NAME
Catalyst::Plugin::Session - Generic Session plugin - ties together
server side storage and client side state required to maintain session
data.
SYNOPSIS
# To get sessions to "just work", all you need to do is use these plugins:
use Catalyst qw/
Session
Session::Store::FastMmap
Session::State::Cookie
/;
# you can replace Store::FastMmap with Store::File - both have sensible
# default configurations (see their docs for details)
# more complicated backends are available for other scenarios (DBI storage,
# etc)
# after you've loaded the plugins you can save session data
# For example, if you are writing a shopping cart, it could be implemented
# like this:
sub add_item : Local {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
my $item_id = $c->req->param("item");
# $c->session is a hash ref, a bit like $c->stash
# the difference is that it' preserved across requests
push @{ $c->session->{items} }, $item_id;
$c->forward("MyView");
}
sub display_items : Local {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
# values in $c->session are restored
$c->stash->{items_to_display} =
[ map { MyModel->retrieve($_) } @{ $c->session->{items} } ];
$c->forward("MyView");
}
DESCRIPTION
The Session plugin is the base of two related parts of functionality
required for session management in web applications.
The first part, the State, is getting the browser to repeat back a
session key, so that the web application can identify the client and
logically string several requests together into a session.
The second part, the Store, deals with the actual storage of information
about the client. This data is stored so that the it may be revived for
every request made by the same client.
This plugin links the two pieces together.
RECOMENDED BACKENDS
Session::State::Cookie
The only really sane way to do state is using cookies.
Session::Store::File
A portable backend, based on Cache::File.
Session::Store::FastMmap
A fast and flexible backend, based on Cache::FastMmap.
METHODS
sessionid
An accessor for the session ID value.
session
Returns a hash reference that might contain unserialized values from
previous requests in the same session, and whose modified value will
be saved for future requests.
This method will automatically create a new session and session ID
if none exists.
session_expires
session_expires $reset
This method returns the time when the current session will expire,
or 0 if there is no current session. If there is a session and it
already expired, it will delete the session and return 0 as well.
If the $reset parameter is true, and there is a session ID the
expiry time will be reset to the current time plus the time to live
(see "CONFIGURATION"). This is used when creating a new session.
flash
This is like Ruby on Rails' flash data structure. Think of it as a
stash that lasts for longer than one request, letting you redirect
instead of forward.
The flash data will be cleaned up only on requests on which actually
use $c->flash (thus allowing multiple redirections), and the policy
is to delete all the keys which haven't changed since the flash data
was loaded at the end of every request.
sub moose : Local {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
$c->flash->{beans} = 10;
$c->response->redirect( $c->uri_for("foo") );
}
sub foo : Local {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
my $value = $c->flash->{beans};
# ...
$c->response->redirect( $c->uri_for("bar") );
}
sub bar : Local {
my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
if ( exists $c->flash->{beans} ) { # false
}
}
clear_flash
Zap all the keys in the flash regardless of their current state.
keep_flash @keys
If you wawnt to keep a flash key for the next request too, even if
it hasn't changed, call "keep_flash" and pass in the keys as
arguments.
delete_session REASON
This method is used to invalidate a session. It takes an optional
parameter which will be saved in "session_delete_reason" if
provided.
session_delete_reason
This accessor contains a string with the reason a session was
deleted. Possible values include:
* "address mismatch"
* "session expired"
session_expire_key $key, $ttl
Mark a key to expire at a certain time (only useful when shorter
than the expiry time for the whole session).
For example:
__PACKAGE__->config->{session}{expires} = 1000000000000; # forever
# later
$c->session_expire_key( __user => 3600 );
Will make the session data survive, but the user will still be
logged out after an hour.
Note that these values are not auto extended.
INTERNAL METHODS
setup
This method is extended to also make calls to
"check_session_plugin_requirements" and "setup_session".
check_session_plugin_requirements
This method ensures that a State and a Store plugin are also in use
by the application.
setup_session
This method populates "$c->config->{session}" with the default
values listed in "CONFIGURATION".
prepare_action
This methoid is extended.
It's only effect is if the (off by default) "flash_to_stash"
configuration parameter is on - then it will copy the contents of
the flash to the stash at prepare time.
finalize
This method is extended and will extend the expiry time, as well as
persist the session data if a session exists.
initialize_session_data
This method will initialize the internal structure of the session,
and is called by the "session" method if appropriate.
create_session_id
Creates a new session id using "generate_session_id" if there is no
session ID yet.
validate_session_id SID
Make sure a session ID is of the right format.
