NAME

MasonX::Request::WithMultiSession - Multiple sub-sessions within one "parent" session

SYNOPSIS

  PerlSetVar  MasonRequestClass  MasonX::Request::WithMultiSession

DESCRIPTION

This module subclasses "MasonX::Request::WithApacheSession" in order to allow multiple "sub-sessions" to exist within one parent session.

This can be quite useful for a web app where you want to allow the user to open multiple windows, each with a different session, but session ids are stored in a cookie.

Like "MasonX::Request::WithApacheSession", sub-sessions are shared between a request and any subrequests it creates.

METHODS

This class has an interface quite similar to that of "MasonX::Request::WithApacheSession".

session
The primary interface to this class is through the "session()" method. When this method is called without any parameters, the module looks for an existing sub-session specified by the sub-session id argument parameter (which can be in a query string or POST). This value can be overridden by explicitly passing a "sub_session_id" parameter.

If this parameter is found, an existing sub-session is returned. If this parameter is not found, a new sub-session is created.

If the "session()" method is called as "session( clone => 1 )" then a new sub-session will be created, and its contents will be the same as that of the current sub-session. This is a shallow copy of the old session hash, so objects and references are shared between them.

If "session( new => 1 )" is called, then a new, empty, sub-session is created.

You can specify the main session id to use via the "session_id" parameter.
sub_session_id
This method returns the currently active sub-session's id. Use this method to put this id into URL parameters, forms, etc. as needed.

If given a "sub_session_id" parameter, it will set the current sub-session id.
delete_sub_session
By default, this simply defaults the current sub-session. You can pass a "sub_session_id" parameter to delete a specific session.

Parameters

This module takes two parameters besides those inherited from "MasonX::Request::WithApacheSession":

multi_session_args_param / MultiSessionArgsParam
This parameter can be used to specify which parameter contains the sub-session id. By default, the module will look for a parameter called "sub_session_id".
multi_session_expire / MultiSessionExpire
This parameter specifies the number of seconds after a sub-session is accessed until it is purged. If not specified, then sub-sessions are never purged.

Sub-sessions expiration is checked when the request object goes out of scope.

USAGE

You will need to manually set the sub-session id argument parameter for each request. The easiest way to do this is to make sure that all URLs contain the sub-session id. This can be done by using a "<%filter>" block in a top-level autohandler (although this won't catch redirects), or by making sure all URLs are generated by a single component/function.

SUPPORT

Bug reports and requests for help should be sent to the mason-users list. See http://www.masonhq.com/resources/mailing_lists.html for more details.

AUTHOR

Dave Rolsky, <autarch@urth.org>

Development funded by Marigold Technologies.