeholders
The easiest way to make placeholders more restrictive are alternatives, you just make a list of possible values.
# /test
# /123
any '/:foo' => [foo => [qw/test 123/]] => sub {
my $self = shift;
my $foo = $self->param('foo');
$self->render(text => "Our :foo placeholder matched $foo");
};
All placeholders get compiled to a regex internally, this process can also be easily customized.
# /1
# /123
any '/:bar' => [bar => qr/\d+/] => sub {
my $self = shift;
my $bar = $self->param('bar');
$self->render(text => "Our :bar placeholder matched $bar");
};
Just make sure not to use ^
and $
or capturing groups (...)
, because placeholders become part of a larger regular expression internally, (?:...)
is fine though.
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.
Restrictive placeholders can also be used for format detection.
# /hello.json
# /hello.txt
get '/hello' => [format => [qw/json txt/]] => sub {
my $self = shift;
return $self->render_json({hello => 'world!'})
if $self->stash('format') eq 'json';
$self->render_text('hello world!');
};
Content Negotiation
For resources with different representations and that require truly RESTful
content negotiation you can also use respond_to
.
# /hello (Accept: application/json)
# /hello (Accept: text/xml)
# /hello.json
# /hello.xml
get '/hello' => sub {
my $self = shift;
$self->respond_to(
json => {json => {hello => 'world'}},
xml => {text => '<hello>world</hello>'},
any => {data => '', status => 204}
);
};
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;
};
# / (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';
# /foo/bar
get '/bar' => sub { shift->render(text => 'bar!') };
# /foo/baz
get '/baz' => sub { shift->render(text => 'baz!') };
app->start;
Conditions
Conditions such as agent
and host
from Mojolicious::Plugin::HeaderCondition 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!');
};
# /bar
get '/bar' => (host => 'mojolicio.us') => sub {
shift->render(text => 'Hello Mojolicious!');
};
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');
};
get '/' => sub {
my $self = shift;
$self->redirect_to('login') unless $self->session('name');
} => 'index';
get '/logout' => sub {
my $self = shift;
$self->session(expires => 1);
$self->redirect_to('index');
};
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!');
File Uploads
All files uploaded via multipart/form-data
request are automatically available as Mojo::Upload instances. And you don't have to worry about memory usage, because all files above 250KB
will be automatically streamed into a temporary file.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
any '/upload' => sub {
my $self = shift;
if (my $example = $self->req->upload('example')) {
my $size = $example->size;
my $name = $example->filename;
$self->render(text => "Thanks for uploading $size byte file $name.");
}
};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ upload.html.ep
<!doctype html><html>
<head><title>Upload</title></head>
<body>
<%= form_for upload =>
(method => 'post', enctype => 'multipart/form-data') => begin %>
<%= file_field 'example' %>
<%= submit_button 'Upload' %>
<% end %>
</body>
</html>
To protect you from excessively large files there is also a global limit of 5MB
by default, which you can tweak with the MOJO_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE
environment variable.
# Increase limit to 1GB
$ENV{MOJO_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE} = 1073741824;
User Agent
With Mojo::UserAgent there's a full featured HTTP 1.1 and WebSocket user agent 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.
use Test::More tests => 3;
use Test::Mojo;
use FindBin;
require "$FindBin::Bin/../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
Mojo::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->app->log->debug('Got a request for "Hello Mojo!".');
$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
More
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.
helper
helper foo => sub {...};
Add a new helper that will be available as a method of the controller object and the application object, as well as a function in ep
templates.
# Helper
helper add => sub { $_[1] + $_[2] };
# Controller/Application
my $result = $self->add(2, 3);
# Template
<%= add 2, 3 %>
Note that this function is EXPERIMENTAL and might change without warning!
hook
hook after_dispatch => sub {...};
Add hooks to named events, see Mojolicious for a list of all available events. Note that this function is EXPERIMENTAL and might change without warning!
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 plugins, see Mojolicious for a list of all included example plugins.
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.