NAME

TimeZone::TimeZoneDB - Interface to https://timezonedb.com for looking up Timezone data

VERSION

Version 0.04

SYNOPSIS

use TimeZone::TimeZoneDB;

my $tzdb = TimeZone::TimeZoneDB->new(key => 'XXXXXXXX');
my $tz = $tzdb->get_time_zone({ latitude => 0.1, longitude => 0.2 });

DESCRIPTION

The TimeZone::TimeZoneDB Perl module provides an interface to the https://timezonedb.com API, enabling users to retrieve timezone data based on geographic coordinates. It supports configurable HTTP user agents, allowing for proxy settings and request throttling. The module includes robust error handling, ensuring proper validation of input parameters and secure API interactions. JSON responses are safely parsed with error handling to prevent crashes. Designed for flexibility, it allows users to override default configurations while maintaining a lightweight and efficient structure for querying timezone information.

• Caching

  Identical requests are cached (using CHI or a user-supplied caching object), reducing the number of HTTP requests to the API and speeding up repeated queries.

  This module leverages CHI for caching geocoding responses. When a geocode request is made, a cache key is constructed from the request. If a cached response exists, it is returned immediately, avoiding unnecessary API calls.

• Rate-Limiting

  A minimum interval between successive API calls can be enforced to ensure that the API is not overwhelmed and to comply with any request throttling requirements.

  Rate-limiting is implemented using Time::HiRes. A minimum interval between API calls can be specified via the min_interval parameter in the constructor. Before making an API call, the module checks how much time has elapsed since the last request and, if necessary, sleeps for the remaining time.

METHODS

new

my $tzdb = TimeZone::TimeZoneDB->new();
my $ua = LWP::UserAgent::Throttled->new();
$ua->env_proxy(1);
$tzdb = TimeZone::TimeZoneDB->new(ua => $ua, key => 'XXXXX');

my $tz = $tzdb->get_time_zone({ latitude => 51.34, longitude => 1.42 })->{'zoneName'};
print "Ramsgate's time zone is $tz.\n";

Creates a new instance. Acceptable options include:

• ua

  An object to use for HTTP requests. If not provided, a default user agent is created.

• host

  The API host endpoint. Defaults to https://api.timezonedb.com

• cache

  A caching object. If not provided, an in-memory cache is created with a default expiration of one day.

• min_interval

  Minimum number of seconds to wait between API requests. Defaults to 0 (no delay). Use this option to enforce rate-limiting.

get_time_zone

Returns a hashref with at least one key (the zoneName)

use Geo::Location::Point;

my $ramsgate = Geo::Location::Point->new({ latitude => 51.34, longitude => 1.42 });
# Find Ramsgate's time zone
$tz = $tzdb->get_time_zone($ramsgate)->{'zoneName'}, "\n";

API SPECIFICATION

INPUT

{
  'latitude' => { type => 'number', min => -90, max => 90 },
  'longitude' => { type => 'number', min => -180, max => 180 },
}

OUTPUT

Argument error: croak No matches found: undef

{
  'type' => 'hashref',
  'min' => 1
}

ua

Accessor method to get and set UserAgent object used internally. You can call env_proxy for example, to get the proxy information from environment variables:

$tzdb->ua()->env_proxy(1);

Free accounts are limited to one search a second, so you can use LWP::UserAgent::Throttled to keep within that limit.

use LWP::UserAgent::Throttled;

my $ua = LWP::UserAgent::Throttled->new();
$ua->throttle('timezonedb.com' => 1);
$tzdb->ua($ua);

AUTHOR

Nigel Horne, <njh@bandsman.co.uk>

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

Lots of thanks to the folks at https://timezonedb.com.

BUGS

This module is provided as-is without any warranty.

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-timezone-timezonedb at rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=TimeZone-TimeZoneDB. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

SEE ALSO

• TimezoneDB API: https://timezonedb.com/api
• Testing Dashboard: https://nigelhorne.github.io/TimeZone-TimeZoneDB/coverage/

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2023-2025 Nigel Horne.

This program is released under the following licence: GPL2