# main handler 
use strict;

# this is a sub-class of my module WSC::Common which puts a
# database handle and the request object in a common object
# (as well as sets up all the other functions etc.)
use SWMetal::Init ();

# Configuration for this site
use SWMetal::Conf ();

# all the other needed modules are in the startup.pl

sub handler {
    my $r = shift;
    my $apr = Apache::Request->new($r);
    my $conf = SWMetal::Conf->new();

    my $common = SWMetal::Init->new($apr,$conf,{admin=>1});

    my %admin_scripts = (
    # Here theres a hash with referenced functions
    # that can get called.
    );

    # I call them 'scripts' because to make URLs shorter
    # I used the path_info function
    my $script = $apr->path_info();

    # some regex stuff here to strip any slashes or other
    # unwanted stuff from $script

    if(exists $admin_scripts{$script}) {
         return $admin_scripts{ $script }->($common);
    }
    else {
         return $admin_scripts{default}->($common);
    }
}

# all that works fine .. then in the called function

sub foo {
    my $common = shift;
    
    # usually there is some kind of request.
    my $apr = $common->apr; # common has an AUTOLOAD sub that returns the key of the hash based on the function name.

    # Then the problem occurs here, with the first call to param():
    my $request = $apr->param('request');

    # .... more stuff
}