Mojolicious::Guides::Rendering(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation
NAME
Mojolicious::Guides::Rendering - Rendering content
OVERVIEW
This document explains content generation with the Mojolicious
renderer.
CONCEPTS
Essentials every Mojolicious developer should know.
Renderer
The renderer is a tiny black box turning stash data into actual
responses utilizing multiple template systems and data encoding
modules.
{text => 'Hello.'} -> 200 OK, text/html, 'Hello.'
{json => {x => 3}} -> 200 OK, application/json, '{"x":3}'
{text => 'Oops.', status => '410'} -> 410 Gone, text/html, 'Oops.'
Templates can be automatically detected if enough information is
provided by the developer or routes. Template names are expected to
follow the "template.format.handler" scheme, with "template" defaulting
to "controller/action" or the route name, "format" defaulting to "html"
and "handler" to "ep".
{controller => 'users', action => 'list'} -> 'users/list.html.ep'
{template => 'foo', format => 'txt'} -> 'foo.txt.ep'
{template => 'foo', handler => 'epl'} -> 'foo.html.epl'
The "controller" value gets converted from "CamelCase" to "snake_case"
using "decamelize" in Mojo::Util and "-" characters replaced with "/".
{controller => 'My::Users', action => 'add'} -> 'my/users/add.html.ep'
{controller => 'my-users', action => 'show'} -> 'my/users/show.html.ep'
All templates should be in the "templates" directories of the
application, which can be customized with "paths" in
Mojolicious::Renderer, or one of the the "DATA" sections from "classes"
in Mojolicious::Renderer.
__DATA__
@@ time.html.ep
% use Time::Piece;
% my $now = localtime;
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head><title>Time</title></head>
<body>The time is <%= $now->hms %>.</body>
</html>
@@ hello.txt.ep
...
The renderer can be easily extended to support additional template
systems with plugins, but more about that later.
Embedded Perl
Mojolicious includes a minimalistic but very powerful template system
out of the box called Embedded Perl or "ep" for short. It is based on
Mojo::Template and allows the embedding of Perl code right into actual
content using a small set of special tags and line start characters.
For all templates strict, warnings, utf8 and Perl 5.16 features are
automatically enabled.
<% Perl code %>
<%= Perl expression, replaced with XML escaped result %>
<%== Perl expression, replaced with result %>
<%# Comment, useful for debugging %>
<%% Replaced with "<%", useful for generating templates %>
% Perl code line, treated as "<% line =%>" (explained later)
%= Perl expression line, treated as "<%= line %>"
%== Perl expression line, treated as "<%== line %>"
%# Comment line, useful for debugging
%% Replaced with "%", useful for generating templates
Tags and lines work pretty much the same, but depending on context one
will usually look a bit better. Semicolons get automatically appended
to all expressions.
<% my $i = 10; %>
<ul>
<% for my $j (1 .. $i) { %>
<li>
<%= $j %>
</li>
<% } %>
</ul>
% my $i = 10;
<ul>
% for my $j (1 .. $i) {
<li>
%= $j
</li>
% }
</ul>
Aside from differences in whitespace handling, both examples generate
similar Perl code, a naive translation could look like this.
my $output = '';
my $i = 10;
$output .= '<ul>';
for my $j (1 .. $i) {
$output .= '<li>';
$output .= xml_escape scalar + $j;
$output .= '</li>';
}
$output .= '</ul>';
return $output;
An additional equal sign can be used to disable escaping of the
characters "<", ">", "&", "'" and """ in results from Perl expressions,
which is the default to prevent XSS attacks against your application.
<%= 'I H Mojolicious!' %>
<%== '<p>I H Mojolicious!</p>' %>
Only Mojo::ByteStream objects are excluded from automatic escaping.
<%= b('<p>I H Mojolicious!</p>') %>
Whitespace characters around tags can be trimmed by adding an
additional equal sign to the end of a tag.
<% for (1 .. 3) { %>
<%= 'Trim all whitespace characters around this expression' =%>
<% } %>
Newline characters can be escaped with a backslash.
This is <%= 1 + 1 %> a\
single line
And a backslash in front of a newline character can be escaped with
another backslash.
This will <%= 1 + 1 %> result\\
in multiple\\
lines
A newline character gets appended automatically to every template,
unless the last character is a backslash. And empty lines at the end of
a template are ignored.
There is <%= 1 + 1 %> no newline at the end here\
At the beginning of the template, stash values that don't have invalid
characters in their name get automatically initialized as normal
variables, and the controller object as both $self and $c.
$c->stash(name => 'tester');
Hello <%= $name %> from <%= $c->tx->remote_address %>.
A prefix like "myapp.*" is commonly used for stash values that you
don't want to expose in templates.
$c->stash('myapp.name' => 'tester');
There are also many helper functions available, but more about that
later.
<%= dumper {foo => 'bar'} %>
BASICS
Most commonly used features every Mojolicious developer should know
about.
Automatic rendering
The renderer can be manually started by calling the method "render" in
Mojolicious::Controller, but that's usually not necessary, because it
will get automatically called if nothing has been rendered after the
router finished its work. This also means you can have routes pointing
only to templates without actual actions.
