NAME

CGI::Header - Adapter for CGI::header() function

SYNOPSIS

  use CGI;
  use CGI::Header;

  my $query = CGI->new;

  # CGI.pm-compatible HTTP header properties
  my $header = {
      attachment => 'foo.gif',
      charset    => 'utf-7',
      cookie     => [ $cookie1, $cookie2 ], # CGI::Cookie objects
      expires    => '+3d',
      nph        => 1,
      p3p        => [qw/CAO DSP LAW CURa/],
      target     => 'ResultsWindow',
      type       => 'image/gif'
  };

  # create a CGI::Header object
  my $h = CGI::Header->new( $header, $query );

  # update $header
  $h->set( 'Content-Length' => 3002 );
  $h->delete( 'Content-Disposition' );
  $h->clear;

  $h->header; # same reference as $header

VERSION

This document refers to CGI::Header version 0.40.

DEPENDENCIES

This module is compatible with CGI.pm 3.51 or higher.

DESCRIPTION

This module is a utility class to manipulate a hash reference received by the header() function of CGI.pm. This class is, so to speak, a subclass of Hash, while Perl5 doesn't provide a built-in class called Hash.

This module isn't the replacement of the CGI::header() function. If you're allowed to replace the function with other modules like HTTP::Headers, you should do so.

This module can be used in the following situation:

1. $header is a hash reference which represents CGI response headers

For example, CGI::Application implements header_add() method which can be used to add CGI.pm-compatible HTTP header properties. Instances of CGI applications often hold those properties.

  my $header = { type => 'text/plain' };

2. Manipulates $header using CGI::Header

Since property names are case-insensitive, application developers have to normalize them manually when they specify header properties. CGI::Header normalizes them automatically.

  use CGI::Header;

  my $h = CGI::Header->new( $header );
  $h->set( 'Content-Length' => 3002 ); # add Content-Length header

  $header;
  # => {
  #     'type' => 'text/plain',
  #     'content-length' => '3002',
  # }

3. Passes $header to CGI::header() to stringify the variable

  use CGI;

  print CGI::header( $header );
  # Content-length: 3002
  # Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
  #

header() function just stringifies given header properties. This module can be used to generate PSGI-compatible header array references. See CGI::Header::PSGI.

CLASS METHODS

$header = CGI::Header->new( { type => 'text/plain', ... }[, $query] )

Given a header hash reference, returns a CGI::Header object which holds a reference to the original given argument:

  my $header = { type => 'text/plain' };
  my $h = CGI::Header->new( $header );
  $h->header; # same reference as $header

The object updates the reference when called write methods like set(), delete() or clear():

  # updates $header
  $h->set( 'Content-Length' => 3002 );
  $h->delete( 'Content-Disposition' );
  $h->clear;

You can also pass your query object, preceded by the header hash ref.:

  my $query = CGI->new;
  my $h = CGI::Header->new( $header, $query );
  $h->query; # => $query

NOTE: In this case, new() doesn't check whether property names of $header are normalized or not at all, and so you have to rehash() the header hash reference explicitly when you aren't sure that they are normalized.

$header = CGI::Header->new( type => 'text/plain', ... )

It's roughly equivalent to:

  my $h = CGI::Header->new({ type => 'text/plain', ... })->rehash;

Unlike rehash(), if a property name is duplicated, that property will be overwritten silently:

  my $h = CGI::Header->new(
      -Type        => 'text/plain',
      Content_Type => 'text/html'
  );

  $h->header->{type}; # => "text/html"

In addition to CGI.pm-compatible HTTP header properties, you can specify '-query' property which represents your query object:

  my $query = CGI->new;

  my $h = CGI::Header->new(
      type  => 'text/plain',
      query => $query,
  );

  $h->header; # => { type => 'text/plain' }
  $h->query;  # => $query

$header = CGI::Header->new( $media_type )

A shortcut for:

  my $header = CGI::Header->new({ type => $media_type });

INSTANCE METHODS

$query = $header->query

Returns your current query object. query() defaults to the Singleton instance of CGI.pm ($CGI::Q).

$self = $header->handler('redirect')

Works like CGI::Application's header_type method. This method can be used to declare that you are setting a redirection header. This attribute defaults to header.

