[Catalyst] Begginer's question about application structure

[Ben van Staveren]

Personally (and this does mean personally), I'd do it as follows:

Your actual "logic" code (e.g. the whole deal of storing and retrieving 
things from the database) should be in a separate set of modules. Call 
those the 'backend' stuff. The main module here should be able to 
connect to the database on it's own, given the location of a config 
file, and it should be able to take an existing configuration and DB 
handle from Catalyst;

e.g.
my $backend = My::Backend->new(config_file => 'foo.cfg');

or

my $backend = My::Backend->new(config => $c->config, database => $c->model);

(the above isn't quite correct but forgot what I used myself).

Then you can easily wrap that into a Model; and do things like:

$c->model('Backend')->get_me_an_artist()

The advantage here being that you can also use your backend outside of 
Catalyst, so writing a console app becomes trivial at that point.

Sorry for the slightly disjointed reply but doing about 234413 things at 
the same time :D


Martin Bendix wrote:
> Hi,
>
> As a Perl and Catalyst novice, I have recently completed the online Catalyst 
> tutorial, and read the Definitive Guide to Catalyst.  However, I have a few 
> questions about the basic structure of a thin controller, fat model application.
>
> I'd like to take my learning to the next stage by writing a fully functioning 
> application, and the classic CD database seems like a good place to start - it 
> will at least be of use to me when it's done.
>
> Given the following basic criteria, I would be grateful for some high-level 
> advice on how best to organise the application:
>
> * I will be using DBIx::Class to access the database.
> * At first, the initial user interface will be web based.
> * I'd like to structure the application so that I can add additional interfaces 
> with relative ease in future (e.g., command line, web services, etc.).
> * I'd like to create test scripts for as many of the modules/application 
> functions as possible.
> * The application will provide the ability to create, search, update and delete 
> artists, tracks, and CDs.
>
> I think that my understanding of the following is correct, but I would 
> appreciate any advice or pointers:
>
> My model should be well separated from the controller.  Most, if not all of the 
> application functionality should be exposed via the model, so that the Catalyst 
> controller only needs to make simple calls to the model.  To do this, model 
> classes should be created in 'lib/myapp', with simple adapters in 
> 'lib/myapp/Model', using Catalyst::Model::Adaptor.
>
> At this point, I am a little less clear on how best to structure my application.
>
> As my models will be primarily concerned with accessing the database, how much 
> database code should go in my model classes, and how much in the 
> DBIx::Class::ResultSet classes?  For example, should I write a method in my 
> DBIx::Class::ResultSet classes that can add new CDs when supplied with title, 
> artist and a track list?  Or would it be better to put this in my model?
>
> Data validation could be handled by HTML::FormHandler, but any validation 
> performed here won't be of much use if I later provide an alternative interface 
> to my application.  I assume that I should therefore delegate validation to my 
> model as well, so that the same validation methods can be used no matter what 
> the interface?
>
> Are there any good tutorials out there that cover this sort of thing?  At the 
> moment, I'm more interested in best practices for structuring a Catalyst 
> application than in the details of the code itself.  Are there any good open 
> source Catalyst applications that I can look at to help me with this?  I've had 
> a look at MojoMojo, but it's a little too complicated for me at the moment.
>
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Martin
>
>
>       
>
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>   

-- 
Ben van Staveren
phone: +62 81 70777529
email: benvanstaveren at gmail.com