$c->render;
There is one big difference though, by calling it manually you can make
sure that templates use the current controller object, and not the
default controller specified with the attribute "controller_class" in
Mojolicious.
$c->render_later;
You can also disable automatic rendering with the method "render_later"
in Mojolicious::Controller, which can be very useful to delay rendering
when a non-blocking operation has to be performed first.
Rendering templates
The renderer will always try to detect the right template, but you can
also use the "template" stash value to render a specific one.
Everything before the last slash will be interpreted as the
subdirectory path in which to find the template.
# foo/bar/baz.*.*
$c->render(template => 'foo/bar/baz');
Choosing a specific "format" and "handler" is just as easy.
# foo/bar/baz.txt.epl
$c->render(template => 'foo/bar/baz', format => 'txt', handler => 'epl');
Because rendering a specific template is the most common task it also
has a shortcut.
$c->render('foo/bar/baz');
If you're not sure in advance if a template actually exists, you can
also use the method "render_maybe" in Mojolicious::Controller to try
multiple alternatives.
$c->render_maybe('localized/baz') or $c->render('foo/bar/baz');
Rendering to strings
Sometimes you might want to use the rendered result directly instead of
generating a response, for example, to send emails, this can be done
with "render_to_string" in Mojolicious::Controller.
my $html = $c->render_to_string('mail');
No encoding will be performed, making it easy to reuse the result in
other templates or to generate binary data.
my $pdf = $c->render_to_string('invoice', format => 'pdf');
$c->render(data => $pdf, format => 'pdf');
All arguments passed will get localized automatically and are only
available during this render operation.
Template variants
To make your application look great on many different devices you can
also use the "variant" stash value to choose between different variants
of your templates.
# foo/bar/baz.html+phone.ep
# foo/bar/baz.html.ep
$c->render('foo/bar/baz', variant => 'phone');
This can be done very liberally since it only applies when a template
with the correct name actually exists and falls back to the generic one
otherwise.
Rendering inline templates
Some renderers such as "ep" allow templates to be passed "inline".
$c->render(inline => 'The result is <%= 1 + 1 %>.');
Since auto-detection depends on a path you might have to supply a
"handler" too.
$c->render(inline => "<%= shift->param('foo') %>", handler => 'epl');
Rendering text
Characters can be rendered to bytes with the "text" stash value, the
given content will be automatically encoded with "encoding" in
Mojolicious::Renderer.
$c->render(text => 'I H Mojolicious!');
Rendering data
Bytes can be rendered with the "data" stash value, no encoding will be
performed.
$c->render(data => $bytes);
Rendering JSON
The "json" stash value allows you to pass Perl data structures to the
renderer which get directly encoded to JSON with Mojo::JSON.
$c->render(json => {foo => [1, 'test', 3]});
Status code
Response status codes can be changed with the "status" stash value.
$c->render(text => 'Oops.', status => 500);
Content type
The "Content-Type" header of the response is actually based on the MIME
type mapping of the "format" stash value.
# Content-Type: text/plain
$c->render(text => 'Hello.', format => 'txt');
# Content-Type: image/png
$c->render(data => $bytes, format => 'png');
These mappings can be easily extended or changed with "types" in
Mojolicious.
# Add new MIME type
$app->types->type(md => 'text/markdown');
Stash data
Any of the native Perl data types can be passed to templates as
references through the "stash" in Mojolicious::Controller.
$c->stash(description => 'web framework');
$c->stash(frameworks => ['Catalyst', 'Mojolicious', 'mojo.js']);
$c->stash(spinoffs => {minion => 'job queue'});
%= $description
%= $frameworks->[1]
%= $spinoffs->{minion}
Since everything is just Perl normal control structures just work.
% for my $framework (@$frameworks) {
<%= $framework %> is a <%= $description %>.
% }
% if (my $description = $spinoffs->{minion}) {
Minion is a <%= $description %>.
% }
For templates that might get rendered in different ways and where
you're not sure if a stash value will actually be set, you can just use
the helper "stash" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers.
% if (my $spinoffs = stash 'spinoffs') {
Minion is a <%= $spinoffs->{minion} %>.
% }
Helpers
Helpers are little functions you can use in templates as well as
application and controller code.
# Template
%= dumper [1, 2, 3]
# Application
my $serialized = $app->dumper([1, 2, 3]);
# Controller
my $serialized = $c->dumper([1, 2, 3]);
We differentiate between default helpers, which are more general
purpose like "dumper" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers, and tag
helpers like "link_to" in Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers, which are
template specific and mostly used to generate HTML tags.
%= link_to Mojolicious => 'https://mojolicious.org'
In controllers you can also use the method "helpers" in
Mojolicious::Controller to fully qualify helper calls and ensure that
they don't conflict with existing methods you may already have.
my $serialized = $c->helpers->dumper([1, 2, 3]);
A list of all built-in helpers can be found in
Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and
Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers.
