NAME

Net::Async::IRC::Protocol - send and receive IRC messages

DESCRIPTION

This subclass of IO::Async::Stream implements an established IRC connection that has already completed its inital login sequence and is ready to send and receive IRC messages. It handles base message sending and receiving, and implements ping timers. This class provides most of the functionality required for sending and receiving IRC commands and responses by mixing in from Protocol::IRC.

Objects of this type would not normally be constructed directly. For IRC clients, see Net::Async::IRC which is a subclass of it. All the events, parameters, and methods documented below are relevant there.

EVENTS

The following events are invoked, either using subclass methods or CODE references in parameters:

$handled = on_message

$handled = on_message_MESSAGE

Invoked on receipt of a valid IRC message. See MESSAGE HANDLING below.

on_irc_error $err

Invoked on receipt of an invalid IRC message if parsing fails. $err is the error message text. If left unhandled, any parse error will result in the connection being immediataely closed, followed by the exception being re-thrown.

on_ping_timeout

Invoked if the peer fails to respond to a PING message within the given timeout.

on_pong_reply $lag

Invoked when the peer successfully sends a PONG reply response to a PING message. $lag is the response time in (fractional) seconds.

PARAMETERS

The following named parameters may be passed to new or configure:

on_message => CODE
on_message_MESSAGE => CODE
on_irc_error => CODE
on_ping_timeout => CODE
on_pong_reply => CODE

CODE references for event handlers.

pingtime => NUM

Amount of quiet time, in seconds, after a message is received from the peer, until a PING will be sent to check it is still alive.

pongtime => NUM

Timeout, in seconds, after sending a PING message, to wait for a PONG response.

encoding => STRING

If supplied, sets an encoding to use to encode outgoing messages and decode incoming messages.

CONSTRUCTOR

new

$irc = Net::Async::IRC::Protocol->new( %args )

Returns a new instance of a Net::Async::IRC::Protocol object. This object represents a IRC connection to a peer.

METHODS

is_connected

$connect = $irc->is_connected

Returns true if a connection to the peer is established. Note that even after a successful connection, the connection may not yet logged in to. See also the is_loggedin method.

is_loggedin

$loggedin = $irc->is_loggedin

Returns true if the full login sequence has been performed on the connection and it is ready to use.

nick

$nick = $irc->nick

Returns the current nick in use by the connection.

nick_folded

$nick_folded = $irc->nick_folded

Returns the current nick in use by the connection, folded by casefold_name for convenience.

MESSAGE HANDLING

Every incoming message causes a sequence of message handling to occur. First, the message is parsed, and a hash of data about it is created; this is called the hints hash. The message and this hash are then passed down a sequence of potential handlers.

Each handler indicates by return value, whether it considers the message to have been handled. Processing of the message is not interrupted the first time a handler declares to have handled a message. Instead, the hints hash is marked to say it has been handled. Later handlers can still inspect the message or its hints, using this information to decide if they wish to take further action.

A message with a command of COMMAND will try handlers in following places:

  1. A CODE ref in a parameter called on_message_COMMAND

    $on_message_COMMAND->( $irc, $message, \%hints )
  2. A method called on_message_COMMAND

    $irc->on_message_COMMAND( $message, \%hints )
  3. A CODE ref in a parameter called on_message

    $on_message->( $irc, 'COMMAND', $message, \%hints )
  4. A method called on_message

    $irc->on_message( 'COMMAND', $message, \%hints )

As this message handling ability is provided by Protocol::IRC, more details about how it works and how to use it can be found at "MESSAGE HANDLING" in Protocol::IRC.

Additionally, some types of messages receive further processing by Protocol::IRC and in turn cause new types of events to be invoked. These are further documented by "INTERNAL MESSAGE HANDLING" in Protocol::IRC.

AUTHOR

Paul Evans <leonerd@leonerd.org.uk>