1Mojolicious::Guides::ReUnsdeerriCnogn(t3r)ibuted Perl DoMcoujmoelnitcaitoiuosn::Guides::Rendering(3)
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6 Mojolicious::Guides::Rendering - Rendering content
7
9 This document explains content generation with the Mojolicious
10 renderer.
11
13 Essentials every Mojolicious developer should know.
14
15 Renderer
16 The renderer is a tiny black box turning stash data into actual
17 responses utilizing multiple template systems and data encoding
18 modules.
19
20 {text => 'Hello.'} -> 200 OK, text/html, 'Hello.'
21 {json => {x => 3}} -> 200 OK, application/json, '{"x":3}'
22 {text => 'Oops.', status => '410'} -> 410 Gone, text/html, 'Oops.'
23
24 Templates can be automatically detected if enough information is
25 provided by the developer or routes. Template names are expected to
26 follow the "template.format.handler" scheme, with "template" defaulting
27 to "controller/action" or the route name, "format" defaulting to "html"
28 and "handler" to "ep".
29
30 {controller => 'users', action => 'list'} -> 'users/list.html.ep'
31 {template => 'foo', format => 'txt'} -> 'foo.txt.ep'
32 {template => 'foo', handler => 'epl'} -> 'foo.html.epl'
33
34 The "controller" value gets converted from "CamelCase" to "snake_case"
35 using "decamelize" in Mojo::Util and "-" characters replaced with "/".
36
37 {controller => 'My::Users', action => 'add'} -> 'my/users/add.html.ep'
38 {controller => 'my-users', action => 'show'} -> 'my/users/show.html.ep'
39
40 All templates should be in the "templates" directories of the
41 application, which can be customized with "paths" in
42 Mojolicious::Renderer, or one of the the "DATA" sections from "classes"
43 in Mojolicious::Renderer.
44
45 __DATA__
46
47 @@ time.html.ep
48 % use Time::Piece;
49 % my $now = localtime;
50 <!DOCTYPE html>
51 <html>
52 <head><title>Time</title></head>
53 <body>The time is <%= $now->hms %>.</body>
54 </html>
55
56 @@ hello.txt.ep
57 ...
58
59 The renderer can be easily extended to support additional template
60 systems with plugins, but more about that later.
61
62 Embedded Perl
63 Mojolicious includes a minimalistic but very powerful template system
64 out of the box called Embedded Perl or "ep" for short. It is based on
65 Mojo::Template and allows the embedding of Perl code right into actual
66 content using a small set of special tags and line start characters.
67 For all templates strict, warnings, utf8 and Perl 5.10 features are
68 automatically enabled.
69
70 <% Perl code %>
71 <%= Perl expression, replaced with XML escaped result %>
72 <%== Perl expression, replaced with result %>
73 <%# Comment, useful for debugging %>
74 <%% Replaced with "<%", useful for generating templates %>
75 % Perl code line, treated as "<% line =%>" (explained later)
76 %= Perl expression line, treated as "<%= line %>"
77 %== Perl expression line, treated as "<%== line %>"
78 %# Comment line, useful for debugging
79 %% Replaced with "%", useful for generating templates
80
81 Tags and lines work pretty much the same, but depending on context one
82 will usually look a bit better. Semicolons get automatically appended
83 to all expressions.
84
85 <% my $i = 10; %>
86 <ul>
87 <% for my $j (1 .. $i) { %>
88 <li>
89 <%= $j %>
90 </li>
91 <% } %>
92 </ul>
93
94 % my $i = 10;
95 <ul>
96 % for my $j (1 .. $i) {
97 <li>
98 %= $j
99 </li>
100 % }
101 </ul>
102
103 Aside from differences in whitespace handling, both examples generate
104 similar Perl code, a naive translation could look like this.
105
106 my $output = '';
107 my $i = 10;
108 $output .= '<ul>';
109 for my $j (1 .. $i) {
110 $output .= '<li>';
111 $output .= xml_escape scalar + $j;
112 $output .= '</li>';
113 }
114 $output .= '</ul>';
115 return $output;
116
117 An additional equal sign can be used to disable escaping of the
118 characters "<", ">", "&", "'" and """ in results from Perl expressions,
119 which is the default to prevent XSS attacks against your application.
120
121 <%= 'I ♥ Mojolicious!' %>
122 <%== '<p>I ♥ Mojolicious!</p>' %>
123
124 Only Mojo::ByteStream objects are excluded from automatic escaping.
125
126 <%= b('<p>I ♥ Mojolicious!</p>') %>
127
128 Whitespace characters around tags can be trimmed by adding an
129 additional equal sign to the end of a tag.
130
131 <% for (1 .. 3) { %>
132 <%= 'Trim all whitespace characters around this expression' =%>
133 <% } %>
134
135 Newline characters can be escaped with a backslash.
136
137 This is <%= 1 + 1 %> a\
138 single line
139
140 And a backslash in front of a newline character can be escaped with
141 another backslash.
142
143 This will <%= 1 + 1 %> result\\
144 in multiple\\
145 lines
146
147 A newline character gets appended automatically to every template,
148 unless the last character is a backslash. And empty lines at the end of
149 a template are ignored.
150
151 There is <%= 1 + 1 %> no newline at the end here\
152
153 At the beginning of the template, stash values that don't have invalid
154 characters in their name get automatically initialized as normal
155 variables, and the controller object as both $self and $c.
156
157 $c->stash(name => 'tester');
158
159 Hello <%= $name %> from <%= $c->tx->remote_address %>.
160
161 A prefix like "myapp.*" is commonly used for stash values that you
162 don't want to expose in templates.
163
164 $c->stash('myapp.name' => 'tester');
165
166 There are also many helper functions available, but more about that
167 later.
168
169 <%= dumper {foo => 'bar'} %>
170
172 Most commonly used features every Mojolicious developer should know
173 about.
174
175 Automatic rendering
176 The renderer can be manually started by calling the method "render" in
177 Mojolicious::Controller, but that's usually not necessary, because it
178 will get automatically called if nothing has been rendered after the
179 router finished its work. This also means you can have routes pointing
180 only to templates without actual actions.
