NAME

Frontier::RPC2 - encode/decode RPC2 format XML

SYNOPSIS

            

              
              
use Frontier::RPC2;
$coder = Frontier::RPC2->new;
$xml_string = $coder->encode_call($method, @args);
$xml_string = $coder->encode_response($result);
$xml_string = $coder->encode_fault($code, $message);
$call = $coder->decode($xml_string);
$response_xml = $coder->serve($request_xml, $methods);
$boolean_object = $coder->boolean($boolean);
$date_time_object = $coder->date_time($date_time);
$base64_object = $coder->base64($base64);
$int_object = $coder->int(42);
$float_object = $coder->float(3.14159);
$string_object = $coder->string("Foo");
            
          

DESCRIPTION

Frontier::RPC2 encodes and decodes XML RPC calls.

$coder = Frontier::RPC2->new( OPTIONS )

Create a new encoder/decoder. The following option is supported:

encoding

The XML encoding to be specified in the XML declaration of encoded RPC requests or responses. Decoded results may have a different encoding specified; XML::Parser will convert decoded data to UTF-8. The default encoding is none, which uses XML 1.0's default of UTF-8. For example:

            

              
              
$server = Frontier::RPC2->new( 'encoding' => 'ISO-8859-1' );
            
          

use_objects

If set to a non-zero value will convert incoming <i4>, <float>, and <string> values to objects instead of scalars. See int(), float(), and string() below for more details.

$xml_string = $coder->encode_call($method, @args)

`encode_call' converts a method name and it's arguments into an RPC2 `methodCall' element, returning the XML fragment.

$xml_string = $coder->encode_response($result)

`encode_response' converts the return value of a procedure into an RPC2 `methodResponse' element containing the result, returning the XML fragment.

$xml_string = $coder->encode_fault($code, $message)

`encode_fault' converts a fault code and message into an RPC2 `methodResponse' element containing a `fault' element, returning the XML fragment.

$call = $coder->decode($xml_string)

`decode' converts an XML string containing an RPC2 `methodCall' or `methodResponse' element into a hash containing three members, `type', `value', and `method_name'. `type' is one of `call', `response', or `fault'. `value' is array containing the parameters or result of the RPC. For a `call' type, `value' contains call's parameters and `method_name' contains the method being called. For a `response' type, the `value' array contains call's result. For a `fault' type, the `value' array contains a hash with the two members `faultCode' and `faultMessage'.

$response_xml = $coder->serve($request_xml, $methods)

`serve' decodes `$request_xml', looks up the called method name in the `$methods' hash and calls it, and then encodes and returns the response as XML.

$boolean_object = $coder->boolean($boolean);

$date_time_object = $coder->date_time($date_time);

$base64_object = $coder->base64($base64);

These methods create and return XML-RPC-specific datatypes that can be passed to the encoder. The decoder may also return these datatypes. The corresponding package names (for use with `ref()', for example) are `Frontier::RPC2::Boolean', `Frontier::RPC2::DateTime::ISO8601', and `Frontier::RPC2::Base64'.

You can change and retrieve the value of boolean, date/time, and base64 data using the `value' method of those objects, i.e.:

            

              
              
$boolean = $boolean_object->value;
$boolean_object->value(1);
            
          

Note: `base64()' does not encode or decode base64 data for you, you must use MIME::Base64 or similar module for that.

$int_object = $coder->int(42);

$float_object = $coder->float(3.14159);

$string_object = $coder->string("Foo");

By default, you may pass ordinary Perl values (scalars) to be encoded. RPC2 automatically converts them to XML-RPC types if they look like an integer, float, or as a string. This assumption causes problems when you want to pass a string that looks like "0096", RPC2 will convert that to an <i4> because it looks like an integer. With these methods, you could now create a string object like this:

            

              
              
$part_num = $coder->string("0096");
            
          

and be confident that it will be passed as an XML-RPC string. You can change and retrieve values from objects using value() as described above.

SEE ALSO

perl(1), Frontier::Daemon(3), Frontier::Client(3)

<http://www.scripting.com/frontier5/xml/code/rpc.html>

AUTHOR

Ken MacLeod <ken@bitsko.slc.ut.us>