So, you want to write a generic base controller for some set of actions? Great! Want to use Chained actions for nicer looking URLs? Fantastic!
Let's presume you're writing a generic account admin controller. Your URL-space might look like:
/admin/account//admin/account/1//admin/account/1/updateCurrently, you have a couple of options in order to make this a reality:
1) Action-specific configs
Catalyst's configurability is extremely granular -- you can set specific attributes as configuration parameters for any given action.
package MyApp::Controller::Admin::Account;
use strict;
use warnings;
use base 'Catalyst::Controller';
__PACKAGE__->config( actions => {
instance => { PathPart => 'admin/account' },
list => { PathPart => 'admin/account' }
} );
sub list : Chained('/') Args(0) { die "index of accounts" }
sub instance : Chained('/') CaptureArgs(1) { } # do something with $c->req->captures->[ 0 ]
sub view : Chained('instance') PathPart('') Args(0) { die "view account" }
sub update : Chained('instance') PathPart Args(0) { die "update account" }
1;
In the above example we're explicitly setting the PathPart for the list and instance actions -- However, it's not quite fully generic.
2) Create our own attribute
We'll create an attribute that will expose a controller's path_prefix to any action -- aptly named PathPrefix.
package MyApp::Controller::Admin::Account;
use strict;
use warnings;
use base 'Catalyst::Controller';
sub _parse_PathPrefix_attr {
my ( $self, $c, $name, $value ) = @_;
return PathPart => $self->path_prefix;
}
sub list : Chained('/') PathPrefix Args(0) { die "index of accounts" }
sub instance : Chained('/') PathPrefix CaptureArgs(1) { } # do something with $c->req->captures->[ 0 ]
sub view : Chained('instance') PathPart('') Args(0) { die "view account" }
sub update : Chained('instance') PathPart Args(0) { die "update account" }
1;
Now that's better -- except for that pesky sub. Well, you're in luck -- PathPrefix is now in the current Catalyst::Runtime branch. Our code is now even simpler:
package MyApp::Controller::Admin::Account;
use strict;
use warnings;
use base 'Catalyst::Controller';
sub list : Chained('/') PathPrefix Args(0) { die "index of accounts" }
sub instance : Chained('/') PathPrefix CaptureArgs(1) { } # do something with $c->req->captures->[ 0 ]
sub view : Chained('instance') PathPart('') Args(0) { die "view account" }
sub update : Chained('instance') PathPart Args(0) { die "update account" }
1;
As I've stated, Catalyst is extremely configurable. Let's say you don't like "admin/account" as the path? No Problem!
package MyApp::Controller::Admin::Account;
use strict;
use warnings;
use base 'Catalyst::Controller';
__PACKAGE__->config( path => 'foo/bar' );
sub list : Chained('/') PathPrefix Args(0) { die "index of accounts" }
sub instance : Chained('/') PathPrefix CaptureArgs(1) { } # do something with $c->req->captures->[ 0 ]
sub view : Chained('instance') PathPart('') Args(0) { die "view account" }
sub update : Chained('instance') PathPart Args(0) { die "update account" }
1;
All of the actions will now start with "/foo/bar/"!
Happy Hacking.
Special thanks to mst for being my editor and sanity checker.