[Catalyst] automatic form generation based on data models

[Ian Docherty]

marcus baker wrote:
> In a primarily Perl shop I've joined, Django has become all the rage.
> Everyone into it is amazed at the templating capabilities and the
> database abstraction layer (...they obviously hadn't really done much
> with the Template Toolkit, or even heard of Class::DBI or
> DBIx::Class).  Django's all fine and lovely, but personally I still
> prefer Catalyst due to the vastness of the CPAN library I can use
> behind it.
>
> The one thing about Django that keeps them from looking anywhere else
> is it's ability to create data-editing forms on the fly based on the
> data model.  In an attempt to get them to consider Catalyst a little
> more, I was wondering if Catalyst has this kind of capability
> anywhere... Is this something I should take to the CDBI/DBIxC lists
> specifically?
>
> Thanks
> -Marcus
I just don't understand why everyone seems to wet their pants over 
something that 'creates data-editing forms' directly from the data model!

As a demo application, or a simple proof of concept that it always looks 
impressive when you can create these forms and update a few tables with 
a few lines of code. Anyone who has written big web applications knows 
however that it is never that simple and so the few (hours/days) that 
can be saved in the early stages of coding are nothing compared to the 
(weeks/months) of coding for a 'real' application.

At the end of the day it is the additional help that something like CPAN 
gives you combined with something like Catalyst that gives the productivity.

Regards
Ian