NAME

Hotline::Client - Perl library for the Hotline internet client

SYNOPSIS

use Hotline::Client;

$hlc = new Hotline::Client;
$hlc->connect("127.0.0.1")

$hlc->chat_handler(\&Chat_Handler);
$hlc->msg_handler(\&Msg_Handler);

$hlc->login(Login    => "Steve",
            Password => "xyzzy",
            Nickname => "Jobs",
            Icon     => 128);

$hlc->run();
...

DESCRIPTION

Hotline::Client is a class implementing a limited Hotline internet client in Perl. It was specifically developed to aid in the creation of Hotline "bots." Hotline is an internet client/server system that's a sort of cross between IRC and a BBS. See http://www.hotlinesw.com/ for more information.

This document assumes you have some knowledge of the Hotline client. If not, I suggest downloading it from the URL above. (It's shareware. Mac and PC versions are available)

CAVEATS

The Hotline protocol is not public. (An RFC? I wish!) This module was developed with the aid of the source code of the Unix "hx" hotline client written by Ryan Nielsen, the beginnings of a Java Hotline bot written by Gary Wong, and many hours spent staring at hexdumps of network data. Only a limited set of the complete Hotline client functionality is implemented. Most notably absent are file transfer and private chat capablities. Finally, I'm sure all hell will break loose with the next major revision of Hotline. Such is life.

METHODS

CONNECTING

connect ADDRESS

Opens a network connection to ADDRESS where ADDRESS is an IP address or hostname optionally followed by a space or a colon and a port number. If no port is given, it defaults to 5500 (Hotline standard port)

Examples:

$hlc->connect("127.0.0.1:1234");
$hlc->connect("hostname.com 5678");

Returns 1 if successful, undef otherwise.

disconnect

Closes the network connection. Returns 1 if a connection was closed, undef if the connection wasn't open to begin with.

login PARAMETERS

Logs into a Hotline server opened via connect(), and requests the news and the userlist. Arguments are in a "named parameter" format, and are case-sensitive. The parameters are:

Nickname  Your nickname (default: guest)
Login     Your account name (deafult: guest)
Password  Your account password (default: <none>)
Icon      Your icon number (default: 410, the big red "H")

Example of use:

$hlc->login(Login    => "Steve",
            Password => "xyzzy",
            Nickname => "Jobs",
            Icon     => 128);

If omitted, all parameters except Password will default to some sane (if not necessarily "sensible") value. The task number is returned if the login request was successfully sent, undef otherwise.

run

Starts the event loop. This must be called before any handlers will become active. It returns when the connection has to the server has been closed.

RUNNING

blocking EXPR

If EXPR evaluates to true, the run() method will use blocking i/o (this is the default). Otherwise, i/o will be non-blocking. With blocking i/o, the event loop will cycle each time data of any kind comes from the server. This means that your hotline client may spend a lot of its time blocked (and therefore unable to do anything interesting) waiting for something to happen on the server. Using non-blocking i/o will cycle through the event loop more frequently (see event_timing() below) regardless of server activity.

event_timing SECS

Sets the event loop timing to SECS seconds. Fractional seconds are allowed. The default setting is 1 second. This option only has an effect when non-blocking i/o is being used (see blocking() above). If SECS is omitted, it returns the current event timing setting.

COMMANDS

Most of the methods in this section are treated as "tasks" by Hotline. Their status (start time, finish time, error state, etc.) is tracked internally by task number. They return a task number if the request was sent successfully, undef otherwise.

chat() is a special case in that it is not treated as a "task" by Hotline. (It returns 1 on success instead of a task number) The actual completion of a chat command can only be determined by examining the resulting data from the server. For example, if you chat("hello"), you can look for that line of chat in your chat handler. This is rarely necessary since the failure of a chat() command usually means that you have much bigger problems.

chat LIST

Sends the text formed by the concatenation of LIST to the server as "chat." Perl newlines ("\n") are translated to Hotline::Constants::HTLC_NEWLINE, which is Hotline's native newline character.

comment PATH, TEXT

Sets the comments for the file or folder located at PATH to TEXT. If TEXT is undef or an empty string, the comments for the file or folder will be removed.

delete_file PATH

Deletes the file or folder located at located at PATH.

icon ICON

Sets your icon in the userlist to ICON, where ICON is an integer.

kick USER

kick SOCKET

Disconnects user specified by a reference to a Hotline::User object or a user socket number.

move SRC, DEST

Moves the file or folder located at the path SRC to the directory located at the path DEST. SRC should be the full path to the file or folder you want to move, and DEST should be the full path to the directory you want to move SRC too. The file or folder name should only appear in the SRC path, never in the DEST path. As a consequence, renaming files or folders must be done through rename() and cannot be rolled into a move() call. Here's an example of a valid call to move():

