man Catalyst::Action::REST (3): Automated REST Method Dispatching

SYNOPSIS

sub foo :Local :ActionClass('REST') {
... do setup for HTTP method specific handlers ...
}
sub foo_GET {
... do something for GET requests ...
}
# alternatively use an Action
sub foo_PUT : Action {
... do something for PUT requests ...
}

DESCRIPTION

This Action handles doing automatic method dispatching for REST requests. It takes a normal Catalyst action, and changes the dispatch to append an underscore and method name. First it will try dispatching to an action with the generated name, and failing that it will try to dispatch to a regular method.

For example, in the synopsis above, calling GET on ``/foo'' would result in the foo_GET method being dispatched.

If a method is requested that is not implemented, this action will return a status 405 (Method Not Found). It will populate the ``Allow'' header with the list of implemented request methods. You can override this behavior by implementing a custom 405 handler like so:

   sub foo_not_implemented {
      ... handle not implemented methods ...
   }

If you do not provide an _OPTIONS subroutine, we will automatically respond with a 200 OK. The ``Allow'' header will be populated with the list of implemented request methods. If you do not provide an _HEAD either, we will auto dispatch to the _GET one in case it exists.

It is likely that you really want to look at Catalyst::Controller::REST, which brings this class together with automatic Serialization of requests and responses.

When you use this module, it adds the Catalyst::TraitFor::Request::REST role to your request class.

METHODS

dispatch: This method overrides the default dispatch mechanism to the re-dispatching mechanism described above.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Q: I'm getting a "415 Unsupported Media Type" error. What gives?!: A: Most likely, you haven't set Content-type equal to ``application/json'', or one of the accepted return formats. You can do this by setting it in your query accepted return formats. You can do this by setting it in your query string thusly: "?content-type=application%2Fjson (where %2F == / uri escaped)."
NOTE Apache will refuse %2F unless configured otherwise. Make sure "AllowEncodedSlashes On" is in your httpd.conf file in order for this to run smoothly.