NAME
Catalyst::Model::Adaptor - use a plain class as a Catalyst model
SYNOPSIS
Given a good old perl class like:
package NotMyApp::SomeClass;
use Moose; # to provide "new"
sub method { 'yay' }
Wrap it with a Catalyst model:
package MyApp::Model::SomeClass;
use base 'Catalyst::Model::Adaptor';
__PACKAGE__->config( class => 'NotMyApp::SomeClass' );
Then you can use "NotMyApp::SomeClass" from your Catalyst app:
sub action :Whatever {
my ($self, $c) = @_;
my $someclass = $c->model('SomeClass');
$someclass->method; # yay
}
Note that "NotMyApp::SomeClass" is instantiated at application startup
time. If you want the adapted class to be created for call to
"$c->model", see Catalyst::Model::Factory instead. If you want the
adapted class to be created once per request, see
Catalyst::Model::Factory::PerRequest.
DESCRIPTION
The idea is that you don't want your Catalyst model to be anything other
than a line or two of glue. Using this module ensures that your Model
classes are separate from your application and therefore are
well-abstracted, reusable, and easily testable.
Right now there are too many modules on CPAN that are Catalyst-specific.
Most of the models would be better written as a class that handles most
of the functionality with just a bit of glue to make it work nicely with
Catalyst. This module aims to make integrating your class with Catalyst
trivial, so you won't have to do any extra work to make your model
generic.
For a good example of a Model that takes the right design approach, take
a look at Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema. All it does is glues an
existing DBIx::Class::Schema to Catalyst. It provides a bit of sugar,
but no actual functionality. Everything important happens in the
"DBIx::Class::Schema" object.
The end result of that is that you can use your app's DBIC schema
without ever thinking about Catalyst. This is a Good Thing.
Catalyst is glue, not a way of life!
CONFIGURATION
Subclasses of this model accept the following configuration keys, which
can be hard-coded like:
package MyApp::Model::SomeClass;
use base 'Catalyst::Model::Adaptor';
__PACKAGE__->config( class => 'NotMyApp::SomeClass' );
Or be specified as application config:
package MyApp;
MyApp->config->{'Model::SomeClass'} = { class => 'NotMyApp::SomeClass' };
Or in your ConfigLoader-loaded config file:
---
Model::SomeClass:
class: NotMyApp::SomeClass
args:
foo: ...
bar: ...
This is exactly like every other Catalyst component, so you should
already know this.
Anyway, here are the options:
class
This is the name of the class you're adapting to Catalyst. It MUST be
specified.
Your application will die horribly if it can't require this package.
constructor
This is the name of the class method in "class" that will create an
instance of the class. It defaults to "new".
Your application will die horribly if it can't call this method.
args
This is a hashref of arguments to pass to the constructor of "class". It
is optional, of course. If you omit it, nothing is passed to the
constructor (as opposed to "{}", an empty hashref).
METHODS
There are no methods that you call directly. When you call "$c->model"
on a model that subclasses this, you'll get back an instance of the
class being adapted, not this model.
These methods are called by Catalyst:
COMPONENT
Setup this component.
CUSTOMIZING THE PROCESS
By default, the instance of your adapted class is instantiated like
this:
my $args = $self->prepare_arguments($app); # $app sometimes called $c
$adapted_class->$constructor($self->mangle_arguments($args));
Since a static hashref of arguments may not be what $class needs, you
can override the following methods to change what $args is.
NOTE: If you need to pass some args at instance time, you can do
something like:
my $model = $c->model('MyFoo', { foo => 'myfoo' });
or
my $model = $c->model('MyFoo', foo => 'myfoo');
prepare_arguments
This method is passed the entire configuration for the class and the
Catalyst application, and returns the hashref of arguments to be passed
to the constructor. If you need to get dynamic data out of your
application to pass to the consturctor, do it here.
By default, this method returns the "args" configuration key.
Example:
sub prepare_arguments {
my ($self, $app) = @_; # $app sometimes written as $c
return { foobar => $app->config->{foobar}, baz => $self->{baz} };
}
mangle_arguments
This method is passed the hashref from "prepare_arguments", mangles them
into a form that your constructor will like, and returns the mangled
form. If your constuctor wants a list instead of a hashref, this is your
opportunity to do the conversion.
Example:
sub mangle_arguments {
my ($self, $args) = @_;
return %$args; # now the args are a plain list
}
If you need to do more than this, you might as well just write the whole
class yourself. This module is designed to make the common case work
with 1 line of code. For special needs, it's easier to just write the
model yourself.
SEE ALSO
If you need a new instance returned each time "$c->model" is called, use
Catalyst::Model::Factory instead.
If you need to have exactly one instance created per request, use
Catalyst::Model::Factory::PerRequest instead.
AUTHOR
Jonathan Rockway "<jrockway@cpan.org>"
CONTRIBUTORS
Wallace Reis "<wreis@cpan.org>"
LICENSE
This module is Copyright (c) 2007 Jonathan Rockway. You may use, modify,
and redistribute it under the same terms as Perl itself.