NAME

Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema - DBIx::Class::Schema Model Class

SYNOPSIS

Manual creation of a DBIx::Class::Schema and a Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema:

  1. Create the DBIx:Class schema in MyApp/Schema/FilmDB.pm:

    package MyApp::Schema::FilmDB;
    use base qw/DBIx::Class::Schema/;
    
    __PACKAGE__->load_classes(qw/Actor Role/);
  2. Create some classes for the tables in the database, for example an Actor in MyApp/Schema/FilmDB/Actor.pm:

    package MyApp::Schema::FilmDB::Actor;
    use base qw/DBIx::Class/
    
    __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/Core/);
    __PACKAGE__->table('actor');
    
    ...

    and a Role in MyApp/Schema/FilmDB/Role.pm:

    package MyApp::Schema::FilmDB::Role;
    use base qw/DBIx::Class/
    
    __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/Core/);
    __PACKAGE__->table('role');
    
    ...    

    Notice that the schema is in MyApp::Schema, not in MyApp::Model. This way it's usable as a standalone module and you can test/run it without Catalyst.

  3. To expose it to Catalyst as a model, you should create a DBIC Model in MyApp/Model/FilmDB.pm:

    package MyApp::Model::FilmDB;
    use base qw/Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema/;
    
    __PACKAGE__->config(
        schema_class => 'MyApp::Schema::FilmDB',
        connect_info => [
                          "DBI:...",
                          "username",
                          "password",
                          {AutoCommit => 1}
                        ]
    );

    See below for a full list of the possible config parameters.

Now you have a working Model which accesses your separate DBIC Schema. This can be used/accessed in the normal Catalyst manner, via $c->model():

my $actor = $c->model('FilmDB::Actor')->find(1);

You can also use it to set up DBIC authentication with Authentication::Store::DBIC in MyApp.pm:

package MyApp;

use Catalyst qw/... Authentication::Store::DBIC/;

...

__PACKAGE__->config->{authentication}{dbic} = {
    user_class      => 'FilmDB::Actor',
    user_field      => 'name',
    password_field  => 'password'
}

$c->model('Schema::Source') returns a DBIx::Class::ResultSet for the source name parameter passed. To find out more about which methods can be called on a ResultSet, or how to add your own methods to it, please see the ResultSet documentation in the DBIx::Class distribution.

Some examples are given below:

# to access schema methods directly:
$c->model('FilmDB')->schema->source(...);

# to access the source object, resultset, and class:
$c->model('FilmDB')->source(...);
$c->model('FilmDB')->resultset(...);
$c->model('FilmDB')->class(...);

# For resultsets, there's an even quicker shortcut:
$c->model('FilmDB::Actor')
# is the same as $c->model('FilmDB')->resultset('Actor')

# To get the composed schema for making new connections:
my $newconn = $c->model('FilmDB')->composed_schema->connect(...);

# Or the same thing via a convenience shortcut:
my $newconn = $c->model('FilmDB')->connect(...);

# or, if your schema works on different storage drivers:
my $newconn = $c->model('FilmDB')->composed_schema->clone();
$newconn->storage_type('::LDAP');
$newconn->connection(...);

# and again, a convenience shortcut
my $newconn = $c->model('FilmDB')->clone();
$newconn->storage_type('::LDAP');
$newconn->connection(...);

DESCRIPTION

This is a Catalyst Model for DBIx::Class::Schema-based Models. See the documentation for Catalyst::Helper::Model::DBIC::Schema for information on generating these Models via Helper scripts.

When your Catalyst app starts up, a thin Model layer is created as an interface to your DBIC Schema. It should be clearly noted that the model object returned by $c->model('FilmDB') is NOT itself a DBIC schema or resultset object, but merely a wrapper proving methods to access the underlying schema.

