CGI::Application::PlugUserEContributed PCGI::Application::Plugin::ErrorPage(3)NAMECGI::Application::Plugin::ErrorPage - A simple error page plugin for
CGI::Application
SYNOPSIS
use CGI::Application::Plugin::ErrorPage 'error';
sub my_run_mode {
my $self = shift;
eval { .... };
if ($@) {
# Send the gory details to the log for the developers
warn "$@";
# Send a comprehensible message to the users
return $self->error(
title => "Technical Failure',
msg => "There was a techical failure during the operation.",
);
}
}
DESCRIPTION
This plugin provides a shortcut for the common need of returning a
simple error message to the user.
You are encouraged to provide a template file so that the error
messages can be presented with a design consistent with the rest of
your application.
A simple design is provided below to get to you started.
A better default error page.
If you don't install an AUTOLOAD run mode in the normal way in "setup",
this plugin will automatically install a reasonable default at the
"prerun" stage, which returns an error page like this:
return $c->error(
title => 'The requested page was not found.',
msg => "(The page tried was: ".$c->get_current_runmode.")"
);
Relation to error_mode()
CGI::Application includes "error_mode()" to provide custom handling
when the application dies. This error() routine provides a shortcut
for displaying error messages to the user. So, they both have a place
on their own, and it could make sense to use them together. In your
'error_mode' routine, you might call error() to return a message to the
user:
$self->error( title => 'Technical Failure', msg => 'There was a technical failure' );
Suggested Uses
Some common cases for returning error messages to the user include:
* "Technical Failure" - The software failed unexpectedly
* "Insufficient Information" - some required query parameter was missing
* "Request Not Understood" - Some value we received in the query just didn't make sense.
Silliness
[22:36] <rjbs> Techno Failure. We were cruising along and rocking out while fulfilling your request, but then the music stopped and we sort of got distracted.
[22:36] <rjbs> Tek Failure. Too busy reading Shatner novels to respond to your request.
METHODSerror()
return $self->error(
title => "Technical Failure',
msg => "There was a techical failure during the operation",
);
Nothing fancy, just a shortcut to load a template meant to display
errors. I've used it for the past several years, and it's been very
handy to always have around on projects to quickly write error handling
code.
It tries to load a template file named 'error.html' to display the
error page.
If you want to use a different location, I recommend putting something
like this in your base class, so you only have to provide your error
template location once.
# In this case, intentionally *don't* import 'error' to avoid a "redefined" warning.
use CGI::Application::Plugin::ErrorPage;
sub error {
my $c = shift;
return $c->CGI::Application::Plugin::ErrorPage::error(
tmpl => $self->cfg('ROOT_URI').'/path/to/my/alternate/error/file.html',
@_,
);
}
This module intentionally ignores any "tmpl_path()" set by application,
since this is usually an indication of where the intended file is
located, not the error template. This exceptional handling of the
"tmpl_path()" is one of the only value added bits of logic that this
plugin adds. The rest of it is primarily a simple recommendation for
error page handling wrapped up as a module.
If you don't want this behavior, it's simple enough just to roll your
own error() page method and skip using this plugin. Here's the simple
essential code:
use Params::Validate ':all';
sub error {
my $self = shift;
my %p = validate(@_, { title => SCALAR, msg => SCALAR });
my $t = $self->load_tmpl;
$t->param( title => $p{title}, msg => $p{msg} );
return $t->output;
}
Example error.html
Here's a very basic example of an "error.html" file to get you started.
<!DOCTYPE html
PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en-US" xml:lang="en-US">
<head>
<title><!-- tmpl_var title escape=HTML --></title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
</head>
<body>
<h1><!-- tmpl_var title escape=HTML--></h1>
<p><!-- tmpl_var msg escape=HTML --></p>
</body>
</html>
We manage site-wide designs with Dreamweaver and keep a basic
'error.html' that uses a generic Dreamweaver 'page.dwt' template with
standard EditableRegion names. That way, we can copy this error.html
into a new Dreamweaver-managed project and have the new design applied
to it easily through Dreamweaver.
SUPPORT
Ask for help on the CGI::Application mailing list. Report bugs and
wishes through the rt.cpan.org bug tracker.
AUTHOR
Mark Stosberg
CPAN ID: MARKSTOS
mark@summersault.com
COPYRIGHT
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included
with this module.
SEE ALSOperl(1).
perl v5.14.12011-0CGI::Application::Plugin::ErrorPage(3)