181
182 $c->render;
183
184 There is one big difference though, by calling it manually you can make
185 sure that templates use the current controller object, and not the
186 default controller specified with the attribute "controller_class" in
187 Mojolicious.
188
189 $c->render_later;
190
191 You can also disable automatic rendering with the method "render_later"
192 in Mojolicious::Controller, which can be very useful to delay rendering
193 when a non-blocking operation has to be performed first.
194
195 Rendering templates
196 The renderer will always try to detect the right template, but you can
197 also use the "template" stash value to render a specific one.
198 Everything before the last slash will be interpreted as the
199 subdirectory path in which to find the template.
200
201 # foo/bar/baz.*.*
202 $c->render(template => 'foo/bar/baz');
203
204 Choosing a specific "format" and "handler" is just as easy.
205
206 # foo/bar/baz.txt.epl
207 $c->render(template => 'foo/bar/baz', format => 'txt', handler => 'epl');
208
209 Because rendering a specific template is the most common task it also
210 has a shortcut.
211
212 $c->render('foo/bar/baz');
213
214 If you're not sure in advance if a template actually exists, you can
215 also use the method "render_maybe" in Mojolicious::Controller to try
216 multiple alternatives.
217
218 $c->render_maybe('localized/baz') or $c->render('foo/bar/baz');
219
220 Rendering to strings
221 Sometimes you might want to use the rendered result directly instead of
222 generating a response, for example, to send emails, this can be done
223 with "render_to_string" in Mojolicious::Controller.
224
225 my $html = $c->render_to_string('mail');
226
227 No encoding will be performed, making it easy to reuse the result in
228 other templates or to generate binary data.
229
230 my $pdf = $c->render_to_string('invoice', format => 'pdf');
231 $c->render(data => $pdf, format => 'pdf');
232
233 All arguments passed will get localized automatically and are only
234 available during this render operation.
235
236 Template variants
237 To make your application look great on many different devices you can
238 also use the "variant" stash value to choose between different variants
239 of your templates.
240
241 # foo/bar/baz.html+phone.ep
242 # foo/bar/baz.html.ep
243 $c->render('foo/bar/baz', variant => 'phone');
244
245 This can be done very liberally since it only applies when a template
246 with the correct name actually exists and falls back to the generic one
247 otherwise.
248
249 Rendering inline templates
250 Some renderers such as "ep" allow templates to be passed "inline".
251
252 $c->render(inline => 'The result is <%= 1 + 1 %>.');
253
254 Since auto-detection depends on a path you might have to supply a
255 "handler" too.
256
257 $c->render(inline => "<%= shift->param('foo') %>", handler => 'epl');
258
259 Rendering text
260 Characters can be rendered to bytes with the "text" stash value, the
261 given content will be automatically encoded with "encoding" in
262 Mojolicious::Renderer.
263
264 $c->render(text => 'I ♥ Mojolicious!');
265
266 Rendering data
267 Bytes can be rendered with the "data" stash value, no encoding will be
268 performed.
269
270 $c->render(data => $bytes);
271
272 Rendering JSON
273 The "json" stash value allows you to pass Perl data structures to the
274 renderer which get directly encoded to JSON with Mojo::JSON.
275
276 $c->render(json => {foo => [1, 'test', 3]});
277
278 Status code
279 Response status codes can be changed with the "status" stash value.
280
281 $c->render(text => 'Oops.', status => 500);
282
283 Content type
284 The "Content-Type" header of the response is actually based on the MIME
285 type mapping of the "format" stash value.
286
287 # Content-Type: text/plain
288 $c->render(text => 'Hello.', format => 'txt');
289
290 # Content-Type: image/png
291 $c->render(data => $bytes, format => 'png');
292
293 These mappings can be easily extended or changed with "types" in
294 Mojolicious.
295
296 # Add new MIME type
297 $app->types->type(md => 'text/markdown');
298
299 Stash data
300 Any of the native Perl data types can be passed to templates as
301 references through the "stash" in Mojolicious::Controller.
302
303 $c->stash(description => 'web framework');
304 $c->stash(frameworks => ['Catalyst', 'Mojolicious']);
305 $c->stash(spinoffs => {minion => 'job queue'});
306
307 %= $description
308 %= $frameworks->[1]
309 %= $spinoffs->{minion}
310
311 Since everything is just Perl normal control structures just work.
312
313 % for my $framework (@$frameworks) {
314 <%= $framework %> is a <%= $description %>.
315 % }
316
317 % if (my $description = $spinoffs->{minion}) {
318 Minion is a <%= $description %>.
319 % }
320
321 For templates that might get rendered in different ways and where
322 you're not sure if a stash value will actually be set, you can just use
323 the helper "stash" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers.
324
325 % if (my $spinoffs = stash 'spinoffs') {
326 Minion is a <%= $spinoffs->{minion} %>.
327 % }
328
329 Helpers
330 Helpers are little functions you can use in templates as well as
331 application and controller code.
332
333 # Template
334 %= dumper [1, 2, 3]
335
336 # Application
337 my $serialized = $app->dumper([1, 2, 3]);
338
339 # Controller
340 my $serialized = $c->dumper([1, 2, 3]);
341
342 We differentiate between default helpers, which are more general
343 purpose like "dumper" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers, and tag
344 helpers like "link_to" in Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers, which are
345 template specific and mostly used to generate HTML tags.
346
347 %= link_to Mojolicious => 'https://mojolicious.org'
348
349 In controllers you can also use the method "helpers" in
350 Mojolicious::Controller to fully qualify helper calls and ensure that
351 they don't conflict with existing methods you may already have.
352
353 my $serialized = $c->helpers->dumper([1, 2, 3]);
354
355 A list of all built-in helpers can be found in
356 Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and
357 Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers.
