PxtOverview

DEPRECATED, NO LONGER USED

Introduction

This page is being included for historical purposes, so that folks can

better understand PXT. It was written on 12 Mar 2001 by Chip Turner. It explains the thought process behind writing PXT.

PXT Overview an ASP/Mason Alternative

by Chip Turner

12 Mar 2001

Here's something I've been working on as an alternative technology for component based web page rendering. We could use it for RHN if we choose. This should summarize usage from a high level perspective.

Pseudo-XML Templates for Apache

Here is a rough description of a system I've used in the past that may be useful in RHN.

The basic idea is to embed XML in HTML in such a way that the XML/HTML mixture is served to a client as pure HTML. This translation occurs at the time of a page request.

A typical file would look largely like a normal HTML document, except for the addition of a handful of tags. These tags can be standalone (such as <IMG />) or can be block tags (suck as <DIV> ... </DIV>). Below is a simple example of a form which uses code to insert default values but HTML (presumptively written by an HTML designer):

#!text/html
<pxt-include App="RHN::User::EditTags" />

<pxt-errors>
<pxt-rhn:user:loginform action="/network/main.html">

<input type=text name="username" value=[[pxt-username]]>
<input type=password name="password" value=[[pxt-password]]>
[[pxt-hidden]]

</pxt-rhn:user:editform>

The above would be rendered in such a way as to become a normal form for the browser, but with the appropriate values in place that a user would expect (for instance, <pxt-errors> would be where any errors would be placed, such as "Invalid username or password"; likewise, [[pxt-username]] would be where a user's login would be placed if it was known, perhaps from a failed login). The <pxt-rhn:user:loginform> would render everything between itself and its matching close tag as if it were a normal <FORM> tag.

The general convention is that a tag <pxt-foo> corresponds to a specific subroutine in code somewhere, and a label [[pxt-bar]] is a substitution handled by an enclosing tag (in this case, [[pxt-username]] is expanded by the pxt-rhn:user:loginform tag).

The first line of the example, <pxt-include>, indicated which sets of tags will be used in this html document. More can be used by indicating other pxt-include tags.

Another example; suppose an html document needed to display a list of packages.

#!text/html
<pxt-include "RHN::Packages" />

<TABLE BORDER=1>
<TR><TH>Package Name</TH><TH>Size</TH><TH>Download!</TH></TR>

<pxt-rhn:packages:view_all pagesize=20>
<TR><TD>[[name]]</TD><TD>[[size]]</TD><TD>[[download_link]]</TD></TR>
</pxt-rhn:packages:view_all>

</TABLE>

In this case, it is easy to change the way a list of packages is displayed (even so far as changing which fields are displayed) without involving any code change, assuming the tag handler for pxt-rhn:packages:view_all is written to allow such (and in my experience with this system, it typically is easier to write tag handlers to handle that kind of thing than it is to write tag handlers that are specific and not as flexible).

Now, from the perl side. The module referenced in pxt-include is loaded into memory via translation of :: into / and appending a .pm to the module name (ie, RHN::Packages becomes RHN/Packages.pm, much like the standard 'use' operation).

Once a module is loaded, the code then calls $package->register_tags. In the case above, it calls RHN::Packages->register_tags. This allows a module to define a function (named register_tags) that declares what XML tags it can expand. This approach allows for ISA inheritance and requires an upfront declaration of capabilities, instead of relying on allowing arbitrary tags to be expanded with no registration. This wins both speed and clarity when it comes to writing/reading modules. A similar class method, register_callbacks, does something similar to the current callback system, except it, too, requires registration (instead of arbitrary form variables ending in _cb). Here is a sample register_tags function:

#!perl
sub register_tags {
  my $class = shift;
  my $pxt = shift;     # the interface to the core that allows you to
                       # register tags, callbacks, etc

  # let any parent class defined in our ISA register its tags first
  $_->register_tags foreach @ISA;

  # now we register our own
  $pxt->register_tag('rhn:user:loginform' => \&login_form);
  $pxt->register_tag('rhn:user:display_alerts => \&display_alerts);
}

Fairly simple. The ISA bit is optional, but it results in a very object oriented flavor in overriding parent tags and extending base functionality. The $pxt->register_tag method takes two parameters -- tag name and a reference to a subroutine that will be called when the tag is encountered.

Here is a very simple tag handler:

#!perl
sub first_tag {
  my $pxt = shift;   # the same pxt object; it is the way we talk to 
                     # Apache and PXT

  my $ret = "This is replacing the tag.<br>";

  # do we have a formvar named test?  if so, we add more to our
  # returned results
  $ret .= "I even have a formvar for test: " . $pxt->param("test") . "<br>"
    if $pxt->param("test");

  $pxt->session->set("first_tag_data" => "something to remember in the
session");

  return $ret;
}

Pretty much everything is as expected; the same $pxt object (an obj of class PXT::Request) is how we retrieve formvars as well as how we access the user's session data (typical key/value access; any scalar may be associated with the key, which is the first parameter).

One departure of the above from Apache::ASP is the use of full fledged methods for accessing form variables and session data. This costs almost nothing in terms of performance (indeed, session data can be updated in a "smart" way as opposed to if we had to send an entire hash back and forth each time) but increases readability and unifies an interface. One problem that is all over the current code base is the passing of large hashes with large numbers of keys back and forth to functions and methods; this destroys readability and maintainability, especially as those hashes are often (key, value) pairs that are column names and column values for a record in a table somewhere. This would be the beginning of decoupling the idea of tossing large hashes back and forth instead of making functions properly filter inputs and outputs.

Right now, some of the above actually exists, including SQL based sessions. Enough for a proof of concept, anyway, should we wish to persue it further.

Upsides:

• Clear separation of code and data
• Fast (can be handled much faster than systems which allow arbitrary perl code)
• Easy for designers to integrate into new/existing HTML
• Prevents "quick fixes" via sticking perl into html that ASP and Mason would allow; in other words, it somewhat forces separation of code and display, and forces display functionality to be properly divided among various .pm modules, separate both from specific HTML presentation and DBI implementation
• A handler can serve XML-RPC by simply creating the appropriate output in XML instead of HTML (should we need to provide that interface)

Downsides:

• Would require further development ourselves
• My view is myopic since I designed the system, so I am not impartial in evaluating its merits
• Would be different than our existing Apache::ASP infrastructure (though this will pretty much have to change anyway, if only in style)