NAME

Apache::RequestNotes - allow easy, consistent access to cookie and 
                       form data across each request phase.

SYNOPSIS

  httpd.conf:

    PerlInitHandler Apache::RequestNotes
    PerlSetVar MaxPostSize 1024

  MaxUploadSize is in bytes and defaults to 1024, thus is optional.

DESCRIPTION

  Apache::RequestNotes provides a simple interface allowing all phases
  of the request cycle access to cookie or form input parameters in a 
  consistent manner.  Behind the scenes, it uses libapreq functions to 
  parse request data and puts references to the data in pnotes.


EXAMPLE

  some Perl*Handler or Registry script:

    my $input      = $r->pnotes('INPUT');
    my $cookies    = $r->pnotes('COOKIES');
   
    # GET and POST data
    my $foo        = $input->get('foo');
 
    # cookie data
    my $bar        = $cookies->{'bar'};      # one way

    my %cookies    = %$cookies if $cookies;  # check, just to be safe
    my $baz        = $cookies{'baz'};        # another way

  httpd.conf:

    PerlInitHandler Apache::RequestNotes


  After using Apache::RequestNotes, $cookies contains a hashref with
  the names and values of all cookies sent back to your domain and
  path.  $input contains a reference to an Apache::Table object and
  can be accessed via Apache::Table methods.  If a form contains
  both GET and POST data, both are available via $input.

  Once the request is past the PerlInit phase, all other phases can
  have access to form input and cookie data without parsing it
  themselves. This relieves some strain, especially when the GET or 
  POST data is required by numerous handlers along the way.

NOTES

  Apache::RequestNotes does not allow for file uploads. If either a 
  file upload was attempted, or the POST data exceeds MaxPostSize,
  rather than return SERVER_ERROR it sets $Apache::RequestNotes::err.

  Verbose debugging is enabled by setting the variable
  $Apache::RequestNotes::DEBUG=1 to or greater. To turn off all debug
  information, set your apache LogLevel above info level.

  This is alpha software, and as such has not been tested on multiple
  platforms or environments.  It requires PERL_INIT=1, PERL_LOG_API=1, 
  and maybe other hooks to function properly.  Doug MacEachern's 
  libapreq is also required - you can get it from CPAN under the 
  Apache tree.

FEATURES/BUGS

  No known bugs or unexpected features at this time.

SEE ALSO

  perl(1), mod_perl(1), Apache(3), libapreq(1), Apache::Table(3)

AUTHOR

  Geoffrey Young <geoff@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT

  Copyright 2000 Geoffrey Young - all rights reserved.

  This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.