Web development framework

[Massyn]

#!/fellow/monks.pl For many years now I've been coding a solution that I use to build database driven websites, the kind you would use to capture information in tables, and build workflow type application with. I'm not a big fan of perl modules, for the main reason that the ones I'm looking for are seldom loaded at my ISP (GoDaddy). Though many modules are available, I find myself rather rewriting a bunch of code instead of using a module.

For this particular application, I'm at the point where I'm prepared to ditch everything I've developed thus far, and settle for Perl modules that could do the trick. I would rather spend time extracting the modules into do ".." statements so I can just FTP the module along with my code.

Ok, so what's my question? My question is : What perl modules would you recommend for web based database driven applications? I would like to utilize security (authentication), logon with a username & password, ability to handle sessions, ability to generate HTML tables & forms, along with all the SQL necessary to make this work.

It does feel kind of sad to dump all my code, but like I said, I think it's time to make use of what's already there. Any pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[akho]

As for Web frameworks, Catalyst is growing in popularity; CGI::Application is also popular and more lightweight.

You'll also need an ORM (Rose::DB::Object is excellent, Class::DBI not much worse) and a templating system (folks use Template::Toolkit or HTML::Template).

[akho]

Oh, and you can use modules without the do stuff; just use lib 'whatever' in your scripts.

[Massyn]

Awesome! I come from a school of programmers in the old BASIC style. I'll give lib a try... That could solve many of my problems... ++ for that!!

[mirod]

Before you embark on that rewrite, check carefully that you can indeed install and run all you need. For example, if they are no already installed, most DBDs (the layer of DBI that actually interact with the DB engine) need to be compiled and linked against the DB libraries. Same for most image manipulation tools, or XML parsers.

Others that use the same hosting service could probably give you a useful list of what's available, and what they were able to install themselves.

[dpavlin]

I would also suggest to make a look at Jifty. It's installable in your home dir (together with half of CPAN :-), has support for fastcgi which is often supported by providers and enables you to write a web application in a day (together with authentication, edit screens, ACLs and all the other boring stuff). Easy upgrade path (for example when you want to deploy new version on server) is just a added bonus.

However, I have been programming for the web for 10+ years, and it might be that I just got lazy. Having been exposed to 4GLs in 1995 or so, I still have a hard time investing effort into writing every peace of my app. If just deployment is the problem, I would suggest to move your hosting on one of virtual machine providers where you can get all root access.