sawyer x wrote, On 09/21/2011 02:40 AM:

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 8:13 PM, Assaf Gordon <gordon@cshl.edu <mailto:gordon@cshl.edu>> wrote:

...

Is there a way to specify a application-wide "prefix" settings ? The "prefix" keyword affects only the routes subroutines, but not the static/public files.

I think you're referring to "appdir". It can be set from a config file and/or from your application.

I don't think so (unless I'm misreading the meaning of "appdir"). It's my impression that "appdir" refers to physical directories, where the application will find the relevant resource files. What I'm looking for is a way to globally add a *URL* prefix to the entire application. <begin long explanation> Others have mentioned deploying multiple dancer applications on the same server. It seems the most common solution is to have a virtual host, and the root directory of the virtual host goes to each individual dancer app. So that: http://app1.cshl.edu/ => Application 1 http://app2.cshl.edu/ => Application 2 http://app3.cshl.edu/ => Application 3 Even if they are all virtual hosts running on the same physical server. That's OK, but I'm looking for a way do have multiple Dancers run from the same host, but with different URL prefixes: http://server.cshl.edu/app1/ => application 1 http://server.cshl.edu/app2/ => application 2 http://server.cshl.edu/app3/ => application 3 When it comes to routes, that is easily doable with the "prefix" keyword. But the "prefix" keyword doesn't take care of static files (javascripts/images/css) - those will still be rendered (due to "request.uri_base" in the template) as http://server.cshl.edu/css/style.css instead of http://server.cshl.edu/app1/css/style.css (per dancer application). Obviously, one can edit every template file to make sure the URL has the application's prefix. But it's an ugly hard-coded solution, and requires synchronization between the perl code's "prefix" and the template's hardocded URLs. I want an application-wide "prefix" setting (in the config file, or similar), that would affect every part of the application. <begin long example> -1- If I create a new dancer application, and add the following route: get '/mydata' => sub { (whatever) } And my server is "http://server.cshl.edu", then by default, the application's URLs would be: http://server.cshl.edu/ => root route http://server.cshl.edu/mydata => my code http://server.cshl.edu/images/ => static images http://server.cshl.edu/css/ => static CSS http://server.cshl.edu/javascript/ => static javascripts -2- If I add a "prefix => "/app1" " statement in my code, the URLs become: http://server.cshl.edu/app1 => root route http://server.cshl.edu/app1/mydata => my code http://server.cshl.edu/images/ => static images http://server.cshl.edu/css/ => static CSS http://server.cshl.edu/javascript/ => static javascripts The URL for the route changed, but not for the static files. -3- What I'm looking for is a way to specify that "/app1" should now be a prefix for everything, including static files. and preferably, be able to do it from the configuration file - this would allow me to change the URL of deployed applications without changing a single line of code. Thanks for reading so far, -gordon

Hi Sawyer, sawyer x wrote, On 09/28/2011 01:38 PM:

[...] Instead you should configure your server to meet your needs. I personally suggest using the "Alias" configuration option in Apache.

I hope this clears it up for you. If you have any more questions on this, feel free to ask, and I hope I could help you with them.

I'm definitely not a web-server administrator, so I'd appreciate any tips how how to do that without changing the application. The simplest scenario: Two dancers applications, running on the same machine, and the url is http://server.cshl.edu . I can't add subdomain (e.g. http://app1.server.cshl.edu), and can't open ports other than 80. So the way to access the applications will be: http://server.cshl.edu/app1 and http://server.cshl.edu/app2 This will go through apache with reverse-proxy rule back to dancer applications (each running on a different port, with starman). What do I need to change in order for the static files to be served from "http://server.cshl.edu/app1/images" instead of "http://server.cshl.edu/images" (which is the way templates will be rendered using "request.uri_base" and "request.uri_for" ? Thanks again, -gordon

Pedro Melo wrote, On 09/28/2011 02:14 PM:

Hi,

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 6:54 PM, Assaf Gordon <gordon@cshl.edu> wrote:

...

What do I need to change in order for the static files to be served from "http://server.cshl.edu/app1/images" instead of "http://server.cshl.edu/images" (which is the way templates will be rendered using "request.uri_base" and "request.uri_for" ?

