1Maypole::Manual(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Maypole::Manual(3)
2
6 Maypole::Manual - The Maypole Manual
7
9 The Maypole documentation is arranged over several files; this is the
10 right one to start with, as it provides an overview of the entire set
11 of Maypole manuals, with a brief description of each. Some of these
12 manuals are not yet finished, but they should still be useful.
13 Maypole::Manual::About - Overview of the Project
15 This document is a general introduction to Maypole: what it is,
16 what it does and how it works.
17 Maypole is a framework for Web development. At the basic level, it
19 converts a URL like "http://www.mysite.com/product/display/12" into
20 a method call such as "perform the "display" method on item 12 in
21 the "product" table" and then shows the result: here, presumably, a
22 description of item 12 in your product database,
23 It is based on Model-View-Controller (MVC), a design paradigm in
25 which each major aspect of an application's operation is handled by
26 a different and totally separate system).
27 Basic installation instructions are given. A sample Web applica‐
29 tion--the Beer database--is introduced, set up, and discussed.
30 Finally, the path a Maypole request takes as it moves through the
31 system is described.
32 Maypole::Manual::Model - Model Classes *
34 This document introduces the model class, which controls the inter‐
35 action between Maypole and your database. The use of
36 "actions"--method calls that operate on your database--is dis‐
37 cussed. Maypole's default model class is Class::DBI, which basi‐
38 cally creates a class for each table in your database and provides
39 a variety of convenient methods for manipulating each table and its
40 relations. It integrates very smoothly with Maypole's default view
41 class, the Template Toolkit.
42 Maypole::Manual::View - View Classes *
44 This document is an extensive discussion of Maypole's view class,
45 which takes the data produced by the model (see above) and sends it
46 through a templating system in order to produce output. It focusses
47 chiefly on the Template Toolkit, which is Maypole's default tem‐
48 plating system, but discusses other possibilities.
49 Maypole::Manual::StandardTemplates - Standard actions and templates *
51 This document discusses the standard actions and templates that
52 Maypole uses. The standard actions (method calls that operate on
53 your database) include "list", which generates a paged list of a
54 table suitable for browsing, and "search", which handles a search
55 query and generates search results.
56 The standard templates, which generate output for display on the
58 Web, also include "list", which displays the entries in a table,
59 and "search", which displays the result of a search.
60 You'll note that most actions are associated with templates.
62 This document also introduces the theory behind Maypole's actions
64 and templates, showing you how to write your own so that you can
65 have a highly customized application.
66 Maypole::Manual::Plugins - writing Maypole plugins
68 Useful information for plugin authors.
69 Maypole::Manual::Terminology - pinning down usage
71 As well as defining common terms used in Maypole discussions, this
72 document briefly discusses the MVC-ness of Maypole.
73 Maypole::Manual::Workflow - Description of the Request Workflow
75 This is a technical document that describes the progress of a
76 request through the entire Maypole system. It should be of interest
77 chiefly to those people hacking on Maypole itself, and not to most
78 of those who are using it.
79 Maypole::Manual::Beer - The Beer Database Revisited *
81 This document gives a close look at the Beer database that was
82 introduced in Maypole::Manual::About.
83 Maypole::Manual::Cookbook - The Maypole Cookbook
85 This extensive document is Maypole's main "How do I do X?" FAQ. It
86 provides a wide variety of cookbook-like techniques that are useful
87 both for themselves, and as examples of what sort of things can be
88 done with Maypole processes.
89 Maypole::Manual::Flox - Case Study: Flox social network *
91 This is an example of how to construct a large Web application in
92 Maypole: a "social network", similar to Friendster and Orkut. It
93 shows, specifically, the database structure and the variety of cus‐
94 tomized techniques that make such a system work.
95 Maypole::Manual::IBuySpy - Case Study: iBuySpy *
97 This is an example of the "ASP.NET" sample portal application
98 ported to Maypole. <http://www.ibuyspy.com> is a fictional e-com‐
99 merce site that is relatively sophisticated. It is much better as a
100 Maypole application.
101 * indicates incomplete chapters.
103
105 <http://maypole.perl.org>
106
108 The Maypole Manual was written by Simon Cozens. A generous grant from
109 the Perl Foundation in the first quarter of 2004 funded some of the
110 chapters of this manual.
111 This overview was rewritten by Jesse Sheidlower, "jester#panix.com",
113 based on Simon Cozens' original Overview document.
114 In December 2004, Dave Howorth, "dave.howorth#acm.org" kindly donated
116 some of his spare time to improve the structure of the manual and bring
117 it up to date.
118
120 Simon Cozens, "simon#cpan.org"
121perl v5.8.8 2005-11-23 Maypole::Manual(3)