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File: pm.info,  Node: HTML/ElementGlob,  Next: HTML/ElementRaw,  Prev: HTML/Element/traverse,  Up: Module List

Perl extension for managing HTML::Element based objects as a single object.
***************************************************************************

NAME
====

   HTML::ElementGlob - Perl extension for managing HTML::Element based
objects as a single object.

SYNOPSIS
========

     use HTML::ElementGlob;
     $element_a = new HTML::Element 'font', color => 'red';
     $element_b = new HTML::Element 'font', color => 'blue';
     $element_a->push_content('red');
     $element_b->push_content('blue');

     $p = new HTML::Element 'p';
     $p->push_content($element_a, ' and ', $element_b, ' boo hoo hoo');

     # Tag type of the glob is not really relevant unless
     # you plan on seeing the glob as_HTML()
     $eglob = new HTML::ElementGlob 'p';
     $eglob->glob_push_content($element_a, $element_b);
     # Alter both elements at once
     $eglob->attr(size => 5);

     # They still belong to their original parent
     print $p->as_HTML;

DESCRIPTION
===========

   HTML::ElementGlob is a managing object for multiple HTML::Element(3)
style elements.  The children of the glob element retain their original
parental elements and have no knowledge of the glob that manipulates them.
All methods that do not start with 'glob_' will be passed, sequentially,
to all elements contained within the glob element.  Methods starting with
'glob_' will operate on the glob itself, rather than being passed to its
foster children.

   For example, $eglob->attr(size => 3) will invoke attr(size => 3) on all
children contained by $eglob.  $eglob->glob_attr(size => 3), on the other
hand, will set the attr attribute on the glob itself.

   The tag type passed to HTML::Element::Glob is largely irrrelevant as
far as how methods are passed to children.  However, if you choose to
invoke $eglob->as_HTML(), you might want to pick a tag that would sensibly
contain the globbed children for debugging or display purposes.

   The 'glob_*' methods that operate on the glob itself are limited to
those available in an HTML::Element(3).  All other methods get passed
blindly to the globbed children, which can be enhanced elements with
arbitrary methods, such as HTML::ElementSuper(3).

   Element globs can contain other element globs.  In such cases, the
plain methods will cascade down to the leaf children.  'glob_*' methods,
of course, will not be propogated to children globs.  You will have to
rely on glob_content() to access those glob children and access their
'glob_*' methods directly.

REQUIRES
========

   HTML::ElementSuper(3)

AUTHOR
======

   Matthew P. Sisk, <`sisk@mojotoad.com'>

COPYRIGHT
=========

   Copyright (c) 1998-2000 Matthew P. Sisk.  All rights reserved. All
wrongs revenged. This program is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO
========

   HTML::Element(3), HTML::ElementSuper, HTML::ElementRaw,
HTML::Element::Table(3), perl(1).


File: pm.info,  Node: HTML/ElementRaw,  Next: HTML/ElementSuper,  Prev: HTML/ElementGlob,  Up: Module List

Perl extension for HTML::Element(3).
************************************

NAME
====

   HTML::ElementRaw - Perl extension for HTML::Element(3).

SYNOPSIS
========

     use HTML::ElementRaw;
     $er = new HTML::ElementRaw;
     $text = '<p>I would like this &nbsp; HTML to not be encoded</p>';
     $er->push_content($text);
     $h = new HTML::Element 'h2';
     $h->push_content($er);
     # Now $text will appear as you typed it, non-escaped,
     # embedded in the HTML produced by $h.
     print $h->as_HTML;

DESCRIPTION
===========

   Provides a way to graft raw HTML strings into your HTML::Element(3)
structures.  Since they represent raw text, these can only be leaves in
your HTML element tree.  The only methods that are of any real use in this
degenerate element are push_content() and as_HTML().  The push_content()
method will simply prepend the provided text to the current content.  If
you happen to pass an HTML::element to push_content, the output of the
as_HTML() method in that element will be prepended.

REQUIRES
========

   HTML::Element(3)

AUTHOR
======

   Matthew P. Sisk, <`sisk@mojotoad.com'>

COPYRIGHT
=========

   Copyright (c) 1998 Matthew P. Sisk.  All rights reserved. All wrongs
revenged. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO
========

   HTML::Element(3), HTML::ElementSuper(3), HTML::Element::Glob(3),
HTML::ElementTable(3), perl(1).


File: pm.info,  Node: HTML/ElementSuper,  Next: HTML/ElementTable,  Prev: HTML/ElementRaw,  Up: Module List

Perl extension for HTML::Element(3)
***********************************

NAME
====

   HTML::ElementSuper - Perl extension for HTML::Element(3)

SYNOPSIS
========

     use HTML::ElementSuper;

     ### Positional extension
     $e = new HTML::ElementSuper 'font';
     $sibling_number = $e->addr();
     $e2 = new HTML::ElementSuper 'p';
     $e2->push_content($e);
     #
     @coords = $e->position();
     $depth_in_pos_tree = $e->depth();

     ### Replacer extension
     $er = new HTML::ElementSuper 'font';
     # Tree beneath $er, if present, is dropped.
     $er->replace_content(new HTML::Element 'p');

     ### Wrapper extension
     $ew = new HTML::ElementSuper;
     $ew->push_content("Tickle me, baby");
     $ew->wrap_content(new HTML::Element 'font', color => 'pink');
     print $ew->as_HTML();

     ### Maskable extension
     $em = new HTML::ElementSuper 'td';
     $em->mask(1);
     print $em->as_HTML; # nada
     $em->mask(0);
     print $em->as_HTML; # $e and its children are visible

     ### Cloning of own tree or another element's tree
     ### (is this the correct clomenature?  :-)
     $a = new HTML::ElementSuper 'font', size => 2;
     $b = new HTML::ElementSuper 'font', color => 'red';
     $a_clone  = $a->clone;
     $b_clone = $a->clone($b);
     # Multiple elements can be cloned
     @clone_clones = $a_clone->clone($a_clone, $b_clone);

DESCRIPTION
===========

   HTML::ElementSuper is an extension for HTML::Element(3) that provides
several new methods to assist in element manipulation.  An
HTML::ElementSuper has the following additional properties:

     * report is coordinate position in a tree of its peers
     * replace its contents
     * wrap its contents in a new element
     * mask itself so that it and its descendants are invisible
       to traverse()
     * clone itself and other HTML::Element based object trees

   Note that these extensions were originally developed to assist in
implementing the HTML::ElementTable(3) class, but were thought to be of
general enough utility to warrant their own package.

METHODS
=======

new('tag', attr => 'value', ...)
     Return a new HTML::ElementSuper object.  Exactly like the constructor
     for HTML::Element(3), takes a tag type and optional attributes.

addr()
     Returns the position of this element in relation to its siblings
     based on the content of the parent, starting with 0.  Returns undef
     if this element has no parent. In other words, this returns the index
     of this element in the content array of the parent.

position()
     Returns the coordinates of this element in the tree it inhabits.
     This is accomplished by succesively calling addr() on ancestor
     elements until either a) an element that does not support these
     methods is found, or b) there are no more parents.  The resulting
     list is the n-dimensional coordinates of the element in the tree.

replace_content(@new_content)
     Simple shortcut method that deletes the current contents of the
     element before adding the new.

wrap_content($wrapper_element)
     Wraps the existing content in the provided element.  If the provided
     element happens to be a non-element, a push_content is performed
     instead.

mask
mask(mode)
     Toggles whether or not this element is visible to parental methods
     that visit the element tree using traverse(), such as as_HTML().
     Valid arguments for mask() are 0 and 1.  Returns the current setting
     without an argument.

     This might seem like a strange method to have, but it helps in
     managing dynamic tree structures.  For example, in
     HTML::ElementTable(3), when you expand a table cell you simply mask
     what it covers rather than destroy it.  Shrinking the table cell
     reveals that content to as_HTML() once again.

clone
clone(@elements)
     Returns a clone of elements and all of their descendants.  Without
     arguments, the element clones itself, otherwise it clones the
     elements provided as arguments. Any element can be cloned as long as
     it is HTML::Element(3) based.  This method is very handy for
     duplicating tree structures since an HTML::Element cannot have more
     than one parent at any given time...hence "tree".

REQUIRES
========

   HTML::Element(3), Data::Dumper(3)

AUTHOR
======

   Matthew P. Sisk, <`sisk@mojotoad.com'>

COPYRIGHT
=========

   Copyright (c) 1998-2000 Matthew P. Sisk.  All rights reserved. All
wrongs revenged. This program is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO
========

   HTML::Element(3), HTML::ElementGlob(3), HTML::ElementRaw(3),
HTML::ElementTable(3), perl(1).


File: pm.info,  Node: HTML/ElementTable,  Next: HTML/Embperl/Mail,  Prev: HTML/ElementSuper,  Up: Module List

Perl extension for manipulating a table composed of HTML::Element style components.
***********************************************************************************

NAME
====

   HTML::ElementTable - Perl extension for manipulating a table composed
of HTML::Element style components.