Inside the server.cshl.edu Apache VirtualHost configuration block, try this:

Alias /app1/images /path/to/app1/public/images Alias /app2/images /path/to/app2/public/images

I understand the apache configuration part, but not the dancer part: In my Dancer/Template-Toolkit file (e.g. "views/layout/main.tt"), I'm still using: <img src="[% request.uri_base %]/images/pic.jpg"/> and <link rel="stylesheet" href="[% request.uri_base %]/css/style.css" /> So the link (inside the generated HTML that the user will receive) will contain: http://server.cshl.edu/images/pic.jpg and http://server.cshl.edu/css/style.css And so that alias (in the apache configuration) will not 'catch' it. -gordon

sawyer x wrote, On 09/28/2011 03:33 PM:

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 9:22 PM, Assaf Gordon <gordon@cshl.edu <mailto:gordon@cshl.edu>> wrote:

I understand the apache configuration part, but not the dancer part:

In my Dancer/Template-Toolkit file (e.g. "views/layout/main.tt <http://main.tt>"), I'm still using: <img src="[% request.uri_base %]/images/pic.jpg"/> and <link rel="stylesheet" href="[% request.uri_base %]/css/style.css" />

So the link (inside the generated HTML that the user will receive) will contain: http://server.cshl.edu/images/pic.jpg and http://server.cshl.edu/css/style.css

Indeed that's what the users will get. Then they have to run another request to the server to retrieve it, and that's when they hit the Alias rule which tells the apache "they're asking for /images/ but they actually want /app/images".

I must be missing something big, because I just don't get it :) 1. If the user gets <src img="http://server.cshl.edu/images/pic.jpg"> and then retrieves it, an alias rule "Alias /app1/images /path/to/app1/public/images" (as suggested by Pedro Melo) will *not* catch it - unless I don't understand the meaning of Apache's "Alias". 2. If I have two dancer applications, and both generate URLS of "http://server.cshl.edu/images/pic.jpg" - how is it possible for apache to tell if this image belongs to the first application or the second ? Perhaps I'm not explaining myself well. I'll try to ask it in a different way: Has anyone been able to deploy a Dancer application *not* under the server's root URL, without changing code/templates in the Dancer application itself ? That is: 1. create default dancer application. the index route's URL is "/" the images URL is "/images/*" the CSS URL is "/css/*" 2. SOME CONFIGURATION in Apache ?? 3. The root URL of the entire application is now "/gordon/": the index route's URL is "/gordon/" the images URL is "/gordon/images/*" the CSS URL is "/gordon/css/*" What should I do in step 2 ?

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 1:07 PM, Assaf Gordon <gordon@cshl.edu> wrote:

sawyer x wrote, On 09/28/2011 03:33 PM:

...

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 9:22 PM, Assaf Gordon <gordon@cshl.edu <mailto: gordon@cshl.edu>> wrote:

I understand the apache configuration part, but not the dancer part:

In my Dancer/Template-Toolkit file (e.g. "views/layout/main.tt < http://main.tt>"), I'm still using: <img src="[% request.uri_base %]/images/pic.jpg"/> and <link rel="stylesheet" href="[% request.uri_base %]/css/style.css" />

So the link (inside the generated HTML that the user will receive) will contain: http://server.cshl.edu/images/pic.jpg and http://server.cshl.edu/css/style.css

Indeed that's what the users will get. Then they have to run another request to the server to retrieve it, and that's when they hit the Alias rule which tells the apache "they're asking for /images/ but they actually want /app/images".

I must be missing something big, because I just don't get it :)

1. If the user gets <src img="http://server.cshl.edu/images/pic.jpg"> and then retrieves it, an alias rule "Alias /app1/images /path/to/app1/public/images" (as suggested by Pedro Melo) will *not* catch it - unless I don't understand the meaning of Apache's "Alias".

2. If I have two dancer applications, and both generate URLS of " http://server.cshl.edu/images/pic.jpg" - how is it possible for apache to tell if this image belongs to the first application or the second ?

Perhaps I'm not explaining myself well. I'll try to ask it in a different way:

Has anyone been able to deploy a Dancer application *not* under the server's root URL, without changing code/templates in the Dancer application itself ?

That is: 1. create default dancer application. the index route's URL is "/" the images URL is "/images/*" the CSS URL is "/css/*"

2. SOME CONFIGURATION in Apache ??

3. The root URL of the entire application is now "/gordon/": the index route's URL is "/gordon/" the images URL is "/gordon/images/*" the CSS URL is "/gordon/css/*"

What should I do in step 2 ?

