Every example I've seen of CGI/Perl basically a bunch of print statements containing HTML, and this doesn't seem like the best way to write a CGI app. Is there a better way to do this? Thanks.
EDIT: I've decided to use CGI::Application and HTML::Template, and use the following tutorial: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dd363fg9_77gb4hdh7b. Thanks!
Absolutely (you're probably looking at tutorials from the 90s). You'll want to pick a framework. In Perl-land these are the most popular choices:
This is a really, really big question. In short, the better way is called Model/View/Controller (aka MVC). With MVC, your application is split into three pieces.
The Model is your data and business logic. It's the stuff that makes up the core of your application.
The View is the code for presenting things to the user. In a web application, this will typically be some sort of templating system, but it could also be a PDF or Excel spreadsheet. Basically, it's the output.
Finally, you have the Controller. This is responsible for putting the Model and View together. It takes a user's request, gets the relevant model objects, and calls the appropriate view.
mpeters already mentioned several MVC frameworks for Perl. You'll also want to pick a templating engine. The two most popular are Template Toolkit and Mason.
The Perl5 Wiki provides a good (though not yet complete) list of web frameworks & templates.
The comparison articles linked in the "templates" wiki entry is worth reading. I would also recommend reading this push style templating systems article on PerlMonks.
For templating then Template Toolkit is the one I've used most and can highly recommend it. There is also an O'Reilly book and is probably the most used template system in the Perl kingdom (inside or outside of web frameworks).
Another approach which I've been drawn more and more to is non template "builder" solutions. Modules like Template::Declare & HTML::AsSubs fit this bill.
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You can also separate presentation out from code and just use a templating system without needing to bring in all the overhead of a full-blown framework. Template Toolkit can be used by itself in this fashion, as can Mason, although I tend to consider it to be more of a framework disguised as a templating system.
If you're really gung-ho about separating code from presentation, though, be aware that TT and Mason both allow (or even encourage, depending on which docs you read) executable code to be embedded in the templates. Personally, I feel that embedding code in your HTML is no better than embedding HTML in your code, so I tend to opt for HTML::Template.
Leaving the question of CGI vs MVC framework for the moment, what you're going to want is one of the output templating modules from the CPAN.
The Template Toolkit is very popular (Template.pm on CPAN) Also popular are Text::Template, HTML::Template, and HTML::Mason.
HTML::Mason is much more than a template module, and as such might be a little too heavy for a simple CGI app, but is worth investigating a little while you're deciding which would be best for you.
Text::Template is reasonably simple, and uses Perl inside the templates, so you can loop over data and perform display logic in Perl. This is seen as both a pro and con by people.
HTML::Template is also small and simple. It implements its own small set of tags for if/then/else processing, variable setting, and looping. That's it. This is seen as both a pro and a con for the exact opposite reasons as Text::Template.
Template toolkit (TT) implements a very large, perlish template language that includes looping and logic, and much more.
I used HTML::Template one, and found I wanted a few more features. I then used Text::Template with success, but found its desire to twiddle with namespaces to be a little annoying. I've come to know and love Template Toolkit. For me it just feels right. Your mileage may vary.
Of course, there is still the old "print HTML" method, sometimes a couple of print statements suffices. But you've hit upon the idea of separating your display from your main logic. Which is a good thing.
It's the first step down the road to Model/View/Controller (MVC) in which you keep separate your data model&business logic (your code that accepts the input, does something with it, and decides what needs to be output), your your input/output (Templates or print statements - HTML, PDF, etc.) , and the code that connects the two (CGI, CGI::Application, Catalyst MVC Framework, etc.). The idea being that a change to your data structure (in the Model) should not require changes to your output routines (View).
One solution that I feel strikes the right balance in the Framework/Roll-your-own dilemma is the use of three key perl modules: CGI.pm, Template Toolkit , and DBI. With these three modules you can do elegant MVC programming that is easy to write and to maintain.
All three modules are very flexible with Template Toolkit (TT) allowing you to output data in html, XML, or even pdf if you need to. You can also include perl logic in TT, even add your database interface there. This makes your CGI scripts very small and easy to maintain, especially when you use the "standard" pragma.
It also allows you to put JavaScript and AJAXy stuff in the template itself which mimics the separation between client and server.
These three modules are among the most popular on CPAN, have excellent documentation and a broad user base. Plus developing with these means you can rather quickly move to mod_perl once you have prototyped your code giving you a quick transition to Apache's embedded perl environment.
All in all a compact yet flexible toolset.