Bug #19966 for Class-DBI-Plugin-Param: CDBIP::Param should not die when called with non-existent column name

First off - great module! Until now, I've been using my own homegrown param method in my Class::DBI base class for the same purpose (HTML:: FillInForm compatibility). But it's better to have a standard CPAN solution. However the problem with the current implementation of C::DBI::P::Param is that it dies when 'param' is called to get the value of a non- existent parameter. Most implementations of 'param' (e.g. the one in CGI.pm) return undef when the parameter does not exist. HTML::FillInForm will call 'param' on the object for every field in a form. Since most forms contain extra fields (e.g. hidden fields) in addition to the object fields, C::DBI::P::Param will fail as soon as one of these fields is encountered. Also, it is common to use HTML::FillInForm to fill a form with the contents of several objects: $output = $fif->fill(scalarref => \$html, fobject => [$obj1, $obj2]); Some fields in the form belong to $obj1 and other fields belong to $obj2, but C::DBI::P::Param will fail as soon as it encounters a field that does not exist in both objects. This can be fixed by wrapping the call to $self->$column_name in an eval: return eval { $self->$column_name(@_) }; I've attached a patch (including a test) that works this way. But you might consider (for completeness) adding the other behaviours of CGI's 'param' as well: my @keys = $self->param # get all keys my @values = $self->param('foo','bar','baz'); # get multiple values Also, C::DBI::P::Param works fine with Class::DBI 0.96. Maybe the prerequisite could be dropped to that version? Michael

diff -ur Class-DBI-Plugin-Param-0.03/lib/Class/DBI/Plugin/Param.pm Class-DBI-Plugin-Param-0.03.new/lib/Class/DBI/Plugin/Param.pm --- Class-DBI-Plugin-Param-0.03/lib/Class/DBI/Plugin/Param.pm 2006-04-20 00:48:38.000000000 -0300 +++ Class-DBI-Plugin-Param-0.03.new/lib/Class/DBI/Plugin/Param.pm 2006-06-18 02:53:59.000000000 -0300 @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ my $self = shift; my $column_name = shift or croak "You gave me no parameters to param()!"; - return $self->$column_name(@_); + return eval { $self->$column_name(@_) }; } } } Only in Class-DBI-Plugin-Param-0.03.new/: pm_to_blib diff -ur Class-DBI-Plugin-Param-0.03/t/01-methods.t Class-DBI-Plugin-Param-0.03.new/t/01-methods.t --- Class-DBI-Plugin-Param-0.03/t/01-methods.t 2006-04-06 07:10:04.000000000 -0300 +++ Class-DBI-Plugin-Param-0.03.new/t/01-methods.t 2006-06-18 02:54:19.000000000 -0300 @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ BEGIN { eval "use DBD::SQLite"; - plan $@ ? (skip_all => 'needs DBD::SQLite for testing') : (tests => 5); + plan $@ ? (skip_all => 'needs DBD::SQLite for testing') : (tests => 6); } Music::CD->CONSTRUCT; @@ -20,7 +20,13 @@ ok $row->param('artist') eq 'baz'; ok $row->is_changed; +# non existent params + +eval { $row->param('non-existent!') }; +ok !$@, "no error on non existent method"; + $row->discard_changes; # stop warning ok not $row->is_changed;