SYNOPSIS
========

     use HTML::ElementTable;
     # Create a table 0..10 x 0..12
     $t = new HTML::ElementTable maxrow => 10, maxcol => 12;

     # Populate cells with coordinates
     $t->table->push_position;

     # Manipulate <TABLE> tag
     $t->attr('cellspacing',0);
     $t->attr('border',1);
     $t->attr('bgcolor','#DDBB00');

     # Manipulate entire table - optimize on <TR> or pass to all <TD>
     $t->table->attr('align','left');
     $t->table->attr('valign','top');

     # Manipulate rows (optimizes on <TR> if possible)
     $t->row(0,2,4,6)->attr('bgcolor','#9999FF');

     # Manipulate columns (all go to <TD> tags within column)
     $t->col(0,4,8,12)->attr('bgcolor','#BBFFBB');

     # Manipulate boxes (all go to <TD> elements
     # unless it contains full rows, then <TR>)
     $t->box(7,1 => 10,3)->attr('bgcolor','magenta');
     $t->box(7,7 => 10,5)->attr('bgcolor','magenta');
     $t->box(8,9 => 9,11)->attr('bgcolor','magenta');
     $t->box(7,10 => 10,10)->attr('bgcolor','magenta');

     # individual <TD> or <TH> attributes
     $t->cell(8,6)->attr('bgcolor','#FFAAAA');
     $t->cell(9,6)->attr('bgcolor','#FFAAAA');
     $t->cell(7,9, 10,9, 7,11, 10,11)->attr('bgcolor','#FFAAAA');

     # Take a look
     print $t->as_HTML;

DESCRIPTION
===========

   HTML::ElementTable provides a highly enhanced HTML::ElementSuper
structure with methods designed to easily manipulate table elements by
using coordinates.  Elements can be manipulated in bulk by individual
cells, arbitrary groupings of cells, boxes, columns, rows, or the entire
table.

PUBLIC METHODS
==============

   Table coordinates start at 0,0 in the upper left cell.

   CONSTRUCTOR

new()
new(maxrow => row, maxcol => col)
     Return a new HTML::ElementTable object.  If the number of rows and
     columns were provided, all elements required for the rows and columns
     will be initialized as well.  See extent().

   TABLE CONFIGURATION

extent()
extent(maxrow, maxcolumn)
     Set or return the extent of the current table.  The *maxrow* and
     *maxcolumn* parameters indicate the maximum row and column coordinates
     you desire in the table.  These are the coordinates of the lower
     right cell in the table, starting from (0,0) at the upper left.
     Providing a smaller extent than the current one will shrink the table
     with no ill effect, provided you do not mind losing the information
     in the clipped cells.

maxrow()
     Set or return the coordinate of the last row.

maxcol()
     Set or return the coordinate of the last column.

   ELEMENT ACCESS

   Unless accessing a single element, most table element access is
accomplished through *globs*, which are collections of elements that
behave as if they were a single element object.

   Whenever possible, globbed operations are optimized into the most
appropriate element.  For example, if you set an attribute for a row glob,
the attribute will be set either on the <TR> element or the collected <TD>
elements, whichever is appropriate.

   See `HTML::ElementGlob(3)' in this node for more information on element
globs.

cell(row,col,[row2,col2],[...])
     Access an individual cell or collection of cells by their coordinates.

row(row,[row2,...])
     Access the contents of a row or collection of rows by row coordinate.

col(col,[col2,...])
     Access the contents of a column or collection of columns by column
     coordinate.

box(row_a1,col_a1,row_a2,col_a2,[row_b1,col_b1,row_b2,col_b2],[...])
     Access the contents of a span of cells, specified as a box consisting
     of two sets of coordinates.  Multiple boxes can be specified.

table()
     Access all cells in the table.  This is different from manipulating
     the table object itself, which is reserved for such things as
     CELLSPACING and other attributes specific to the <TABLE> tag.
     However, since table() returns a glob of cells, if the attribute is
     more appropriate for the top level <TABLE> tag, it will be placed
     there rather than in each <TR> tag or every <TD> tag.

   ELEMENT/GLOB METHODS

   The interfaces to a single table element or a glob of elements are
identical.  All methods available from the HTML::ElementSuper class are
also available to a table element or glob of elements.  See
`HTML::ElementSuper(3)' in this node for details on these methods.

   Briefly, here are some of the more useful methods provided by
HTML::ElementSuper:

attr()
push_content()
replace_content()
wrap_content()
clone([element])
mask([mode])
   TABLE SPECIFIC EXTENSIONS

blank_fill([mode])
     Set or return the current fill mode for blank cells. The default is 0
     for HTML::Element::Table elements.  When most browsers render tables,
     if they are empty you will get a box the color of your browser
     background color rather than the BGCOLOR of that cell.  When enabled,
     empty cells are provided with an '&nbsp;', or invisible content,
     which will trigger the rendering of the BGCOLOR for that cell.

NOTES ON GLOBS
==============

   Globbing was a convenient way to treat arbitrary collections of table
cells as if they were a single HTML element.  Methods are generally passed
blindly and sequentially to the elements they contain.

   Most of the time, this is fairly intuitive, such as when you are
setting the attributes of the cells.

   Other times, it might be problematic, such as with push_content().  Do
you push the same object to all of the cells? HTML::Element based classes
only support one parent, so this breaks if you try to push the same
element into multiple parental hopefuls.  In the specific case of
push_content() on globs, the elements that eventually get pushed are
clones of the originally provided content.  It works, but it is not
necessarily what you expect.  An incestuous HTML element tree is probably
not what you want anyway.

   See `HTML::ElementGlob(3)' in this node for more details on how globs
work.

REQUIRES
========

   HTML::ElementSuper, HTML::ElementGlob

AUTHOR
======

   Matthew P. Sisk, <`sisk@mojotoad.com'>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
================

   Thanks to William R. Ward for some conceptual nudging.

COPYRIGHT
=========

   Copyright (c) 1998-2000 Matthew P. Sisk.  All rights reserved. All
wrongs revenged. This program is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO
========

   A useful page of HTML::ElementTable examples can be found at
http://www.mojotoad.com/sisk/projects/HTML-Element-Extended/examples.html.

   HTML::ElementSuper(3), HTML::ElementGlob(3), HTML::Element(3), perl(1).


File: pm.info,  Node: HTML/Embperl/Mail,  Next: HTML/Embperl/Session,  Prev: HTML/ElementTable,  Up: Module List

Sends results from Embperl via E-Mail
*************************************

NAME
====

   HTML::Embperl::Mail - Sends results from Embperl via E-Mail

SYNOPSIS
========

     use HTML::Embperl::Mail ;
     
     HTML::Embperl::Mail::Execute ({inputfile => 'template.epl',
                                    subject   => 'Test HTML::Embperl::Mail::Execute',
                                    to        => 'email@foo.org'}) ;

DESCRIPTION
===========

   *HTML::Embperl::Mail* uses *HTML::Embperl* to process a page template
and send the result out via EMail. Currently only plain text mails are
supported. A later version may add support for HTML mails. Because of that
fact, normal *Embperl* HTML processing is disabled per Default (see
`options' in this node below).

Execute
-------

   The Execute function can handle all the parameter that
`HTML::Embperl::Execute' does. Addtionaly the following parameters are
recognized:

from
     gives the sender e-mail address

to
     gives the recipient address(es). Multiply addresses can either be
     separated by semikolon or given as an array ref.

cc
     gives the recipient address(es) which should receive a carbon copy.
     Multiply addresses can either be separated by semikolon or given as
     an array ref.

bcc
     gives the recipient address(es) which should receive a blind carbon
     copy. Multiply addresses can either be separated by semikolon or
     given as an array ref.

subject
     gives the subject line

reply-to
     the given address is insert as reply address

mailheaders
     Array ref of additional mail headers

mailhost
     Specifies which host to use as SMTP server.  Default is *localhost*.

mailhelo
     Specifies which host/domain to use in the HELO/EHLO command.  A
     reasonable default is normaly choosen by *Net::SMTP*, but depending
     on your installation it may neccessary to set it manualy.

maildebug
     Set to 1 to enable debugging of mail transfer.

options
     If no options are given the following are used per default:
     *optDisableHtmlScan*, *optRawInput*, *optKeepSpaces*, *optReturnError*

escmode
     In contrast to normal *Embperl* escmode defaults to zero (no escape)

errors
     As in `HTML::Embperl::Execute' you can specify an array ref, which
     returns all the error messages from template processing. If you don't
     specify this parameter Execute will die when an error occurs.

Configuration
-------------

   Some default values could be setup via environement variables

EMBPERL_MAILHOST
----------------

   Specifies which host to use as SMTP server.  Default is *localhost*.

