NAME CGI::PrintWrapper - CGI methods output to a print handle SYNOPSIS use CGI::PrintHandle; use IO::Scalar; # just an example use HTML::Stream; # continuing the example my $content = ''; my $handle = IO::Scalar->new (\$content); my $cgi = CGI::PrintHandle ($handle); my $html = HTML::Stream->new ($handle); # Not a very exciting example: $cgi->start_form; $html->STRONG->t ('I am a form.')->_STRONG; $cgi->submit; $cgi->end_form; print "$content\n";
I am a form.
DESCRIPTION CGI::PrintWrapper arranges for CGI methods to output their results by printing onto an arbitrary handle. This gets around the problem that the CGI's subs return strings. You could just call `print' yourself on the appropriate file handle, but there are many contexts in which it is cleaner to provide the extra abstraction (such as mixing CGI with HTML::Stream, the problem which prompted my solution, illustrated above). CGI::PrintWrapper creates the necessary callbacks for printing dynamically, updating the symbol table as it encounters a new CGI method. CONSTRUCTOR `new($h)' Creates a new CGI::PrintWrapper, printing the results of CGI methods onto the print handle object, `$h'. METHODS `io()' Returns the underlying print handle object. `AUTOLOAD' Initially, `CGI::PrintWrapper' has no methods (except `io'). As the caller invokes CGI methods, `AUTOLOAD' creates anonymous subroutines to perform the actual CGI method call and print the results with the print handle object. It also updates the symbol table so that future calls can bypass `AUTOLOAD'. SEE ALSO the CGI manpage, the IO::Scalar manpage, the HTML::Stream manpage, the print entry in the perlfunc manpage CGI is the canonical package for working with fill-out forms on the web. IO::Scalar is a handy package for treating a string as an object supporting IO handle semantics. HTML::Stream is a nice package for writing HTML markup and content into an IO handle with stream semantics. DIAGNOSTICS The following are the diagnostics generated by Class::Class. Items marked "(W)" are non-fatal (invoke `Carp::carp'); those marked "(F)" are fatal (invoke `Carp::croak'). No print handle (F) The caller tried to create a new `CGI::PrintWrapper' without supplying an object which supports `print'. '%s' is not a print handle (F) The caller tried to create a new `CGI::PrintWrapper' using an object which does not support `print'. BUGS AND CAVEATS So far, none, but you never know. *Caveat emptor.* AUTHORS B. K. Oxley (binkley) at Home . I am grateful to my employer, DataCraft, Inc., for time spent preparing this package for public consumption. COPYRIGHT $Id: README,v 1.4 1999/11/18 23:55:09 binkley Exp $ Copyright 1999, B. K. Oxley (binkley). This library is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.