NAME

App::Rad::FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about Rad

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I name my commands with the same name as reserved subs like "setup", "pre_process", etc?

The fact that they are reserved subroutine names just means you don't get to call them that internally (i.e. inside your code). You can still name your commands whatever you feel like with $c->register or $c->register_commands():

   sub setup {
       my $c = shift;
       $c->register_commands({ 'setup' => \&my_setup_command });
   }
   
   sub my_setup_command {
       ...
   }

I added a post_process and now my app does not show any help messages! What's wrong?

Short answer: If you wish to print anything returned by commands (including Rad's automatic 'help' command), make sure to call $c->post_process at the end of your own post_process sub.

Long answer: As you may know, Rad stores returned values from commands on $c->output, and leaves all output treatment to post_process. This enables you to manipulate the output of your commands as you see fit (such as mailing them, adding them to a database, parsing it into a specific format, etc). If you override post_process, you need to remember to actually print the output afterwards. This can easily be acomplished with:

   if ($c->output) {
       print $c->output . "\n";
   }

Since this is Rad's standard post_process, an easier (and perhaps more elegant) way of acomplishing the same result is simply calling $c->post_process on the last line of your routine, like so:

   sub post_process {
       my $c = shift;

       ...  # do your own processing

       $c->post_process;
   }

Naturally, Rad's automatic help mechanism also forwards its output to post_process (so you can also manipulate it at will before printing). If you wish to selectively print $c->output only if the command was 'help', you can do just that:

  sub post_process {
      my $c = shift;

      if ($c->cmd eq 'help') {
          print $c->output . "\n";
      }
      else {
          # manipulate output at will
      }
  }

You can also catch commandless calls to your program doing if (!$c->cmd) and easily combine it with the example above.

How do I disable the "help" command?

The "help" command is registered by Rad automatically. To disable it, just unregister it at any point in your code (this is usually done at "setup"):

   sub setup {
       my $c = shift;
       $c->unregister('help');
       
       # since you're overriding 'setup', make sure
       # you register your App's commands!
       $c->register_commands(); 
   }