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Who
is this for
This article is for those who are
looking for Perl equivalent of PHP or jsp.
What you need to know
Perl
programming, HTML, Apache administration
Introduction
The growing
trend in website development these days is to embed Perl code with
the HTML code. This is seen with the popularity of PHP and jsp. Years
ago, using CGI was sufficient to generate DHTML. Unless another
module is used to separate the HTML from the logic, debugging the
script is difficult and tedious. The script has to take care of
'print'-ing the HTML.
With HTML::Mason, the Perl script
is embedded in the HTML code. This means that the HTML skeleton is
coded and logic code is written only in portions of the script that
needs it.
Installing
HTML::Mason
HTML::Mason works with Apache 1.3 with mod_perl in
native mode. On Apache 2.0 and mod_perl 2.0, HTML::Mason runs in CGI
mode.
Installation instructions for
HTML::Mason on for Apache 1.3 and mod_perl 1.0 is straightforward.
Before installing HTML::Mason, make sure that mod_perl is already
installed on Apache. Download the module from CPAN or from the
HTML::Mason
website.
Do a :
perl Makefile
make && make test && make install
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Once installed, you will need to
configure the Apache server. Edit the httpd.conf file and make sure
you include this:
PerlModule HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler
<Location /usr/local/apache/htdocs/mason>
SetHandler perl-script
PerlHandler HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler
</Location>
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You can also use the Directory or
Files directive to make HTML::Mason work in specific directory or
files.
Installation instructions for
HTML::Mason on Apache 2.0 and mod_perl 2.0 are available at:
http://beaucox.com/mason/mason-with-apmp...
Sample HTML::Mason Code
If
you want to generate a code to show the date today, you can do this:
<%perl>
use Date::Calc;
my @today = Date::Calc->Today();
my $str = "$today[0]-$today[1]-$today[2]";
</%perl>
<html>
<body>
Today is <%$str %>
</body>
</html>
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Notice
that the Perl code is embedded in the HTML page. Perl code is
executed when the interpreter encounters a <%perl>.
Perl code ends when the interpreter encounters a </%perl>.
Likewise,
notice that you can also have a variable called $str printed with the
HTML by escaping it with a <% %>.
If you want to learn
more about HTML::Mason, you can check the documentation that comes
with the module. or visit the HTML::Mason
website.
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