NAME

Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::DBIC - Store your sessions via DBIx::Class

SYNOPSIS

    # Create a table in your database for sessions
    CREATE TABLE sessions (
        id           CHAR(72) PRIMARY KEY,
        session_data TEXT,
        expires      INTEGER
    );

    # Create the corresponding table class
    package MyApp::Schema::Session;

    use base qw/DBIx::Class/;

    __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/Core/);
    __PACKAGE__->table('sessions');
    __PACKAGE__->add_columns(qw/id session_data expires/);
    __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('id');

    1;

    # In your application
    use Catalyst qw/Session Session::Store::DBIC Session::State::Cookie/;

    __PACKAGE__->config(
        # ... other items ...
        'Plugin::Session' => {
            dbic_class => 'DBIC::Session',  # Assuming MyApp::Model::DBIC
            expires    => 3600,
        },
    );

    # Later, in a controller action
    $c->session->{foo} = 'bar';

DESCRIPTION

This Catalyst::Plugin::Session storage module saves session data in your database via DBIx::Class. It's actually just a wrapper around Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::Delegate; if you need complete control over how your sessions are stored, you probably want to use that instead.

METHODS

setup_finished

Hook into the configured session class.

session_store_dbic_class

Return the DBIx::Class class name to be passed to "$c->model". Defaults to "DBIC::Session".

session_store_dbic_id_field

Return the configured ID field name. Defaults to "id".

session_store_dbic_data_field

Return the configured data field name. Defaults to "session_data".

session_store_dbic_expires_field

Return the configured expires field name. Defaults to "expires".

session_store_model

Return the model used to find a session.

get_session_store_delegate

Load the row corresponding to the specified session ID. If none is found, one is automatically created.

session_store_delegate_key_to_accessor

Match the specified key and operation to the session ID and field name.

delete_session_data

Delete the specified session from the backend store.

delete_expired_sessions

Delete all expired sessions.

CONFIGURATION

The following parameters should be placed in your application configuration under the "Plugin::Session" key.

dbic_class

(Required) The name of the DBIx::Class that represents a session in the database. It is recommended that you provide only the part after "MyApp::Model", e.g. "DBIC::Session".

If you are using Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema, the following layout is recommended:

"MyApp::Schema" - your DBIx::Class::Schema class
"MyApp::Schema::Session" - your session table class
"MyApp::Model::DBIC" - your Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema class

This module will then use "$c->model" to access the appropriate result source from the composed schema matching the "dbic_class" name.

For more information, please see Catalyst::Model::DBIC::Schema.

expires

Number of seconds for which sessions are active.

Note that no automatic cleanup is done on your session data. To delete expired sessions, you can use the "delete_expired_sessions" method with Catalyst::Plugin::Scheduler.

id_field

The name of the field on your sessions table which stores the session ID. Defaults to "id".

data_field

The name of the field on your sessions table which stores session data. Defaults to "session_data" for compatibility with Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::DBI.

expires_field

The name of the field on your sessions table which stores the expiration time of the session. Defaults to "expires".

SCHEMA

Your sessions table should contain the following columns:

    id           CHAR(72) PRIMARY KEY
    session_data TEXT
    expires      INTEGER

The "id" column should probably be 72 characters. It needs to handle the longest string that can be returned by "generate_session_id" in Catalyst::Plugin::Session, plus another eight characters for internal use. This is less than 72 characters when SHA-1 or MD5 is used, but SHA-256 will need all 72 characters.

The "session_data" column should be a long text field. Session data is encoded using MIME::Base64 before being stored in the database.

Note that MySQL "TEXT" fields only store 64 kB, so if your session data will exceed that size you'll want to use "MEDIUMTEXT", "MEDIUMBLOB", or larger. If you configure your DBIx::Class::ResultSource to include the size of the column, you will receive warnings for this problem:

    This session requires 1180 bytes of storage, but your database
    column 'session_data' can only store 200 bytes. Storing this
    session may not be reliable; increase the size of your data field

See "add_columns" in DBIx::Class::ResultSource for more information.

The "expires" column stores the future expiration time of the session. This may be null for per-user and flash sessions.

Note that you can change the column names using the "id_field", "data_field", and "expires_field" configuration parameters. However, the column types must match the above.

AUTHOR

Daniel Westermann-Clark <danieltwc@cpan.org>

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Andy Grundman, for Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::DBI
David Kamholz, for most of the testing code (from Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::DBIC)
Yuval Kogman, for assistance in converting to Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::Delegate
Jay Hannah, for tests and warning when session size exceeds DBIx::Class storage size.

COPYRIGHT

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