358
359 Content negotiation
360 For resources with different representations and that require truly
361 RESTful content negotiation you can also use "respond_to" in
362 Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers instead of "render" in
363 Mojolicious::Controller.
364
365 # /hello (Accept: application/json) -> "json"
366 # /hello (Accept: application/xml) -> "xml"
367 # /hello.json -> "json"
368 # /hello.xml -> "xml"
369 # /hello?format=json -> "json"
370 # /hello?format=xml -> "xml"
371 $c->respond_to(
372 json => {json => {hello => 'world'}},
373 xml => {text => '<hello>world</hello>'}
374 );
375
376 The best possible representation will be automatically selected from
377 the "format" "GET"/"POST" parameter, "format" stash value or "Accept"
378 request header and stored in the "format" stash value. To change MIME
379 type mappings for the "Accept" request header or the "Content-Type"
380 response header you can use "types" in Mojolicious.
381
382 $c->respond_to(
383 json => {json => {hello => 'world'}},
384 html => sub {
385 $c->content_for(head => '<meta name="author" content="sri">');
386 $c->render(template => 'hello', message => 'world')
387 }
388 );
389
390 Callbacks can be used for representations that are too complex to fit
391 into a single render call.
392
393 # /hello (Accept: application/json) -> "json"
394 # /hello (Accept: text/html) -> "html"
395 # /hello (Accept: image/png) -> "any"
396 # /hello.json -> "json"
397 # /hello.html -> "html"
398 # /hello.png -> "any"
399 # /hello?format=json -> "json"
400 # /hello?format=html -> "html"
401 # /hello?format=png -> "any"
402 $c->respond_to(
403 json => {json => {hello => 'world'}},
404 html => {template => 'hello', message => 'world'},
405 any => {text => '', status => 204}
406 );
407
408 And if no viable representation could be found, the "any" fallback will
409 be used or an empty 204 response rendered automatically.
410
411 # /hello -> "html"
412 # /hello (Accept: text/html) -> "html"
413 # /hello (Accept: text/xml) -> "xml"
414 # /hello (Accept: text/plain) -> undef
415 # /hello.html -> "html"
416 # /hello.xml -> "xml"
417 # /hello.txt -> undef
418 # /hello?format=html -> "html"
419 # /hello?format=xml -> "xml"
420 # /hello?format=txt -> undef
421 if (my $format = $c->accepts('html', 'xml')) {
422 ...
423 }
424
425 For even more advanced negotiation logic you can also use the helper
426 "accepts" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers.
427
428 Rendering "exception" and "not_found" pages
429 By now you've probably already encountered the built-in 404 (Not Found)
430 and 500 (Server Error) pages, that get rendered automatically when you
431 make a mistake. Those are fallbacks for when your own exception
432 handling fails, which can be especially helpful during development. You
433 can also render them manually with the helpers "reply->exception" in
434 Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and "reply->not_found" in
435 Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers.
436
437 use Mojolicious::Lite;
438 use Scalar::Util 'looks_like_number';
439
440 get '/divide/:dividend/by/:divisor' => sub {
441 my $c = shift;
442
443 my $dividend = $c->param('dividend');
444 my $divisor = $c->param('divisor');
445
446 # 404
447 return $c->reply->not_found
448 unless looks_like_number $dividend && looks_like_number $divisor;
449
450 # 500
451 return $c->reply->exception('Division by zero!') if $divisor == 0;
452
453 # 200
454 $c->render(text => $dividend / $divisor);
455 };
456
457 app->start;
458
459 You can also change the templates of those pages, since you most likely
460 want to show your users something more closely related to your
461 application in production. The renderer will always try to find
462 "exception.$mode.$format.*" or "not_found.$mode.$format.*" before
463 falling back to the built-in default templates.
464
465 use Mojolicious::Lite;
466
467 get '/dies' => sub { die 'Intentional error' };
468
469 app->start;
470 __DATA__
471
472 @@ exception.production.html.ep
473 <!DOCTYPE html>
474 <html>
475 <head><title>Server error</title></head>
476 <body>
477 <h1>Exception</h1>
478 <p><%= $exception->message %></p>
479 <h1>Stash</h1>
480 <pre><%= dumper $snapshot %></pre>
481 </body>
482 </html>
483
484 The hook "before_render" in Mojolicious makes even more advanced
485 customizations possible by allowing you to intercept and modify the
486 arguments passed to the renderer.
487
488 use Mojolicious::Lite;
489
490 hook before_render => sub {
491 my ($c, $args) = @_;
492
493 # Make sure we are rendering the exception template
494 return unless my $template = $args->{template};
495 return unless $template eq 'exception';
496
497 # Switch to JSON rendering if content negotiation allows it
498 $args->{json} = {exception => $args->{exception}} if $c->accepts('json');
499 };
500
501 get '/' => sub { die "This sho...ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!\n" };
502
503 app->start;
504
505 Layouts
506 Most of the time when using "ep" templates you will want to wrap your
507 generated content in an HTML skeleton, thanks to layouts that's
508 absolutely trivial.
509
510 use Mojolicious::Lite;
511
512 get '/' => {template => 'foo/bar'};
513
514 app->start;
515 __DATA__
516
517 @@ foo/bar.html.ep
518 % layout 'mylayout';
519 Hello World!
520
521 @@ layouts/mylayout.html.ep
522 <!DOCTYPE html>
523 <html>
524 <head><title>MyApp</title></head>
525 <body><%= content %></body>
526 </html>
527
528 You just select the right layout template with the helper "layout" in
529 Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and place the result of the current
530 template with the helper "content" in
531 Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers. You can also pass along normal
532 stash values to the "layout" helper.
533
534 use Mojolicious::Lite;
535
536 get '/' => {template => 'foo/bar'};
537
538 app->start;
539 __DATA__
540
541 @@ foo/bar.html.ep
542 % layout 'mylayout', title => 'Hi there';
543 Hello World!
544
545 @@ layouts/mylayout.html.ep
546 <!DOCTYPE html>
547 <html>
548 <head><title><%= $title %></title></head>
549 <body><%= content %></body>
550 </html>
551
552 Instead of the "layout" helper you could also just use the "layout"
553 stash value, or call "render" in Mojolicious::Controller with the
554 "layout" argument.
