NAME

CGI::Pager - generate HTML pagination linkage easily.

ABSTRACT

Generates helper data and HTML for paginated representation of results.

SYNOPSIS

Using with CGI.pm:

  my $pager = CGI::Pager->new(
     total_count => $search_results_count,
     page_len    => 50,
  );

  print 'Found ', $search_results_count, ' results, displaying: ',
         $pager->first_pos_displayed, ' - ', $pager->last_pos_displayed, ' ';

  # Display links to first and previous page, if necessary.
  unless ($pager->is_at_start) {
     print a({ -href => $pager->first_url }, 'First page'), ' ',
           a({ -href => $pager->prev_url }, '<< Previous page');
  }

  # Display links to each individual page of results.
  foreach my $page ($pager->pages) {
     if ($page->{is_current}) {
        print strong($page->{number});
     }
     else {
        print a({ -href => $page->{url} }, $page->{number});
     }
  }

  # Display links to next and the last page, if necessary.
  unless ($pager->is_at_end) {
     print a({ -href => $pager->next_url }, 'Next page >>'), ' ',
           a({ -href => $pager->last_url }, 'Last page');
  }

Specifying custom parameters, combining templating system and built-in HTML generation:

  my $pager = CGI::Pager->new(
     labels => {
        first => 'First',
        last  => 'Last',
        next  => 'Next',
        prev  => 'Previous',
     },
     links_order => [ qw/first prev pages next last/ ],
     links_delim => ' &nbsp; | &nbsp; ',
     pages_delim => ' ',
  );

  $template->param(
     first_page_url => $pager->first_url,
     prev_page_url  => $pager->prev_url,
     next_page_url  => $pager->next_url,
     last_page_url  => $pager->last_url,
     page_links     => $pager->html('pages'),
  );

Functional style, built-in HTML generation:

 print CGI::Pager::quick_html(
    total_count => $search_results_count,
    page_len    => 50,
    html_mode   => 'combined',
 );

DESCRIPTION

CGI::Pager performs the ``dirty work'' necessary to program paginated data display in a web application. Based on given resultset size, page size, and offset value sensed from current URI, it constructs links for navigation between results pages. It can be used conveniently from a templating system, has both OO and functional interface, and can optionally generate necessary HTML itself.

METHODS

new(%parameters): The constructor, accepting named configuration parameters. See PARAMETERS below.
is_at_start, is_at_end: Return true if the pager is at the start or the end of recordset respectively.
next_offset, prev_offset, last_offset: Return offset value the respective pages. If there's a bounds conflict, like when you call prev_offset while on the first page, undef is returned.
first_pos_displayed, last_pos_displayed: Return the position (starting from 1) of the first or last row respectively, displayed on current page.
first_url, prev_url, next_url, last_url: Return URLs of the respective pages as URI objects. Bounds conflicts are handled like in the above family of methods.
total_count: Return total count of results, as set on initialization.
pages: Returns reference to an array of hashes representing pages in the result set. The hashes have following keys: url - the URL of the page, number - the number of page, starting from 1, and is_current - true if page is the currently displayed page.
html($mode): Returns HTML string with navigational links according to $mode, which can be: first, last, prev, next, pages, combined or combined_div. The first four will produce a single link to respective page. 'pages' yields a string of links to individual pages. combined, which is the default, is concatenation of these. combined_div is like combined, but wrapped in a DIV element with class attribute set to ``navBar''. The concatenation of links can be controlled by links_order, links_delim and pages_delim initialization parameters.
quick_html(%params): Not a method, but function, designed to be called as CGI::Pager::quick_html. Returns HTML generated by internally created temporary pager instance. Made for those rare cases when not using OO style is cleaner. Accepted parameters are the same as for constructor, except with the extra html_mode which works like the $mode parameter of html method.

PARAMETERS

All options are given as named parameters to constructor (when using OO style) and aren't then changeble - a CGI::Pager instance is not meant to persist between requests. Below is a list of valid options:

total_count
The size of your recordset. This is the only mandatory option.
page_len
The number of items displayed per page. Default is 20.
offset_param
The name of the GET request variable holding current offset within the resultset. Defaults to 'offset'. Change if you name your variable differently.
hide_zero_offset
If true (default), generated URL of the first page will not contain the offset parameter (like, '&offset=0'.) This is what you want in most cases.
url
Specifies the base URL, which will be used to produce URLs in all links, generated by this module. Defaults to value of $ENV{REQUEST_URI}, which should be fine in most web application environments.
labels
Content to place inside generated links. Can be arbitary text or HTML. Given as a hash reference, see SYNOPSIS for explanatory example, which also shows default values.
links_order
In what order navigational links will be placed, when generating HTML in 'combined' format. For example/defaults, see the above.
links_delim
Delimiter used to space ordinary links (i.e, 'First', 'Previous', etc) when generating HTML in 'combined' format. Defaults to '   '.
pages_delim
Delimiter used to space individual page links. Defaults to ' '.

NOTES

This module operates on the assumption that current offset is passed as a GET request variable (except that for the first page, where it's OK for it to be absent.)

An instance of CGI::Pager is meant to last only for the duration of the request and isn't designed to be reused, like one might try in a mod_perl environment.

AUTHOR

Egor Shipovalov, http://pragmaticware.com/

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

CGI::Pager - generate HTML pagination linkage easily.