Call to Subroutine from Catalyst Controller - perl

Question

I am working on catalyst to design a front end for a database. I am new to perl and catalyst. I am stuck with one error in the controller.
I want to fetch gene names from one table and pass each gene name to a subroutine gene_name(call a subroutine gene_name) which will perform certain function. I some how fetched the column with gene names but they are in the form of Hash reference to other table. My call to gene_name is not working.
Any idea how to pass the values to the subroutine rather than reference?
My code is as follows:
my #gene_list = $c->model('Gene::GeneTable')->search({
},{
column =>[qw/symbol/],
}
);
foreach my $gene (#gene_list){
push #gene_aliases, &gene_name($gene);
}
The error I am getting after executing the code is as follows:
DBIx::Class::ResultSet::find(): Can't bind a reference (MyApp::Model::Gene::GeneTable=HASH(0x7ff6d88b7c58))
UPDATED
My gene_name() subroutine is in another module which I have included in the controller. Now I have changed the for loop(in controller) as following and currently it is passing gene name to gene_name() to fetch aliases(But query remains the same):
foreach my $gene (#gene_list){
push #gene_aliases, &gene_name($gene-> symbol);
}
I am accessing the #gene_aliases in my view file as follows:
[% FOREACH g in gene_aliases -%]
[% g %]
[% END -%]
The above code is fetching hash references instead of names in the page. I am not able to display the gene names on web page.If I give [% g.symbol %] in for loop then the page would be empty with no error message.Hope this would be sufficient information for answering my question. If not I would elaborate on it.
My SQL query is as follows:
Select Symbol from GeneTable;
Thanks in advance
UPDATED2
As I am not a full time programmer, I am asking these questions on the blog. Kindly help me resolve my issues. If in case I have search form which takes gene name from user and this gene name has to be passed to the gene_name() subroutine, how do I pass this (to the controller and how to call the gene_name()). Kindly help me in resolving this issue.
My form in view.tt is as follows:
<form method="post" action "[% c.uri_for('/gene')%]">
<input type="text" name="search_alias">
<input type="submit" name="alias_search" value="Search">
</form>
All my aliases are in the other table called Alias, which is been used in gene_name() subroutine.

Answer 1

Either the gene_name() function needs to expect a GeneTable object being passed to it, or you would call it like this: gene_name($gene->symbol).
Having said that, the Controller does not look like the right place for this, based on what limited information you've provided.
It would make a lot more sense to have gene_name as a method of Gene::GeneTable itself, ie:
package GeneTable;
...
sub gene_name {
my $self = shift;
my $gene_name = ... # do something with $self->symbol
$gene_name
}
...
So that the ->gene_name method is available to any GeneTable object in any context.
UPDATE following OP's initial two comments
It sounds like gene_name() (which possibly should be called gene_aliases()) is a method of a Gene object. Putting such a conversion into a Controller does not adhere to good MVC philosophy.
Presumably you have model code somewhere - MyApp/Model/Gene/ most likely - and this sub should exist inside Gene/GeneTable.pm. Then you could use it thus:
[%- FOREACH g IN gene_list -%]
[% g.symbol %]<br/><ul>
[%- FOREACH gn IN g.gene_name -%]
<li>[% gn %]</li>
[%- END -%]
</ul>
[%- END -%]
in your template, and anywhere else you have a GeneTable object or collection thereof.
UPDATE #2 Following updated question
DBIx:Class will return an array of objects when called in list context as you do. Perhaps you need to add some Data::Dumper->Dumper() calls to get a handle on what each step is returning to you.
I suggest you add the following line immediately after your call to ->search():
$c->log->debug("gene_list contains: ", Data::Dumper->Dumper(\#gene_list));
...and possibly the equivalent debug for #gene_aliases after you've populated that.
That might give you a clearer picture of what you're getting back from your search, but I'd hazard a guess you're getting Gene::GeneTable objects.