LWP::Protocol(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation LWP::Protocol(3)NAMELWP::Protocol - Base class for LWP protocols
SYNOPSIS
package LWP::Protocol::foo;
require LWP::Protocol;
@ISA=qw(LWP::Protocol);
DESCRIPTION
This class is used a the base class for all protocol implementations
supported by the LWP library.
When creating an instance of this class using "LWP::Protocol::cre‐
ate($url)", and you get an initialised subclass appropriate for that
access method. In other words, the LWP::Protocol::create() function
calls the constructor for one of its subclasses.
All derived LWP::Protocol classes need to override the request() method
which is used to service a request. The overridden method can make use
of the collect() function to collect together chunks of data as it is
received.
The following methods and functions are provided:
$prot = LWP::Protocol->new()
The LWP::Protocol constructor is inherited by subclasses. As this
is a virtual base class this method should not be called directly.
$prot = LWP::Protocol::create($scheme)
Create an object of the class implementing the protocol to handle
the given scheme. This is a function, not a method. It is more an
object factory than a constructor. This is the function user agents
should use to access protocols.
$class = LWP::Protocol::implementor($scheme, [$class])
Get and/or set implementor class for a scheme. Returns '' if the
specified scheme is not supported.
$prot->request(...)
$response = $protocol->request($request, $proxy, undef);
$response = $protocol->request($request, $proxy, '/tmp/sss');
$response = $protocol->request($request, $proxy, \&callback, 1024);
Dispatches a request over the protocol, and returns a response
object. This method needs to be overridden in subclasses. Refer to
LWP::UserAgent for description of the arguments.
$prot->collect($arg, $response, $collector)
Called to collect the content of a request, and process it appro‐
priately into a scalar, file, or by calling a callback. If $arg is
undefined, then the content is stored within the $response. If
$arg is a simple scalar, then $arg is interpreted as a file name
and the content is written to this file. If $arg is a reference to
a routine, then content is passed to this routine.
The $collector is a routine that will be called and which is
responsible for returning pieces (as ref to scalar) of the content
to process. The $collector signals EOF by returning a reference to
an empty sting.
The return value from collect() is the $response object reference.
Note: We will only use the callback or file argument if
$response->is_success(). This avoids sending content data for
redirects and authentication responses to the callback which would
be confusing.
$prot->collect_once($arg, $response, $content)
Can be called when the whole response content is available as $con‐
tent. This will invoke collect() with a collector callback that
returns a reference to $content the first time and an empty string
the next.
SEE ALSO
Inspect the LWP/Protocol/file.pm and LWP/Protocol/http.pm files for
examples of usage.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1995-2001 Gisle Aas.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
perl v5.8.8 2008-09-24 LWP::Protocol(3)