  $header->handler('redirect')->as_string; # invokes $header->query->redirect

$hashref = $header->header

Returns the header hash reference associated with this CGI::Header object. You can always pass the header hash to CGI::header() function to generate CGI response headers:

  print CGI::header( $header->header );

$self = $header->rehash

Rebuilds the header hash to normalize parameter names without changing the reference. Returns this object itself. If parameter names aren't normalized, the methods listed below won't work as you expect.

  my $h1 = $header->header;
  # => {
  #     '-content_type'   => 'text/plain',
  #     'Set-Cookie'      => 'ID=123456; path=/',
  #     'expires'         => '+3d',
  #     '-target'         => 'ResultsWindow',
  #     '-content-length' => '3002'
  # }

  $header->rehash;

  my $h2 = $header->header; # same reference as $h1
  # => {
  #     'type'           => 'text/plain',
  #     'cookie'         => 'ID=123456; path=/',
  #     'expires'        => '+3d',
  #     'target'         => 'ResultsWindow',
  #     'content-length' => '3002'
  # }

Normalized property names are:

1. lowercased

  'Content-Length' -> 'content-length'

2. use dashes instead of underscores in property name

  'content_length' -> 'content-length'

CGI::header() also accepts aliases of parameter names. This module converts them as follows:

 'content-type'  -> 'type'
 'cookies'       -> 'cookie'
 'set-cookie'    -> 'cookie'
 'uri'           -> 'location'
 'url'           -> 'location'
 'window-target' -> 'target'

If a property name is duplicated, throws an exception:

  $header->header;
  # => {
  #     -Type        => 'text/plain',
  #     Content_Type => 'text/html',
  # }

  $header->rehash; # die "Property '-type' already exists"

$value = $header->get( $field )

$value = $header->set( $field => $value )

Get or set the value of the header field. The header field name ($field) is not case sensitive.

  # field names are case-insensitive
  $header->get( 'Content-Length' );
  $header->get( 'content-length' );

The $value argument may be a plain string or a reference to an array of CGI::Cookie objects for the Set-Cookie header.

  $header->set( 'Content-Length' => 3002 );
  my $length = $header->get( 'Content-Length' ); # => 3002

  # $cookie1 and $cookie2 are CGI::Cookie objects
  $header->set( 'Set-Cookie' => [$cookie1, $cookie2] );
  my $cookies = $header->get( 'Set-Cookie' ); # => [ $cookie1, $cookie2 ]

$bool = $header->exists( $field )

Returns a Boolean value telling whether the specified field exists.

  if ( $header->exists('ETag') ) {
      ...
  }

$value = $header->delete( $field )

Deletes the specified field form CGI response headers. Returns the value of the deleted field.

  my $value = $header->delete( 'Content-Disposition' ); # => 'inline'

$self = $header->clear

This will remove all header fields.

$clone = $header->clone

Returns a copy of this CGI::Header object. It's identical to:

  my %copy = %{ $header->header }; # shallow copy
  my $clone = CGI::Header->new( \%copy, $header->query );

@headers = $header->flatten

Returns pairs of fields and values.

  # $cookie1 and $cookie2 are CGI::Cookie objects
  my $header = CGI::Header->new( cookie => [$cookie1, $cookie2] );

  $header->flatten;
  # => (
  #     "Set-Cookie" => "$cookie1",
  #     "Set-Cookie" => "$cookie2",
  #     ...
  # )

$header->as_hashref

$header->as_string

If $header->handler is set to header, it's identical to:

  $header->query->header( $header->header );

If $header->handler is set to redirect, it's identical to:

  $header->query->redirect( $header->header );

If $header->handler is set to none, returns an empty string.

PROPERTIES

The following methods were named after propertyn ames recognized by CGI.pm's header method. Most of these methods can both be used to read and to set the value of a property.

If you pass an argument to the method, the property value will be set, and also the current object itself will be returned; therefore you can chain methods as follows:

  $header->type('text/html')->charset('utf-8');

If no argument is supplied, the property value will returned. If the given property doesn't exist, undef will be returned.

$self = $header->attachment( $filename )

$filename = $header->attachment

Get or set the attachment property. Can be used to turn the page into an attachment. Represents suggested name for the saved file.

  $header->attachment('genome.jpg');

In this case, the outgoing header will be formatted as:

  Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="genome.jpg"

$self = $header->charset( $character_set )

$character_set = $header->charset

Get or set the charset property. Represents the character set sent to the browser.

$self = $header->cookie( @cookies )

@cookies = $header->cookie

Get or set the cookie property. The parameter can be a list of CGI::Cookie objects.

$header->push_cookie( @cookie )

Given a list of CGI::Cookie objects, appends them to the cookie property.

$self = $header->expires

$header->expires( $format )

Get or set the expires property. The Expires header gives the date and time after which the entity should be considered stale. You can specify an absolute or relative expiration interval. The following forms are all valid for this field:

  $header->expires( '+30s' ); # 30 seconds from now
  $header->expires( '+10m' ); # ten minutes from now
  $header->expires( '+1h'  ); # one hour from now
  $header->expires( 'now'  ); # immediately
  $header->expires( '+3M'  ); # in three months
  $header->expires( '+10y' ); # in ten years time

  # at the indicated time & date
  $header->expires( 'Thu, 25 Apr 1999 00:40:33 GMT' );

$self = $header->location( $url )

$url = $header->location

Get or set the Location header.

