NAME
    CatalystX::ListFramework::Builder - Instant AJAX web front-end for
    DBIx::Class, using Catalyst

VERSION
    This document refers to version 0.14 of
    CatalystX::ListFramework::Builder

WARNING
    This is an *ALPHA RELEASE*. I'd really appreciate any bug reports; you
    can use the CPAN RT bug tracking system, or email me (Oliver) directly
    at the address at the bottom of this page.

PURPOSE
    You have a database schema available through DBIx::Class, and wish to
    have a basic web interface supporting Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete
    and Search, with little effort.

    This module, with only a few lines of configuration, is able to create
    such interfaces on the fly. They are a bit whizzy and all Web 2.0-ish.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    Without the initial work on "CatalystX::ListFramework" by Andrew Payne
    and Peter Edwards this package would not exist. If you are looking for
    something like this module but without the dependency on Javascript,
    please do check out CatalystX::ListFramework.

SYNOPSIS
    A configuration file somewhere on your system:

     --- #YAML:1.0
     # (/path/to/listframeworkuser/config.yml)
     base: "http://mywebserver.example.com"
     javascript: "/javascript/extjs-2"
 
     Model::DBIC:
       schema_class: My::Database::Schema
       connect_info:
         - 'dbi:Pg:dbname=mydbname;host=mydbhost.example.com;'
         - 'username'
         - 'password'
         - { AutoCommit: 1 }

    And in the cgi-bin area of your web server:

     package ListFrameworkUser;
     use base 'CatalystX::ListFramework::Builder';
 
     __PACKAGE__->build_listframework('/path/to/listframeworkuser/config.yml');
 
     1;

    Now going to "http://mywebserver.example.com/cgi-bin/tablename" will
    render the web frontend for a table in your database. This can be much
    refined; see "USAGE", below.

DESCRIPTION
    This module contains an application which will automatically construct a
    web interface for a database on the fly. The web interface supports
    Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete and Search operations.

    The interface is not written to static files on your system, and uses
    AJAX to act upon the database without reloading your web page (much like
    other Web 2.0 appliactions, for example Google Mail).

    The goals of the system are to require as little repetition of effort on
    your part as possible - the DRY principle (Don't Repeat Yourself).
    Almost all the information required is retrieved from the DBIx::Class
    ORM frontend to your database, which it is expected that you have
    already set up (although see "USAGE", below). This means that any change
    in database schema ought to be reflected immediately in the web
    interface after a page refresh.

USAGE
  "DBIx::Class" setup
    You will need "DBIx::Class" schema to be created and installed on your
    system. The recommended way to do this quickly is to use the excellent
    DBIx::Class::Schema::Loader module which connects to your database and
    writes "DBIx::Class" Perl modules for it.

    Pick a suitable namespace for your schema, which is not related to this
    application. For example "DBIC::Database::Foo::Schema" for the "Foo"
    database. Then use the following command-line incantation:

     perl -MDBIx::Class::Schema::Loader=make_schema_at,dump_to_dir:. -e \
         'make_schema_at("DBIC::Database::Foo::Schema", { relationships => 1 }, \
         ["dbi:Pg:dbname=foodb;host=mydbhost.example.com","user","pass" ])'

    This will create a directory (such as "DBIC") which you need to move
    into your Perl Include path.

  "DBIx::Class" helpers
    You *really* should add some stringification to these "DBIx::Class"
    schema otherwise the web interface will contain strange data. Add a
    stringify routine to the bottom of each schema file; something like
    this:

     use overload '""' => sub {
         my $self = shift;
         return $self->title;
     }, fallback => 1;

    In this example the row stringifies to the "title" column but you can of
    course return anything you wish.

    Also, for those columns where your database uses an auto-incremented
    value, add the "is_auto_increment => 1," option to the relevant hash in
    add_columns(). This will let the application know you don't need to
    supply a value for new or updated records.

  Download and install ExtJS
    You'll need to download the ExtJS Javascript Library (version 2.1 or
    later) from this web page:
    <http://extjs.com/products/extjs/download.php>.

    Install it to your web server in a location that it is able to serve as
    static content. Make a note of the path used in a URL to retrieve this
    content, as it will be needed in the application configuration file,
    below.

  Application configuration file
    Create the application configuration file, an example of which is below:

     --- #YAML:1.0
     base: "http://mywebserver.example.com"
     javascript: "/javascript/extjs-2"
 
     Model::DBIC:
       schema_class: My::Database::Schema
       connect_info:
         - 'dbi:Pg:dbname=mydbname;host=mydbhost.example.com;'
         - 'username'
         - 'password'
         - { AutoCommit: 1 }

    The application needs to know where your copy of ExtJS (version 2.1 or
    later) is, on the web server. Use the "javascript" option as shown above
    to specify the URL path to the libraries. This will be used in the
    templates in some way like this:

     <script type="text/javascript" src="[% c.base %][% c.javascript %]/ext-all.js" />

    The "Model::DBIC" section must look (and be named) exactly like that
    above, except you should of course change the "schema_class" value and
    the values within "connect_info".

  Catalyst application
    The final step is to write a very small file which allows this module to
    bootstrap a Catalyst application around your database. Locate on your
    web server the area where Perl content is executed, and create a file as
    below:

     package ListFrameworkUser;
     use base 'CatalystX::ListFramework::Builder';
 
     __PACKAGE__->build_listframework('/path/to/listframeworkuser/config.yml');
 
     1;

    Obviously, replace the path there with that of the configuration file
    you created in the previous section. Let your web server know that this
    file is to be executed for any request which comes to its location.

  Accessing the application from your browser
    Presumably the location of the Catalyst application created in the
    previous section maps to a particular URL path. Follow this path with
    the name of a table in the database, and you should be presented with a
    table of data.

REQUIREMENTS
    *   ExtJS Javascript Library version 2.1 or later, from
        <http://extjs.com>.

    *   Catalyst::Runtime >= 5.70

    *   Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema

    *   Catalyst::View::JSON

    *   Catalyst::View::TT

    *   Class::C3

    *   Class::Data::Inheritable

    *   List::MoreUtils

SEE ALSO
    CatalystX::ListFramework is similar but has no dependency on Javascript
    (though it can use it for fancy auto-complete searches), and it also
    allows you to control which columns are rendered in the display.

AUTHOR
    Oliver Gorwits "<oliver.gorwits@oucs.ox.ac.uk>"

    Much of the design of this system came from CatalystX::ListFramework, by
    Andrew Payne and Peter Edwards.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
    Bundled images are Copyright (c) 2006 Mark James, and are from
    <http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/silk/>.

    The rest is Copyright (c) Oliver Gorwits 2008. All Rights Reserved.

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
    published by the Free Software Foundation.

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
    WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
    Public License for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
    with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
    51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA

