Thanks for this. Having had great difficulty trying to install Rose, I'm now having a look at DBIx class. But I was interested in your comment on Catalyst which I've seen mentioned in a variety of places. I've tried to read up on it and see that it is supposed to be good. However, I must confess to not understanding at all what it does. Is there anyone out there who can explain in almost layman's terms why it's useful and what it does?

It looks rather complicated and big. Given that I just want to BREAD using HTML forms, is it worth enduring the learning curve? i.e. should I be using Catalyst or is this a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

What was the trouble with installing Rose::DB::Object?

Catalyst is kind of a toolkit collection of CPAN modules with an API to help you map web requests to code. It's somewhat complex if you've never used an MVC coding style before.

There are many auto-database projects out there. I can't personally vouch for any of them. I thought Maypole did pretty well at instant editing for simple databases, but it's pretty married to Class::DBI. I'd suggest you crawl through CPAN a little, or freshmeat.net, and find some likely prospects.

My objective is to create some generic routines that will simply generate web forms that will allow me to BREAD several disparate databases of mine. Does Rose sound good for this?

It sure does :) Take a look at Rose::HTML::Objects as well for the form generation. It's pretty easy to auto-generate both things: the RDBO classes from the database (with the Loader/auto_initialize) and then auto-generate the HTML forms using something like what's described in this mailing list post. (Hop on the mailing lists for Rose::DB::Object and Rose::HTML::Objects if you have any questions.)

(Whoops, link corrected.)

Ooh. Ooh. Thanks. Yes, I do like the objects thing.

Yes I already saw that it has a thriving and responsive community. I will start worshipping at the temple of the Rose. It has to be better than Class::DBI for starters because that refuses to install!<br

Well I have to admit to be slightly disappointed. I have knocked on the door of the Rose::DB temple but it wasn't open. I did try to sneak in through a side door but the inner sanctum was locked... Or put another way, I have tried for quite some time now to install the Rose stuff; overcame a couple of problems but can't afford to spend more time, really. However, I would like to help so am offering this as a point of feedback more than anything else.

First off, I tried PPM but Rose isn't in the AS repository (I'm beginning to see that I should regard this as a very bad omen because whenever a package isn't there, only rarely can i manage to install it via any other method....)

Then I tried CPAN which fails because Datetime doesn't install due to a win32 buglet in the infinite tests. I did eventually get over this hurdle - the bug seems to be well known and apparently ignorable so I installed Datetime manually and then went back and tried to CPAN Rose again (I wasn't entirely sure if this was the right approach but it did seem to get further so I think it must have been). But then CPAN/Rose first told me that I needed to set environment variables allow connection to the DB in order to complete the tests but also said that if they weren't set the tests would be ignored. Unfortunately the tests didn't seem to work. Here is the output:



t\00-warning.......................ok
t\bind-param.......................Can't locate Rose/DB.pm in @INC (@I
+NC contains: C:\.cpan\build\Rose-DB-Object-0.75\blib\lib C:\.cpan\bui
+ld\Rose-DB-Objec
t-0.75\blib\arch C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/site/lib . C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/si
+te/lib .) at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
Compilation failed in require at t\bind-param.t line 9.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t\bind-param.t line 11.
t\bind-param.......................dubious
        Test returned status 2 (wstat 512, 0x200)
DIED. FAILED tests 1-27
        Failed 27/27 tests, 0.00% okay
t\column-triggers..................Can't locate Rose/DB.pm in @INC (@I
+NC contains: C:\.cpan\build\Rose-DB-Object-0.75\blib\lib C:\.cpan\bui
+ld\Rose-DB-Objec
t-0.75\blib\arch C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/site/lib . C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/si
+te/lib .) at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
Compilation failed in require at t\column-triggers.t line 9.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t\column-triggers.t line 13.
t\column-triggers..................dubious
        Test returned status 2 (wstat 512, 0x200)
DIED. FAILED tests 1-259
        Failed 259/259 tests, 0.00% okay
t\db-migration.....................Can't locate Rose/DB.pm in @INC (@I
+NC contains: C:\.cpan\build\Rose-DB-Object-0.75\blib\lib C:\.cpan\bui
+ld\Rose-DB-Objec
t-0.75\blib\arch C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/site/lib . C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/si
+te/lib .) at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
Compilation failed in require at t\db-migration.t line 9.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t\db-migration.t line 11.
t\db-migration.....................dubious
        Test returned status 2 (wstat 512, 0x200)
DIED. FAILED tests 1-33
        Failed 33/33 tests, 0.00% okay
t\db-object-auto...................Can't locate Rose/DB.pm in @INC (@I
+NC contains: C:\.cpan\build\Rose-DB-Object-0.75\blib\lib C:\.cpan\bui
+ld\Rose-DB-Objec
t-0.75\blib\arch C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/site/lib . C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/si
+te/lib .) at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
Compilation failed in require at t\db-object-auto.t line 9.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t\db-object-auto.t line 12.
t\db-object-auto...................dubious
        Test returned status 2 (wstat 512, 0x200)
DIED. FAILED tests 1-266
        Failed 266/266 tests, 0.00% okay
[download]

