[cgiapp] Re: Returning 404 errors when running as an MP1 handler

[Mark Stosberg <suppressed>]

David Kaufman wrote:
> Hi Barry,
>
> Barry Hoggard <suppressed> wrote:
> > Is there a good way to return a 404 error from the AUTOLOAD run mode,
> > or inside a normal run mode (such as when a bad parameter value comes
> > in)?  I know I can return a not found page programmatically that has
> > a 200 status, but I want a real 404 error for some applications.
>
> I use something like this:
>
> sub not_found {
>    my $self = shift;
>    $self->header_props(-status => '404 (pretending to be) Not Found');
>    return '';
> }
>
> so I can return $self->not_found() from other run-modes conveniently.
>
> To the browser, its pretty much indistinguishable from a "real" apache 
> 404.  The "(pretending to be)" string only shows up in the HTTP status 
> headers and of course you can make it more authentic-looking by leaving 
> that bit out.

I definitely see a different result. I get just a blank page with this test:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use CGI;
my $q = new CGI;

print $q->header( -status => '404 Not Found' );

####

In my experience it is "too late" to return a true 404 response in CGI, 
but is possible in mod_perl, I think.

We deal with this issue in CGI::Application::Dispatch. Basically, it 
seems like the choices in CGI are:

1. Redirect to the 404 page. This is still not a true 404 response,
but just a 302 redirect to the error page, which returns a 200 response 
as it is served. Also, the URL visibly changes in the location bar

2. Serve the 404 page as a run mode, and return a 404 status code. 
CGI::Application::Dispatch doesn't currently do this, but it's my latest 
thinking about the Best Way.

    Mark


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