[Catalyst] Cascading action dispatching

[Matthew Pitts]

My apologizes if this has been addressed before, I couldn't find
anything in the archives.

I'm trying to figure out a way to have my Cat app dispatch in a way that
would allow multiple actions in the same namespace and have them called
in succession until one of them actually handles the request.

I have a client that really likes base-level URLs, like
"/shoppingmallxyz", and wants to use them for landing pages that are
functionally different. In some of these cases the base-level URL paths
are really just monikers for things that are retrieved from the DB and
if it exists, then a page is rendered.

For example, I want to have a controller Center that has an action like
the following:

sub base_lookup : PathPart('') Chained('/') Args(1) {
    my ( $self, $c, $moniker ) = @_;

    my $center = $c->model('Common::Center')
                   ->find_by_moniker($moniker);

    if ( $center ) {
        ... do some stuff to fill stash and specify template ...
    } else {
        ... give notice that this action couldn't handle the request ...
    }
}

And then another controller Promotion that has an action like this:

sub base_lookup : PathPart('') Chained('/') Args(1) {
    my ( $self, $c, $moniker ) = @_;

    my $promo = $c->model('Common::WebPromotion')
                   ->find_by_moniker($moniker);

    if ( $promo ) {
        ... do some stuff to fill stash and specify template ...
    } else {
        ... give notice that this action couldn't handle the request ...
    }
}

If the Center::base_lookup action doesn't find a center from the given
moniker it bows out and the dispatcher then goes on to find the
Promotion::base_lookup action which will essentially to the same thing
as the Center::base_lookup action but instead use the base url argument
as a moniker to lookup a promotion.

I guess, if neither action can handle the request, then the dispatcher
would just fall back to default.

I was thinking I might be able to accomplish this with a call to
$c->dispather->dispatch(), but in a simple test I did this just results
in a recursive call.

I greatly appreciate any help with this.

Thanks,

-- 
Matthew W. Pitts
Software Engineer
mpitts at a3its.com
336.202.3913 (mobile)

A3 IT Solutions, LLC
www.a3its.com