555
556 $c->render(template => 'mytemplate', layout => 'mylayout');
557
558 To set a "layout" stash value application-wide you can use "defaults"
559 in Mojolicious.
560
561 $app->defaults(layout => 'mylayout');
562
563 Layouts can also be used with "render_to_string" in
564 Mojolicious::Controller, but the "layout" value needs to be passed as a
565 render argument (not a stash value).
566
567 my $html = $c->render_to_string('reminder', layout => 'mail');
568
569 Partial templates
570 You can break up bigger templates into smaller, more manageable chunks.
571 These partial templates can also be shared with other templates. Just
572 use the helper "include" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers to
573 include one template into another.
574
575 use Mojolicious::Lite;
576
577 get '/' => {template => 'foo/bar'};
578
579 app->start;
580 __DATA__
581
582 @@ foo/bar.html.ep
583 <!DOCTYPE html>
584 <html>
585 %= include '_header', title => 'Howdy'
586 <body>Bar</body>
587 </html>
588
589 @@ _header.html.ep
590 <head><title><%= $title %></title></head>
591
592 You can name partial templates however you like, but a leading
593 underscore is a commonly used naming convention.
594
595 Reusable template blocks
596 It's never fun to repeat yourself, that's why you can build reusable
597 template blocks in "ep" that work very similar to normal Perl
598 functions, with the "begin" and "end" keywords. Just be aware that both
599 keywords are part of the surrounding tag and not actual Perl code, so
600 there can only be whitespace after "begin" and before "end".
601
602 use Mojolicious::Lite;
603
604 get '/' => 'welcome';
605
606 app->start;
607 __DATA__
608
609 @@ welcome.html.ep
610 <% my $block = begin %>
611 % my $name = shift;
612 Hello <%= $name %>.
613 <% end %>
614 <%= $block->('Wolfgang') %>
615 <%= $block->('Baerbel') %>
616
617 A naive translation of the template to Perl code could look like this.
618
619 my $output = '';
620 my $block = sub {
621 my $name = shift;
622 my $output = '';
623 $output .= 'Hello ';
624 $output .= xml_escape scalar + $name;
625 $output .= '.';
626 return Mojo::ByteStream->new($output);
627 };
628 $output .= xml_escape scalar + $block->('Wolfgang');
629 $output .= xml_escape scalar + $block->('Baerbel');
630 return $output;
631
632 While template blocks cannot be shared between templates, they are most
633 commonly used to pass parts of a template to helpers.
634
635 Adding helpers
636 You should always try to keep your actions small and reuse as much code
637 as possible. Helpers make this very easy, they get passed the current
638 controller object as first argument, and you can use them to do pretty
639 much anything an action could do.
640
641 use Mojolicious::Lite;
642
643 helper debug => sub {
644 my ($c, $str) = @_;
645 $c->app->log->debug($str);
646 };
647
648 get '/' => sub {
649 my $c = shift;
650 $c->debug('Hello from an action!');
651 } => 'index';
652
653 app->start;
654 __DATA__
655
656 @@ index.html.ep
657 % debug 'Hello from a template!';
658
659 Helpers can also accept template blocks as last argument, this for
660 example, allows very pleasant to use tag helpers and filters. Wrapping
661 the helper result into a Mojo::ByteStream object can prevent accidental
662 double escaping.
663
664 use Mojolicious::Lite;
665 use Mojo::ByteStream;
666
667 helper trim_newline => sub {
668 my ($c, $block) = @_;
669 my $result = $block->();
670 $result =~ s/\n//g;
671 return Mojo::ByteStream->new($result);
672 };
673
674 get '/' => 'index';
675
676 app->start;
677 __DATA__
678
679 @@ index.html.ep
680 %= trim_newline begin
681 Some text.
682 %= 1 + 1
683 More text.
684 % end
685
686 Similar to stash values, you can use a prefix like "myapp.*" to keep
687 helpers from getting exposed in templates as functions, and to organize
688 them into namespaces as your application grows. Every prefix
689 automatically becomes a helper that returns a proxy object containing
690 the current controller object and on which you can call the nested
691 helpers.
692
693 use Mojolicious::Lite;
694
695 helper 'cache_control.no_caching' => sub {
696 my $c = shift;
697 $c->res->headers->cache_control('private, max-age=0, no-cache');
698 };
699
700 helper 'cache_control.five_minutes' => sub {
701 my $c = shift;
702 $c->res->headers->cache_control('public, max-age=300');
703 };
704
705 get '/news' => sub {
706 my $c = shift;
707 $c->cache_control->no_caching;
708 $c->render(text => 'Always up to date.');
709 };
710
711 get '/some_older_story' => sub {
712 my $c = shift;
713 $c->cache_control->five_minutes;
714 $c->render(text => 'This one can be cached for a bit.');
715 };
716
717 app->start;
718
719 While helpers can also be redefined, this should only be done very
720 carefully to avoid conflicts.
721
722 Content blocks
723 The helper "content_for" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers allows
724 you to pass whole blocks of content from one template to another. This
725 can be very useful when your layout has distinct sections, such as
726 sidebars, where content should be inserted by the template.
727
728 use Mojolicious::Lite;
729
730 get '/' => 'foo';
731
732 app->start;
733 __DATA__
734
735 @@ foo.html.ep
736 % layout 'mylayout';
737 % content_for header => begin
738 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html">
739 % end
740 <div>Hello World!</div>
741 % content_for header => begin
742 <meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache">
743 % end
744
745 @@ layouts/mylayout.html.ep
746 <!DOCTYPE html>
747 <html>
748 <head><%= content 'header' %></head>
749 <body><%= content %></body>
750 </html>
751
752 Forms
753 To build HTML forms more efficiently you can use tag helpers like
754 "form_for" in Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers, which can automatically
755 select a request method for you if a route name is provided. And since
756 most browsers only allow forms to be submitted with "GET" and "POST",
757 but not request methods like "PUT" or "DELETE", they are spoofed with
758 an "_method" query parameter.