In addition to this model class, a shortcut class is generated for each source in the schema, allowing easy and direct access to a resultset of the corresponding type. These generated classes are even thinner than the model class, providing no public methods but simply hooking into Catalyst's model() accessor via the ACCEPT_CONTEXT mechanism. The complete contents of each generated class is roughly equivalent to the following:

package MyApp::Model::FilmDB::Actor
sub ACCEPT_CONTEXT {
    my ($self, $c) = @_;
    $c->model('FilmDB')->resultset('Actor');
}

In short, there are three techniques available for obtaining a DBIC resultset object:

# the long way
my $rs = $c->model('FilmDB')->schema->resultset('Actor');

# using the shortcut method on the model object
my $rs = $c->model('FilmDB')->resultset('Actor');

# using the generated class directly
my $rs = $c->model('FilmDB::Actor');

In order to add methods to a DBIC resultset, you cannot simply add them to the source (row, table) definition class; you must define a separate custom resultset class. See "Predefined searches" in DBIx::Class::Manual::Cookbook for more info.

CONFIG PARAMETERS

schema_class

This is the classname of your DBIx::Class::Schema Schema. It needs to be findable in @INC, but it does not need to be inside the Catalyst::Model:: namespace. This parameter is required.

connect_info

This is an arrayref of connection parameters, which are specific to your storage_type (see your storage type documentation for more details). If you only need one parameter (e.g. the DSN), you can just pass a string instead of an arrayref.

This is not required if schema_class already has connection information defined inside itself (which isn't highly recommended, but can be done)

For DBIx::Class::Storage::DBI, which is the only supported storage_type in DBIx::Class at the time of this writing, the parameters are your dsn, username, password, and connect options hashref.

See "connect_info" in DBIx::Class::Storage::DBI for a detailed explanation of the arguments supported.

Examples:

connect_info => [ 'dbi:Pg:dbname=mypgdb', 'postgres', '' ],

connect_info => [
                  'dbi:SQLite:dbname=foo.db',
                  {
                    on_connect_do => [
                      'PRAGMA synchronous = OFF',
                    ],
                  }
                ],

connect_info => [
                  'dbi:Pg:dbname=mypgdb',
                  'postgres',
                  '',
                  { AutoCommit => 0 },
                  {
                    on_connect_do => [
                      'some SQL statement',
                      'another SQL statement',
                    ],
                  }
                ],

Or using Config::General:

<Model::FilmDB>
    schema_class   MyApp::Schema::FilmDB
    connect_info   dbi:Pg:dbname=mypgdb
    connect_info   postgres
    connect_info
    <connect_info>
        AutoCommit   0
        on_connect_do   some SQL statement
        on_connect_do   another SQL statement
    </connect_info>
</Model::FilmDB>

or

<Model::FilmDB>
    schema_class   MyApp::Schema::FilmDB
    connect_info   dbi:SQLite:dbname=foo.db
</Model::FilmDB>
storage_type

Allows the use of a different storage_type than what is set in your schema_class (which in turn defaults to ::DBI if not set in current DBIx::Class). Completely optional, and probably unnecessary for most people until other storage backends become available for DBIx::Class.

METHODS

new

Instantiates the Model based on the above-documented ->config parameters. The only required parameter is schema_class. connect_info is required in the case that schema_class does not already have connection information defined for it.

schema

Accessor which returns the connected schema being used by the this model. There are direct shortcuts on the model class itself for schema->resultset, schema->source, and schema->class.

composed_schema

Accessor which returns the composed schema, which has no connection info, which was used in constructing the schema above. Useful for creating new connections based on the same schema/model. There are direct shortcuts from the model object for composed_schema->clone and composed_schema->connect

clone

Shortcut for ->composed_schema->clone

connect

Shortcut for ->composed_schema->connect

source

Shortcut for ->schema->source

class

Shortcut for ->schema->class

resultset

Shortcut for ->schema->resultset

storage

Provides an accessor for the connected schema's storage object. Used often for debugging and controlling transactions.

SEE ALSO

General Catalyst Stuff:

Catalyst::Manual, Catalyst::Test, Catalyst::Request, Catalyst::Response, Catalyst::Helper, Catalyst,

Stuff related to DBIC and this Model style:

DBIx::Class, DBIx::Class::Schema, DBIx::Class::Schema::Loader, Catalyst::Helper::Model::DBIC::Schema

AUTHOR

Brandon L Black, blblack@gmail.com

COPYRIGHT

This program is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.