EMBPERL_MAILHELO
----------------

   Specifies which host/domain to use in the HELO/EHLO command.  A
reasonable default is normaly choosen by *Net::SMTP*, but depending on
your installation it may neccessary to set it manualy.

EMBPERL_MAILFROM
----------------

   Specifies which the email address that is used as sender.  Default is
*www-server@server_name*.

EMBPERL_MAILDEBUG
-----------------

   Debug setting for Net::SMTP. Default is 0.

Author
======

   G. Richter (richter@dev.ecos.de)

See Also
========

   perl(1), HTML::Embperl, Net::SMTP


File: pm.info,  Node: HTML/Embperl/Session,  Next: HTML/EmbperlObject,  Prev: HTML/Embperl/Mail,  Up: Module List

HTML::Embperl::Session
**********************

NAME
====

   HTML::Embperl::Session

DESCRIPTION
===========

   An adaptation of Apache::Session to work with HTML::Embperl

SYNOPSIS
========

Addtional Attributes for TIE
----------------------------

lazy
     By Specifing this attribute, you tell Apache::Session to not do any
     access to the object store, until the first read or write access to
     the tied hash. Otherwise the tie function will make sure the hash
     exist or creates a new one.

create_unknown
     Setting this to one causes Apache::Session to create a new session
     with the given id (or a new id, depending on recreate_id) when the
     specified session id does not exists. Otherwise it will die.

recreate_id
     Setting this to one causes Apache::Session to create a new session id
     when the specified session id does not exists.

object_store
     Specify the class for the object store. (The Apache::Session:: prefix
     is optional) Only for Apache::Session 1.00.

lock_manager
     Specify the class for the lock manager. (The Apache::Session:: prefix
     is optional) Only for Apache::Session 1.00.

Store
     Specify the class for the object store. (The Apache::Session::Store
     prefix is optional) Only for Apache::Session 1.5x.

Lock
     Specify the class for the lock manager. (The Apache::Session::Lock
     prefix is optional) Only for Apache::Session 1.5x.

Generate
     Specify the class for the id generator. (The
     Apache::Session::Generate prefix is optional) Only for
     Apache::Session 1.5x.

Serialize
     Specify the class for the data serializer. (The
     Apache::Session::Serialize prefix is optional) Only for
     Apache::Session 1.5x.

   Example using attrubtes to specfiy store and object classes instead of
a derived class:

     use HTML::Embperl::Session;

     tie %session, 'HTML::Embperl::Session', undef,
        {
        object_store => 'DBIStore',
        lock_manager => 'SysVSemaphoreLocker',
        DataSource => 'dbi:Oracle:db'
        };

   NOTE: HTML::Embperl::Session will require the nessecary additional perl
modules for you.

Addtional Methods
-----------------

setid
     Set the session id for futher accesses.

getid
     Get the session id. The difference to using $session{_session_id} is,
     that in lazy mode, getid will not create a new session id, if it
     doesn't exists.

cleanup
     Writes any pending data, releases all locks and deletes all data from
     memory.

AUTHORS
=======

   Gerald Richter <richter@dev.ecos.de> is the current maintainer.

   This class was written by Jeffrey Baker (jeffrey@kathyandjeffrey.net)
but it is taken wholesale from a patch that Gerald Richter
(richter@ecos.de) sent me against Apache::Session.


File: pm.info,  Node: HTML/EmbperlObject,  Next: HTML/Entities,  Prev: HTML/Embperl/Session,  Up: Module List

Extents HTML::Embperl for building whole website with reusable components and objects
*************************************************************************************

NAME
====

   HTML::EmbperlObject - Extents HTML::Embperl for building whole website
with reusable components and objects

SYNOPSIS
========

     <Location /foo>
         PerlSetEnv EMBPERL_OBJECT_BASE base.htm
         PerlSetEnv EMBPERL_FILESMATCH "\.htm.?|\.epl$"
         SetHandler perl-script
         PerlHandler HTML::EmbperlObject
         Options ExecCGI
     </Location>

DESCRIPTION
===========

   *HTML::EmbperlObject* allows you to build object-oriented (OO) websites
using HTML components which implement inheritance via subdirectories. This
enables elegant architectures and encourages code reuse. The use of
inheritance also enables a website-wide "look and feel" to be specified in
a single HTML file, which is then used as a template for every other page
on the site. This template can include other modules which can be
overridden in subdirectories; even the template itself can be overridden.
In a nutshell, EmbperlObject makes the design of large websites much more
intuitive, allowing object-oriented concepts to be utilised to the fullest
while staying within the "rapid application development" model of Perl and
HTML.

   *HTML::EmbperlObject* is basicly a mod_perl handler or could be invoked
offline and helps you to build a whole page out of smaller parts. Basicly
it does the following:

   When a request comes in, a page, which name is specified by
`EMBPERL_OBJECT_BASE' in this node, is searched in the same directory as
the requested page. If the pages isn't found, EmbperlObject walking up the
directory tree until it finds the page, or it reaches `DocumentRoot' or
the directory specified by `EMBPERL_OBJECT_STOPDIR' in this node.

   This page is then called as frame for building the real page.
Addtionaly EmbperlObject sets the search path to contain all directories
it had to walk before finding that page.  If `EMBPERL_OBJECT_STOPDIR' in
this node is set the path contains all directories up to the in
EMBPERL_OBJECT_STOPDIR specified one.

   This frame page can now include other pages, using the
`HTML::Embperl::Execute' method.  Because the search path is set by
EmbperlObject the included files are searched in the directories starting
at the directory of the original request walking up thru the directory
which contains the base page. This means that you can have common files,
like header, footer etc.  in the base directory and override them as
necessary in the subdirectory.

   To include the original requested file, you need to call Execute with a
'*' as filename.  To call the the same file, but in an upper directory you
can use the special shortcut `../*'.

   Additionaly EmbperlObject sets up a inherence hierachie for you: The
requested page inherit from the base page and the base page inherit from a
class which could be specified by EMBPERL_OBJECT_HANDLER_CLASS, or if
EMBPERL_OBJECT_HANDLER_CLASS is not set, from `HTML::Embperl::Req'. That
allows you to define methods in base page and overwrite them as neccessary
in the original requested files. For this purpose a request object, which
is blessed into the package of the requested page, is given as first
parameter to each page (in `$_[0]'). Because this request object is a
hashref, you can also use it to store additional data, which should be
available in all components.  *Embperl* does not use this hash itself, so
you are free to store whatever you want.  Methods can be ordinary Perl
sub's (defined with [! sub foo { ... } !] ) or Embperl sub's (defined with
[$sub foo $] .... [$endsub $]) .

Runtime configuration
=====================

   The runtime configuration is done by setting environment variables, in
your web server's configuration file.

EMBPERL_DECLINE
---------------

   Perl regex which files should be ignored by EmbperlObject

EMBPERL_FILESMATCH
------------------

   Perl regex which files should be processed by EmbperlObject

EMBPERL_OBJECT_BASE
-------------------

   Name of the base page to search for

EMBPERL_OBJECT_STOPDIR
----------------------

   Directory where to stop searching for the base page

EMBPERL_OBJECT_ADDPATH
----------------------

   Additional directories where to search for pages. Directories are
separated by `;' (on Unix : works also). This path is always appended to
the searchpath.

EMBPERL_OBJECT_FALLBACK
-----------------------

   If the requested file is not found the file given by
EMBPERL_OBJECT_FALLBACK is displayed instead. If EMBPERL_OBJECT_FALLBACK
isn't set a staus 404, NOT_FOUND is returned as usual. If the fileame
given in EMBPERL_OBJECT_FALLBACK doesn't contain a path, it is searched
thru the same directories as EMBPERL_OBJECT_BASE.

EMBPERL_OBJECT_HANDLER_CLASS
----------------------------

   If you specify this call the template base and the requested page
inherit all methods from this class. This class must contain
`HTML::Embperl::Req' in his  @ISA array.

Execute
=======

   You can use EmbperlObject also offline. You can do this by calling the
function `HTML::EmbperlObject::Execute'. Execute takes a hashref as
argument, which can contains the same parameters as the
`HTML::Embperl::Execute' function. Additionaly you may specify the
following parameters:

object_base
     same as $ENV{EMBPERL_OBJECT_BASE}

object_addpath
     same as $ENV{EMBPERL_OBJECT_ADDPATH}

object_stopdir
     same as $ENV{EMBPERL_OBJECT_STOPDIR}

object_fallback
     same as $ENV{EMBPERL_OBJECT_FALLBACK}

object_handler_class
     same as $ENV{EMBPERL_OBJECT_HANDLER_CLASS}

   See also the object and isa parameters in Embperl's Execute function,
on how to setup additional inherence and how to create Perl objects out of
Embperl pages.