759
760 use Mojolicious::Lite;
761
762 get '/' => 'form';
763
764 # PUT /nothing
765 # POST /nothing?_method=PUT
766 put '/nothing' => sub {
767 my $c = shift;
768
769 # Prevent double form submission with redirect
770 my $value = $c->param('whatever');
771 $c->flash(confirmation => "We did nothing with your value ($value).");
772 $c->redirect_to('form');
773 };
774
775 app->start;
776 __DATA__
777
778 @@ form.html.ep
779 <!DOCTYPE html>
780 <html>
781 <body>
782 % if (my $confirmation = flash 'confirmation') {
783 <p><%= $confirmation %></p>
784 % }
785 %= form_for nothing => begin
786 %= text_field whatever => 'I ♥ Mojolicious!'
787 %= submit_button
788 % end
789 </body>
790 </html>
791
792 The helpers "flash" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and
793 "redirect_to" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers are often used
794 together to prevent double form submission, allowing users to receive a
795 confirmation message that will vanish if they decide to reload the page
796 they've been redirected to.
797
798 Form validation
799 You can use "validation" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers to
800 validate "GET" and "POST" parameters submitted to your application. All
801 unknown fields will be ignored by default, so you have to decide which
802 should be required or optional before you can perform checks on their
803 values. Every check is performed right away, so you can use the results
804 immediately to build more advanced validation logic with methods like
805 "is_valid" in Mojolicious::Validator::Validation.
806
807 use Mojolicious::Lite;
808
809 get '/' => sub {
810 my $c = shift;
811
812 # Check if parameters have been submitted
813 my $v = $c->validation;
814 return $c->render('index') unless $v->has_data;
815
816 # Validate parameters ("pass_again" depends on "pass")
817 $v->required('user')->size(1, 20)->like(qr/^[a-z0-9]+$/);
818 $v->required('pass_again')->equal_to('pass')
819 if $v->optional('pass')->size(7, 500)->is_valid;
820
821 # Check if validation failed
822 return $c->render('index') if $v->has_error;
823
824 # Render confirmation
825 $c->render('thanks');
826 };
827
828 app->start;
829 __DATA__
830
831 @@ index.html.ep
832 <!DOCTYPE html>
833 <html>
834 <head>
835 <style>
836 label.field-with-error { color: #dd7e5e }
837 input.field-with-error { background-color: #fd9e7e }
838 </style>
839 </head>
840 <body>
841 %= form_for index => begin
842 %= label_for user => 'Username (required, 1-20 characters, a-z/0-9)'
843 <br>
844 %= text_field 'user', id => 'user'
845 %= submit_button
846 <br>
847 %= label_for pass => 'Password (optional, 7-500 characters)'
848 <br>
849 %= password_field 'pass', id => 'pass'
850 <br>
851 %= label_for pass_again => 'Password again (equal to the value above)'
852 <br>
853 %= password_field 'pass_again', id => 'pass_again'
854 % end
855 </body>
856 </html>
857
858 @@ thanks.html.ep
859 <!DOCTYPE html>
860 <html><body>Thank you <%= validation->param('user') %>.</body></html>
861
862 Form elements generated with tag helpers from
863 Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers will automatically remember their
864 previous values and add the class "field-with-error" for fields that
865 failed validation to make styling with CSS easier.
866
867 <label class="field-with-error" for="user">
868 Username (required, only characters e-t)
869 </label>
870 <input class="field-with-error" type="text" name="user" value="sri">
871
872 For a full list of available checks see also "CHECKS" in
873 Mojolicious::Validator.
874
875 Adding form validation checks
876 Validation checks can be registered with "add_check" in
877 Mojolicious::Validator and return a false value if they were
878 successful. A true value may be used to pass along additional
879 information which can then be retrieved with "error" in
880 Mojolicious::Validator::Validation.
881
882 use Mojolicious::Lite;
883
884 # Add "range" check
885 app->validator->add_check(range => sub {
886 my ($v, $name, $value, $min, $max) = @_;
887 return $value < $min || $value > $max;
888 });
889
890 get '/' => 'form';
891
892 post '/test' => sub {
893 my $c = shift;
894
895 # Validate parameters with custom check
896 my $v = $c->validation;
897 $v->required('number')->range(3, 23);
898
899 # Render form again if validation failed
900 return $c->render('form') if $v->has_error;
901
902 # Prevent double form submission with redirect
903 $c->flash(number => $v->param('number'));
904 $c->redirect_to('form');
905 };
906
907 app->start;
908 __DATA__
909
910 @@ form.html.ep
911 <!DOCTYPE html>
912 <html>
913 <body>
914 % if (my $number = flash 'number') {
915 <p>Thanks, the number <%= $number %> was valid.</p>
916 % }
917 %= form_for test => begin
918 % if (my $err = validation->error('number')) {
919 <p>
920 %= 'Value is required.' if $err->[0] eq 'required'
921 %= 'Value needs to be between 3 and 23.' if $err->[0] eq 'range'
922 </p>
923 % }
924 %= text_field 'number'
925 %= submit_button
926 % end
927 </body>
928 </html>
929
930 Cross-site request forgery
931 CSRF is a very common attack on web applications that trick your logged
932 in users to submit forms they did not intend to send, with something as
933 mundane as a link. All you have to do, to protect your users from this,
934 is to add an additional hidden field to your forms with "csrf_field" in
935 Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers, and validate it with "csrf_protect" in
936 Mojolicious::Validator::Validation.
937
938 use Mojolicious::Lite;
939
940 get '/' => {template => 'target'};
941
942 post '/' => sub {
943 my $c = shift;
944
945 # Check CSRF token
946 my $v = $c->validation;
947 return $c->render(text => 'Bad CSRF token!', status => 403)
948 if $v->csrf_protect->has_error('csrf_token');
949
950 my $city = $v->required('city')->param('city');
951 $c->render(text => "Low orbit ion cannon pointed at $city!")
952 unless $v->has_error;
953 } => 'target';
954
955 app->start;
956 __DATA__
957
958 @@ target.html.ep
959 <!DOCTYPE html>
960 <html>
961 <body>
962 %= form_for target => begin
963 %= csrf_field
964 %= label_for city => 'Which city to point low orbit ion cannon at?'