Static files
Static files are automatically served from the "public" directories of
the application, which can be customized with "paths" in
Mojolicious::Static, or one of the "DATA" sections from "classes" in
Mojolicious::Static. And if that's not enough you can also serve them
manually with "reply->static" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers
and "reply->file" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
get '/' => sub ($c) {
$c->reply->static('index.html');
};
get '/some_download' => sub ($c) {
$c->res->headers->content_disposition('attachment; filename=bar.png;');
$c->reply->static('foo/bar.png');
};
get '/leak' => sub ($c) {
$c->reply->file('/etc/passwd');
};
app->start;
By default static files do not use a prefix and are simply served with
a higher precedence than routes. This can be changed with "prefix" in
Mojolicious::Static.
# Serve static files only with a "/static" prefix
$app->static->prefix('/static');
To allow for the prefix to be configured dynamically, you can use
"url_for_file" in Mojolicious::Controller to generate URLs with it.
Many tag helpers will also use the prefix automatically when it makes
sense.
Static assets
While Mojolicious does not have any special support for frontend
frameworks like Vue.js <https://vuejs.org> and React
<https://reactjs.org>, the "public/assets" directory is reserved for
static assets created by bundlers like Webpack <https://webpack.js.org>
and Rollup.js <https://rollupjs.org> ahead of time. Asset files can be
of any type, they just have to follow the
"[name].[checksum].[extensions]" naming scheme, like
"myapp.ab1234cd5678ef.js". You can then use "url_for_asset" in
Mojolicious::Controller or "asset_tag" in
Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers to generate URLs without having to know
the checksum.
# "/assets/myapp.ab1234cd5678ef.js"
$c->url_for_asset('/myapp.js');
# "<script src="/assets/myapp.ab1234cd5678ef.js"></script>"
$c->asset_tag('/myapp.js');
If your application runs in "development" mode, all assets will be
served with a "Cache-Control: no-cache" header, to speed up development
by preventing browser caching. Additionally all assets following the
"[name].development.[extensions]" naming scheme, like
"myapp.development.js", have a higher precedence than assets with
checksums. That way you can just overwrite your assets during
development, instead of having to manually delete them each time they
are rebuilt with a different checksum.
# "/assets/foo/bar.development.js"
$c->url_for_asset('/foo/bar.js');
Webpack configuration <https://webpack.js.org/configuration/> example
("webpack.config.js"):
import Path from '@mojojs/path';
const isDev = process.env.MOJO_MODE === 'development';
export default {
output: {
filename: isDev ? '[name].development.js' : '[name].[chunkhash].js',
path: Path.currentFile().sibling('public', 'assets').toString(),
publicPath: ''
},
// Add your own rules and entry point here
};
Rollup configuration <https://rollupjs.org/guide/en/#configuration-
files> example ("rollup.config.js"):
import Path from '@mojojs/path';
const isDev = process.env.MOJO_MODE === 'development';
export default {
output: {
entryFileNames: isDev ? '[name].development.[ext]' : '[name].[hash].[ext]',
dir: Path.currentFile().sibling('public', 'assets').toString(),
format: 'iife'
},
// Add your own rules and entry point here
};
Everything else is up to your bundler of choice, so you need to consult
its documentation for further information. And where you keep your
asset sources, such as ".vue" and ".jsx" files, is not important, as
long as your bundler can find them. Using a directory named "assets" or
"frontend" in your application root directory is a good best practice
though.
Content negotiation
For resources with different representations and that require truly
RESTful content negotiation you can also use "respond_to" in
Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers instead of "render" in
Mojolicious::Controller.
# /hello (Accept: application/json) -> "json"
# /hello (Accept: application/xml) -> "xml"
# /hello.json -> "json"
# /hello.xml -> "xml"
# /hello?_format=json -> "json"
# /hello?_format=xml -> "xml"
$c->respond_to(
json => {json => {hello => 'world'}},
xml => {text => '<hello>world</hello>'}
);
The best possible representation will be automatically selected from
the "_format" "GET"/"POST" parameter, "format" stash value or "Accept"
request header and stored in the "format" stash value. To change MIME
type mappings for the "Accept" request header or the "Content-Type"
response header you can use "types" in Mojolicious.
$c->respond_to(
json => {json => {hello => 'world'}},
html => sub {
$c->content_for(head => '<meta name="author" content="sri">');
$c->render(template => 'hello', message => 'world')
}
);
Callbacks can be used for representations that are too complex to fit
into a single render call.
# /hello (Accept: application/json) -> "json"
# /hello (Accept: text/html) -> "html"
# /hello (Accept: image/png) -> "any"
# /hello.json -> "json"
# /hello.html -> "html"
# /hello.png -> "any"
# /hello?_format=json -> "json"
# /hello?_format=html -> "html"
# /hello?_format=png -> "any"
$c->respond_to(
json => {json => {hello => 'world'}},
html => {template => 'hello', message => 'world'},
any => {text => '', status => 204}
);
And if no viable representation could be found, the "any" fallback will
be used or an empty 204 response rendered automatically.
