[Catalyst] still not sure if I have the hang of this ...

You usually have to replace __PACKAGE__ with the actual model-
package, like MyApp::Model::Table->find_or_create

In a controller, __PACKAGE__ equals the package of the controller,
and that controller, most likely, lacks a find_or_create method.
Check out the BookDB example from dev.catalyst.perl.org

Ok, started playing with DBIx::Class and DBIx::Class::Table, and a toy
database. Got a minimalistic test case going fine with that. Now to
make it work with Catalyst.

I did the "usual"

catalyst.pl test
cd test
script/test_create.pl model Database DBIC dbi:SQLite:/root/test/db/test.db
script/test_create.pl view Mason Mason

I added the Mason component root setup and other bits. Then

script/test_create.pl controller db

The db has a single table named testing, with a very simple structure:


CREATE TABLE testing (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
name text,
size text
);

I added some simple data into it to make testing easier.

sqlite> select * from testing;
1|a|b
2|c|d
3|d|e

In the test/Model/Database/Testing.pm package, I added a pointer to the
table and added the columns

__PACKAGE__->table('testing');
__PACKAGE__->add_columns(qw/id name size/);

I added a simple global list method to the db controller

sub list : Global {
use Data::Dumper;
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
my (@all);
@all = test::Model::Database::Testing->search();
$c->forward( 'test::View::Mason');
$c->stash->{stuff}=Dumper(@all);
}

Ok. Now I am getting an error message of

[Wed Dec 28 04:06:40 2005] [catalyst] [error] Couldn't render component
"/list" - error was "could not find component for initial path '/list'
(component roots are: '/root/test/root/static')
Stack:
[/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.6/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:204]

for the http://dualcore:3000/list url.

I think this is a Mason error and not a Catalyst error. I see the data
in the stash at the end of the web page, and it is identical to what I
generated with my DBIx::Class::Table bit. I think I know how to fix it,
but I am not completely sure. Will experiment a bit more.

My question is, apart from a Mason error, is this the right general
path? Or I am doing something very wrong somewhere? Basically we are
taking a Mason based application, and migrating it into Catalyst with a
Mason view so we can do a saner job of extending/maintaining it. Our
old method of DB interaction was rather different, so I am trying to get
on a fast (re)learning curve :).

Thanks again for the pointers and your patience.

BTW: addcomment was not missing, I just didn't find it before posting.
I did find it later. It was helpful as well.

Joe

Andreas Marienborg wrote:

Yup... adding a template and a component name list seems to help... Ok,
now we are cooking with fire ... :)

Joe

I saw your other post, but figured I would comment some bits :)

put this in the 'sub end : Private { } of your base application, so
you dont have to do it for each controller you write :P This also
ensures that everything you put in the stash is visible upon rendering.

You can also check out the DefaultEnd plugin, which is a grand idea :)

Following Andreas' advice, the dump of the all now displays!

What I did is add (to the main application module)

sub end : Private {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
$c->forward('test::View::Mason');
}

Good. Now modify the list method in the test::Controller::db.pm

sub list : Local {
use Data::Dumper;
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
my (@all);
@all = test::Model::Database::Testing->search();
$c->stash->{stuff}=Dumper(@all);
push @{$c->stash->{data}},@all;
$c->stash->{template}="test.html";
$c->forward( 'test::View::Mason');
}

so that $c->stash->{data} has the stuff I want to display in the view,
and then modify the view so that it does something with the incoming
data ...

<%args>
$stuff => undef
$data => undef
</%args>
% use Data::Dumper;
% my ($k,$string,$dump,$maxid);
% $dump = Dumper($data);
% $maxid=-10;
in Test.html: Dumping....<br />
<hr />
<pre>
<% $stuff %>
</pre>
<hr />
<!-- Dump of data = <% $dump %> -->
<pre>
% foreach (@{$data})
% {
% $string = undef;
% if ($maxid < $_->{_column_data}->{id}) { $maxid $_->{_column_data}->{id}; }
% foreach $k (keys %{$_->{_column_data}})
% {
% $string .= sprintf "| %s ",$_->{_column_data}->{$k};
% }
<% $string %>
% }
</pre>

and we get (ignoring the dump)
which is exactly what I wanted.

Great!

So to mix it up, now I want to add a tiny form at the end of this to add
another row to the database. So I appended

<form action="add" method="post">
Name: <input type="text" name="name" value="" size@ /> <br />
Size: <input type="text" name="size" value="" size@ /> <br />
ID: <input type="text" name="id" value="<% $maxid+1 %>" size@ />
<br />
<input type="submit" value="submit">
</form>

to the test.html, and created an add method in test::Controller::db.pm

sub add : Local {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
my (@all,%all2);
%all2 =$c->parameters;
$c->stash->{stuff}=Dumper(\%all2);
$c->stash->{template}="test.html";
$c->forward( 'test::View::Mason');
}

The idea is that $c->{parameters} is a hash of the incoming posted
parameters.

Unfortunately, it seems to get lost somewhere. I see it in the debug
messages on the console


[Wed Dec 28 15:29:37 2005] [catalyst] [debug]
**********************************
[Wed Dec 28 15:29:37 2005] [catalyst] [debug] * Request 1 (0.250/s) [26826]
[Wed Dec 28 15:29:37 2005] [catalyst] [debug]
**********************************
[Wed Dec 28 15:29:37 2005] [catalyst] [debug] Body Parameters are:
.---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------.
'---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------'

[Wed Dec 28 15:29:37 2005] [catalyst] [debug] "POST" request for
"db/add" from "192.168.1.32"
[Wed Dec 28 15:29:37 2005] [catalyst] [debug] Path is "db/add"
[Wed Dec 28 15:29:37 2005] [catalyst] [debug] Rendering component
"/test.html"
[Wed Dec 28 15:29:37 2005] [catalyst] [debug] Rendering component
"/test.html"
[Wed Dec 28 15:29:37 2005] [catalyst] [info] Request took 0.018545s
(53.923/s)
.------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------.
Time |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+
0.001180s |
'------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------'


but it does not show up in the method call. Is there some magic I need
to do here? I will look back over the Agave and other examples.
Somewhat confused here. Is there any way to force the debug screen even
on successful calls?

Joe


Andreas Marienborg wrote:

Allrighty... got it working ... I think I get it now.

Would the Catalyst folks like a blow-by-blow writeup and howto for
people who are not used to DBIx:Class and other methods?

Might help newbies...


Joe

Joe Landman wrote:

Aieee, don't do that!

$c->model('Table') is better because that way you can move that controller
code into another app without having to trudge through a search-and-replace.

test::Model::Database::Testing->find_or_create works

$c->model('Testing')->find_or_create fails (Caught exception "Can't
call method "find_or_create" on an undefined value at
/root/test/script/../lib/test/Controller/db.pm line 24.")

$c->model('Database::Testing)->find_or_create works.

Hmmm... must have built the model wrong. This is what I used

script/test_create.pl model Database DBIC dbi:SQLite:/root/test/db/test.db

Should that be

script/test_create.pl model DBIC dbi:SQLite:/root/test/db/test.db

??

Joe

Matt S Trout wrote:

Correct.

I used a single name ('Table') because I was replying to a post that used
MyApp::Model::Table. Your model's fine.

Please don't assume what I type into an e-mail can be copied and pasted and
will Just Work - I usually type straight into the e-mail to illustrate a
point so it may not even be syntactically correct if I wasn't paying
attention :)