965 %= text_field 'city', id => 'city'
966 %= submit_button
967 %= end
968 </body>
969 </html>
970
971 For Ajax requests and the like, you can also generate a token directly
972 with the helper "csrf_token" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers,
973 and then pass it along with the "X-CSRF-Token" request header.
974
976 Less commonly used and more powerful features.
977
978 Template inheritance
979 Inheritance takes the layout concept above one step further, the
980 helpers "content" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and "extends"
981 in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers allow you to build skeleton
982 templates with named blocks that child templates can override.
983
984 use Mojolicious::Lite;
985
986 # first > mylayout
987 get '/first' => {template => 'first', layout => 'mylayout'};
988
989 # third > second > first > mylayout
990 get '/third' => {template => 'third', layout => 'mylayout'};
991
992 app->start;
993 __DATA__
994
995 @@ layouts/mylayout.html.ep
996 <!DOCTYPE html>
997 <html>
998 <head><title>Hello</title></head>
999 <body><%= content %></body>
1000 </html>
1001
1002 @@ first.html.ep
1003 %= content header => begin
1004 Default header
1005 % end
1006 <div>Hello World!</div>
1007 %= content footer => begin
1008 Default footer
1009 % end
1010
1011 @@ second.html.ep
1012 % extends 'first';
1013 % content header => begin
1014 New header
1015 % end
1016
1017 @@ third.html.ep
1018 % extends 'second';
1019 % content footer => begin
1020 New footer
1021 % end
1022
1023 This chain could go on and on to allow a very high level of template
1024 reuse.
1025
1026 Serving static files
1027 Static files are automatically served from the "public" directories of
1028 the application, which can be customized with "paths" in
1029 Mojolicious::Static, or one of the "DATA" sections from "classes" in
1030 Mojolicious::Static. And if that's not enough you can also serve them
1031 manually with "reply->static" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers
1032 and "reply->file" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers.
1033
1034 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1035
1036 get '/' => sub {
1037 my $c = shift;
1038 $c->reply->static('index.html');
1039 };
1040
1041 get '/some_download' => sub {
1042 my $c = shift;
1043 $c->res->headers->content_disposition('attachment; filename=bar.png;');
1044 $c->reply->static('foo/bar.png');
1045 };
1046
1047 get '/leak' => sub {
1048 my $c = shift;
1049 $c->reply->file('/etc/passwd');
1050 };
1051
1052 app->start;
1053
1054 Custom responses
1055 Most response content, static as well as dynamic, gets served through
1056 Mojo::Asset::File and Mojo::Asset::Memory objects. For somewhat static
1057 content, like cached JSON data or temporary files, you can create your
1058 own and use the helper "reply->asset" in
1059 Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers to serve them while allowing
1060 content negotiation to be performed with "Range", "If-Modified-Since"
1061 and "If-None-Match" headers.
1062
1063 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1064 use Mojo::Asset::File;
1065
1066 get '/leak' => sub {
1067 my $c = shift;
1068 $c->res->headers->content_type('text/plain');
1069 $c->reply->asset(Mojo::Asset::File->new(path => '/etc/passwd'));
1070 };
1071
1072 app->start;
1073
1074 For even more control you can also just skip the helper and use
1075 "rendered" in Mojolicious::Controller to tell the renderer when you're
1076 done generating a response.
1077
1078 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1079 use Mojo::Asset::File;
1080
1081 get '/leak' => sub {
1082 my $c = shift;
1083 $c->res->headers->content_type('text/plain');
1084 $c->res->content->asset(Mojo::Asset::File->new(path => '/etc/passwd'));
1085 $c->rendered(200);
1086 };
1087
1088 app->start;
1089
1090 Helper plugins
1091 Some helpers might be useful enough for you to share them between
1092 multiple applications, plugins make that very simple.
1093
1094 package Mojolicious::Plugin::DebugHelper;
1095 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin';
1096
1097 sub register {
1098 my ($self, $app) = @_;
1099 $app->helper(debug => sub {
1100 my ($c, $str) = @_;
1101 $c->app->log->debug($str);
1102 });
1103 }
1104
1105 1;
1106
1107 The "register" method will be called when you load the plugin. And to
1108 add your helper to the application, you can use "helper" in
1109 Mojolicious.
1110
1111 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1112
1113 plugin 'DebugHelper';
1114
1115 get '/' => sub {
1116 my $c = shift;
1117 $c->debug('It works!');
1118 $c->render(text => 'Hello!');
1119 };
1120
1121 app->start;
1122
1123 A skeleton for a full CPAN compatible plugin distribution can be
1124 automatically generated.
1125
1126 $ mojo generate plugin DebugHelper
1127
1128 And if you have a "PAUSE" account (which can be requested at
1129 <http://pause.perl.org>), you are only a few commands away from
1130 releasing it to CPAN.
1131
1132 $ perl Makefile.PL
1133 $ make test
1134 $ make manifest
1135 $ make dist
1136 $ mojo cpanify -u USER -p PASS Mojolicious-Plugin-DebugHelper-0.01.tar.gz
1137
1138 Bundling assets with plugins
1139 Assets such as templates and static files can be easily bundled with
1140 your plugins, even if you plan to release them to CPAN.
1141
1142 $ mojo generate plugin AlertAssets
1143 $ mkdir Mojolicious-Plugin-AlertAssets/lib/Mojolicious/Plugin/AlertAssets
1144 $ cd Mojolicious-Plugin-AlertAssets/lib/Mojolicious/Plugin/AlertAssets
1145 $ mkdir public
1146 $ echo 'alert("Hello World!");' > public/alertassets.js
1147 $ mkdir templates
1148 $ echo '%= javascript "/alertassets.js"' > templates/alertassets.html.ep
1149
1150 Just give them reasonably unique names, ideally based on the name of
1151 your plugin, and append their respective directories to the list of
1152 search paths when "register" is called.