Basic Example
=============

   With the following setup:

     <Location /foo>
        PerlSetEnv EMBPERL_OBJECT_BASE base.htm
        PerlSetEnv EMBPERL_FILESMATCH "\.htm.?|\.epl$"
        SetHandler perl-script
        PerlHandler HTML::EmbperlObject
        Options ExecCGI
     </Location>

   *Directory Layout:*

     /foo/base.htm
     /foo/head.htm
     /foo/foot.htm
     /foo/page1.htm
     /foo/sub/head.htm
     /foo/sub/page2.htm

   */foo/base.htm:*

     <html>
     <head>
     <title>Example</title>
     </head>
     <body>
     [- Execute ('head.htm') -]
     [- Execute ('*') -]
     [- Execute ('foot.htm') -]
     </body>
     </html>

   */foo/head.htm:*

     <h1>head from foo</h1>

   */foo/sub/head.htm:*

     <h1>another head from sub</h1>

   */foo/foot.htm:*

     <hr> Footer <hr>

   */foo/page1.htm:*

     PAGE 1

   */foo/sub/page2.htm:*

     PAGE 2

   */foo/sub/index.htm:*

     Index of /foo/sub

   If you now request *http://host/foo/page1.htm* you will get the
following page

     <html>
      <head>
      <title>Example</title>
      </head>
      <body>
      <h1>head from foo</h1>
      PAGE 1
      <hr> Footer <hr>
      </body>
      </html>

   If you now request *http://host/foo/sub/page2.htm* you will get the
following page

     <html>
      <head>
      <title>Example</title>
      </head>
      <body>
      <h1>another head from sub</h1>
      PAGE 2
      <hr> Footer <hr>
      </body>
      </html>

   If you now request *http://host/foo/sub/* you will get the following
page

     <html>
      <head>
      <title>Example</title>
      </head>
      <body>
      <h1>another head from sub</h1>
      Index of /foo/sub
      <hr> Footer <hr>
      </body>
      </html>


Example for using method calls
==============================

   (Everything not given here is the same as in the example above)

   */foo/base.htm:*

     [!

     sub new
        {
        my $self = shift ;

     # here we attach some data to the request object
     $self -> {fontsize} = 3 ;
     }

     # Here we give a default title
     sub title { 'Title not given' } ;

     !]

     [-
     
     # get the request object of the current request
     $req = shift ;

     # here we call the method new
     $req -> new ;

     -]

     <html>
     <head>
     <title>[+ $req -> title +]</title>
     </head>
     <body>
     [- Execute ('head.htm') -]
     [- Execute ('*') -]
     [- Execute ('foot.htm') -]
     </body>
     </html>

   */foo/head.htm:*

     [#
        here we use the fontsize
        Note that
          $foo = $_[0]
        is the same as writing
          $foo = shift
     #]

     <font size=[+ $_[0] -> {fontsize} +]>header</font>

   */foo/sub/page2.htm:*

     [!

     sub new
        {
        my $self = shift ;

     # here we overwrite the new method form base.htm
     $self -> {fontsize} = 5 ;
     }

     # Here we overwrite the default title
     sub title { 'Title form page 2' } ;

     !]

     PAGE 2


Author
======

   G. Richter (richter@dev.ecos.de)

See Also
========

   perl(1), HTML::Embperl, mod_perl, Apache httpd


File: pm.info,  Node: HTML/Entities,  Next: HTML/Faq,  Prev: HTML/EmbperlObject,  Up: Module List

Encode or decode strings with HTML entities
*******************************************

NAME
====

   HTML::Entities - Encode or decode strings with HTML entities

SYNOPSIS
========

     use HTML::Entities;

     $a = "V&aring;re norske tegn b&oslash;r &#230res";
     decode_entities($a);
     encode_entities($a, "\200-\377");

DESCRIPTION
===========

   This module deals with encoding and decoding of strings with HTML
character entities.  The module provides the following functions:

decode_entities($string)
     This routine replaces HTML entities found in the $string with the
     corresponding ISO-8859/1 (or with perl-5.7 or better Unicode)
     character.  Unrecognized entities are left alone.

encode_entities($string, [$unsafe_chars])
     This routine replaces unsafe characters in $string with their entity
     representation.  A second argument can be given to specify which
     characters to concider as unsafe.  The default set of characters to
     expand are control chars, high-bit chars and the '<', '&', '>' and '"'
     characters.

   Both routines modify the string passed as the first argument if called
in a void context.  In scalar and array contexts the encoded or decoded
string is returned (and the argument string is left unchanged).

   If you prefer not to import these routines into your namespace you can
call them as:

     use HTML::Entities ();
     $encoded = HTML::Entities::encode($a);
     $decoded = HTML::Entities::decode($a);

   The module can also export the %char2entity and the %entity2char hashes
which contain the mapping from all characters to the corresponding
entities.

COPYRIGHT
=========

   Copyright 1995-2001 Gisle Aas. All rights reserved.

   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.


File: pm.info,  Node: HTML/Faq,  Next: HTML/Features,  Prev: HTML/Entities,  Up: Module List

embed Perl code in your HTML docs
*********************************

NAME
====

   Embperl FAQ - embed Perl code in your HTML docs

CONTENTS
========

`"Downloading, Compiling & Installing"' in this node
`"Common Problems"' in this node
`"Common Questions"' in this node
`"Escaping & Unescaping"' in this node
`"Debugging"' in this node
`"Customizing"' in this node
`"Optimizing & Fine Tuning"' in this node
`"Additional Help"' in this node
Downloading, Compiling & Installing
===================================

   For basics on downloading, compiling, and installing, please see the
`INSTALL' in this node in the Embperl documentation. Please be sure to
load Embperl at server startup - if you do not, various problems may
result. An exception to that rule is when you have compiled mod_perl with
*USE_DSO*. In this case you *must not* load Embperl at server statup,
neither via an use in your startup.pl file, nor via PerlModule from your
httpd.conf.

Is there a binary distribution of Embperl for Unix?
---------------------------------------------------

   No.

Is there a binary distribution of Embperl for Win32?
----------------------------------------------------

   Win NT/95/98 binarys for Apache/perl/mod_perl/Embperl are available
from ftp://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/pub/other/ . A european mirror is at
http://www.robert.cz/misc/ .

I want to run Embperl with mod_perl under Apache. In what order should I do the compiling?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   First mod_perl and Apache, then Embperl.

I'm getting:
------------

   ../apache_1.3.0/src/include/conf.h:916: regex.h: No such file or
directory

   Try compiling Embperl again, like this:

     make DEFS=-DUSE_HSREGEX

I'm trying to build HTML::Embperl, and while running 'make' i get:
------------------------------------------------------------------

   cc: Internal compiler error: program cc1 got fatal signal 11 make: ***
[epmain.o] Error 1

   GCC croaking with signal 11 frequently indicates hardware problems.
See http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/

I have a lot of errors in 'make test' from mod_perl when using Embperl
----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Try recompiling Perl and all modules - this can sometimes make those
annoying error messages disappear!

How can I prevent 'make test' from running some of the tests?
-------------------------------------------------------------

   For example, I don't allow CGI scripts, so 'make test' fails at CGI. How
do I run just the other tests?

   Try:

     $ make test TESTARGS="--help"
     # and for just offline and mod_perl:
     $ make test TESTARGS="-hoe"

Running 'make test' fails with an error message at loading of Embperl  (even though mod_perl compiled and tested cleanly!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   see "I get symbol ap_* undefined/cannot resolve ap_*"

I get symbol ap_* undefined/cannot resolve ap_*
-----------------------------------------------

   This can happen when symbols in the Apache binary can not be found or
are not being resolved correctly.

   Some OS do this (for instance bsdos), and it can also happen if your
Apache binary is set to strip symbol information out from binaries.

   Try:

  1. make clean

  2. perl Makefile.PL NOTE: answer _no_ to mod_perl support. (This is
     important!)

  3. make test
        If that works, it means that your installation of Embperl is OK,
but is having problems resolving symbols with Apache.

   Try rebuilding Apache and mod_perl from scratch, and make sure you do
not strip symbols out of either.

   On some systems/linker you need to tell the linker explicitly to export
such symbols. For example FreeBSD linker needs the `-export-dynamic'
option.

   If you don't succeed with this approach, try statically linking Embperl
to Apache/mod_perl (please see the next question for step-by-step
instructions on how to do this).

How can I build a statically-linked copy of Embperl with mod_perl  support?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  1. go to your mod_perl directory, change to src/modules/perl and edit
     the Makefile so that it contains the line
          #STATIC_EXTS = Apache Apache::Constants HTML::Embperl

  2. add a definition for EPDIR and change the ONJ= line so that it looks
     like this: EPDIR=/usr/msrc/embperl OBJS=$(PERLSRC:.c=.o)
     $(EPDIR)/Embperl.o $(EPDIR)/epmain.o $(EPDIR)/epio.o (EP
     DIR)/epeval.o $(EPDIR)/epcmd.o $(EPDIR)/epchar.o $(EPDIR)/eputil.o

  3. go to the mod_perl directory and run
          perl Makefile.PL

  4. go to the Embperl directory and do
          make clean
          perl Makefule.PL
          make

     (to compile in mod_perl support)

  5. go back to the mod_perl directory and remake Apache by typing
          make

     Now you have successfully built a httpd with statically-linked
     Embperl.

