NAME

RPC::ExtDirect::API::Method - Ext.Direct Method object

DESCRIPTION

This package implements an Ext.Direct Method object that holds Method's properties and can be subclassed to change its behavior.

This document does not provide an overview of a Method. For that information, see "ACTIONS AND METHODS" in RPC::ExtDirect::API.

METHOD OBJECT INTERFACE

RPC::ExtDirect::API::Method provides several public methods:

"HOOK_TYPES": Class/instance method. Returns the list of supported hook types. See "HOOKS" in RPC::ExtDirect for more information.
"new": Constructor. Returns a new RPC::ExtDirect::API::Method object. Accepts named arguments in a hash.
Parameters:

"config"

A RPC::ExtDirect::Config instance to be used with this Method.

This parameter is mandatory.

"action"

An Action name this Method belongs to.

This parameter is mandatory.

"name"

This Method's name. Should be unique among the methods in an Action.

This parameter is mandatory.

"len"

Number of parameters accepted by an ordered Method.

This parameter is mandatory for ordered Methods, and should not be defined for Methods of other calling conventions.

"params"

An arrayref with names of parameters accepted by a named Method.

This parameter is mandatory for named Methods, and should not be defined for Methods of other calling conventions.

"formHandler"

A boolean flag indicating that this Method is a Form Handler.

This parameter is mandatory for Form handler Methods, and should not be defined for Methods of other calling conventions.

"pollHandler"

A boolean flag indicating that this Method is a Poll Handler.

This parameter is mandatory for Poll handler Methods, and should not be defined for Methods of other calling conventions.

"package"

Name of the package this Method's code belongs to.

This parameter is mandatory.

"strict"

A boolean flag that enables or disables lazy parameter checking for a named Method.

This parameter is optional and should only be used with named Methods.

"before|instead|after"

A Hook definition of the specified type for this Method. See "code" in RPC::ExtDirect::API::Hook for the list of supported options.

All three of these parameters are optional.

"env_arg"

Use this parameter to indicate that this Method needs an environment object passed to it. Before RPC::ExtDirect 3.0, a Method was passed an environment object on every invocation; this behavior caused problems in certain cases.

For ordered Methods and Poll handler Methods, "env_arg" parameter should be a number for the @_ position that the env object should be spliced in. To receive the env object as the first argument, use 0; to receive it as the last argument, use some number greater than the number of parameters accepted by the Method (e.g. 99).

For named Methods and Form handler Methods, "env_arg" parameter should be a name of the hash key in which the environment object is passed.

"upload_arg"

Use this parameter to change the hash key name in which the file upload array is passed to a Form handler Method. Default is 'file_uploads'.

"decode_params"

This optional parameter may contain the list of fields that should be decoded from JSON for a formHandler Method. Does nothing for Methods with other calling conventions.

"metadata"

Use this parameter to declare that this Method supports call metadata. The value of this key should be a hashref with the following properties:

"len": Declares that this Method accepts ordered (by position) metadata with this number of mandatory values, with the number > 0. The metadata values will be passed to the Method in arrayref.
This parameter is mutually exclusive with "params" below.
"params": Declares that this Method accepts named metadata values in a hashref. The value of "params" is also arrayref with the names of mandatory metadata values. The declaration arrayref may be empty to indicate that all metadata values are optional and should not be checked for existence.
This parameter is mutually exclusive with "len" above.
"strict": Set this option to falsy value to have all metadata key-value pairs passed to the Method. The default behavior is similar to named main arguments, where all undeclared parameters will be discarded and only the declared ones will be passed to the Method.
"arg": Defines the position of the metadata argument for Ordered methods, or the name of the metadata argument for Named methods. Note that this is about the calling convention of the main arguments, not metadata itself!
For Named methods, "arg" defaults to "metadata"; for Ordered methods there is no default and an error will be raised if "arg" is omitted.

other: Any other hash key with the corresponding value will be stored in the Method object.

"get_api_definition"

Instance method. Returns a hashref with the Method's definition for the API declaration, or an empty list if the Method should not be included in the remoting API published to the client side.

If you need to affect Ext.Direct API generation, this method is the place to do it. One example option is running a check on the user's credentials, and deciding to include or exclude this particular Method from the API generated for this user.

Parameters (by position):

•: An environment object for this invocation.
The stock "get_api_definition" method does not use this environment object; it is provided to be potentially utilized in subclasses.

"get_api_definition_compat"

Instance method. Returns a hashref with the Method's definition that is backwards compatible with versions 1.x and 2.x of RPC::ExtDirect.

