Template::Plugin::URL - Plugin to construct complex URLs

NAME

Template::Plugin::URL - Plugin to construct complex URLs

SYNOPSIS

    [% USE url('/cgi-bin/foo.pl') %]

    [% url(debug = 1, id = 123) %]
       # ==> /cgi/bin/foo.pl?debug=1&amp;id=123

    [% USE mycgi = url('/cgi-bin/bar.pl', mode='browse', debug=1) %]

    [% mycgi %]
       # ==> /cgi/bin/bar.pl?mode=browse&amp;debug=1

    [% mycgi(mode='submit') %]
       # ==> /cgi/bin/bar.pl?mode=submit&amp;debug=1

    [% mycgi(debug='d2 p0', id='D4-2k[4]') %]
       # ==> /cgi-bin/bar.pl?mode=browse&amp;debug=d2%20p0&amp;id=D4-2k%5B4%5D

DESCRIPTION

The URL plugin can be used to construct complex URLs from a base stem and a hash array of additional query parameters.

The constructor should be passed a base URL and optionally, a hash array reference of default parameters and values. Used from with a Template Documents, this would look something like the following:

    [% USE url('http://www.somewhere.com/cgi-bin/foo.pl') %]
    [% USE url('/cgi-bin/bar.pl', mode='browse') %]
    [% USE url('/cgi-bin/baz.pl', mode='browse', debug=1) %]

When the plugin is then called without any arguments, the default base and parameters are returned as a formatted query string.

    [% url %]

For the above three examples, these will produce the following outputs:

    http://www.somewhere.com/cgi-bin/foo.pl
    /cgi-bin/bar.pl?mode=browse
    /cgi-bin/baz.pl?mode=browse&amp;debug=1

Additional parameters may be also be specified:

    [% url(mode='submit', id='wiz') %]

Which, for the same three examples, produces:

    http://www.somewhere.com/cgi-bin/foo.pl?mode=submit&;amp;id=wiz
    /cgi-bin/bar.pl?mode=browse&amp;id=wiz
    /cgi-bin/baz.pl?mode=browse&amp;debug=1&amp;id=wiz

A new base URL may also be specified as the first option:

    [% url('/cgi-bin/waz.pl', test=1) %]

producing

    /cgi-bin/waz.pl?test=1
    /cgi-bin/waz.pl?mode=browse&amp;test=1
    /cgi-bin/waz.pl?mode=browse&amp;debug=1&amp;test=1

The ordering of the parameters is non-deterministic due to fact that Perl's hashes themselves are unordered. This isn't a problem as the ordering of CGI parameters is insignificant (to the best of my knowledge). All values will be properly escaped thanks to some code borrowed from Lincoln Stein's CGI.pm. e.g.

    [% USE url('/cgi-bin/woz.pl') %]
    [% url(name="Elrich von Benjy d'Weiro") %]

Here the spaces and ``''' character are escaped in the output:

    /cgi-bin/woz.pl?name=Elrich%20von%20Benjy%20d%27Weiro

Alternate name may be provided for the plugin at construction time as per regular Template Toolkit syntax.

    [% USE mycgi = url('cgi-bin/min.pl') %]

    [% mycgi(debug=1) %]

Note that in the following line, additional parameters are seperated by '&', while common usage on the Web is to just use '&'. '&' is actually the Right Way to do it. See this URL for more information: http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~flavell/www/formgetbyurl.html

    /cgi-bin/waz.pl?mode=browse&amp;debug=1&amp;test=1

AUTHOR

Andy Wardley <abw@andywardley.com>

http://www.andywardley.com/|http://www.andywardley.com/

VERSION

2.59, distributed as part of the Template Toolkit version 2.10, released on 24 July 2003.

COPYRIGHT

  Copyright (C) 1996-2003 Andy Wardley.  All Rights Reserved.
  Copyright (C) 1998-2002 Canon Research Centre Europe Ltd.