     NOTE: If you want to stop here, you can skip to step 11. and run a
     'make install' in the Embperl directory to finish.

     But if you want to run Embperl tests and/or if you want to be able to
     use Embperl in offline or "vanilla" CGI mode, we need to continue:

  6. go back to the Embperl directory

  7. backup the file test/conf/config.pl

  8. now build Embperl again but _without_ mod_perl support
          make clean
          perl Makefile.PL
          make

  9. restore your saved config.pl to test/conf/config.pl (without this
     step, only the offline mode would be tested)

 10. run 'make test' for Embperl

 11. do 'make install' for Embperl
        NOTE: You should do it in this order, or it may not work.

   NOTE: It seems to be necessary to load Embperl at server startup,
either by PerlModule or in a PerlScript. See next question on how to do
this.

How do I load Embperl at server startup?
----------------------------------------

   You can load Embperl at server startup by PerlModule or in a startup.pl:

  1. edit your  srm.conf file to read:
          PerlModule HTML::Embperl

  2. edit your startup.pl file to read:
          use HTML::Embperl

        NOTE 1: Either of these approaches can often 'fix' SIGSEVs in any
mod_perl handler, not just Embperl.

   NOTE 2: When mod_perl is compiled as loadable module (i.e. with USE_DSO)
you *must not* load Embperl at server startup time!

make test fails with a SIGxxxx, how can I obtain a stack backtrace from gdb?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   The eaiest way is

     make install            -> if Embperl is installed, it's easier
     gdb perl                -> start the debugger with perl binary
     set args test.pl        -> set the arguments for perl
     r                       -> start the program

     -> Here you should receive the signal

     share                   -> makes sure all symbols are really loaded
     bt                      -> show the backtrace

   To get some more information it would be a good idea to compile Embperl
with debugging infomation enabled. Therefor do

How do I build Embperl with debugging informations
--------------------------------------------------

edit the Makefile
search for the line starting with 'CC = ' add the -g switch to the end of the line
search for the line starting with 'LDDFLAGS = ' add the -g switch to the end of the line
type make to build Embperl with debugging infomation
   now start the gdb as decribed before.

make test fails with SIGXFSZ
----------------------------

   This may occur when the filesize limit for the account, either test is
running as or the test httpd, is too small. Embperl make test generates a
really large logfile! Yu must increase the filesize limit for that
accounts.

Embperl on SCO Unix
-------------------

   >From Red Plait

   My OS is SCO Unix 3.2v4.2, Apache 1.3.4, perl 5.004_4, mod_perl 1.18 and
Embperl-1.1.1

   I done following:

  1. I made HTML-Embperl-1.1.1 with no mod_perl support ( when I builded it
     with mod_perl 1.18 I can`t link it because it don`t finds ap_XXX
     functions.  When I manually insert src/main/libmain.a from Apache
     1.3.4 I got message "Symbol main is multiple defined in
     /src/main/libmain.a. and perlmain.o" ). Then I "make test" - all
     tests was O`k. After this I "make clean", "perl Makefile.pl" with
     mod_perl support and "make install"

  2. I installed mod_perl and "perl Makefile.PL", then "make"

  3. because I have`nt dynamical loading ( very old and buggy OS ) I had to
     manually change src/modules/perl/perlxsi.c to insert bootstraps
     function`s and it`s invocations and also /src/Makefile to manually
     insert libXXX.a libraries

  4. In access.conf I insert code:
          PerlModule HTML::Embperl
          <Directory /my_dir>
           SetHandler perl-script
           PerlHandler HTML::Embperl::handler
          </Directory>


Embperl and mod_perl on AIX
---------------------------

   You need at least mod_perl 1.22. For mod_perl 1.22 and higher Embperl
should compile out of the box on AIX. If you run into problems with
undefined symbols (like `ap_*') make sure you have the newest mod_perl
version (as of this writing this is mod_perl 1.24_01).

Embperl does not write to the logfile, because of missing permissions of the user Apache runs as.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   The apache server is started as root, then set the effective uid to
user "www", who can then write to the embperl logfile (owned by root) file
handle that is passed along.  However, if this log file handle is later
accidentally closed, then reopen, the www user would have problem writing
to it?

   The reopen is only done when the logfile name changes. As log as you
don't change the name on the logfile, the logfile will stay open.

   The problem (in this case) is, that Embperl init function ,(Init in
epmain.c) calls OpenLog will an second argument of zero. Which will only
save the filename. The log will actually opened on the first write to it
(or at the start of the first request). At this time your Apache has
alreay switch to user www. This is done to allow to change the logfile
name before an request, but after the init is already called (which is
done when you or Apache "use" the module)

   The current solutions is to write something to the log, before Apache
changes it's user (i.e. in the startup.pl)

Is it possible to install EmbPerl into a private directory on my Unix/Linux Internet Service Provider account of which I have no root privilege?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Like any other Perl module it can. Read "perldoc ExtUtils::MakeMaker",
to see which parameters are needed for Makefile.PL to change the
installation directory. Additionally, you have to change the @INC path to
contain your private directory and possibly paths to other object files.

   Here are the brief details:

   Requirements:

   * At least Perl 5.004_04

   * cc or gcc (your isp must give you access to the gcc compiler)

   * URI

   * MIME::Base64

   * HTML::Parser

   * HTML::HeadParser

   * Digest::MD5

   * libnet

   * libwww

   * File::Spec (I believe you may have to install this too if you are
     using Perl 5.004_04 as it may not be a standard module)

   *Direction*:

   * Get your copy of EmbPerl (HTML-Embperl-x.x.tar.gz)

   * % tar -xvzf HTML-Embperl-x.x.tar.gz

   * % cd HTML-Embperl-x.x

   * % perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/to/your/private/dir

   * % make

   * % make test

   * % make install

   Replace /to/your/private/dir with the path to the directory you want
the  module to be placed in. Now preface your CGI scripts with something
like  this:

   [Alternative 1]

     #!/usr/bin/perl -wT
     use CGI::Carp qw( fatalsToBrowser ); #recommend using this to report errors on die or warn to browser
     
     use lib '/to/your/private/dir/lib'; #for FILE::Spec
     use lib '/to/your/private/dir/'; #to find Embperl
     use lib '/to/your/private/dir/i386-linux/auto/HTML/Embperl'; #to find Embperl compiled stuff
     
     #if for some very weird reason the above 'use lib' pragma directive doesn't work, see Alternative 2
     
     use HTML::Embperl;
     
     #your code below ...

   [Alternative 2]

     #!/usr/bin/perl -wT
     use CGI::Carp qw( fatalsToBrowser ); #recommend using this to report errors on die or warn to browser
     
     BEGIN {
     	unshift @INC, '/to/your/private/dir/lib'; #for FILE::Spec
     	unshift @INC, '/to/your/private/dir/'; #to find Embperl
     	unshift @INC, '/to/your/private/dir/i386-linux/auto/HTML/Embperl'; #to find Embperl compiled stuff
     }
     
     use HTML::Embperl;
     
     #your code below ...

   When you make test, you may encounter superfluous warnings, you may
want to change the test.pl that ships with EmbPerl from

     BEGIN
         {
         $fatal  = 1 ;

   to

     BEGIN
         {
         unshift @INC, '/to/your/private/dir/lib';
         $fatal  = 1 ;
         ...

   because the test.pl may not be able to find FILE::Spec if you have it
installed on a private directory for Perl 5.004_04.

   Do something similar to the important file embpcgi.pl as you do for all
your CGI scripts, like modifying the @INC as shown above, to allow perl to
find in particular the EmbPerl shared obj files...

   And when you invoke your CGI scripts like so,

   http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/embpcgi.pl/templateFiles/myNifty.epl

   the script should work.

Common Problems
===============

   The most common problems of all involve Escaping and Unescaping.  They
are so common, that an entire section on `"Escaping & Unescaping"' in this
node is devoted to them.

When I use a module inside a Embperl page, it behaves weired when the source changes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Nothing weird here. Everything is well defined. Just let us try to
understand how Perl, mod_perl and *Embperl* works together:

     "perldoc -f use" tells us:

     Imports some semantics into the current package from the named module,
     generally by aliasing certain subroutine or variable names into your
     package.  It is exactly equivalent to
     
        BEGIN { require Module; import Module LIST; }

     except that Module must be a bareword.

   So what's important here for us is, that use executes a require and
this is always done before any other code is executed.

