Act handlers

Definition

A handler is a subroutine tied to a specific URL.

How to write handlers

Choose a suitable name space for your handler, we'll use Act::Handler::Foo. Create your handler in lib/Act/Handler/Foo.pm, naming your sub handler.

The handler subroutine

In your handler subroutine:

• Figure out what to do, based on the query's arguments $Request{args} or maybe using $Request{path_info}.

• Do it. You might need to query the database with $Request{dbh}.

• In most cases you'll want to send an HTML page using a template. First Retrieve a template object:

    my $template = Act::Template::HTML->new;

  Always instantiate this template object at runtime (Act uses its own caching mechanism to pull the correct template.)

  Create some template variables:

    $template->variables(
      name  => $user->{name},
    );

• Finally process the template. Its output will be sent to the client's browser.

    $template->process('foo.html');

  Just provide the template's base name, don't use pathnames-- the template object knows about the current request and will know where to look. Template files in conference subdirectories override global templates.

URL to handler dispatch

Now choose an "action" word that best describes your handler. We'll use the string foo. We now associate that action word with our sub by adding the mapping to the %public_handlers hash in Act::Dispatcher.

  my %public_handlers = (
    ...
    foo => 'Act::Handler::Foo',
    ...
  );

This will enable this handler for all URLs that start with /conference/foo where conference is a conference name, e.g.:

  /2004/foo
  /2004/foo?q=1
  /2004/foo/bar

If this action requires the user to be registered, add the mapping to %private_handlers instead:

  my %private_handlers = (
    ...
    foo => 'Act::Handler::Foo,
    ...
  );

The user will be prompted for credentials (login and password) the first time a protected page is requested in a given session.