This method should not be used under normal circumstances.

"run"

Instance method. Runs the Method's subroutine code and returns the Result of the invocation. Accepts named arguments in a hash.

The Method subroutine code is always called as a class method. For Poll handlers, the code is called in a list context; for Methods of other calling conventions, the code is called in scalar context.

Parameters:

"arg": The actual arguments that should be passed to the Method's code. This should be an arrayref for ordered Methods and Poll handlers, or a hashref the other calling convention.
Note that the value of this parameter is the same as returned by "prepare_method_arguments" method.

"check_method_arguments"

Instance method. Accepts one positional argument, which is incoming data that should be validated as Method's arguments. A specific checker method (see below) will be executed to run the actual checks on this data; that method is expected to "die" with an error, or return 1 if the arguments are valid.

"check_ordered_arguments"

Instance method. Takes input data and checks that it's an arrayref, and it has enough elements to satisfy the "len" requirement of the Method.

"check_ordered_metadata"

Instance method. Takes input metadata and checks that it's an arrayref, and it has enough values to satisfy the metadata "len" requirement of the Method.

Metadata will only be checked for Methods that accept it.

"check_named_arguments"

Instance method. Takes input data and checks that it's a hashref, and that keys for all mandatory "params" exist in that hashref. If the Method declares empty "params", the check will pass and effectively all arguments will be passed on to the Method call.

"check_named_metadata"

Instance method. Takes input metadata and performs the checks similar to those made for named arguments.

Metadata will only be checked for Methods that accept it.

"check_formHandler_arguments"

Instance method. Takes input data and checks that it's a hashref. Since a Form Handler arguments are not known before invocation, no other checks are performed.

"check_pollHandler_arguments"

Instance method. Does not in fact run any checks, since Poll Handler Methods are not supposed to be called directly and do not receive any arguments.

"prepare_method_arguments"

Instance method. Accepts named arguments in a hash, and runs a specific preparer method (see below) on these arguments, depending on the Method's calling convention.

The return value of this method is the arguments fed to the Method's code invoked in the "run" method.

Parameters:

"env": An environment object that is to be passed to the Method's code if Method has requested it.
"input": Method arguments passed from the client side. The type of the input depends on the Method's calling convention.
"upload": Arrayref of file upload hashrefs. See "FILE UPLOADS" in RPC::ExtDirect for more information.
This parameter is only defined for Form handler methods when uploaded files are present.

"prepare_ordered_arguments": Instance method. Takes "input" arguments for the Method and returns an arrayref conformant to the ordered Method's definition. This arrayref will optionally contain env object if requested, and/or metadata.
"prepare_ordered_metadata": Instance method. Takes input metadata and returns an arrayref conformant to the Method's metadata definition.
"prepare_named_arguments": Instance method. Takes "input" arguments for the Method and returns a hashref conformant to the named Method's definition. This hashref will optionally contain env object if requested, and/or metadata.
"prepare_formHandler_arguments": Instance method. Takes "input" arguments for the Method and returns a hashref conformant to the Form Handler Method's definition. This hashref will optionally contain env object if requested, and/or metadata.
"prepare_pollHandler_arguments": Instance method. Returns an arrayref conformant to Poll handler method's definition. This arrayref will optionally contain env object if requested.

ACCESSOR METHODS

For RPC::ExtDirect::API::Method, the following accessor methods are provided:

"config": Return the RPC::ExtDirect::Config instance assigned to this Method object.
"action": Return the Action name for this Method object.
"name": Return the Method name for this Method object.
"len": Return the number of the parameters accepted by this ordered Method.
For any other calling convention, "len" should be "undef".
"params": Return the names of the mandatory parameters accepted by this named Method.
For any other calling convention, "params" should be "undef".
"formHandler": Return true if this Method is a Form Handler.
For any other calling convention, "formHandler" should be "undef".
"pollHandler": Return true if this Method is a Poll Handler.
For any other calling convention, "pollHandler" should be "undef".
"is_ordered": Return true if this is an ordered Method.
"is_named": Return true if this is a named Method.
"strict": Return false for Named methods with lazy parameter checking.
Defaults to true.
"package": Return the name of the package this Method's code belongs to.
"env_arg": Return the name or position for the environment object parameter.
See "new".
"upload_arg": Return the name of the file upload parameter for a Form handler.
See "new".
"before|instead|after": Return the Hook object for the corresponding hook slot assigned to this Method.