Hey Cory --
> My Hero. This new method is great!
Hehe... I'm glad you like it.
I apologize for replying on-list, but having just released 2.3, I'm about to
suggest something which may very well necessitate a 2.4 release tonight,
before anything important is built on top of 2.3.
The cgiapp_prerun() provides an important hook, but it is still a bit
limited. One thing it does not yet do is provide a facility through which
you can modify the run-mode. After I made the release, it occurred to me
that changing the run-mode based on some other logic would be useful. That
might allow you to put a dynamic switch in-line which is triggered based on
some other logic. For instance (to modify my earlier example):
sub cgiapp_prerun {
my $self = shift;
my $run_mode = shift;
unless ($self->is_user_allowed($run_mode)) {
return "show_login_form";
}
return $run_mode;
}
This is a pretty different interface from the cgiapp_prerun() in 2.3. I'm a
bit nervous about using return values because failure to return the run-mode
would totally break the app. (Maybe that's OK?) This raises the bar a bit
for anyone who would like to use cgiapp_prerun() for adding a behavior which
would NOT change the run-mode. (Now, they HAVE to return the run-mode, or
else!)
Two other possible interfaces are using a special param, 'CGIAPP_RUNMODE',
or using a scalar-ref.
The param interface might look like this:
sub cgiapp_prerun {
my $self = shift;
my $run_mode = shift;
unless ($self->is_user_allowed($run_mode)) {
$self->param("CGIAPP_RUNMODE" => "show_login_form");
}
}
The problem here is that this "special param" would only have an effect if
changed in the cgiapp_prerun() method. While you *could* change it
anywhere, only in cgiapp_prerun() will it actually change what run-mode is
called. Kind of deceptive and confusing.
The scalar-ref interface might look like this:
sub cgiapp_prerun {
my $self = shift;
my $ref_run_mode = shift;
unless ($self->is_user_allowed($$ref_run_mode)) {
$$ref_run_mode = "show_login_form";
}
}
The upside of this is that it doesn't put the onus on every developer to
return a run-mode even if they are not changing it. The problem is
two-fold: First, the current interface already is documented as passing in
a scalar -- not a scalar-ref. (Since the release was just made today, this
is probably not a big deal since no code was yet written to use a scalar.)
The second problem is that scalar-refs, like all refs, are thorny to work
with. Most Perl programmers are uncomfortable with this type of "C-style"
interface.
So, it's decision time!
First off: Is being able to change the run-mode as important as I suspect
it is? If not, no further changes are required.
If changing the run-mode is important (as I suspect it is), than what
interface suits the list members best? We have three options:
1. Return run-mode value
2. Set special param, 'CGIAPP_RUNMODE'
3. Modify scalar-ref
I'm inclined to use the return-value method, but what do y'all think?
TTYL,
-Jesse-
Jesse Erlbaum, CTO
Vanguard Media
http://www.vm.com
212.242.5317 x115
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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