$hlc->move("Folder1:file1", "Folder2:");

This moves the "file1" from "Folder1" to "Folder2"

msg USER, LIST

msg SOCKET, LIST

Sends the text formed by the concatenation of LIST as a private message to the user specified by a reference to a Hotline::User object or a user socket number.

new_folder PATH

Create a new folder located at PATH.

nick TEXT

Sets your nickname in the userlist to TEXT.

post_news LIST

Sends the text formed by the concatenation of LIST to the server as a news post.

rename PATH, NAME

Renames the file or folder located at PATH to NAME. Note that PATH is the full path to the target, but NAME is just the new name without any path specification. Example:

$hlc->rename("Pets:cat", "dog");

This changes the name of the file "cat" in the folder "Pets" to "dog"

REQUESTS

All the methods in this section are treated as "tasks" by Hotline. Their status (start time, finish time, error state, etc.) is tracked internally by task number. All these methods return a task number if the request was sent successfully, undef otherwise.

When a tasks completes, the data is stored in the appropriate Hotline::Client attribute. For example, when a req_news() task completes, the data is available via the news() method.

req_filelist PATH

Requests the file listing for the folder specified by PATH, or the root directory if PATH is omitted.

req_fileinfo PATH

Requests the file information for the file or folder specified by PATH.

req_news

Requests the news from the server.

req_userinfo SOCKET

Requests user information for the user specified by SOCKET.

req_userlist

Request the list of users currently logged on.

ATTRIBUTES

The methods in this section return data or references to data structures in the Hotline::Client object. Some data structures contain references to objects. For details on those objects, see their respective documentation (i.e. perldoc Hotline::User)

agreement

Returns a reference to the server's user agreement text, or undef if there is none.

files

Returns a reference to a hash of arrays containing Hotline::FileListItem objects, keyed by directory path. Here's some sample code that prints the entire file tree:

$files = $hlc->files();              # Get reference to the file tree

foreach $directory (keys(%{$files}))
{
  print "$directory\n";              # Ex: "Uploads:Pictures"

  foreach $file (@{$files->{$directory}})
  {
    print "\t", $file->name(), "\n"; # Ex: "Picture.jpg"
  }
}

last_activity

Returns the time the last packet was received from the server in the system's native time() format. (Usually seconds since the Unix epoch. MacPerl is probably the only odd-ball)

news

Returns a reference to an array of news posts, or undef if the news has not yet been requested or is empty.

path_separator CHARACTER

Sets the path separator to CHARACTER if an argument is given (the default setting is the Mac OS path separator ":"). Returns the current value of the path separator in both cases.

server

Returns the address of the server currently connected to as a hostname or IP address , depending on what the actual argument to connect() was. If the port connected to is anything other than the "standard" Hotline port (5500), then a colon and the port number are tacked onto the end of the server name. If not connected at all, undef is returned.

userlist

Returns a reference to a hash of Hotline::User objects keyed by socket number, or undef if the userlist has not yet been requested.

user_by_nick REGEX

Returns reference(s) to user objects with nicknames matching REGEX, or undef if there are no matches. You will get undef if you try to call this method before you have successfully retreived the userlist from the server. REGEX is treated as a case-sensitive anchored regular expression internally (i.e. /^REGEX$/). If your regex matches more than one user's nickname, and user_by_nick() was called in array context, an array of references to user objects will be returned. Otherwise, a reference to the first user object that matched will be returned (as ordered by socket number, from low to high).

user_by_socket SOCKET

Returns a reference to the user object whose socket number is equal to SOCKET, or undef if there is no user at that socket.

HANDLERS

The methods in this section deal with getting and setting the handler routines for each kind of event. If you do not set your own handler for an event, the default handler (usually just a print to STDOUT) will be used. You can enable and disable the default handlers with the default_handlers() method. They are enabled by default.

default_handlers EXPR

If EXPR is omitted, it returns the default handler setting. Otherwise, it sets the default handler setting to EXPR (anything that evaluates to true is considered "on"). Default handlers are on by default.

handlers

Returns a reference to a hash, keyed by event type strings (the strings in CAPS below). The values associated with the keys are either code references or undef. Event types are as follows:

Events:

AGREEMENT    User agreement text received.
CHAT         New chat appeared.
CHAT_ACTION  A new chat "action" appeared.
COLOR        A user changed color in the userlist.
EVENT        Next cycle in the event loop.
ICON         A user changed icon in the userlist.
JOIN         A user joined the server.
LEAVE        A user left the server.
MSG          A private message arrived.
NEWS         A news post was made.
NICK         A user changed nickname in the userlist.
QUIT         The server was shutdown.
SERVER_MSG   A server message arrived.