1153
1154 package Mojolicious::Plugin::AlertAssets;
1155 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin';
1156
1157 use Mojo::File 'path';
1158
1159 sub register {
1160 my ($self, $app) = @_;
1161
1162 # Append "templates" and "public" directories
1163 my $base = path(__FILE__)->sibling('AlertAssets');
1164 push @{$app->renderer->paths}, $base->child('templates')->to_string;
1165 push @{$app->static->paths}, $base->child('public')->to_string;
1166 }
1167
1168 1;
1169
1170 Both will work just like normal "templates" and "public" directories
1171 once you've installed and loaded the plugin, with slightly lower
1172 precedence.
1173
1174 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1175
1176 plugin 'AlertAssets';
1177
1178 get '/alert_me';
1179
1180 app->start;
1181 __DATA__
1182
1183 @@ alert_me.html.ep
1184 <!DOCTYPE html>
1185 <html>
1186 <head>
1187 <title>Alert me!</title>
1188 %= include 'alertassets'
1189 </head>
1190 <body>You've been alerted.</body>
1191 </html>
1192
1193 And it works just the same for assets bundled in the "DATA" section of
1194 your plugin.
1195
1196 package Mojolicious::Plugin::AlertAssets;
1197 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin';
1198
1199 sub register {
1200 my ($self, $app) = @_;
1201
1202 # Append class
1203 push @{$app->renderer->classes}, __PACKAGE__;
1204 push @{$app->static->classes}, __PACKAGE__;
1205 }
1206
1207 1;
1208 __DATA__
1209
1210 @@ alertassets.js
1211 alert("Hello World!");
1212
1213 @@ alertassets.html.ep
1214 %= javascript "/alertassets.js"
1215
1216 Post-processing dynamic content
1217 While post-processing tasks are generally very easy with the hook
1218 "after_dispatch" in Mojolicious, for content generated by the renderer
1219 it is a lot more efficient to use "after_render" in Mojolicious.
1220
1221 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1222 use IO::Compress::Gzip 'gzip';
1223
1224 hook after_render => sub {
1225 my ($c, $output, $format) = @_;
1226
1227 # Check if "gzip => 1" has been set in the stash
1228 return unless $c->stash->{gzip};
1229
1230 # Check if user agent accepts gzip compression
1231 return unless ($c->req->headers->accept_encoding // '') =~ /gzip/i;
1232 $c->res->headers->append(Vary => 'Accept-Encoding');
1233
1234 # Compress content with gzip
1235 $c->res->headers->content_encoding('gzip');
1236 gzip $output, \my $compressed;
1237 $$output = $compressed;
1238 };
1239
1240 get '/' => {template => 'hello', title => 'Hello', gzip => 1};
1241
1242 app->start;
1243 __DATA__
1244
1245 @@ hello.html.ep
1246 <!DOCTYPE html>
1247 <html>
1248 <head><title><%= title %></title></head>
1249 <body>Compressed content.</body>
1250 </html>
1251
1252 If you want to compress all dynamically generated content you can also
1253 activate "compress" in Mojolicious::Renderer.
1254
1255 Streaming
1256 You don't have to render all content at once, the method "write" in
1257 Mojolicious::Controller can also be used to stream a series of smaller
1258 chunks.
1259
1260 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1261
1262 get '/' => sub {
1263 my $c = shift;
1264
1265 # Prepare body
1266 my $body = 'Hello World!';
1267 $c->res->headers->content_length(length $body);
1268
1269 # Start writing directly with a drain callback
1270 my $drain;
1271 $drain = sub {
1272 my $c = shift;
1273 my $chunk = substr $body, 0, 1, '';
1274 $drain = undef unless length $body;
1275 $c->write($chunk, $drain);
1276 };
1277 $c->$drain;
1278 };
1279
1280 app->start;
1281
1282 The drain callback will be executed whenever the entire previous chunk
1283 of data has actually been written.
1284
1285 HTTP/1.1 200 OK
1286 Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:48:29 GMT
1287 Content-Length: 12
1288 Server: Mojolicious (Perl)
1289
1290 Hello World!
1291
1292 Instead of providing a "Content-Length" header you can also call
1293 "finish" in Mojolicious::Controller and close the connection manually
1294 once you are done.
1295
1296 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1297
1298 get '/' => sub {
1299 my $c = shift;
1300
1301 # Prepare body
1302 my $body = 'Hello World!';
1303
1304 # Start writing directly with a drain callback
1305 my $drain;
1306 $drain = sub {
1307 my $c = shift;
1308 my $chunk = substr $body, 0, 1, '';
1309 length $chunk ? $c->write($chunk, $drain) : $c->finish;
1310 };
1311 $c->$drain;
1312 };
1313
1314 app->start;
1315
1316 While this is rather inefficient, as it prevents keep-alive, it is
1317 sometimes necessary for EventSource and similar applications.
1318
1319 HTTP/1.1 200 OK
1320 Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:48:29 GMT
1321 Connection: close
1322 Server: Mojolicious (Perl)
1323
1324 Hello World!
1325
1326 Chunked transfer encoding
1327 For very dynamic content you might not know the response content length
1328 in advance, that's where the chunked transfer encoding and
1329 "write_chunk" in Mojolicious::Controller come in handy. A common use
1330 would be to send the "head" section of an HTML document to the browser
1331 in advance and speed up preloading of referenced images and
1332 stylesheets.
1333
1334 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1335
1336 get '/' => sub {
1337 my $c = shift;
1338 $c->write_chunk('<html><head><title>Example</title></head>' => sub {
1339 my $c = shift;
1340 $c->finish('<body>Example</body></html>');
1341 });
1342 };
1343
1344 app->start;
1345
1346 The optional drain callback ensures that all previous chunks have been
1347 written before processing continues. To end the stream you can call
1348 "finish" in Mojolicious::Controller or write an empty chunk of data.
1349
1350 HTTP/1.1 200 OK
1351 Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:48:29 GMT
1352 Transfer-Encoding: chunked
1353 Server: Mojolicious (Perl)
1354
1355 29
1356 <html><head><title>Example</title></head>
1357 1b
1358 <body>Example</body></html>
1359 0
1360
1361 Especially in combination with long inactivity timeouts this can be
1362 very useful for Comet (long polling). Due to limitations in some web
1363 servers this might not work perfectly in all deployment environments.
