+++ /dev/null
-=pod
-
-=head1 NAME
-
-Maypole::Workflow - Describes the progress of a request through Maypole
-
-=head1 SYNOPSIS
-
- config $h
- |
- Maypole $r
- Apache::Request |
- +---- $r->get_request ---+
- $ar |
- |
- $r->parse_location
- |
- $r->is_applicable
- |
- BeerDB::Beer $r->call_authenticate
- ->authenticate ------------+------------ $r->authenticate
- |
- $r->additional_data
- |
- $r->model_class->process($r)
- |
- $r->view_object->process($r)
-
-
-=head1 DESCRIPTION
-
-An application based on C<Maypole> will provide an Apache handler,
-and eventually deliver a page. This document explains how that happens,
-and how to influence it. We'll use the C<BeerDB> project as our example.
-
-=head2 Initialize class
-
-When the first request comes in, the class will call its own
-C<init> method. This creates a new view object, sets up inheritance
-relationships between the model classes and their parent, and so on.
-
-=head2 Construction
-
-Once we have initialized, the handler obtains the configuration for your
-class, and puts it into a new object. We'll call this a request
-I<object> for the purposes of this document; it will be a new C<BeerDB>
-object.
-
-=head2 Getting the request
-
-Next, the handler calls C<get_request> on the new object to have it
-store a copy of the C<Apache::Request>. Of course, if you're not using
-Apache, you might want to subclass this method to return something that
-looks like an C<Apache::Request> object, and possibly also subclass the
-next stage too to get more control over what methods are called on your
-C<A::R>-lookalike. C<get_request> is expected to put the object in the
-C<ar> slot of the request object.
-
-=head2 Handling the URL
-
-Typically, the details of the request will be passed in the URL. This is
-done with the C<parse_location> method, which is expected to populate
-several slots of the request object. First, C<table> and C<action>
-should be populated with the name of the table and the action parts of
-the URL. Any other arguments should be placed in a listref in the
-C<args> slot, and GET and POST parameters should be arranged into a hash
-and placed in the C<query> and C<params> slots, respectively.
-
-Some people may not like the idea of passing everything around in the
-URL; this is the method to override for you. Of course, you'll also need
-to provide your own default templates to construct links using your
-preferred format.
-
-=head2 Is this an applicable URL?
-
-Next, the C<is_applicable> method works out if this is actually
-something that C<Maypole> should care about - whether the class
-exists in the application, whether it supports the given action, and so
-on. The action is "supported" if it exists in the model class (or its
-ancestors) and is marked with the C<:Exported> attribute; this stops web
-users from firing off random subroutines in your code.
-
-This should return an Apache status code; C<OK> if the request should
-proceed, C<DECLINED> if it should be passed on to the default handlers,
-or whatever other codes for permissions problems.
-
-=head2 Are we allowed to do this?
-
-We then look for an appropriate C<authenticate> method to call; first
-it will try calling the C<authenticate> method of the model class, or,
-if that does not exist, the C<authenticate> method on itself. By
-default, this allows access to everyone for everything. Similarly, this
-should return an Apache status code.
-
-=head2 Add any additional data to the request
-
-The open-ended C<additional_data> method allows any additional fiddling
-with the request object before it is despatched. Specifically, it allows
-you to add to the C<template_args> slot, which is a hash of arguments to
-be added to the template.
-
-=head2 Ask model for widget set
-
-Asking the model class to C<process> the current request allows it to do
-any work it needs for the given command, and populate the C<objects> and
-C<template> slots of the request.
-
-=head2 Ask view to process template
-
-Now the view class has its C<process> method called, finds the
-appropriate templates, passes the C<objects> and any additional data to
-the template, and pushes the output to the web server.
-
-We will go into more detail about these last two phases.
-
-=head1 Model class processing
-
-The model's C<process> method is usually a thin wrapper around the
-action that we have selected. It sets the template name to the name of
-the action, fills C<objects> with an object of that class whose ID comes
-from the URL arguments if there is one. For instance, C</beer/foo/12>
-will do the moral equivalent of
-
- $r->objects([ BeerDB::Beer->retrieve(12) ]);
-
-Then it calls the right method: in this case, the C<foo> method with
-the request object. This method will usually do any actions which are
-required, including modifying the list of objects to be passed to the
-template, or the name of the template to be called.
-
-=head1 Template class processing
-
-Finally, the template processor is handed the objects, the template
-name, and various other bits and pieces, and tries to find the right
-template. It does this by looking first for C</beer/foo>: that is, a
-specific template appropriate to the class. Next, it looks at
-C</custom/foo>, a local modification, before looking for
-C</factory/foo>, one of the default templates that came with
-C<Maypole>.
-
-=head2 Default template arguments
-
-The following things are passed to the Template Toolkit template by
-default:
-
-=over 3
-
-=item request
-
-The whole C<Maypole> request object, for people getting really dirty
-with the templates.
-
-=item objects
-
-The objects handed to us by the model.
-
-=item base
-
-The base URL of the application.
-
-=item config
-
-The whole configuration hash for the application.
-
-=item classmetadata
-
-A hash consisting of:
-
-C<name> - The name of the model class for the request: e.g. C<BeerDB::Beer>.
-
-C<columns> - The names of the columns in this class.
-
-C<colnames> - A hash mapping between the database's idea of a column
-name and a human-readable equivalent. (C<abv> should be mapped to
-C<A.B.V.>, perhaps.)
-
-C<related_accessors> - A list of accessors which are not exactly fields
-in the table but are related by a has-many relationship. For instance,
-breweries have many beers, so C<beers> would appear in the list.
-
-C<moniker> - The human-readable name for the class: C<beer>.
-
-C<plural> - The same, only plural: C<beers>.
-
-C<cgi> - A hash mapping columns and C<HTML::Element> objects
-representing a form field for editing that column.
-
-C<description> - (Perhaps) a user-supplied description of the class.
-
-=back
-
-Additionally, depending on the number of objects, there will be an alias
-for the C<objects> slot with the name of the moniker or plural moniker.
-
-That sounds a bit tricky, but what it means is that if you look at
-C</beer/view/4> then C<beer> will be populated with a C<BeerDB::Beer>
-object with ID 4. On the other hand, if you look at C</beer/list> you
-can get all the beers in C<beers> as well as in C<objects>.
-
-
projects / maypole.git / blobdiff