Tasks:

DELETE_FILE  A file or folder was deleted.
FILEINFO     File information received.
FILELIST     File list received.
KICK         Disconnect user task completed.
LOGIN        Login task completed.
MOVE_FILE    A file or folder was moved.
NEW_FOLDER   A new folder was created.
POST_NEWS    A news post was made.
SEND_MSG     A private message was sent.
SERVER_MSG   A server message was received.
SET_INFO     File information was set.
TASKERROR    A task error ocurred.
USERINFO     User information received.
USERLIST     User list received.

SET/GET HANDLERS

The methods in this section expect either one code reference argument, or no arguments at all. With one argument, the handler is set to the given code reference. The return value is always the current value of the handler (should be either undef or a code reference).

The code reference should point to a subroutine that expects at least one argument: a reference to the Hotline::Client object itself (listed as "SELF" below). Other arguments vary according to the event being handled. In this section, only the varying arguments to the handler subroutine are described.

Also note that you don't have to do the "obvious" tasks associated with each handler. For example, in the "leave" handler, you don't have to remove the user from the userlist. That will be done for you by the Hotline::Client object.

Events

agreement_handler CODE (SELF, TEXT)

User agreement text received.

TEXT        Reference to the agreement text.

chat_handler CODE (SELF, TEXT)

New chat appeared.

TEXT        Reference to the chat text.

chat_action_handler CODE (SELF, TEXT)

A new chat "action" appeared.

TEXT        Reference to the chat text.

color_handler CODE (SELF, USER, OLD_COLOR, NEW_COLOR)

A user changed color in the userlist.

USER        Reference to a Hotline::User object.
OLD_COLOR   The user's previous color.
NEW_COLOR   The user's new color.

Valid colors:

1    Black  Active normal user.  
2    Red    Active admin user.
3    Gray   Inactive normal user.
4    Pink   Inactive admin user.

event_loop_handler CODE (SELF, IDLE)

Next cycle in the event loop. Idle events only occur when non-blocking i/o is active.

IDLE        True if the the event is an idle event.

icon_handler CODE (SELF, USER, OLD_ICON, NEW_ICON)

A user changed icon in the userlist.

USER        Reference to a Hotline::User object.
OLD_ICON    The user's previous icon number.
NEW_ICON    The user's new icon number.

join_handler CODE (SELF, USER)

A user joined the server.

USER        Reference to a Hotline::User object.

leave_handler CODE (SELF, USER)

A user left the server.

USER        Reference to a Hotline::User object.

msg_handler CODE (SELF, USER, TEXT, NICK)

A private message arrived.

USER        Reference to the sender's Hotline::User object.
TEXT        Reference to the message text.
NICK        Sender's nickname.

news_handler CODE (SELF, TEXT)

A news post was made.

TEXT        Reference to the news post text.

nick_handler CODE (SELF, USER, OLD_NICK, NEW_NICK)

A user changed nickname in the userlist.

USER        Reference to a Hotline::User object.
OLD_NICK    The user's previous nickname.
NEW_NICK    The user's new nickname.

quit_handler CODE (SELF, TEXT)

The server was shutdown.

TEXT        Reference to shutdown message text, if any.

server_msg_handler CODE (SELF, TEXT)

A server message was received.

TEXT        Reference to the message text.

Tasks

delete_file_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

A file or folder was deleted.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

file_info_handler CODE (SELF, TASK, INFO)

File information received.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.
INFO        Reference to a Hotline::FileInfoItem object.

file_list_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

File list received.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

kick_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

Disconnect user task completed.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

login_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

Login task completed.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

move_file CODE (SELF, TASK)

A file or folder was moved.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

new_folder CODE (SELF, TASK)

A new folder was created.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

post_news_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

A news post was made.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

send_msg_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

A private message was sent.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

set_info_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

File information was set (this includes both renaming and setting file comments).

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

task_error_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

A task error ocurred.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

user_info_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

User information received.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

user_list_handler CODE (SELF, TASK)

User list task has completed successfully.

TASK        Reference to a Hotline::Task object.

MISCELLANEOUS

debug EXPR

If EXPR is omitted, returns the debugging status (off by default), otherwise sets debugging status to EXPR (true means debugging is on).

version

Returns the Hotline::Client version string.

TO DO

• Implement user administration features.

• Implement private chat features.

• Implement file transfer features.

BUGS

Detection of server crashes, shutdowns, or other abrupt network terminations are not handled correctly 100% of the time.

AUTHOR

John Siracusa (siracusa@mindspring.com)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright(c) 1998 by John C. Siracusa. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

cpanm Hotline::Client

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Hotline::Client