######################################################################
Net::Amazon 0.34
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NAME
Net::Amazon - Framework for accessing amazon.com via SOAP and XML/HTTP
SYNOPSIS
use Net::Amazon;
my $ua = Net::Amazon->new(token => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN');
# Get a request object
my $response = $ua->search(asin => '0201360683');
if($response->is_success()) {
print $response->as_string(), "\n";
} else {
print "Error: ", $response->message(), "\n";
}
ABSTRACT
Net::Amazon provides an object-oriented interface to amazon.com's
SOAP and XML/HTTP interfaces. This way it's possible to create applications
using Amazon's vast amount of data via a functional interface, without
having to worry about the underlying communication mechanism.
DESCRIPTION
"Net::Amazon" works very much like "LWP": First you define a useragent
like
my $ua = Net::Amazon->new(
token => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN',
max_pages => 3,
);
which you pass your personal amazon developer's token (can be obtained
from <http://amazon.com/soap>) and (optionally) the maximum number of
result pages the agent is going to request from Amazon in case all
results don't fit on a single page (typically holding 20 items). Note
that each new page requires a minimum delay of 1 second to comply with
Amazon's one-query-per-second policy.
According to the different search methods on Amazon, there's a bunch of
different request types in "Net::Amazon". The user agent's convenience
method "search()" triggers different request objects, depending on which
parameters you pass to it:
"$ua->search(asin => "0201360683")"
The "asin" parameter has Net::Amazon search for an item with the
specified ASIN. If the specified value is an arrayref instead of a
single scalar, like in
$ua->search(asin => ["0201360683", "0596005083"])
then a search for multiple ASINs is performed, returning a list of
results.
"$ua->search(artist => "Rolling Stones")"
The "artist" parameter has the user agent search for items created
by the specified artist. Can return many results.
"$ua->search(browsenode=>"4025", mode=>"books" [, keywords=>"perl"])"
Returns a list of items by category ID (node). For example node
"4025" is the CGI books category. You can add a keywords parameter
to filter the results by that keyword.
"$ua->search(exchange => 'Y04Y3424291Y2398445')"
Returns an item offered by a third-party seller. The item is
referenced by the so-called *exchange ID*.
"$ua->search(keyword => "perl xml", mode => "books")"
Search by keyword, mandatory parameters "keyword" and "mode". Can
return many results.
"$ua->search(wishlist => "1XL5DWOUFMFVJ")"
Search for all items in a specified wishlist. Can return many
results.
"$ua->search(upc => "075596278324", mode => "music")"
Music search by UPC (product barcode), mandatory parameter "upc".
"mode" has to be set to "music". Returns at most one result.
"$ua->search(similar => "0201360683")"
Search for all items similar to the one represented by the ASIN
provided. Can return many results.
"$ua->search(power => "subject: perl and author: schwartz", mode =>
"books")"
Initiate a power search for all books matching the power query. Can
return many results. See Net::Amazon::Request::Power for details.
"$ua->search(manufacturer => "o'reilly", mode => "books")"
Initiate a search for all items made by a given manufacturrer. Can
return many results. See Net::Amazon::Request::Manufacturer for
details.
"$ua->search(blended => "Perl")"
Initiate a search for items in all categories.
"$ua->search(seller => "A2GXAGU54VOP7")"
Start a search on items sold by a specific third-party seller,
referenced by its ID (not seller name).
"$ua->search(textstream => "Blah blah Rolling Stones blah blah")"
Find items related to keywords within a text stream.
The user agent's "search" method returns a response object, which can be
checked for success or failure:
if($resp->is_success()) {
print $resp->as_string();
} else {
print "Error: ", $resp->message(), "\n";
}
In case the request for an item search succeeds, the response contains
one or more Amazon 'properties', as it calls the products found. All
matches can be retrieved from the Response object using it's
"properties()" method.
In case the request fails, the response contains one or more error
messages. The response object's "message()" method will return it (or
them) as a single string, while "messages()" (notice the plural) will
return a reference to an array of message strings.
Response objects always have the methods "is_success()", "is_error()",
"message()", "total_results()", "as_string()" and "properties()"
available.
"total_results()" returns the total number of results the search
yielded. "properties()" returns one or more "Net::Amazon::Property"
objects of type "Net::Amazon::Property" (or one of its subclasses like
"Net::Amazon::Property::Book", "Net::Amazon::Property::Music" or
Net::Amazon::Property::DVD), each of which features accessors named
after the attributes of the product found in Amazon's database:
for ($resp->properties) {
print $_->Asin(), " ",
$_->OurPrice(), "\n";
}
In scalar context, "properties()" just returns the *first*
"Net::Amazon::Property" object found. Commonly available accessors to
"Net::Amazon::Property" objects are "OurPrice()", "ImageUrlLarge()",
"ImageUrlMedium()", "ImageUrlSmall()", "ReleaseDate()", "Catalog()",
"Asin()", "url()", "Manufacturer()", "UsedPrice()", "ListPrice()",
"ProductName()", "Availability()", "SalesRank()", "CollectiblePrice()",
"CollectibleCount()", "NumberOfOfferings()", "UsedCount()",
"ThirdPartyNewPrice()", "ThirdPartyNewCount()", "similar_asins()". For
details, check Net::Amazon::Property.