The only thing I can think of is to rewrite the html on the way out such that all calls to /images/ get the prefix. The problem is that all your templates are hard coding a path to a resource on the server. You're telling the browser what resource to request and you're giving it an "absolute" path. You could also give them "relative" paths such as: <img src="images/foo.png"> Which will work fine as long as you don't have any routes that are deeper. Why don't you just have a configuration parameter in your config file that says "path" and then use that instead of "[% request.uri_base %]"? I don't quite get why you're using uri_base anyway. All you have to do is say: <img src="/images/foo.png"> and it will default to pulling from the same server the page was served from. You could mod all your templates to say something like: <img src="[% images_path %]/foo.png"> And then control it via config. I agree that this isn't something Dancer should strive to support, it's really an odd request (hard coding resource URLs and then expecting the app layer to rewrite outbound HTML or something).

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On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 1:17 PM, Assaf Gordon <gordon@cshl.edu> wrote:

Brian E. Lozier wrote, On 09/28/2011 04:14 PM:

...

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 1:07 PM, Assaf Gordon <gordon@cshl.edu <mailto:

gordon@cshl.edu>> wrote:

...

Has anyone been able to deploy a Dancer application *not* under the

server's root URL,

...

without changing code/templates in the Dancer application itself ?

The only thing I can think of is to rewrite the html on the way out such

that all calls to /images/ get the prefix. The problem is that all your templates are hard coding a path to a resource on the server. You're telling the browser what resource to request and you're giving it an "absolute" path. You could also give them "relative" paths such as:

...

<img src="images/foo.png">

Which will work fine as long as you don't have any routes that are

deeper.

...

Why don't you just have a configuration parameter in your config file

that says "path" and then use that instead of "[% request.uri_base %]"? I don't quite get why you're using uri_base anyway. All you have to do is say:

This configuration parameter is exactly what started this thread (The app-wide "prefix" setting - in the subject line) :) And I keep learning that it's a bad idea, but haven't yet understood how to do it without such parameter.

I'm suggesting creating a new config variable for your apps, not reusing the prefix one. Although I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to use the prefix one, I'll go back and read the beginnings of the thread.

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Such as Git, it sounds complex but it is in fact relatively simple. You have a virtual host catching all requests to a domain name. It will put it in the context of the virtual host configuration block (<VirtualHost *:80>). You can specify the domain inside it: <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName mydomain.com ServerAlias www.mydomain.com </VirtualHost> Inside that context, you can have Aliases. These aliases assure that whenever someone requests one thing, Apache will actually submit them another. This helps when you put stuff in different locations but want the users to have the same requests. For example, you want the users to go to mydomain/cgi-bin/script.pl when in fact you want "cgi-bin" to be in a very specific place outside the regular directory. You can have that, and that's what people often use. 1. Put a virtual host for "mydomain" 2. Put an alias from "/myapp/images" to "/public/images" 3. Users reach: mydomain/myapp/images 4. Apache will actually go to /public/images to get the images instead of /myapp/images. It's that simple.

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 11:21 PM, Brian E. Lozier <brian@massassi.com>wrote:

I think I understand what you're saying but I think you're misunderstanding the problem. The problem is that he wants to mount TWO apps under different directories:

Indeed perhaps I'm misunderstanding.

/prefix1/ /prefix2/

But each of these apps are requesting images like /images/image1.png, and the images overlap. He wants requests coming from /prefix1/ to service /prefix1/images/image1.png and requests from /prefix2/ to service /prefix2/images/image1.png even though there's no way to tell the server which "prefix" he's under given a request for /images/image1.png.

The solution would still be the same though. It's a server configuration problem. Put the public directory outside the applications, set up the aliases to the same directory. "Badaboom", as it were in The Fifth Element. :)

First, Brian - thank you! For a minute there I thought I was going mad, imagining non-existent problems that I can't seem to explain :) a minor breakthrough! This might have caused my confusion (especially after reading Alberto's email, that made it sound like it's already built-in): If I deploy using : === <Location /app1> SetHandler perl-script PerlHandler Plack::Handler::Apache2 PerlSetVar psgi_app /home/gordon/projects/dancer/bin/app.pl </Location> === Then indeed, "request.uri_base" will be "http://server.cshl.edu/app1" - and everything "just works" (including all the static files, they go under "/app1/images/*"). But if I deploy using just "./bin/app.pl" or using Plackup+starman, then "request.uri_base" is always root, regardless of the apache/reverse-proxy configuration. I haven't tested other deployment methods yet. I'll investigate some more... perhaps there's a way to make it work with Plackup+Starman . Thanks again everyone, -gordon