1364
1365 Encoding
1366 Templates stored in files are expected to be "UTF-8" by default, but
1367 that can be easily changed with "encoding" in Mojolicious::Renderer.
1368
1369 $app->renderer->encoding('koi8-r');
1370
1371 All templates from the "DATA" section are bound to the encoding of the
1372 Perl script.
1373
1374 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1375
1376 get '/heart';
1377
1378 app->start;
1379 __DATA__
1380
1381 @@ heart.html.ep
1382 I ♥ Mojolicious!
1383
1384 Base64 encoded DATA files
1385 Base64 encoded static files such as images can be easily stored in the
1386 "DATA" section of your application, similar to templates.
1387
1388 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1389
1390 get '/' => {text => 'I ♥ Mojolicious!'};
1391
1392 app->start;
1393 __DATA__
1394
1395 @@ favicon.ico (base64)
1396 ...base64 encoded image...
1397
1398 Inflating DATA templates
1399 Templates stored in files get preferred over files from the "DATA"
1400 section, this allows you to include a default set of templates in your
1401 application that the user can later customize. The command
1402 Mojolicious::Command::Author::inflate will write all templates and
1403 static files from the "DATA" section into actual files in the
1404 "templates" and "public" directories.
1405
1406 $ ./myapp.pl inflate
1407
1408 Customizing the template syntax
1409 You can easily change the whole template syntax by loading
1410 Mojolicious::Plugin::EPRenderer with a custom configuration.
1411
1412 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1413
1414 plugin EPRenderer => {
1415 name => 'mustache',
1416 template => {
1417 tag_start => '{{',
1418 tag_end => '}}'
1419 }
1420 };
1421
1422 get '/:name' => {name => 'Anonymous'} => 'index';
1423
1424 app->start;
1425 __DATA__
1426
1427 @@ index.html.mustache
1428 Hello {{= $name }}.
1429
1430 Mojo::Template contains the whole list of available options.
1431
1432 Adding your favorite template system
1433 Maybe you would prefer a different template system than "ep", which is
1434 provided by Mojolicious::Plugin::EPRenderer, and there is not already a
1435 plugin on CPAN for your favorite one. All you have to do, is to add a
1436 new "handler" with "add_handler" in Mojolicious::Renderer when
1437 "register" is called.
1438
1439 package Mojolicious::Plugin::MyRenderer;
1440 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin';
1441
1442 sub register {
1443 my ($self, $app) = @_;
1444
1445 # Add "mine" handler
1446 $app->renderer->add_handler(mine => sub {
1447 my ($renderer, $c, $output, $options) = @_;
1448
1449 # Check for one-time use inline template
1450 my $inline_template = $options->{inline};
1451
1452 # Check for appropriate template in "templates" directories
1453 my $template_path = $renderer->template_path($options);
1454
1455 # Check for appropriate template in DATA sections
1456 my $data_template = $renderer->get_data_template($options);
1457
1458 # This part is up to you and your template system :)
1459 ...
1460
1461 # Pass the rendered result back to the renderer
1462 $$output = 'Hello World!';
1463
1464 # Or just die if an error occurs
1465 die 'Something went wrong with the template';
1466 });
1467 }
1468
1469 1;
1470
1471 An "inline" template, if provided by the user, will be passed along
1472 with the options. You can use "template_path" in Mojolicious::Renderer
1473 to search the "templates" directories of the application, and
1474 "get_data_template" in Mojolicious::Renderer to search the "DATA"
1475 sections.
1476
1477 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1478
1479 plugin 'MyRenderer';
1480
1481 # Render an inline template
1482 get '/inline' => {inline => '...', handler => 'mine'};
1483
1484 # Render a template from the DATA section
1485 get '/data' => {template => 'test'};
1486
1487 app->start;
1488 __DATA__
1489
1490 @@ test.html.mine
1491 ...
1492
1493 Adding a handler to generate binary data
1494 By default the renderer assumes that every "handler" generates
1495 characters that need to be automatically encoded, but this can be
1496 easily disabled if you're generating bytes instead.
1497
1498 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1499 use Storable 'nfreeze';
1500
1501 # Add "storable" handler
1502 app->renderer->add_handler(storable => sub {
1503 my ($renderer, $c, $output, $options) = @_;
1504
1505 # Disable automatic encoding
1506 delete $options->{encoding};
1507
1508 # Encode data from stash value
1509 $$output = nfreeze delete $c->stash->{storable};
1510 });
1511
1512 # Set "handler" value automatically if "storable" value is set already
1513 app->hook(before_render => sub {
1514 my ($c, $args) = @_;
1515 $args->{handler} = 'storable'
1516 if exists $args->{storable} || exists $c->stash->{storable};
1517 });
1518
1519 get '/' => {storable => {i => '♥ mojolicious'}};
1520
1521 app->start;
1522
1523 The hook "before_render" in Mojolicious can be used to make stash
1524 values like "storable" special, so that they no longer require a
1525 "handler" value to be set explicitly.
1526
1527 # Explicit "handler" value
1528 $c->render(storable => {i => '♥ mojolicious'}, handler => 'storable');
1529
1530 # Implicit "handler" value (with "before_render" hook)
1531 $c->render(storable => {i => '♥ mojolicious'});
1532
1534 You can continue with Mojolicious::Guides now or take a look at the
1535 Mojolicious wiki <http://github.com/mojolicious/mojo/wiki>, which
1536 contains a lot more documentation and examples by many different
1537 authors.
1538
1540 If you have any questions the documentation might not yet answer, don't
1541 hesitate to ask on the mailing list
1542 <http://groups.google.com/group/mojolicious> or the official IRC
1543 channel "#mojo" on "irc.freenode.net" (chat now!
1544 <https://kiwiirc.com/nextclient/#irc://irc.freenode.net/mojo?nick=guest-?>).
1545
1546
1547
1548perl v5.28.1 2018-12-01 Mojolicious::Guides::Rendering(3)