     "perldoc -f require" says (among other things):

     ..., demands that a library file be included if it hasn't already
     been included.

   and

     Note that the file will not be included twice under the same specified
     name.

   So now we know (or should know) that mod_perl starts the Perl
interpreter once when Apache is started and the Perl interpreter is only
terminated when Apache is terminated. Out of these two things follows,
that a module that is loaded via use or require is only loaded once and
will never be reloaded, regardless if the source changes or not.

   So far this is just standard Perl. Things get's a little bit more
difficult when running under mod_perl (only Unix), because Apache forks a
set of child processes as neccessary and from the moment they are forked,
they run on their own and don't know of each other. So if a module is
loaded at server startup time (before the fork), it is loaded in all
childs (this can be used to save memory, because the code will actually
only reside once in memory), but when the modul is loaded inside the child
and the source changes, it could be happen, that one child has loaded an
ealier version and another child has loaded a later version of that
module, depending on the time the module is actualy loaded by the child.

   That explains, why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, simply
because different childs has loaded different versions of the same module
and when you reload your page you hit different childs of Apache!

   Now there is one point that is special to Embperl to add.  Since
Embperl compiles every page in a different namespace, a module that
doesn't contains a `package foo' statement is compiled in the namespace of
the page where it is first loaded.  Because Perl will not load the module
a second time, every other page will not see subs and vars that are
defined in the loaded module. This could be simply avoided by giving every
module that should be loaded via use/require an explicit namespace via the
package statement.

   So what can we do?

   * If a module change, simply restart Apache. That's works always.

   * Use *Apache::StatInc.* This will do a stat on every loaded module and
     compare the modification time. If the source has changed the module
     is reloaded. This works most times (but not all modules can be
     cleanly reloaded) and as the number of loaded modules increase, your
     sever will slow down, because of the stat it has to do for every
     module.

   * Use do instead of require. do will execute your file everytime it is
     used. This also adds overhead, but this may be accpetable for small
     files or in a debugging environement. (NOTE: Be sure to check `$@'
     after a do, because do works like eval)

Why doesn't the following line work?
------------------------------------

     [+ $var . "<b>". $foo . "</b>". $bar +]

   See what we mean? This is an Escaping & Unescaping problem for sure. You
need to escape <b> as ' &lt;b&gt ' and you probably also need to read the
section on `"Escaping & Unescaping"' in this node...

I'm getting: "Glob not terminated at ..."
-----------------------------------------

   This might be a problem with `"Escaping & Unescaping"' in this node as
well.

My HTML is getting stripped out.
--------------------------------

   Sounds like a problem with Escaping & Unescaping again!

   Unless, of course, you have already read the section on Escaping &
Unescaping, and it is still happening... Like if you are using optRawInput
and your HTML is _still_ being stripped out...

I _am_ using optRawInput, and my HTML _is_ still being stripped out!
--------------------------------------------------------------------

   Aha! Well that's different! Never mind..

   It can be easy to accidentally set optRawInput too late in your code...

   Try setting it in an extra Perl block  ( [- $optRawInput = 1 -] )
earlier in the code, or in the server config, and see if that doesn't
solve the problem... (optRawInput must be set before the block that uses
it begins, as the block which uses it shouldn't be translated).

Help! I got a SIGSEGV! Ack!
---------------------------

   If Embperl is not compiled at server startup, it can cause error
messages, SEGfaults, core dumps, buffer overflow, etc - especially if you
are using another module inside an Embperl page. As far as anyone can tell,
this seems to be a Perl/mod_perl problem - but maybe not. If you have any
ideas, let me know.

   To see the steps for loading Embperl at server startup, please see the
section `"Downloading, Compiling & Installing"' in this node.

   NOTE: When mod_perl is compiled with *USE_DSO* it behaves vice versa
and you may get SIGSEGVs when Embper is loaded at server startup time.

I am having troubles with using Embperl in combination with Apache::Include inside a Apache::Registry script.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   This is a known problem, but it is a problem with mod_perl rather than
with Embperl. It looks like mod_perl clears the request_rec after the
first subrequest, so that it later doesn't know which subrequest was
intended (unless it's explicitly specified). Try using:

     Apache::Include->virtual("test.epl", $r);

   (instead of just Apache::Include->virtual("test.epl"); where $r is the
apache request rec)

I can't get PerlSendHeader to work under Embperl?
-------------------------------------------------

   You don't need PerlSendHeader when using Embperl - Embperl always sends
its own httpd header.

But how do I customize the header that Embperl is sending?
----------------------------------------------------------

   You'll find the answer to this and many other header issues  in the
`"Common Questions"' in this node section.

I can't figure out how to split a 'while' statement across  two [- -] segments
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   That isn't surprising, as you cannot split Perl statements across
multiple [- -] blocks in Embperl :) You need to use a metacommand for
that. The [$while$] metacommand comes to mind... :)

   For a list of all possible metacommands, see the section on
`Meta-Commands|Embperl' in this node in the Embperl documentation.

     [$ while $st -> fetch $]
             #some html or other Embperl blocks goes here
     [$ endwhile $]

   Newer Embperl versions (1.2b3 and above) supports the [* *] which can be
used for such purposes.

     [* while ($st -> fetch) { *]
             #some html or other Embperl blocks goes here
     [* } *]

   While the later can use all Perl control structures, the first seems to
me more readable and is better debugable, because Embperl controls the
execution of the control structure it can do a quite better job in debug
logging.

My HTML tags like '<' '>' and '"' are being translated to &lt;, &gt; !!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Hey! Not you again!? I thought we already sent you to the `"Escaping &
Unescaping"' in this node section of the FAQ?!?! ;)

Netscape asks to reload the document
------------------------------------

   If you have something like this in your source, it may be the problem:

     <META HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1">

   Netscape seems to have a problem in such cases, because the http header
is only content-type text/html, while the META HTTP-EQUIV has an additional
charset specified. If you turn optEarlyHttpHeader off, Embperl will
automatically set the http header to be the same as the META HTTP-EQUIV.

I get "Stack underflow"
-----------------------

   The problem often occurs, when you have a <table> tag in one file and a
</table> tag in another file and you both include them in a main page
(e.g. as header and footer). There are two workarounds for this problem:

  1. Set optDisableTableScan This will avoid that Embperl takes any action
     on tables. You can disable/enable this (also multiple times) inside
     the page with

          [- $optDisableTableScan = 1 -]

     If you put this at the top of your header/footer which you include
     with Execute, then the main page will still process dynamic tables.

  2. Add a <table> as comment Add the following to the top of the footer
     document:

          <!-- <table><tr><td> -->

     This will work also, because Embperl (1.x) will not scan for html
     comments


Common Questions
================

   The most common questions of all deal with `"Escaping & Unescaping"' in
this node  - they are so common that the whole next section is devoted to
them.  Less common questions are addressed here:

How can I get my HTML files to be converted into Perl code which, as a whole, could then be compiled as function so that I could, for  instance, fetch Perl docs from the Formatter table and compile them the way AUTOLOAD does.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Embperl cannot covert your HTML into one piece of Perl-code, but you can
wrap the call to Execute into a Perl function and let AUTOLOAD call it.

I have an HTML page which is dynamically generated at runtime  and should be post-processed by Embperl. How can I do this?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  1. Generate the page within a normal CGI/Apache::Registry script and put
     the result into a scalar - then you can call HTML::Embperl::Execute
     to post-process your document. Execute can either send the document
     to the browser or put it into another scalar for further processing.

  2. Use EMBPERL_INPUT_FUNC (1.1b1 and above). With this configuration
     directive, you can specify a custom input function which reads the
     HTML source from the disk or even from a database. Embperl also
     provides the function ProxyInput, which allows you to get input from
     another web server altogether.

  3. Look at the module Apache::EmbperlChain, which is able to chain
     multiple modules, including Embperl, together.

How can I customise the header that Embperl is sending?
-------------------------------------------------------

   You can write it as

     <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html">

   (Embperl will automatically insert all meta http-equiv tags into the
http header)

   or use %http_headers_out

     [- $http_headers_out{'Content-Type'} = 'text/html' -]

   or (only when running under mod_perl) you can use

     [- $req_rec -> content_type ('text/html') -]

Can I use Embperl to send cookies?
----------------------------------

   Yes. Embperl sends its own headers, so all you have to do to send
cookies is to remember to print an additional header.

   Example Code:

  1. in documents, add
          <META HTTP-EQUIV="Set-Cookie" CONTENT="[+ $cookie +] = [+ $value +]">

  2. or use %http_headers_out
          [- $http_headers_out{'Set-Cookie'} = "$cookie=$value" -]

  3. or - using mod_perl's functionality - use
          [- $req_rec ->  header_out("Set-Cookie" => "$cookie=$value"); -]

        NOTE: You make also take a look at Embperls (1.2b2 and above)
ability to handle sessions for you inside the %udat and %mdat hashes.