--snip-- and so it goes on... --snip--

       Test returned status 2 (wstat 512, 0x200)
DIED. FAILED tests 1-7
        Failed 7/7 tests, 0.00% okay
t\spot-check-09....................Can't locate Rose/DB.pm in @INC (@I
+NC contains: C:\.cpan\build\Rose-DB-Object-0.75\blib\lib C:\.cpan\bui
+ld\Rose-DB-Objec
t-0.75\blib\arch C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/site/lib . C:/PERL/lib C:/PERL/si
+te/lib .) at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t/test-lib.pl line 7.
Compilation failed in require at t\spot-check-09.t line 9.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t\spot-check-09.t line 11.
t\spot-check-09....................dubious
        Test returned status 2 (wstat 512, 0x200)
DIED. FAILED tests 1-13
        Failed 13/13 tests, 0.00% okay
Failed Test                       Stat Wstat Total Fail  List of Faile
+d
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------
t\bind-param.t                       2   512    27   54  1-27
t\column-triggers.t                  2   512   259  518  1-259
t\db-migration.t                     2   512    33   66  1-33
t\db-object-auto.t                   2   512   266  532  1-266
t\db-object-cached.t                 2   512   415  830  1-415
t\db-object-changes-only-1.t         2   512   483  966  1-483
t\db-object-changes-only-2.t         2   512   286  572  1-286
t\db-object-convention.t             2   512   159  318  1-159
t\db-object-foreign-key-auto.t       2   512   261  522  1-261
t\db-object-foreign-key.t            2   512   196  392  1-196
t\db-object-helpers.t                2   512   298  596  1-298
t\db-object-loader-2.t               2   512    86  172  1-86
t\db-object-loader-3.t               2   512    61  122  1-61
t\db-object-loader-4.t               2   512    86  172  1-86
t\db-object-loader-5.t               2   512   101  202  1-101
t\db-object-loader-6.t               2   512    96  192  1-96
t\db-object-loader.t                 2   512   120  240  1-120
t\db-object-manager-bulk-ops.t       2   512   218  436  1-218
t\db-object-manager.t                2   512  2939 5878  1-2939
t\db-object-mapper.t                 2   512   315  630  1-315
t\db-object-metadata.t               2   512    28   56  1-28
t\db-object-relationship-auto-2.t    2   512    92  184  1-92
t\db-object-relationship-auto.t      2   512    92  184  1-92
t\db-object-relationship.t           2   512  1478 2956  1-1478
t\db-object-std-cached.t             2   512   241  482  1-241
t\db-object-std.t                    2   512   185  370  1-185
t\db-object.t                        2   512   468  936  1-468
t\deep-joins.t                       2   512  1496 2992  1-1496
t\inheritance.t                      2   512    55  110  1-55
t\lazy-columns.t                     2   512    80  160  1-80
t\make-modules.t                     2   512    ??   ??  ??
t\makemethods-db.t                   2   512    51  102  1-51
t\makemethods.t                      2   512   125  250  1-125
t\multi-pk-sequences.t               2   512    50  100  1-50
t\query-builder.t                    2   512     2    4  1-2
t\save-cascade.t                     2   512    89  178  1-89
t\schema-override.t                  2   512     8   16  1-8
t\spot-check-01.t                    2   512    82  164  1-82
t\spot-check-02.t                    2   512    32   64  1-32
t\spot-check-03.t                  255 65280     4    7  1-4
t\spot-check-04.t                    2   512     6   12  1-6
t\spot-check-05.t                    2   512     3    6  1-3
t\spot-check-06.t                    2   512     5   10  1-5
t\spot-check-07.t                    2   512     4    8  1-4
t\spot-check-08.t                    2   512     7   14  1-7
t\spot-check-09.t                    2   512    13   26  1-13
1 test skipped.
Failed 46/48 test scripts. 11401/11402 subtests failed.
Files=48, Tests=11402, 21 wallclock secs ( 0.00 cusr +  0.00 csys =  0
+.00 CPU)
Failed 46/48 test programs. 11401/11402 subtests failed.
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe' : return code
+ '0x2'
Stop.
  C:\indigoperl\bin\nmake.EXE test -- NOT OK
Running make install
  make test had returned bad status, won't install without force
[download]

I'm not sure if it failed due to lack of env. variables in which case instructions seemed to mislead me or otherwise. Anyway, then I was rather cheesed off and discovered that PPM installed DBIx instantly and without a murmur. So I think I'll try to pray at the DBIx temple and see if that leads me to enlightenment for now...

You do not have to set any environment variables. They are all optional.

The Rose:: modules are all pure-perl and do nothing fancy on test or install. As for your test failures, this line:

"Can't locate Rose/DB.pm in @INC ..."

Indicates to me that Rose::DB is not installed. Rose::DB is a prerequisite for Rose::DB::Object. The CPAN shell should have detected that and offered to install Rose::DB for you before attempting to install Rose::DB::Object.

The fact that this did not (apparently) happen makes me suspicious that other prerequisites may have been missed as well. I'm not sure how this could happen, since the modules specify their prerequisites in the standard, CPAN-supported way. (Look in the "Makefile.PL" of each module to see its list of prerequisites.)

Most big CPAN modules have prerequisites, and sometimes those prerequisites can be painful to install, especially if they have an XS component, and especially on Win32. And, of course, those prerequisites may have prerequisites, and so on.

Among ORMs, some prerequisites are common. For example, DateTime is used by many ORMs to abstract dates. Installing other ORMs may be a bit easier now that you've already done some of the work, but each ORM will have its own unique prerequisites as well. If the module-dependency mechanism is not working correctly on your system, you may have problems installing any non-trivial CPAN modules. But remember that you can always install prerequisites manually, if necessary.