# /hello -> "html"
# /hello (Accept: text/html) -> "html"
# /hello (Accept: text/xml) -> "xml"
# /hello (Accept: text/plain) -> undef
# /hello.html -> "html"
# /hello.xml -> "xml"
# /hello.txt -> undef
# /hello?_format=html -> "html"
# /hello?_format=xml -> "xml"
# /hello?_format=txt -> undef
if (my $format = $c->accepts('html', 'xml')) {
...
}
For even more advanced negotiation logic you can also use the helper
"accepts" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers.
Rendering "exception" and "not_found" pages
By now you've probably already encountered the built-in 404 (Not Found)
and 500 (Server Error) pages, that get rendered automatically when you
make a mistake. Those are fallbacks for when your own exception
handling fails, which can be especially helpful during development. You
can also render them manually with the helpers "reply->exception" in
Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and "reply->not_found" in
Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
use Scalar::Util qw(looks_like_number);
get '/divide/:dividend/by/:divisor' => sub ($c) {
my $dividend = $c->param('dividend');
my $divisor = $c->param('divisor');
# 404
return $c->reply->not_found unless looks_like_number $dividend && looks_like_number $divisor;
# 500
return $c->reply->exception('Division by zero!') if $divisor == 0;
# 200
$c->render(text => $dividend / $divisor);
};
app->start;
To change the HTTP status code of the exception, you can use "rendered"
in Mojolicious::Controller.
return $c->reply->exception('Division by zero!')->rendered(400) if $divisor == 0;
You can also change the templates of those pages, since you most likely
want to show your users something more closely related to your
application in production. The renderer will always try to find
"exception.$mode.$format.*" or "not_found.$mode.$format.*" before
falling back to the built-in default templates.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
get '/dies' => sub { die 'Intentional error' };
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ exception.production.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head><title>Server error</title></head>
<body>
<h1>Exception</h1>
<p><%= $exception->message %></p>
<h1>Stash</h1>
<pre><%= dumper $snapshot %></pre>
</body>
</html>
The default exception format is "html", but that can be changed at
application and controller level. By default there are handlers for
"html", "txt" and "json" available. There are also various exception
helpers in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers for you to overload to
change the default behavior.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
app->exception_format('json');
get '/json' => sub ($c) {
die 'Just a test';
};
get '/txt' => sub ($c) {
$c->exception_format('txt');
die 'Just a test';
};
app->start;
The hook "before_render" in Mojolicious makes even more advanced
customizations possible by allowing you to intercept and modify the
arguments passed to the renderer.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
hook before_render => sub ($c, $args) {
# Make sure we are rendering the exception template
return unless my $template = $args->{template};
return unless $template eq 'exception';
# Switch to JSON rendering if content negotiation allows it
return unless $c->accepts('json');
$args->{json} = {exception => $c->stash('exception')};
};
get '/' => sub { die "This sho...ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!\n" };
app->start;
Layouts
Most of the time when using "ep" templates you will want to wrap your
generated content in an HTML skeleton, thanks to layouts that's
absolutely trivial.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
get '/' => {template => 'foo/bar'};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ foo/bar.html.ep
% layout 'mylayout';
Hello World!
@@ layouts/mylayout.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head><title>MyApp</title></head>
<body><%= content %></body>
</html>
You just select the right layout template with the helper "layout" in
Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and place the result of the current
template with the helper "content" in
Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers. You can also pass along normal
stash values to the "layout" helper.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
get '/' => {template => 'foo/bar'};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ foo/bar.html.ep
% layout 'mylayout', title => 'Hi there';
Hello World!
@@ layouts/mylayout.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head><title><%= $title %></title></head>
<body><%= content %></body>
</html>
Instead of the "layout" helper you could also just use the "layout"
stash value, or call "render" in Mojolicious::Controller with the
"layout" argument.
$c->render(template => 'mytemplate', layout => 'mylayout');
To set a "layout" stash value application-wide you can use "defaults"
in Mojolicious.
$app->defaults(layout => 'mylayout');
Layouts can also be used with "render_to_string" in
Mojolicious::Controller, but the "layout" value needs to be passed as a
render argument (not a stash value).
my $html = $c->render_to_string('reminder', layout => 'mail');
Partial templates
You can break up bigger templates into smaller, more manageable chunks.
These partial templates can also be shared with other templates. Just
use the helper "include" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers to
include one template into another.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
get '/' => {template => 'foo/bar'};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ foo/bar.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
%= include '_header', title => 'Howdy'
<body>Bar</body>
</html>
@@ _header.html.ep
<head><title><%= $title %></title></head>
You can name partial templates however you like, but a leading
underscore is a commonly used naming convention.
Reusable template blocks
It's never fun to repeat yourself, that's why you can build reusable
template blocks in "ep" that work very similar to normal Perl
functions, with the "begin" and "end" keywords. Just be aware that both
keywords are part of the surrounding tag and not actual Perl code, so
there can only be whitespace after "begin" and before "end".
use Mojolicious::Lite;
get '/' => 'welcome';
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ welcome.html.ep
<% my $block = begin %>
% my $name = shift;
Hello <%= $name %>.
