[Catalyst] reference lib outside Catalyst web application directory

myapp_server.pl, probably (and the other ones). Catalyst::Test (etc.)
won't use this, though, so you should run your tests with the
appropriate -I flags (which you could do instead of changing myapp_*.pl):

$ perl -Ilib -Iweb/lib web/script/myapp_server.pl

or
$ prove -Ilib -Iweb/lib web/t

etc.

Why not just make your Catalyst app as MyProj::Web so its files live in

MyProj/lib/MyProj/Web.pm
MyProj/lib/MyProj/Web/(Controller|Model|View)/...

Hello,

Sorry for not mentioning it in the original email but I did run
catalyst.pl MyProj::Web to create the Catalyst project (based on your
and A. Berlin's earlier advice, thank you) so that in the lib directory
catalyst related stuff has its own namespace and separation. But it
doesn't seem to fix the problem (maybe I am not seeing something?). It
seems from what you suggest that then all web application stuff has to
then be in the top-level MyProj folder. If I start over:

[[email protected] ~]$ catalyst.pl MyProj::Web
created "MyProj-Web"
created "MyProj-Web/script"
created "MyProj-Web/lib"
created "MyProj-Web/root"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images"
created "MyProj-Web/t"
created "MyProj-Web/lib/MyProj/Web"
created "MyProj-Web/lib/MyProj/Web/Model"
created "MyProj-Web/lib/MyProj/Web/View"
created "MyProj-Web/lib/MyProj/Web/Controller"
created "MyProj-Web/myproj_web.yml"
created "MyProj-Web/lib/MyProj/Web.pm"
created "MyProj-Web/lib/MyProj/Web/Controller/Root.pm"
created "MyProj-Web/README"
created "MyProj-Web/Changes"
created "MyProj-Web/t/01app.t"
created "MyProj-Web/t/02pod.t"
created "MyProj-Web/t/03podcoverage.t"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images/catalyst_logo.png"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images/btn_120x50_built.png"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images/btn_120x50_built_shadow.png"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images/btn_120x50_powered.png"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images/btn_120x50_powered_shadow.png"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images/btn_88x31_built.png"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images/btn_88x31_built_shadow.png"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images/btn_88x31_powered.png"
created "MyProj-Web/root/static/images/btn_88x31_powered_shadow.png"
created "MyProj-Web/root/favicon.ico"
created "MyProj-Web/Makefile.PL"
created "MyProj-Web/script/myproj_web_cgi.pl"
created "MyProj-Web/script/myproj_web_fastcgi.pl"
created "MyProj-Web/script/myproj_web_server.pl"
created "MyProj-Web/script/myproj_web_test.pl"
created "MyProj-Web/script/myproj_web_create.pl"
[[email protected] ~]$ ll MyProj-Web/
total 32
-rw-rw-r-- 1 hermida hermida 150 Dec 13 10:44 Changes
drwxrwxr-x 3 hermida hermida 4096 Dec 13 10:44 lib
-rw-rw-r-- 1 hermida hermida 462 Dec 13 10:44 Makefile.PL
-rw-rw-r-- 1 hermida hermida 22 Dec 13 10:44 myproj_web.yml
-rw-rw-r-- 1 hermida hermida 57 Dec 13 10:44 README
drwxrwxr-x 3 hermida hermida 4096 Dec 13 10:44 root
drwxrwxr-x 2 hermida hermida 4096 Dec 13 10:44 script
drwxrwxr-x 2 hermida hermida 4096 Dec 13 10:44 t
[[email protected] ~]$

As mentioned this will be a larger project where only a part of it is
the web application but all the code will need to share libraries.
Where will I put all of the directories, code and other files that are
not related at all to the web application but will need to use libraries
in lib? It doesn't seem to make sense to have it right in the web
application folder. This is why I made a master MyProj folder, renamed
MyProj-Web to "web" and put it inside of MyProj. Then there can be a
nice separation of components and the project can grow.

Leandro

It's a question of how you look at it -

You're asking why the rest of the app should be in the web
application directory

I'm asking why the web part can't be in the main app directory :)

I've been reading this thread with interest because Leandro's
description seems to fit my situation as well. This seems like a pretty
lame response. Does it mean that Catalyst can't be configured to live in
a separate place from the bulk of the 'business' logic?

The ability to put different bits of an application suite in different
places is a pretty useful capability for application designers. If every
framework said that it was going to be top of the tree, life would be
difficult, IMHO. I still have nightmares about all the event-driven
frameworks that assumed *they* were going to be the one that had control
of the select/poll loop, for example.

The ability to separate concerns is a fundamental strategy in software
engineering.

Or am I misunderstanding?

Cheers, Dave

Yes, it can be separated any way you like. All of the above ideas in
this discussion are just matters of preference and/or policy. You can
put your cat app anywhere with respect to the rest of your business
logic and other related scripts and modules, you'll just need to take
the appropriate steps to get @INC set up correctly for however you've
laid things out, so that cat can find your business logic.

I typically put commandline scripts, database maintenance stuff, and
my DBIx::Class schema in a seperate directory parallel with the
related cat app, and stuff @INC via FindBin at the top of the scripts.

-- Brandon

I use separate directories because my business logic and catalyst code are in
different SVN trees. For me it's as simple as adding:

use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../../MyApp/lib";

to the scripts in MyApp-Web/script/.

If you are using mod_perl for production you will need to specify both your
MyApp-Web and MyApp paths in it's setup.

Hope that helps,
Brian Kirkbride

I can't imagine life before $FindBin::Bin

-=Chris

Despite the fact that it?s perverse and horribly broken [1]?

[1]: http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_idA213

Regards,

Yes, despite that. :)

Adam

Yes it does, it's impossible to write an application that depends on
external code - that's why you can't use CPAN libraries with Catalyst

...

no, wait, you can :)
And if you want to do that, you can happily have a MyApp-Base
distribution, a MyApp-Web distribution, etc.

Just make them normal perl dists with appropriate dependencies.
catalyst.pl creates you a valid CPAN dist which makes it trivial to
do that for the web part - anything else should be done the same way.
I think you and Leandro are both trying to do something the hard way.

If it lives as part of the main dist, put it in lib/ like normal.

If it wants to be separate, make it a separate dist that depends on
the common stuff.

Screwing around with @INC when you can just write stuff that can be
'make install'ed is the only thing here I'd call lame :)

YOU CAN'T PUT CODE IN A RANDOM LOCATION AND EXPECT CATALYST TO FIND IT,
RETARDO.

Apologies to MJD.