I think your main problem is in this snippet:

my (@data) = q[$thread->{id}, 
               $thread->{name}, 
               $thread->{date},
               $thread->{subj},
               $thread->{day_rate},
               $thread->{msg}];
[download]

You're creating an array with only one element. Your snippet is equivalent to the following. Note that q() is equivalent to the single-quote operator, so the values won't even be interpolated into the string.

my @data = '$thread->{id}, $thread->{name}, ' .
  '$thread->{date}, $thread->{subj}, ' .
  '$thread->{day_rate}, $thread->{msg}';
[download]

Perhaps you meant something like:

my @data = (
  $thread->{id},   $thread->{name},     $thread->{date},
  $thread->{subj}, $thread->{day_rate}, $thread->{msg}
);
[download]

Update: Fixed the 'equivalent' example to single quotes and added explanation (originally was concatenating with double quotes which would not be the same).

Ahhhh, of course. I'll try it and get back to this.
Thanks,
-dhoss

"and I wonder, when I sing along with you if everything could ever feel this real forever? if anything could ever be this good again? the only thing I'll ever ask of you, you've gotta promise not to stop when I say 'when'", she sang

Ahh, now instead of 14, it's returning 84.....?

"and I wonder, when I sing along with you if everything could ever feel this real forever? if anything could ever be this good again? the only thing I'll ever ask of you, you've gotta promise not to stop when I say 'when'", she sang

Furthermore I suspect that you are seriously mangling your attempt to deal with references to arrays. It may be time to re-read references quick reference, and then replace your while loop with something like this:

    while ( my $thread = $sth->fetchrow_hashref() ){
        push @msgs, [$thread->{id}, 
                     $thread->{name}, 
                     $thread->{date},
                     $thread->{subj},
                     $thread->{day_rate},
                     $thread->{msg}];
    }
[download]

    while ( my $thread = $sth->fetchrow_hashref() ){
        # I duplicate the data because DBI says that it may
        # choose to reuse the reference that it returns.
        push @msgs, { %$thread };
    }
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# this should work
my @messages = selectMsgFromDb();

# or, if you want to use references
my $messages = selectMsgFromDb();

# and amend last line of selectMsgFromDb sub to:
    return \@msgs;
[download]

(I'm assuming you forgot to finish the sub } here in the snippet shown :)

Also, Data::Dumper is your friend. Use it, and dump variables as you go to check you're getting what you expected.

.02

cLive ;-)

Since your main question has been adequately answered, I thought I would comment on the sub question you threw in there.

I am retrieving the sql from a sub called selectMsgFromDb that selects the proper sql query from a configuration module that has all the sql queries in a hash (Security problems???) and executes it, returning the data from the db.

There is nothing wrong with gathering all your SQL calls in one location and having the code pull them in when they are needed. Some would say that this is the proper way to handle SQL calls, since it leads to reuse of SQL statements, and less clutter in the code.

If you are looking for some direction in how this can be achieved easily and safely, then I would recommend you have a look at the Ima::DBI module which was built exactly for this purpose. It may be overkill if your script is small, but I think it is worth a look for ideas and direction regardless of whether you choose to use it.

Also, as the Ima::DBI docs suggest, have a look at Class::DBI which heavily uses the Ima::DBI and hides most of it's complexity. Again, it might be overkill for a small script, but it does wonders for organizing your Database access into clean and maintainable modules. You may even be able to avoid writing any SQL at all when using Class::DBI, as it is able to handle many of the most common ways a developer accesses data from a database.

- Cees