<% end %>
<%= $block->('Wolfgang') %>
<%= $block->('Baerbel') %>
A naive translation of the template to Perl code could look like this.
my $output = '';
my $block = sub ($name) {
my $output = '';
$output .= 'Hello ';
$output .= xml_escape scalar + $name;
$output .= '.';
return Mojo::ByteStream->new($output);
};
$output .= xml_escape scalar + $block->('Wolfgang');
$output .= xml_escape scalar + $block->('Baerbel');
return $output;
While template blocks cannot be shared between templates, they are most
commonly used to pass parts of a template to helpers.
Adding helpers
You should always try to keep your actions small and reuse as much code
as possible. Helpers make this very easy, they get passed the current
controller object as first argument, and you can use them to do pretty
much anything an action could do.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
helper debug => sub ($c, $str) {
$c->app->log->debug($str);
};
get '/' => sub ($c) {
$c->debug('Hello from an action!');
} => 'index';
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ index.html.ep
% debug 'Hello from a template!';
Helpers can also accept template blocks as last argument, this for
example, allows very pleasant to use tag helpers and filters. Wrapping
the helper result into a Mojo::ByteStream object can prevent accidental
double escaping.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
use Mojo::ByteStream;
helper trim_newline => sub ($c, $block) {
my $result = $block->();
$result =~ s/\n//g;
return Mojo::ByteStream->new($result);
};
get '/' => 'index';
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ index.html.ep
%= trim_newline begin
Some text.
%= 1 + 1
More text.
% end
Similar to stash values, you can use a prefix like "myapp.*" to keep
helpers from getting exposed in templates as functions, and to organize
them into namespaces as your application grows. Every prefix
automatically becomes a helper that returns a proxy object containing
the current controller object and on which you can call the nested
helpers.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
helper 'cache_control.no_caching' => sub ($c) { $c->res->headers->cache_control('private, max-age=0, no-cache') };
helper 'cache_control.five_minutes' => sub ($c) { $c->res->headers->cache_control('public, max-age=300') };
get '/news' => sub ($c) {
$c->cache_control->no_caching;
$c->render(text => 'Always up to date.');
};
get '/some_older_story' => sub ($c) {
$c->cache_control->five_minutes;
$c->render(text => 'This one can be cached for a bit.');
};
app->start;
While helpers can also be redefined, this should only be done very
carefully to avoid conflicts.
Content blocks
The helper "content_for" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers allows
you to pass whole blocks of content from one template to another. This
can be very useful when your layout has distinct sections, such as
sidebars, where content should be inserted by the template.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
get '/' => 'foo';
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ foo.html.ep
% layout 'mylayout';
% content_for header => begin
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html">
% end
<div>Hello World!</div>
% content_for header => begin
<meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache">
% end
@@ layouts/mylayout.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head><%= content 'header' %></head>
<body><%= content %></body>
</html>
Forms
To build HTML forms more efficiently you can use tag helpers like
"form_for" in Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers, which can automatically
select a request method for you if a route name is provided. And since
most browsers only allow forms to be submitted with "GET" and "POST",
but not request methods like "PUT" or "DELETE", they are spoofed with
an "_method" query parameter.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
get '/' => 'form';
# PUT /nothing
# POST /nothing?_method=PUT
put '/nothing' => sub ($c) {
# Prevent double form submission with redirect
my $value = $c->param('whatever');
$c->flash(confirmation => "We did nothing with your value ($value).");
$c->redirect_to('form');
};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ form.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
% if (my $confirmation = flash 'confirmation') {
<p><%= $confirmation %></p>
% }
%= form_for nothing => begin
%= text_field whatever => 'I H Mojolicious!'
%= submit_button
% end
</body>
</html>
The helpers "flash" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and
"redirect_to" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers are often used
together to prevent double form submission, allowing users to receive a
confirmation message that will vanish if they decide to reload the page
they've been redirected to.
Form validation
You can use "validation" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers to
validate "GET" and "POST" parameters submitted to your application. All
unknown fields will be ignored by default, so you have to decide which
should be required or optional before you can perform checks on their
values. Every check is performed right away, so you can use the results
immediately to build more advanced validation logic with methods like
"is_valid" in Mojolicious::Validator::Validation.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
get '/' => sub ($c) {
# Check if parameters have been submitted
my $v = $c->validation;
return $c->render('index') unless $v->has_data;
# Validate parameters ("pass_again" depends on "pass")
$v->required('user')->size(1, 20)->like(qr/^[a-z0-9]+$/);
$v->required('pass_again')->equal_to('pass') if $v->optional('pass')->size(7, 500)->is_valid;
# Check if validation failed
return $c->render('index') if $v->has_error;
# Render confirmation
$c->render('thanks');
};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ index.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
label.field-with-error { color: #dd7e5e }
input.field-with-error { background-color: #fd9e7e }
</style>
</head>
<body>
%= form_for index => begin
%= label_for user => 'Username (required, 1-20 characters, a-z/0-9)'
<br>
%= text_field 'user', id => 'user'
%= submit_button
<br>
%= label_for pass => 'Password (optional, 7-500 characters)'
<br>
%= password_field 'pass', id => 'pass'
<br>
%= label_for pass_again => 'Password again (equal to the value above)'
<br>
%= password_field 'pass_again', id => 'pass_again'
% end
</body>
</html>
@@ thanks.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html><body>Thank you <%= validation->param('user') %>.</body></html>
Form elements generated with tag helpers from
Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers will automatically remember their
previous values and add the class "field-with-error" for fields that
failed validation to make styling with CSS easier.
