Mason - High-performance, dynamic web site authoring system

- NAME
- SYNOPSIS
- DESCRIPTION
- INSTALLATION
- CONFIGURING MASON
- DOCUMENTATION ROADMAP
- AUTHORS
- SEE ALSO

# NAME

Mason - High-performance, dynamic web site authoring system

# SYNOPSIS

        PerlSetVar MasonCompRoot /usr/local/www/htdocs
        PerlSetVar MasonDataDir /usr/local/www/mason
        PerlModule HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler

        <FilesMatch "*.html">
            SetHandler perl-script
            PerlHandler HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler
        </FilesMatch>

# DESCRIPTION

Mason is a tool for building, serving and managing large web sites. Its features make it an ideal backend for high load sites serving dynamic content, such as online newspapers or database driven e-commerce sites.

Mason's various pieces revolve around the notion of ``components''. A component is a mix of HTML, Perl, and special Mason commands, one component per file. So-called ''top-level`` components represent entire web-pages, while smaller components typically return HTML snippets for embedding in top-level components. This object-like architecture greatly simplifies site maintenance: change a shared component, and you instantly changed all dependant pages that refer to it across a site (or across many virtual sites).

Mason's component syntax lets designers separate a web page into programmatic and design elements. This means the esoteric Perl bits can be hidden near the bottom of a component, preloading simple variables for use above in the HTML. In our own experience, this frees content managers (i.e., non-programmers) to work on the layout without getting mired in programming details. Techies, however, still enjoy the full power of Perl.

One of the best ways to learn about Mason is to explore the samples/ directory created during installation. There you will find a collection of components, simple to complex, illustrating most of Mason's component syntax.

Other Mason features include:

Caching
  Mason caches components after compilation, and offers an internal, shared, expireable data cache for use by components themselves.

Templating
  The autohandler and dhandler features make it easy to apply a common header, footer, or filtering function to an entire directory or hierarchy of pages.

Previewer
  Mason includes a powerful previewing utility which acts as a proxy between Mason and incoming requests. Using a web interface, users create ``port profiles'' that massage requests in all kinds of interesting ways: different browsers may be simulated, different request ports, different times of day, etc.

Standalone Use
  Mason is optimized for use with mod_perl, but can also be used from CGI or as a standalone tool to generate other types of dynamic text files (similar to Text::Template, ePerl, etc.). To learn more about this option see the STANDALONE MODE section in HTML::Mason::Interp.

Mason works by intercepting innocent-looking requests (say, http://www.yoursite.com/index.html) and mapping them to requests for Mason components. Mason then compiles the component, runs it, and feeds the output back to the client.

Consider this simple Mason component:

        % my $noun = 'World';
        Hello <% $noun %>!
        How are ya?

The output of this component is:

        Hello World!
        How are ya?

In this component you see a mix of standard HTML and Mason elements. The bare '%' prefixing the first line tells Mason that this is a line of Perl code. One line below, the embedded <% ... %> tag gets replaced with the return value of its contents, evaluated as a Perl expression.

Beyond this trivial example, components can also embed serious chunks of Perl code (say, to pull records from a database). They can also call other components, cache results for later reuse, and perform all the tricks you expect from a regular Perl program. See HTML::Mason::Devel for a full tutorial on building, using and debugging Mason components.

# INSTALLATION

Mason has been tested under Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, HPUX, and Win32. As an all-Perl solution, it should work on any machine that has working versions of Perl 5.004+, mod_perl, and the required CPAN modules.

Mason has a standard MakeMaker-driven installation. See the README file for details.

# CONFIGURING MASON

This section assumes that you are able to install and configure a mod_perl server. Relevant documentation is available at http://www.apache.org (Apache) and http://perl.apache.org (mod_perl). The mod_perl mailing list, archive, and guide are also great resources.

The simplest configuration of Mason requires a few lines in your httpd.conf. You can find an annotated version of these lines in `eg/httpd.conf` in your distribution.

        PerlSetVar MasonCompRoot /usr/local/www/htdocs
        PerlSetVar MasonDataDir /usr/local/www/mason
        PerlModule HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler

        <FilesMatch "*.html">
            SetHandler perl-script
            PerlHandler HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler
        </FilesMatch>

The first directive specifies the component root, the top of your component source tree. In simple configurations this is the same as your DocumentRoot.

The second directive specifies the data directory, where Mason maintains various subdirectories and data files at runtime. Mason will create this directory on startup if necessary.

The third directive loads Mason with Apache support. Mason must be installed somewhere in your Perl `@INC` for this to work.

Finally, the <FilesMatch> section routes all ``*.html'' requests to the Mason handler. If you want all Mason pages to have a distinct extension like ``.mcomp'', use that instead. If you wish to restrict Mason to one subdirectory at first, do this:

        <Location /mason>
            <FilesMatch "*.html">
                SetHandler perl-script
                PerlHandler HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler
            </FilesMatch>
        </Location>

Once you have added the configuration directives, restart the server. First, go to a standard URL on your site to make sure you haven't broken anything. If all goes well you should see the same page as before. If not, recheck your Apache config files and also tail your server's error log.

If you are getting ``404 Not Found'' errors even when the files clearly exist, Mason may be having trouble with your document and component root. One situation that will unfortunately confuse Mason is if your document or component root goes through a symbolic link. Try expressing both your document and component root in terms of the true filesystem path.

Next, try adding the tag <% 2+2 %> at the top of some HTML file. If you reload this page and see a ``4'', Mason is working!

# DOCUMENTATION ROADMAP

Once Mason is on its feet, the next step is to write a component or two. The Mason Developer's Manual (HTML::Mason::Devel) is a complete tutorial for writing, using, and debugging components. A reference companion to the Developer's Manual is the Request API documentation, HTML::Mason::Request.

Whoever is responsible for setting up and tuning Mason should read the Administrator's Manual (HTML::Mason::Admin). This document covers more advanced configuration scenarios and performance optimization. Reference companions to the Administrator's Manual include HTML::Mason::Parser, HTML::Mason::Interp, and HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler.

Most of this documentation assumes that you're running Mason on top of mod_perl, since that is the most common configuration. If you are using Mason outside of mod_perl, the documentation is still valid; you'll just have to ignore mod_perl specific references like `$r` and the ApacheHandler object, and you'll want to read the STANDALONE MODE section in HTML::Mason::Interp.

# AUTHORS

Jonathan Swartz, swartz@pobox.com and Dave Rolsky, autarch@urth.org

# SEE ALSO

HTML::Mason::Devel, HTML::Mason::Request, HTML::Mason::Component, HTML::Mason::Admin, HTML::Mason::Parser, HTML::Mason::Interp, HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler