Catalyst::Action::Serialize(3pm)

Usage

    package Foo::Controller::Bar;
    __PACKAGE__->config(
        'default'   => 'text/x-yaml',
        'stash_key' => 'rest',
        'map'       => {
            'text/html'          => [ 'View', 'TT', ],
            'text/x-yaml'        => 'YAML',
            'text/x-data-dumper' => [ 'Data::Serializer', 'Data::Dumper' ],
        }
    );
    sub end :ActionClass('Serialize') {}

Overview

This action will serialize the body of an HTTP Response. The serializer is selected by introspecting the HTTP Requests content-type header.

It requires that your Catalyst controller is properly configured to set up the mapping between Content Type's and Serialization classes.

The specifics of serializing each content-type is implemented as a plugin to Catalyst::Action::Serialize.

Typically, you would use this ActionClass on your "end" method. However, nothing is stopping you from choosing specific methods to Serialize:

  sub foo :Local :ActionClass('Serialize') {
     .. populate stash with data ..
  }

When you use this module, the request class will be changed to Catalyst::Request::REST.

Configuration

map

Takes a hashref, mapping Content-Types to a given serializer plugin.

default

This is the 'fall-back' Content-Type if none of the requested or acceptable types is found in the "map". It must be an entry in the "map".

stash_key

Specifies the key of the stash entry holding the data that is to be serialized. So if the value is "rest", we will serialize the data under:

  $c->stash->{'rest'}

content_type_stash_key

Specifies the key of the stash entry that optionally holds an overriding Content-Type. If set, and if the specified stash entry has a valid value, then it takes priority over the requested content types.

This can be useful if you want to dynamically force a particular content type, perhaps for debugging.

Helpful people

Daisuke Maki pointed out that early versions of this Action did not play well with others, or generally behave in a way that was very consistent with the rest of Catalyst.

Custom errors

For building custom error responses when serialization fails, you can create an ActionRole (and use Catalyst::Controller::ActionRole to apply it to the "end" action) which overrides "unsupported_media_type" and/or "serialize_bad_request" methods.

Releases

8 releases since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze); the text changed 5 times.