<label class="field-with-error" for="user">
Username (required, only characters e-t)
</label>
<input class="field-with-error" type="text" name="user" value="sri">
For a full list of available checks see also "CHECKS" in
Mojolicious::Validator.
Adding form validation checks
Validation checks can be registered with "add_check" in
Mojolicious::Validator and return a false value if they were
successful. A true value may be used to pass along additional
information which can then be retrieved with "error" in
Mojolicious::Validator::Validation.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
# Add "range" check
app->validator->add_check(range => sub ($v, $name, $value, $min, $max) {
return $value < $min || $value > $max;
});
get '/' => 'form';
post '/test' => sub ($c) {
# Validate parameters with custom check
my $v = $c->validation;
$v->required('number')->range(3, 23);
# Render form again if validation failed
return $c->render('form') if $v->has_error;
# Prevent double form submission with redirect
$c->flash(number => $v->param('number'));
$c->redirect_to('form');
};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ form.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
% if (my $number = flash 'number') {
<p>Thanks, the number <%= $number %> was valid.</p>
% }
%= form_for test => begin
% if (my $err = validation->error('number')) {
<p>
%= 'Value is required.' if $err->[0] eq 'required'
%= 'Value needs to be between 3 and 23.' if $err->[0] eq 'range'
</p>
% }
%= text_field 'number'
%= submit_button
% end
</body>
</html>
Cross-site request forgery
CSRF is a very common attack on web applications that trick your logged
in users to submit forms they did not intend to send, with something as
mundane as a link. All you have to do, to protect your users from this,
is to add an additional hidden field to your forms with "csrf_field" in
Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers, and validate it with "csrf_protect" in
Mojolicious::Validator::Validation.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
get '/' => {template => 'target'};
post '/' => sub ($c) {
# Check CSRF token
my $v = $c->validation;
return $c->render(text => 'Bad CSRF token!', status => 403) if $v->csrf_protect->has_error('csrf_token');
my $city = $v->required('city')->param('city');
$c->render(text => "Low orbit ion cannon pointed at $city!") unless $v->has_error;
} => 'target';
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ target.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
%= form_for target => begin
%= csrf_field
%= label_for city => 'Which city to point low orbit ion cannon at?'
%= text_field 'city', id => 'city'
%= submit_button
%= end
</body>
</html>
For Ajax requests and the like, you can also generate a token directly
with the helper "csrf_token" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers,
and then pass it along with the "X-CSRF-Token" request header.
ADVANCED
Less commonly used and more powerful features.
Template inheritance
Inheritance takes the layout concept above one step further, the
helpers "content" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers and "extends"
in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers allow you to build skeleton
templates with named blocks that child templates can override.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
# first > mylayout
get '/first' => {template => 'first', layout => 'mylayout'};
# third > second > first > mylayout
get '/third' => {template => 'third', layout => 'mylayout'};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ layouts/mylayout.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><%= content %></body>
</html>
@@ first.html.ep
%= content header => begin
Default header
% end
<div>Hello World!</div>
%= content footer => begin
Default footer
% end
@@ second.html.ep
% extends 'first';
% content header => begin
New header
% end
@@ third.html.ep
% extends 'second';
% content footer => begin
New footer
% end
This chain could go on and on to allow a very high level of template
reuse.
Custom responses
Most response content, static as well as dynamic, gets served through
Mojo::Asset::File and Mojo::Asset::Memory objects. For somewhat static
content, like cached JSON data or temporary files, you can create your
own and use the helper "reply->asset" in
Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers to serve them while allowing
content negotiation to be performed with "Range", "If-Modified-Since"
and "If-None-Match" headers.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
use Mojo::Asset::File;
get '/leak' => sub ($c) {
$c->res->headers->content_type('text/plain');
$c->reply->asset(Mojo::Asset::File->new(path => '/etc/passwd'));
};
app->start;
For even more control you can also just skip the helper and use
"rendered" in Mojolicious::Controller to tell the renderer when you're
done generating a response.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
use Mojo::Asset::File;
get '/leak' => sub ($c) {
$c->res->headers->content_type('text/plain');
$c->res->content->asset(Mojo::Asset::File->new(path => '/etc/passwd'));
$c->rendered(200);
};
app->start;
Helper plugins
Some helpers might be useful enough for you to share them between
multiple applications, plugins make that very simple.
package Mojolicious::Plugin::DebugHelper;
use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin', -signatures;
sub register ($self, $app, $conf) {
$app->helper(debug => sub ($c, $str) {
$c->app->log->debug($str);
});
}
1;
The "register" method will be called when you load the plugin. And to
add your helper to the application, you can use "helper" in
Mojolicious.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
plugin 'DebugHelper';
get '/' => sub ($c) {
$c->debug('It works!');
$c->render(text => 'Hello!');
};
app->start;
A skeleton for a full CPAN compatible plugin distribution can be
automatically generated.
