4.2.8. Perl Method Handlers

panic% perl Makefile.PL PERL_METHOD_HANDLERS=1 [ ... ]

or:

panic% perl Makefile.PL EVERYTHING=1 [ ... ]

it's possible to write method handlers in addition to function handlers. This is useful when you want to write code that takes advantage of inheritance. To make the handler act as a method under mod_perl, use the $$ function prototype in the handler definition. When mod_perl sees that the handler function is prototyped with $$, it'll pass two arguments to it: the calling object or a class, depending on how it was called, and the Apache request object. So you can write the handler as:

sub handler ($$) {
    my($self, $r) = @_;
    # ...
}

PerlHandler Book::SubClass

However, if you choose to use a different method name, the object-oriented notation should be used:

PerlHandler Book::SubClass->my_handler

The my_handler( ) method will then be called as a class (static) method.

Also, you can use objects created at startup to call methods. For example:

<Perl>
    use Book::SubClass;
    $Book::Global::object = Book::SubClass->new( );
</Perl>
...
PerlHandler $Book::Global::object->my_handler

In this example, the my_handler( ) method will be called as an instance method on the global object $Book::Global.