NAME

Bigtop::Docs::QuickRef - a quick reference guide to bigtop syntax

An HTML Table

This file is html only. If you want a text version see Bigtop::Docs::Keywords.

Below you should see a pretty table in your browser.

Bigtop Quick Reference

This page is meant to show what's possible with the Bigtop web app description language. It's main feature is a table summarizing the syntax of the Bigtop language.

Each Bigtop file has the following basic structure:

    config {
    }
    app App::Name {
    }

Inside those blocks you can have simple statements and other blocks. Simple statements are a keyword followed by a number, a valid Perl identifier, or a backquoted string and terminated with a semi-colon. Sometimes the values can also be lists of single values separated by commas. In rarer cases, the values can themselves be key/value pairs. As in Perl, the keys and values are separated with the fat comma =>. See below for details.

The Key Strangeness

One syntax feature that strikes people funny is that Bigtop uses backquotes around strings. The reason is simple. Bigtop never shells out, but it often needs to store Perl's favorite quotes in strings. Using backquotes makes it easy to embed either single or double quotes in its strings.

A Bigger Example

Before going into the table of descriptions, it might help to see a bigger example:

config {
    engine          MP13;
    template_engine TT;
    Init            Std      { no_gen 1; }
    SQL             Postgres {}
}
app Simple::Sample {
    authors               `Phil Crow`;
    config                { dbconn `dbi:Pg:dbname=simple` => no_accessor; }
    sequence contacts_seq {}
    table contacts        {
        sequence contacts_seq;
        field id   { is int4, primary_key, assign_by_sequence; }
        field name {
            is              varchar;
            label          `Contact Person`;
            html_form_type text;
        }
    }
    controller Names {
        controls_table   names;
        uses             Gantry::Plugins::AutoCRUD;
        text_description `contact name`;
        method do_main is main_listing {
            title           `Contact Names`;
            cols            name;
            header_options  Add;
            row_options     Edit, Delete;
        }
        method _form is AutoCRUD_form {
            fields          name;
            extra_keys
               legend     => `$self->>path_info =~ /edit/i ? 'Edit' : 'Add'`;
        }
    }
}

    SQL Postgres {}

    bigtop app.bigtop SQL

    bigtop app.bigtop all

cpanm Bigtop

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Bigtop