Can I do a Redirect with Embperl?
---------------------------------

   The following way works with mod_perl and as cgi:

     [- $http_headers_out{'Location'} = "http://www.ecos.de/embperl/" -]

   the status of the request will automaticly set to 301.

   or use the mod_perl function Apache::header_out.

   Example Code:

     [-
     use Apache;
     use Apache::Constants qw(REDIRECT);

     $req_rec->header_out("Location" => "http://$ENV{HTTP_HOST}/specials/");
     $req_rec->status(REDIRECT);
     -]

   If there is nothing more to do on this page, you may call exit directly
after setting the status.

Can I serve random GIFs with Embperl? (Will Lincoln Stein's GD.pm module work with Embperl??)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   As always, there is more than one way to do this - especially as this
is more of a question of how you are coding your HTML than how you are
coding your Embperl.

   Here are some ideas:

  1. You could include an IMG tag which points to your cgi-bin, where a
     regular CGI script serves the graphics.

  2. You could be running Apache::Registry, which can generate on-the-fly
     GIFs using GD. (This is just the same as if you were including the GD
     image from a static page or from another CGI script, but it allows
     all of the appropriate logic to live in a single document, which
     might be appropriate for some Embperl users).
        If you think of another way, or come up with some sample code, I'd
love to hear from you, so that I could add it to the FAQ...

Can I use Embperl as a template for forms? Can I make form values persist (like with "vanilla" CGI)? Does Embperl rewrite my template file so that parameters of things like INPUT/TEXTAREA/SELECT persist?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Yes. Your page design staff should just be able to say <input
name="foo"> and let the default attributes of "foo" be defined elsewhere -
for instance in a settings file. In this case, %fdat should be pre-set with
your default values. Setting $fdat{foo} = "abc" will cause Embperl to
change the above code to <input name="foo" value="abc">.

Does Embperl automatically add HIDDEN fields?
---------------------------------------------

   The [$hidden$] metacommand creates hidden fields for every entry in
%fdat which was not used by any other input tag so far.

   You can also try something like this:

     [-
     $fdat{foo} = "abc" ;
     $fdat{bar} = "xyz" ;
     -]

     <input name="foo">

     [$hidden$]

   and Embperl will create:

     <input name="foo" value="abc">
     <input type=hidden name="bar" value="xyz">

   For a list of all possible metacommands, see the section on
`Meta-Commands|Embperl' in this node in the Embperl documentation.

What about security? Is Embperl Secure?
---------------------------------------

   Just like anything else, Embperl is as secure as you make it.  Embperl
incorporates Safe.pm, which will make it impossible to accidentally access
other Packages - it also permits the Administrator to disable Perl
opcodes, etc.

   For more on security, please see `Embperl' in this node in the Embperl
documentation.

Is there any plan to make Embperl an Object so someone could subclass it and override certain of its methods?  (For example, I'd like to let it parse the file for me, but then let me control the manipulation of the form tags.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Embperl is going to be an Object from version 1.2b1. This, among other
things, make it re-entrant, so that you will be able to call Execute from
within an Embperl page. It will also mean that Embperl will come with
hooks, which will allow you to alter or change the way Embperl processes
code. The details have not all been worked out yet, but I'm working on
it... :)

Are Embperl routines currently pre-compiled or even cached, or are only fragments cached?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   All embedded Perl code is compiled the first time it is executed and
cached for later use. The second time the code is executed, only the
precompiled p-code is called.

   Every code block is compiled as a single subroutine. The HTML text
between the Perl block is still read from the file.

Why are Perl blocks broken up into single subroutines?
------------------------------------------------------

  1. It makes it easier to process the HTML tags between the Perl blocks -
     this gives you more control over what's happening

  2. If you compiled _everything_ to Perl, you would hold all of the HTML
     text in memory, and your Apache child processes would grow and
     grow... But often-accessed documents are still held in memory by
     your os disk cache, which is much more memory-efficient.

  3. There is only so far that you can go with precompiling until you
     reach the point of diminishing returns. My guess is that converting
     dynamic tables and other HTML processing to Perl at this point in
     Embperl's development would actually slow down operation.

Can I pass QUERY_STRING information to an HTML::Embperl::Execute call?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

   With Embperl 1.0 and higher, you can do this. QUERY_STRING is set as
$ENV{QUERY_STRING} by default. Alternatively, you can use the fdat
parameter to pass values to %fdat.

How to include other files into Embperl pages?
----------------------------------------------

   I am using embedded Perl on my site and am curious if I can use it for
server side includes.  I want to embed the contents of file x.html into
file y.html such that whenever I change x.html, displaying y.html will
also reflect this change. How do I do it using embedded perl?

   You need Embperl 1.2b4 or above. Then you can say inside of y.html:

     [- Execute ('x.html') -]

EmbPerl iteration without indexing
----------------------------------

   I have a rather large table in a database which I'd like to display
using EmbPerl.  All of the examples show a process of fetching all the data
first, then iterating through it using $row and $col, like this:

     [-
     $sth = $dbh -> prepare ("select * from $comptbl order by SubSystem");
     $sth -> execute;
     $dref = $sth -> fetchall_arrayref;
     -]
     <TABLE>
        ... $dref -> [$row][0] ...
     </TABLE>

   I'd prefer to fetch the data one row at a time, how can I do this?

   For solution 1 you may write

     <table>
     [$while $rref = $sth -> fetch $]
         <tr>....</tr>
     [$endwhile$]
     </table>

   Solution 2 should work like this

     <table>
        <tr> [- $dummy = $row ; $rref = $sth -> fetch -]
                ....
        </tr>
     </table>

   The table ends when the expression where $row is used in some way
returns <undef>. So also there is no releation between $row and the fetch,
both conditions are met.

How to display arrays with undef values in it?
----------------------------------------------

     I'm doing a search on a table where some of the columns have NULL and
     non-NULL values.  DBIx::Recordset has no problem reading this values
     The problem is that I then tried to print these values
     out in a table using Embperl's  table feature, like this.
      <TABLE>
      <TR>
      <TD>$set[$row]{column_name1}</TD>
      <TD>$set[$row]{column_nameN}</TD>
      </TR>
      The problem is that I got 5 rows instead of the 15 that I was expected.  I
      have been  trying all kinds of tweaks to the arguments to the Search
      function and getting nowwhere, until I re-read the Embperl docs.  Embperl
      will not print out a table row if one of the columns has an
      expression that
      is undefined.  This is a problem since DBIx::Recordset (and DBI)
      natually uses undef to represent a NULL value for a column.  So I made a
      slight modification to my embperl code.
      <TABLE>
      <TR>
      <TD>defined($set[$row]{column_name1}) ? $set[$row]{column_name1} :
      "UNDEF"</TD>
                                      .   .   .
      <TD>$set[$row]{column_nameN} ? $set[$row]{column_nameN} : "UNDEF"</TD>
      </TR>
     Now all 15 rows appear as expected, with "UNDEF" representing the NULL
     values in the database.

   Another way top solve you problem may be:

     <TABLE>
     <TR>
     [- $r = $set[$row] -]
     <TD> [+ $r -> {column_name1} +] </TD>
                                     .   .   .
     <TD> [+ $r -> {column_nameN} +] </TD>
     </TR>

   This will only refer one time to $row and the expression is defined, as
long as the row could be fetched from the db. All NULL fields will be
displayed as empty table cells.

Escaping & Unescaping
=====================

Escaping & Unescaping Input
---------------------------

   By default, Embperl removes all HTML tags from the Perl source. It does
this because many high-end WYSIWYG HTML Editors (like MS Front Page)
insert HTML tags like <FONT> and <COLOR> in rather random places (like in
the middle of your Perl code). This Embperl feature keeps things like

     [- $var  = 1; <br>
         $foo = 2 -]

   permissable, so that you can enter Perl code while you mark up pages in
an editor, all at once.  In this example, Embperl would remove the
unnecessary <br> tag and, therefore, make Perl happy. And if Perl is
happy, we are all happy.

   It is not difficult to change this behavior, if you are the kind of
person who codes HTML in an ascii editor (like vi or emacs).

   If you use a high-level HTML editor, you shouldn't have any problems
with input escaping, because the editor will, for example, write a '<' as
'&lt;' in the HTML code. Embperl translates this back to '<' and therefore
it knows that this wasn't an HTML tag which should be removed.

   Problems with input escaping only occur if you use an ascii editor.
Then you will need to escape input (see the next section for details on
how to do this).

   To see the exact steps taken by Embperl to process a Perl-laden
document, please see the section `Inside Embperl|Embperl' in this node in
the Embperl documentation.

Ways To Escape Input:
---------------------

  1. Escape it ->  \<H1> NOTE: Inside double quotes you will need to use
     \\ (double backslash), since Perl will remove the first Escape itself.