$ mojo generate plugin DebugHelper
And if you have a "PAUSE" account (which can be requested at
<http://pause.perl.org>), you are only a few commands away from
releasing it to CPAN.
$ perl Makefile.PL
$ make test
$ make manifest
$ make dist
$ mojo cpanify -u USER -p PASS Mojolicious-Plugin-DebugHelper-0.01.tar.gz
Bundling assets with plugins
Assets such as templates and static files can be easily bundled with
your plugins, even if you plan to release them to CPAN.
$ mojo generate plugin AlertAssets
$ mkdir Mojolicious-Plugin-AlertAssets/lib/Mojolicious/Plugin/AlertAssets
$ cd Mojolicious-Plugin-AlertAssets/lib/Mojolicious/Plugin/AlertAssets
$ mkdir public
$ echo 'alert("Hello World!");' > public/alertassets.js
$ mkdir templates
$ echo '%= javascript "/alertassets.js"' > templates/alertassets.html.ep
Just give them reasonably unique names, ideally based on the name of
your plugin, and append their respective directories to the list of
search paths when "register" is called.
package Mojolicious::Plugin::AlertAssets;
use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin', -signatures;
use Mojo::File qw(curfile);
sub register ($self, $app, $conf) {
# Append "templates" and "public" directories
my $base = curfile->sibling('AlertAssets');
push @{$app->renderer->paths}, $base->child('templates')->to_string;
push @{$app->static->paths}, $base->child('public')->to_string;
}
1;
Both will work just like normal "templates" and "public" directories
once you've installed and loaded the plugin, with slightly lower
precedence.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
plugin 'AlertAssets';
get '/alert_me';
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ alert_me.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Alert me!</title>
%= include 'alertassets'
</head>
<body>You've been alerted.</body>
</html>
And it works just the same for assets bundled in the "DATA" section of
your plugin.
package Mojolicious::Plugin::AlertAssets;
use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin', -signatures;
sub register ($self, $app, $conf) {
# Append class
push @{$app->renderer->classes}, __PACKAGE__;
push @{$app->static->classes}, __PACKAGE__;
}
1;
__DATA__
@@ alertassets.js
alert("Hello World!");
@@ alertassets.html.ep
%= javascript "/alertassets.js"
Post-processing dynamic content
While post-processing tasks are generally very easy with the hook
"after_dispatch" in Mojolicious, for content generated by the renderer
it is a lot more efficient to use "after_render" in Mojolicious.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
use IO::Compress::Gzip qw(gzip);
hook after_render => sub ($c, $output, $format) {
# Check if "gzip => 1" has been set in the stash
return unless $c->stash->{gzip};
# Check if user agent accepts gzip compression
return unless ($c->req->headers->accept_encoding // '') =~ /gzip/i;
$c->res->headers->append(Vary => 'Accept-Encoding');
# Compress content with gzip
$c->res->headers->content_encoding('gzip');
gzip $output, \my $compressed;
$$output = $compressed;
};
get '/' => {template => 'hello', title => 'Hello', gzip => 1};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ hello.html.ep
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head><title><%= title %></title></head>
<body>Compressed content.</body>
</html>
If you want to compress all dynamically generated content you can also
activate "compress" in Mojolicious::Renderer.
Streaming
You don't have to render all content at once, the method "write" in
Mojolicious::Controller can also be used to stream a series of smaller
chunks.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
get '/' => sub ($c) {
# Prepare body
my $body = 'Hello World!';
$c->res->headers->content_length(length $body);
# Start writing directly with a drain callback
my $drain = sub ($c) {
my $chunk = substr $body, 0, 1, '';
$c->write($chunk, length $body ? __SUB__ : undef);
};
$c->$drain;
};
app->start;
The drain callback will be executed whenever the entire previous chunk
of data has actually been written.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:48:29 GMT
Content-Length: 12
Server: Mojolicious (Perl)
Hello World!
Instead of providing a "Content-Length" header you can also call
"finish" in Mojolicious::Controller and close the connection manually
once you are done.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
get '/' => sub ($c) {
# Prepare body
my $body = 'Hello World!';
# Start writing directly with a drain callback
my $drain = sub ($c) {
my $chunk = substr $body, 0, 1, '';
length $chunk ? $c->write($chunk, __SUB__) : $c->finish;
};
$c->$drain;
};
app->start;
While this is rather inefficient, as it prevents keep-alive, it is
sometimes necessary for EventSource and similar applications.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:48:29 GMT
Connection: close
Server: Mojolicious (Perl)
Hello World!
