NAME
Limper - extremely lightweight but not very powerful web application framework
VERSION
version 0.015
SYNOPSIS
use Limper;
my $generic = sub { 'yay' };
get '/' => $generic;
post '/' => $generic;
post qr{^/foo/} => sub {
status 202, 'whatevs';
headers Foo => 'bar', Fizz => 'buzz';
'you posted something: ' . request->{body};
};
get '/baz' => sub {
'your non-decoded query, if any: ' . request->{query}; # URIs of '/baz?fizz=buzz&foo=bar' now work
};
limp;
DESCRIPTION
Limper was originally designed to primarily be a simple HTTP/1.1 test server in perl, but I realized it can be much more than that while still remaining simple.
Limper has a simple syntax like Dancer yet no dependencies at all, unlike the dozens that Dancer pulls in.
Limper is modular - support for serving files, easily returning JSON, or using PSGI can be included if and only if needed (and these features already exist on CPAN).
Limper is fast - about 2-3 times faster than Dancer.
Limper also fatpacks beautifully (at least on 5.10.1):
fatpack pack example.pl > example-packed.pl
Do not taunt Limper.
EXPORTS
The following are all exported by default:
get post put del trace options patch any
status headers request response config hook limp
Also exportable:
info warning rfc1123date
Not exportable, because it is a footgun:
routes
FUNCTIONS
get
post
put
del
trace
options
patch
Defines a route handler for METHOD to the given path:
get '/' => sub { 'Hello world!' };
These can be chained together like so:
get post del '/' => sub { 'Hello world!' };
Note that a route to match HEAD requests is automatically created as well for get.
any
Defines a route handler for all METHODs to the given path:
any '/' => sub { 'Hello world!' };
routes
Returns all routes for all verbs, or if passed an argument the routes for that verb.
WARNING: this is the actual routing data, not a copy. Meaning you can completely break everything by modifying this unless you know what you're doing.
status
Get or set the response status, and optionally reason.
status 404;
status 401, 'Nope';
my $status = status;
my ($status, $reason) = status;
headers
Get or set the response headers.
headers Foo => 'bar', Fizz => 'buzz';
headers Foo => ['this', 'that']; # change Foo to two values
headers Oops => 'inserted', Oops => 'ignored'; # don't do this
my @headers = headers;
Note: Changed in 0.012. The headers are now stored in a hashref, where the value is either a string or array of strings. Calling headers in list mode returns a flattened list. If you want the hashref of headers, use response-{headers} >>. Setting header pairs no longer overwrites all previously defined headers.
request
Returns a HASH of the request. Request keys are: method, uri, and version. uri is now broken down and there are additional keys: scheme, authority, path, query, and fragment. It may also contain headers which is a HASH and body.
There is no decoding of the body content nor URL parameters.
response
Returns response HASH. Keys are status, reason, headers (a HASH of key/value pairs), and body.
config
Returns config HASH. See limp below for known config settings.
hook
Adds a hook at some position.
Three hooks are currently defined: after, request_handler, and response_handler.
after
Runs after all other processing, just before response is sent.
hook after => sub {
my ($request, $response) = @_;
# modify response as needed
};
request_handler
Runs when limp is called, after only setting passed config settings, and returns the result instead of starting up the built-in web server. A simplified example for PSGI (including the response_handler below) is:
hook request_handler => sub {
get_psgi @_;
handle_request;
};
response_handler
Runs right after the after hook, and returns the result instead of using the built-in web server for sending the response. For PSGI, this is:
hook response_handler => sub {
[ response->{status}, [headers], ref response->{body} ? response->{body} : [response->{body}] ];
};
limp
Starts the server. You can pass it the same options as IO::Socket::INET takes. The default options are:
Listen => SOMAXCONN, ReuseAddr => 1, LocalAddr => 'localhost', LocalPort => 8080, Proto => 'tcp'
In addition, the first argument can be a HASH to pass config settings:
limp({debug => 1, timeout => 60, workers => 10}, LocalAddr => '0.0.0.0', LocalPort => 3001);
Default debug is 0, default timeout is 5 (seconds), and default workers is 10. A timeout of 0 means never timeout.
This keyword should be called at the very end of the script, once all routes are defined. At this point, Limper takes over control.
ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS
info
warning
Log given list to STDOUT or STDERR. Prepends the current local time in format "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS".
rfc1123date
Returns the current time or passed timestamp as an HTTP 1.1 date (RFC 1123).
EVEN MORE
For additional (discouraged) functions to aid in transitioning to Limper, see Limper::Sugar.
For sending files and easily sending JSON, see Limper::SendFile and Limper::SendJSON.
For differences between Limper and Dancer, see Limper::Differences.
For extending Limper, see Limper::Extending.
NOTICE
This framework is still under development. Things may change without warning. Version 0.012 has such changes, but I hope I have what is in this version stable.
BREAKING CHANGES IN 0.012
options is now config, and there is a new function options for the HTTP method.
note has been changed to info.
headers now will update just the fields given, and not replace all the headers. The headers are now stored as a HASH instead of an ARRAY. Hence, response->{headers}
cannot be directly passed to PSGI. Instead [headers]
meets this need.
request->{header}
is now what request->{hheader}
was - no more ARRAY form.
CONTRIBUTING
Patches and Bug Fixes
Preferably, clone the repo (uses Dist::Zilla) and create one or more patch files with:
git format patch <latest commit>
Email me the patch, or otherwise let me know how to find it.
Or if it's a simple patch and you don't want to mess with Dist::Zilla, patch the latest release and send me a patch file.
Module Namespaces
See "NAMESPACES" in Limper::Extending.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2014 by Ashley Willis <ashley+perl@gitable.org>
rabcyr on irc and twitter.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.12.4 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.