This currently ensures that the session ID string is any amount of
case insensitive hexadecimal characters.
generate_session_id
This method will return a string that can be used as a session ID.
It is supposed to be a reasonably random string with enough bits to
prevent collision. It basically takes "session_hash_seed" and hashes
it using SHA-1, MD5 or SHA-256, depending on the availibility of
these modules.
session_hash_seed
This method is actually rather internal to generate_session_id, but
should be overridable in case you want to provide more random data.
Currently it returns a concatenated string which contains:
* A counter
* The current time
* One value from "rand".
* The stringified value of a newly allocated hash reference
* The stringified value of the Catalyst context object
In the hopes that those combined values are entropic enough for most
uses. If this is not the case you can replace "session_hash_seed"
with e.g.
sub session_hash_seed {
open my $fh, "<", "/dev/random";
read $fh, my $bytes, 20;
close $fh;
return $bytes;
}
Or even more directly, replace "generate_session_id":
sub generate_session_id {
open my $fh, "<", "/dev/random";
read $fh, my $bytes, 20;
close $fh;
return unpack("H*", $bytes);
}
Also have a look at Crypt::Random and the various openssl bindings -
these modules provide APIs for cryptographically secure random data.
finalize_session
Clean up the session during "finalize".
This clears the various accessors after saving to the store.
dump_these
See "dump_these" in Catalyst - ammends the session data structure to
the list of dumped objects if session ID is defined.
USING SESSIONS DURING PREPARE
The earliest point in time at which you may use the session data is
after Catalyst::Plugin::Session's "prepare_action" has finished.
State plugins must set $c->session ID before "prepare_action", and
during "prepare_action" Catalyst::Plugin::Session will actually load the
data from the store.
sub prepare_action {
my $c = shift;
# don't touch $c->session yet!
$c->NEXT::prepare_action( @_ );
$c->session; # this is OK
$c->sessionid; # this is also OK
}
CONFIGURATION
$c->config->{session} = {
expires => 1234,
};
All configuation parameters are provided in a hash reference under the
"session" key in the configuration hash.
expires
The time-to-live of each session, expressed in seconds. Defaults to
7200 (two hours).
verify_address
When true, "<$c-"request->address>> will be checked at prepare time.
If it is not the same as the address that initiated the session, the
session is deleted.
Defaults to false.
flash_to_stash
This option makes it easier to have actions behave the same whether
they were forwarded to or redirected to. On prepare time it copies
the contents of "flash" (if any) to the stash.
SPECIAL KEYS
The hash reference returned by "$c->session" contains several keys which
are automatically set:
__expires
This key no longer exists. Use "session_expires" instead.
__updated
The last time a session was saved to the store.
__created
The time when the session was first created.
__address
The value of "$c->request->address" at the time the session was
created. This value is only populated if "verify_address" is true in
the configuration.
CAVEATS
Round the Robin Proxies
"verify_address" could make your site inaccessible to users who are
behind load balanced proxies. Some ISPs may give a different IP to each
request by the same client due to this type of proxying. If addresses
are verified these users' sessions cannot persist.
To let these users access your site you can either disable address
verification as a whole, or provide a checkbox in the login dialog that
tells the server that it's OK for the address of the client to change.
When the server sees that this box is checked it should delete the
"__address" sepcial key from the session hash when the hash is first
created.
Race Conditions
In this day and age where cleaning detergents and dutch football (not
the american kind) teams roam the plains in great numbers, requests may
happen simultaneously. This means that there is some risk of session
data being overwritten, like this:
1. request a starts, request b starts, with the same session id
2. session data is loaded in request a
3. session data is loaded in request b
4. session data is changed in request a
5. request a finishes, session data is updated and written to store
6. request b finishes, session data is updated and written to store,
overwriting changes by request a
If this is a concern in your application, a soon to be developed locking
solution is the only safe way to go. This will have a bigger overhead.
For applications where any given user is only making one request at a
time this plugin should be safe enough.
AUTHORS
Andy Grundman
Christian Hansen
Yuval Kogman, "
[email protected]" (current maintainer)
Sebastian Riedel
And countless other contributers from #catalyst. Thanks guys!
COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
Copyright (c) 2005 the aforementioned authors. All rights
reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute
it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
