NAME

POE::Component::Server::IRC::Plugin - Provides plugin documentation for POE::Component::Server::IRC.

ABSTRACT

        Provides plugin documentation for POE::Component::Server::IRC

DESCRIPTION

This is the document coders/users should refer to when using/developing plugins for POE::Component::Server::IRC.

The plugin system works by letting coders hook into aspects of POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend:

        Data received from the server

The general architecture of using the plugins should be:

        # Import the stuff...
        use POE;
        use POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend;
        use POE::Component::Server::IRC::Plugin::ExamplePlugin;

        # Create our session here
        POE::Session->create( ... );

        # Create the IRC session here
        my $irc = POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend->spawn() or die 'Nooo!';

        # Create the plugin
        # Of course it could be something like $plugin = MyPlugin->new();
        my $plugin = POE::Component::Server::IRC::Plugin::ExamplePlugin->new( ... );

        # Hook it up!
        $irc->plugin_add( 'ExamplePlugin', $plugin );

        # OOPS, we lost the plugin object!
        my $pluginobj = $irc->plugin_get( 'ExamplePlugin' );

        # We want a list of plugins and objects
        my $hashref = $irc->plugin_list();

        # Oh! We want a list of plugin aliases.
        my @aliases = keys %{ $irc->plugin_list() };

        # Ah, we want to remove the plugin
        $plugin = $irc->plugin_del( 'ExamplePlugin' );

The plugins themselves will conform to the standard API described here. What they can do is limited only by imagination and the IRC RFC's ;)

        # Import the constants
        use POE::Component::Server::IRC::Plugin qw( :ALL );

        # Our constructor
        sub new {
                ...
        }

        # Required entry point for POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend
        sub PCSI_register {
                my( $self, $irc ) = @_;

                # Register events we are interested in
                $irc->plugin_register( $self, 'SERVER', qw(connection) );

                # Return success
                return 1;
        }

        # Required exit point for PoCo-IRC
        sub PCSI_unregister {
                my( $self, $irc ) = @_;

                # PCSIB will automatically unregister events for the plugin

                # Do some cleanup...

                # Return success
                return 1;
        }

        # Registered events will be sent to methods starting with IRC_
        # If the plugin registered for SERVER - irc_355
        sub IRCD_connection {
                my( $self, $irc, $line ) = @_;

                # Remember, we receive pointers to scalars, so we can modify them
                $$line = 'frobnicate!';

                # Return an exit code
                return PCSI_EAT_NONE;
        }

        # Default handler for events that do not have a corresponding plugin method defined.
        sub _default {
                my( $self, $irc, $event ) = splice @_, 0, 3;

                print "Default called for $event\n";

                # Return an exit code
                return PCSI_EAT_NONE;
        }

Available methods to use on the $irc object

plugin_add

        Accepts two arguments:
                The alias for the plugin
                The actual plugin object

        The alias is there for the user to refer to it, as it is possible to have multiple
        plugins of the same kind active in one PoCo-IRC object.

        This method will call $plugin->PCSI_register( $irc )

        Returns 1 if plugin was initialized, undef if not.

plugin_get

        Accepts one argument:
                The alias for the plugin

        Returns the plugin object if it was found, undef if not.

plugin_del

        Accepts one argument:
                The alias for the plugin or the plugin object itself

        This method will call $plugin->PCSI_unregister( $irc )

        Returns the plugin object if the plugin was removed, undef if not.

plugin_list

        Has no arguments.

        Returns a hashref of plugin objects, keyed on alias, or an empty list if there are no
        plugins loaded.

plugin_register

        Accepts the following arguments:
                The plugin object
                The type of the hook ( 'SERVER' )
                The event name(s) to watch

        The event names can be as many as possible, or an arrayref. They correspond
        to the ircd_backend_* events listed in POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend, 
        and naturally, arbitrary events too.

        You do not need to supply events with ircd_backend_ in front of them, just the names.

        It is possible to register for all events by specifying 'all' as an event.

        Returns 1 if everything checked out fine, undef if something's seriously wrong

plugin_unregister

        Accepts the following arguments:
                The plugin object
                The type of the hook ( 'SERVER' )
                The event name(s) to unwatch

        The event names can be as many as possible, or an arrayref. They correspond
        to the ircd_backend_* events listed in POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend, and naturally, 
        arbitrary events too.

        You do not need to supply events with ircd_backend_ in front of them, just the names.

        Returns 1 if all the event name(s) was unregistered, undef if some was not found

New SERVER events available to POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend

ircd_backend_plugin_add

This event will be triggered after a plugin is added. It receives two arguments, the first being the plugin name, and the second being the plugin object.

ircd_backend_plugin_del

This event will be triggered after a plugin is deleted. It receives two arguments, the first being the plugin name, and the second being the plugin object.

Event arguments

SERVER hooks

Hooks that are targeted toward data received from the server will get the exact same arguments as if it was a normal event, look at the POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend docs for more information.

        NOTE: Server methods are identified in the plugin namespace by the subroutine prefix
        of IRCD_*. I.e. an ircd_backend_cmd_kick event handler would be:

        sub IRCD_cmd_kick {}

The only difference is instead of getting scalars, the hook will get a reference to the scalar, to allow it to mangle the data. This allows the plugin to modify data *before* they are sent out to registered sessions.

They are required to return one of the exit codes so POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend will know what to do.

Names of potential hooks

        socketerr
        connected
        plugin_del

Keep in mind that they are always lowercased, check out the POE::Component::IRC manpage.

_default

If a plugin doesn't have a specific hook method defined for an event, the component will attempt to call a plugin's _default() method. The first parameter after the plugin and irc objects will be the handler name.

        sub _default {
          my ($self,$irc,$event) = splice @_, 0, 3;

          return PCSI_EAT_NONE;
        }

The _default() handler is expected to return one of the exit codes so POE::Component::Server::IRC::Backend will know what to do.

Exit Codes

PCSI_EAT_NONE

        This means the event will continue to be processed by remaining plugins and
        finally, sent to interested sessions that registered for it.

PCSI_EAT_CLIENT

        This means the event will continue to be processed by remaining plugins but
        it will not be sent to any sessions that registered for it.

PCSI_EAT_PLUGIN

        This means the event will not be processed by remaining plugins, it will go
        straight to interested sessions.

PCSI_EAT_ALL

        This means the event will be completely discarded, no plugin or session will see it.

Plugin ordering system

The plugins are given priority on a first come, first serve basis. Therefore, plugins that were added before others have the first shot at processing events. Ideas are welcome on a clean system to allow users to re-order plugins.

EXPORT

        Exports the return constants for plugins to use in @EXPORT_OK
        Also, the ':ALL' tag can be used to get all of them

SEE ALSO

POE::Component::IRC

AUTHOR

Apocalypse <apocal@cpan.org>

Ported to POE::Component::Server::IRC by Chris 'BinGOs' Williams <chris@bingosnet.co.uk>

LICENSE

Copyright (c) Chris Williams and Apocalypse

This module may be used, modified, and distributed under the same terms as Perl itself. Please see the license that came with your Perl distribution for details.

PROPS

The idea is heavily borrowed from X-Chat, BIG thanks goes out to the genius that came up with the EAT_* system :)

cpanm POE::Component::Server::IRC

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install POE::Component::Server::IRC