[Catalyst] Search example in any docs?

[Tomas Doran]

On 24 Sep 2008, at 00:34, Dr. Jennifer Nussbaum wrote:
> Thanks. I do appreciate this, and its a neat solution, but the  
> problem wasnt that i dont know how to put common elements in a base  
> class, the
> problem is that nowhere in the Cat docs, formal or informal, are  
> there any examples of doing searches with web apps.

You're making the assumption here that Catalyst and DBIx::Class are  
the same thing. I'm not actually a DBIx::Class user myself, and there  
are plenty of people who aren't using it..

> In practice i tend to have more complicated apps, with difficult  
> queries, that i do abstract out the query building, and then things  
> that i
> throw together in a few minutes where everythings a mess. Usually  
> when im just throwing things together, i forget about best  
> practices and want
> to look them up.

However, here you have a good point.

One of the main strengths of Catalyst is that it's so easy to combine  
it with whatever set of other technologies you're using - but that  
doesn't mean that the documentation or community currently does the  
right thing by newer users who are confused by the level/number of  
choices open to them.. Also, having made a choice - there is little  
documentation about the common / recommended patterns and practices  
for combining various components in a non-trivial manor.

It would be fantastic if there were more higher level documentation  
about the available components, and when/why you would want to employ  
them, combined with a lot more in-depth documentation about patterns  
and practices for combining Catalyst with a particular model /  
component to form a non-trivial application, accompanied by annotated  
demo applications showing the features/patterns in use.

A lot of this knowledge is already buried in Catalyst applications  
(for example MojoMojo and Angerwhale both make pretty good reading,  
and if you're feeling like you need your brain stretched, Reaction  
will certainly do that) - however developing and maintaining  
comprehensive documentation / annotated commentary is non-trivial in  
itself, keeping it in pace with the applications themselves is  
probably a non-starter. Extracting enough of the complexity to show  
the patterns to good use into a demo application (and then  
maintaining said application) is also nontrivial undertaking. This  
isn't any criticism to the Catalyst documentation team - I think that  
the docs we do have are great, and well maintained in line with  
Catalyst itself.

Another key problem is that it's also extremely hard for people who  
are familiar with the code bases in question to write good  
documentation - you can only do that as you're learning.

My recommendation to anyone trying Catalyst for the first time, or  
trying a new piece of software with Catalyst / trying to find  
patterns or examples of prior art would be that once you've been  
through the available documentation on CPAN and the wiki, had a play,  
and formed your problem domain in your head, is to pop by irc -  
#catalyst is one of the most helpful channels I've ever been in, and  
whilst the inhabitants can be brusque, I see people wander by and  
take great advice away daily. (Note, as you're using DBIx::Class,  
they're likely to send you to #dbic). People there will also have no  
problem with deconstructing the specific problem you're trying to  
solve back to your problem domain, finding the higher level problem,  
and then telling you that you're solving it in a non-optimum way (and  
the approach they recommend for solving it).

If everyone who came into irc and was helped were to spend the same  
time people had donated to helping them in writing up the help /  
knowledge they'd just received on the wiki, then all the things which  
I dismissed as 'nontrivial' above, would suddenly become possible.  
Some dream eh?

Cheers
t0m

P.S. Come ask about what you want in #catalyst / #dbic and get it  
written up on the catalyst wiki, plzkthnx?