=head1 The Maypole Manual

The Maypole documentation is arranged over several files; this is 
the right one to start with, as it provides an overview of the
entire set of Maypole manuals, with a brief description of each.
Some of these manuals are not yet finished, but they should still
be useful.

=over 4

=item L<Manual::About> - Overview of the Project

This document is a general introduction to Maypole: What it is
(a framework for Web development), what it does (at the basic
level, it converts a URL
(e.g. C<http://www.mysite.com/product/display/12>) into a
method call (i.e. "perform the C<display> method on item C<12>
in the C<product> table") and then shows the result (here,
presumably, a description of item C<12> in your product
database)), and how it works (by MVC, a design paradigm in
which each major aspect of an application's operation is
handled by a different and totally separate system). Basic
installation instructions are given. A sample Web
application--the Beer database--is introduced, set up, and
discussed. Finally, the path a Maypole request takes as it
moves through the system is described.

=item L<Manual::Model> - Model Classes *

This document introduces the I<model class>, which controls
the interaction between Maypole and your database. The use of
"actions"--method calls that operate on your database--is
discussed. Maypole's default model class is L<Class::DBI>,
which basically creates a class for each table in your
database and provides a variety of convenient methods for
manipulating each table and its relations. It integrates very
smoothly with Maypole's default L<view class|"Manual::View">,
the L<Template> Toolkit.

=item L<Manual::View> - View Classes *

This document is an extensive discussion of Maypole's I<view
class>, which takes the data produced by the model (see
L<above|"Manual::Model">) and sends it through a templating
system in order to produce output. It focusses chiefly on
the L<Template> Toolkit, which is Maypole's default templating
system, but discusses other possibilities.

=item L<Manual::StandardTemplates> - Standard actions and templates *

This document discusses the standard actions and templates
that Maypole uses. The standard actions (method calls that
operate on your database) include C<list>, which generates a
paged list of a table suitable for browsing, and C<search>, which
handles a search query and generates search results.

The standard templates (which generate output for display on
the Web) include C<list>, which displays the entries in a
table, and C<search>, which displays the result of a search.

You'll note that most actions are associated with templates.

This document also introduces the theory behind Maypole's
actions and templates, showing you how to write your own
so that you can have a highly customized application.

=item L<Manual::Workflow> - Description of the Maypole Workflow 

This is a technical document that describes the progress of a
request through the entire Maypole system. It should be of
interest chiefly to those people hacking on Maypole itself,
and not to most of those who are using it.

=item L<Manual::Beer> - The Beer Database Revisited *

This document gives a close look at the Beer database that
was introduced in L<Manual::About>.

=item L<Manual::Request> - The Request Cookbook 

This extensive document is Maypole's main "How do I do X?" FAQ.
It provides a wide variety of cookbook-like techniques that
are useful both for themselves, and as examples of what sort
of things can be done with Maypole processes.

=item L<Manual::Flox> - Case Study: Flox social network *

This is an example of how to construct a large Web application
in Maypole: a "social network", similar to Friendster and
Orkut. It shows, specifically, the database structure and the
variety of customized techniques that make such a system
work.

=item L<Manual::IBuySpy> - Case Study: iBuySpy *

This is an example of the C<ASP.NET> sample portal application
ported to Maypole. L<http://www.ibuyspy.com> is a fictional
e-commerce site that is relatively sophisticated. It is much
better as a Maypole application.

=back

  * indicates incomplete chapters.


=head1 AUTHOR

Sebastian Riedel, C<sri@oook.de>

This overview written by Jesse Sheidlower, C<jester@panix.com>,
based on Simon Cozens' original I<Overview> document.

=head1 AUTHOR EMERITUS

Simon Cozens, C<simon@cpan.org>

=cut