  $header->location('http://somewhere.else/in/movie/land');

$self = $header->nph( $bool )

$bool = $header->nph

Get or set the nph property. If set to a true value, will issue the correct headers to work with a NPH (no-parse-header) script.

  $header->nph(1);

@tags = $header->p3p

$self = $header->p3p( @tags )

Get or set the p3p property. The parameter can be an array or a space-delimited string. Returns a list of P3P tags. (In scalar context, returns the number of P3P tags.)

  $header->p3p(qw/CAO DSP LAW CURa/);
  # or
  $header->p3p( 'CAO DSP LAW CURa' );

  my @tags = $header->p3p; # => ("CAO", "DSP", "LAW", "CURa")
  my $size = $header->p3p; # => 4

In this case, the outgoing header will be formatted as:

  P3P: policyref="/w3c/p3p.xml", CP="CAO DSP LAW CURa"

$self = $header->status( $status )

$status = $header->status

Get or set the Status header.

  $header->status('304 Not Modified');

$self = $header->target( $window_target )

$window_target = $header->target

Get or set the Window-Target header.

  $header->target('ResultsWindow');

$self = $header->type( $media_type )

$media_type = $header->type

Get or set the type property. Represents the media type of the message content.

  $header->type('text/html');

EXAMPLES

WRITING Blosxom PLUGINS

The following plugin just adds the Content-Length header to CGI response headers sent by blosxom.cgi:

  package content_length;
  use CGI::Header;

  sub start {
      !$blosxom::static_entries;
  }

  sub last {
      my $h = CGI::Header->new( $blosxom::header )->rehash;
      $h->set( 'Content-Length' => length $blosxom::output );
  }

  1;

Since Blosxom depends on the procedural interface of CGI.pm, you don't have to pass $query to new() in this case.

CONVERTING TO HTTP::Headers OBJECTS

  use CGI::Header;
  use HTTP::Headers;

  my @header_props = ( type => 'text/plain', ... );
  my $h = HTTP::Headers->new( CGI::Header->new(@header_props)->flatten );
  $h->header( 'Content-Type' ); # => "text/plain"

LIMITATIONS

Since the following strings conflict with property names, you can't use them as field names ($field):

  "Attachment"
  "Charset"
  "Cookie"
  "Cookies"
  "NPH"
  "Target"
  "Type"

Content-Type

You can set the Content-Type header to neither undef nor an empty:

  # wrong
  $header->set( 'Content-Type' => undef );
  $header->set( 'Content-Type' => q{} );

Set type property to an empty string:

  $header->type(q{});

Date

If one of the following conditions is met, the Date header will be set automatically, and also the header field will become read-only:

  if ( $header->nph or $header->cookie or $header->expires ) {
      my $date = $header->as_hashref->{'Date'}; # => HTTP-Date (current time)
      $header->set( 'Date' => 'Thu, 25 Apr 1999 00:40:33 GMT' ); # wrong
      $header->delete('Date'); # wrong
  }

Expires

You shouldn't assign to the Expires header directly because the following behavior will surprise us:

  # confusing
  $header->set( 'Expires' => '+3d' );

  my $value = $header->get('Expires');
  # => "+3d" (not "Thu, 25 Apr 1999 00:40:33 GMT")

Use expires() instead:

  $header->expires('+3d');

P3P

You can't assign to the P3P header directly:

  # wrong
  $header->set( 'P3P' => '/path/to/p3p.xml' );

CGI::header() restricts where the policy-reference file is located, and so you can't modify the location (/w3c/p3p.xml). You're allowed to set P3P tags using p3p().

Pragma

If the following condition is met, the Pragma header will be set automatically, and also the header field will become read-only:

  if ( $header->query->cache ) {
      my $pragma = $header->as_hashref->{'Pragma'}; # => 'no-cache'
      $header->set( 'Pragma' => 'no-cache' ); # wrong
      $header->delete('Pragma'); # wrong
  }

Server

If the following condition is met, the Server header will be set automatically, and also the header field will become read-only:

  if ( $header->nph ) {
      my $server = $header->as_hashref->{'Server'};
      # => $header->query->server_software

      $header->set( 'Server' => 'Apache/1.3.27 (Unix)' ); # wrong
      $header->delete('Server'); # wrong
  }

BUGS

There are no known bugs in this module. Please report problems to ANAZAWA (anazawa@cpan.org). Patches are welcome.

AUTHOR

Ryo Anazawa (anazawa@cpan.org)

LICENSE

This module is free software; you can redistibute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. See perlartistic.

To install CGI::Header, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm CGI::Header

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install CGI::Header

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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