     Example: In most cases '\<tr>' but inside double-quotes "\\<tr>"

  2. Turn off Escaping for all input by setting the optRawInput in
     EMBPERL_OPTIONS

  3. Learn to avoid using HTML tags inside Perl code. Once you get the
     hang of it, you'll love it.
        Here is one example of how to do it:

     [- $output = "<bold>Hello world</bold>" -]
     [+ $output +]

   write

     [- $output = "Hello world<bold>" -]

   this outputs

     Hello world

   or

     <bold>[+ $output +]</bold>

   this outputs

     <bold>Hello world</bold>

   And here is another example of how to do it:

     [-
     @a = ('a', 'b', 'c') ;
     foreach $i (0..2)
         {
         $output. = "<tr><td>Row $a[$i]</td></tr>" ;
         }
     -]
     <table>
     [+ $output +]
     </table>

   The output here would be:

     <table>Row aRow bRow c</table>

   The Embperl version is

     [-
     @a = ('a', 'b', 'c') ;
     -]
     <table>
     <tr><td>Row [+ $a[$row] +]</td></tr>" ;
     </table>

   The output will be

     <table>
     <tr><td>Row a</td></tr>" ;
     <tr><td>Row b</td></tr>" ;
     <tr><td>Row c</td></tr>" ;
     </table>

   And another: This elegant solution shows you how to take advantage of
Embperl's ability to create dynamic tables:

     [-
     use DBI;

     my $dbh =
     DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:database:localhost","Username","Password") ||
     die($!);

     $hstmt = $dbh->prepare("select ID, Heading from Shops order by Heading");
     $hstmt->execute();
     $dat = $hstmt->fetchall_arrayref() ;
     $hstmt->finish();
     $dbh->disconnect();
     -]
     <table border=1>
     <tr><td>[+ $$dat[$row][$col] +]</td></tr>
     </table>

   This HTML code will then display the contents of the whole array.

Escaping & Unescaping Output
----------------------------

   Embperl will also escape the output - so <H1> will be translated to
&lt;H1&gt;

   To see the exact steps taken by Embperl to process a Perl-laden
document, please see `Inside Embperl|Embperl' in this node in the Embperl
documentation.

Ways To Escape Output:
----------------------

  1. Escape it -> \\<H1>
          (You need a double backslash \\, because
          the first one is removed by Perl and the second by Embperl.

  2. set $escmode = 0 -> [- $escmode = 0 ; -]

  3. set SetEnv EMBPERL_ESCMODE 0 in your srm.conf

Debugging
=========

I am having a hard time debugging Embperl code
----------------------------------------------

   Have you, umm, checked the error log? ;)

   Have you tried setting debug flags higher by resetting EMBPERL_DEBUG in
the server config files? (And still higher? :)

   dbgMem isn't usually very useful as it always outputs a lot of
allocation.  dbgFlushLog and dbgFlushOutput should be used if (and only
if) you are debugging SIGSEGVs.

   For easy debugging, you can tell Embperl to display a link at the top of
each page to your log file. Then every error displayed in an error page is
a link to the corresponding position in the logfile, so you can easily
find the place where something is going wrong

   For more on using HTML links to the Embperl error log, see `Embperl' in
this node in the Embperldocs.

Embperl is running slow.
------------------------

   There are some debugging settings which may cause Embperl to drastically
slow down. If you are done with debugging, set debugging bits back to
normal.

   Also, using dbgFlushLog and dbgFlushOutput will make execution much
slower. These are only intended for debugging SIGSEGVs.

   Never set all debugging bits!

How can I improve Embperl's performance?
----------------------------------------

  1. Load Embperl at server startup. This will cause     UNIX systems to
     only allocate memory once, and not     for each child process. This
     reduces memory use,     especially the need to swap additional memory.

  2. Disable all unneeded debugging flags. You should never set
     dbgFlushLog dbgFlushOutput, dbgMem and dbgEvalNoCache in a
     production environment.

  3. You may also want to take a look at the available options     you can
     set via EMBPERL_OPTIONS. For example optDisableChdir, will     speed
     up processing because it avoid the change directory before     every
     request.

Customizing
===========

How can I fiddle with the default values? How can I override or alter this or that behavior?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Usually, defaults are set in a way that is likely to make most sense
for a majority of users. As of version 1.0, Embperl allows much more
flexibility in tweaking your own default values than before. Take a look
at EMBERPL_OPTIONS.

I'd like to (temporarily) disable some of Embperl's features.  What can be customized?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  1. Use optDisableHtmlScan to disable processing of html tags. If this is
     set, Embperl will only pay attention to these types of  constructs:
     [+/-/!/$ .... $/!/-/+]

  2. optDisableTableScan, optDisableInputScan and optDisableMetaScan can
     be used to disable individual parts of HTML processing.  You may set
     these flags in your server config, or at runtime:

          [+ $optDisableHtmlScan = 1 +]
          <table> foo </table>
          [+ $optDisableHtmlScan = 0 +]


How can I disable auto-tables?
------------------------------

   Set optDisableTableScan in EMBPERL_OPTIONS

How can I change predefined values like $escmode from my Toolbox module?
------------------------------------------------------------------------

     $HTML::Embperl::escmode = 0 ;

   Predefined values in Embperl are simply aliases for $HTML::Embperl::foo
(for instance, $escmode is an alias for $HTML::Embperl::escmode)

How can I customize the header that Embperl is sending?
-------------------------------------------------------

   You'll find the answer to this and many other header issues  in the
`"Common Questions"' in this node section.

How can I use a different character set? ASCII values over 128 are showing up as ? (question marks)!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   This is caused by the translation of characters to HTML escapes.
Embperl translates them to escapes which are then sometimes not understood
by the browser, which may display a "?" instead, because it is using the
wrong character set.

   If you want to use the escaping features of Embperl in this case, you
have to adapt the file `epchar.c' to your character set.

   The distribution contain already an `epchar.c.iso-latin-2' from Jiri
Novak which is an replacement for epchar.c for the iso-8859-2
(iso-latin-2) character set.  If you want to use iso-latin-2, simply
renmae `epchar.c.iso-latin-2' to `epchar.c'.  There is also an file
`epchar.c.min' from Sangmook Yi, which leaves all chars above 128 untouch,
which is especialy usefull for two byte charsets.

   This file contains three tables:

   Char2Html []   Convert characters to html escape

   Char2Url  []   Convert characters to url escapes (do not change this
one!!)

   Html2Char []   Convert html escapes to characters

   You need to change the first and the last tables. Do not change the
second table!!

   Please make sure Char2Html contains one entry (and only one entry) for
each of the 256 ascii codes (with none left undefined) in the right order,
and that Html2Char is sorted by html escape.

   If somebody generates new tables for national character sets, please
send a copy to the author, so it can be included it in future versions of
Embperl.

Optimizing & Fine-Tuning
========================

How can I be sure that Embperl is re-compiling my page template (and the Perl blocks contained in it) only when needed, and not each time?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   As long as your input file's time stamp stays the same, Embperl will
only compile the script the first time it's called. When you use the
Execute function, Embperl will recompile the script only if the input file
and mtime paramenters have changed since the last time the script was
called.

   You can verfiy this by setting dbgDefEval. Now, every time a Perl block
is compiled, Embperl logs a line starting with DEF:. You will see this line
only on the first request.  The cached Perl blocks are stored as a set of
subroutines in the namespace of the document. (HTML::Embperl::DOC::_<n> is
the default) Look at the logfile to see the actual name.

How can I pre-compile pages, so that each httpd child doesn't  have to have its own separate copies of the pre-compiled pages?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   To pre-compile pages, just call Execute once for every file at server
startup in your startup.pl file.

In what namespace does Embperl store pre-compiled data?
-------------------------------------------------------

   The cached Perl blocks are stored as a set of subroutines in the
namespace of the document. (HTML::Embperl::DOC::_<n> for default) Look at
the logfile to see the actual name.

I have both Embperl and ordinary Perl processes running. The docs  say that Embperl uses a CGI.pm instance in its own internal processing, but they don't say how to control it. How can I get Embperl to use *my*  CGI.pm object instead of creating its own?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Embperl only creates a CGI objects to process multipart form data (from
fileupload). In all other cases Embperl doesn't use CGI.pm. There is no
way to change this behaviour, or access the internal CGI object in case of
file-uploads.

Additional Help
===============

Where can I get more help?
--------------------------

   You can get free support on the mod_perl mailing list. If you need
commercial support (with a guarantee for response time or a solution) for
Embperl, or if you want a web site where you can run your Embperl/mod_perl
scripts without setting up your own web server, please send email to
info@ecos.de.

   Please also see the section `Embperl' in this node in the Embperl
documentation.

SEE ALSO
========

   some links here

AUTHOR
======

   Gerald Richter <richter@ecos.de>

   Edited by Nora Mikes <nora@radio.cz>