Chunked transfer encoding
For very dynamic content you might not know the response content length
in advance, that's where the chunked transfer encoding and
"write_chunk" in Mojolicious::Controller come in handy. A common use
would be to send the "head" section of an HTML document to the browser
in advance and speed up preloading of referenced images and
stylesheets.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
get '/' => sub ($c) {
$c->write_chunk('<html><head><title>Example</title></head>' => sub ($c) {
$c->finish('<body>Example</body></html>');
});
};
app->start;
The optional drain callback ensures that all previous chunks have been
written before processing continues. To end the stream you can call
"finish" in Mojolicious::Controller or write an empty chunk of data.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:48:29 GMT
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Server: Mojolicious (Perl)
29
<html><head><title>Example</title></head>
1b
<body>Example</body></html>
0
Especially in combination with long inactivity timeouts this can be
very useful for Comet (long polling). Due to limitations in some web
servers this might not work perfectly in all deployment environments.
Encoding
Templates stored in files are expected to be "UTF-8" by default, but
that can be easily changed with "encoding" in Mojolicious::Renderer.
$app->renderer->encoding('koi8-r');
All templates from the "DATA" section are bound to the encoding of the
Perl script.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
get '/heart';
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ heart.html.ep
I H Mojolicious!
Base64 encoded DATA files
Base64 encoded static files such as images can be easily stored in the
"DATA" section of your application, similar to templates.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
get '/' => {text => 'I H Mojolicious!'};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ favicon.ico (base64)
...base64 encoded image...
Inflating DATA templates
Templates stored in files get preferred over files from the "DATA"
section, this allows you to include a default set of templates in your
application that the user can later customize. The command
Mojolicious::Command::Author::inflate will write all templates and
static files from the "DATA" section into actual files in the
"templates" and "public" directories.
$ ./myapp.pl inflate
Customizing the template syntax
You can easily change the whole template syntax by loading
Mojolicious::Plugin::EPRenderer with a custom configuration.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
plugin EPRenderer => {
name => 'mustache',
template => {
tag_start => '{{',
tag_end => '}}'
}
};
get '/:name' => {name => 'Anonymous'} => 'index';
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ index.html.mustache
Hello {{= $name }}.
Mojo::Template contains the whole list of available options.
Adding your favorite template system
Maybe you would prefer a different template system than "ep", which is
provided by Mojolicious::Plugin::EPRenderer, and there is not already a
plugin on CPAN for your favorite one. All you have to do, is to add a
new "handler" with "add_handler" in Mojolicious::Renderer when
"register" is called.
package Mojolicious::Plugin::MyRenderer;
use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin', -signatures;
sub register ($self, $app, $conf) {
# Add "mine" handler
$app->renderer->add_handler(mine => sub ($renderer, $c, $output, $options) {
# Check for one-time use inline template
my $inline_template = $options->{inline};
# Check for appropriate template in "templates" directories
my $template_path = $renderer->template_path($options);
# Check for appropriate template in DATA sections
my $data_template = $renderer->get_data_template($options);
# This part is up to you and your template system :)
...
# Pass the rendered result back to the renderer
$$output = 'Hello World!';
# Or just die if an error occurs
die 'Something went wrong with the template';
});
}
1;
An "inline" template, if provided by the user, will be passed along
with the options. You can use "template_path" in Mojolicious::Renderer
to search the "templates" directories of the application, and
"get_data_template" in Mojolicious::Renderer to search the "DATA"
sections.
use Mojolicious::Lite;
plugin 'MyRenderer';
# Render an inline template
get '/inline' => {inline => '...', handler => 'mine'};
# Render a template from the DATA section
get '/data' => {template => 'test'};
app->start;
__DATA__
@@ test.html.mine
...
Adding a handler to generate binary data
By default the renderer assumes that every "handler" generates
characters that need to be automatically encoded, but this can be
easily disabled if you're generating bytes instead.
use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
use Storable qw(nfreeze);
# Add "storable" handler
app->renderer->add_handler(storable => sub ($renderer, $c, $output, $options) {
# Disable automatic encoding
delete $options->{encoding};
# Encode data from stash value
$$output = nfreeze delete $c->stash->{storable};
});
# Set "handler" value automatically if "storable" value is set already
app->hook(before_render => sub ($c, $args) {
$args->{handler} = 'storable' if exists $args->{storable} || exists $c->stash->{storable};
});
get '/' => {storable => {i => 'H mojolicious'}};
app->start;
The hook "before_render" in Mojolicious can be used to make stash
values like "storable" special, so that they no longer require a
"handler" value to be set explicitly.
# Explicit "handler" value
$c->render(storable => {i => 'H mojolicious'}, handler => 'storable');
# Implicit "handler" value (with "before_render" hook)
$c->render(storable => {i => 'H mojolicious'});
MORE
You can continue with Mojolicious::Guides now or take a look at the
Mojolicious wiki <https://github.com/mojolicious/mojo/wiki>, which
contains a lot more documentation and examples by many different
authors.
SUPPORT
If you have any questions the documentation might not yet answer, don't
hesitate to ask in the Forum <https://forum.mojolicious.org>, on Matrix
<https://matrix.to/#/#mojo:matrix.org>, or IRC
<https://web.libera.chat/#mojo>.
perl v5.34.1 2023-08-15 Mojolicious::Guides::Rendering(3)
mojolicious 9.340.0 - Generated Wed Sep 13 18:27:16 CDT 2023