Open Source Web Development with LAMP: Using Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl, and PHP

11.6. Handling Posted Data with %ARGS and <%args>

Mason handles posted form data similarly to Embperl. All form data widget names and their values are stored in the hash %ARGS. Let’s say a form is posted to a Mason page with the form widget named city. To obtain the value of the form widget, include this code in a Mason page:

<%perl> 
    my $city; 
    if (!exists $ARGS{´city´}) { 
        die "no value sent for required parameter ´city´"; 
    } else { 
        $city = $ARGS{´city´}); 
    } 
</%perl> 

Using this code, the my() variable $city contains the value posted in the form for the widget named city.

In practice, %ARGS is generally not used. Instead, Mason programmers use <%args> ... </%args>.

11.6.1. The <%args> ... </%args> Tag

The following tag, included anywhere in ...