Also, the specialized classes "Net::Amazon::Property::Book" and
"Net::Amazon::Property::Music" feature convenience methods like
"authors()" (returning the list of authors of a book) or "album()" for
CDs, returning the album title.
Customer reviews: Every property features a "review_set()" method which
returns a "Net::Amazon::Attribute::ReviewSet" object, which in turn
offers a list of "Net::Amazon::Attribute::Review" objects. Check the
respective man pages for details on what's available.
Requests behind the scenes
"Net::Amazon"'s "search()" method is just a convenient way to create
different kinds of request objects behind the scenes and trigger them to
send requests to Amazon.
Depending on the parameters fed to the "search" method, "Net::Amazon"
will determine the kind of search requested and create one of the
following request objects:
Net::Amazon::Request::ASIN
Search by ASIN, mandatory parameter "asin". Returns at most one
result.
Net::Amazon::Request::Artist
Music search by Artist, mandatory parameter "artist". Can return
many results.
Net::Amazon::Request::BrowseNode
Returns category (node) listing. Mandatory parameters "browsenode"
(must be numeric) and "mode". Can return many results.
Net::Amazon::Request::Keyword
Keyword search, mandatory parameters "keyword" and "mode". Can
return many results.
Net::Amazon::Request::UPC
Music search by UPC (product barcode), mandatory parameter "upc".
"mode" has to be set to "music". Returns at most one result.
Net::Amazon::Request::Blended
'Blended' search on a keyword, resulting in matches across the
board. No 'mode' parameter is allowed. According to Amazon's
developer's kit, this will result in up to three matches per
category and can yield a total of 45 matches.
Net::Amazon::Request::Power
Understands power search strings. See Net::Amazon::Request::Power
for details. Mandatory parameter "power".
Net::Amazon::Request::Manufacturer
Searches for all items made by a given manufacturer. Mandatory
parameter "manufacturer".
Net::Amazon::Request::Similar
Finds items similar to a given one.
Net::Amazon::Request::Wishlist
Find item on someone's wish list.
Net::Amazon::Request::Seller
Searches for a third-party seller on Amazon by seller ID. This
search is different than the previous ones, since it doesn't return
Amazon items, but a single seller record. Don't use the
"properties()" method on the response, use "result()" instead, which
returns a Net::Amazon::Result::Seller object. Check the manpage for
details.
Net::Amazon::Request::Exchange
Searches for items offered by third-party sellers. Items are
referenced by their so-called *Exchange ID*. Similar to
Net::Amazon::Request::Seller, this request doesn't return a list of
Amazon properties, so please use "result()" instead, which will
return a *single* Net::Amazon::Result::Seller::Listing item. Check
the manpage for details on what attributes are available there.
Check the respective man pages for details on these request objects.
Request objects are typically created like this (with a Keyword query as
an example):
my $req = Net::Amazon::Request::Keyword->new(
keyword => 'perl',
mode => 'books',
);
and are handed over to the user agent like that:
# Response is of type Net::Amazon::Response::ASIN
my $resp = $ua->request($req);
The convenient "search()" method just does these two steps in one.
METHODS
$ua = Net::Amazon->new(token => $token, ...)
Create a new Net::Amazon useragent. $token is the value of the
mandatory Amazon developer's token, which can be obtained from
<http://amazon.com/soap>.
Additional optional parameters:
"max_pages => $max_pages"
Sets how many result pages the module is supposed to fetch back
from Amazon, which only sends back 10 results per page. Since
each page requires a new query to Amazon, at most one query per
second will be made in "strict" mode to comply with Amazon's
terms of service. This will impact performance if you perform a
search returning many pages of results.
"affiliate_id => $affiliate_id"
your Amazon affiliate ID, if you have one. It defaults to
"webservices-20" which is currently (as of 06/2003) required by
Amazon.
"strict => 1"
Makes sure that "Net::Amazon" complies with Amazon's terms of
service by limiting the number of outgoing requests to 1 per
second. Defaults to 1, enabling rate limiting as defined via
"rate_limit".
"rate_limit => $reqs_per_sec"
Sets the rate limit to $reqs_per_sec requests per second if rate
limiting has been enabled with "strict" (see above). Defaults to
1, limiting the number of outgoing requests to 1 per second.
"$resp = $ua->request($request)"
Sends a request to the Amazon web service. $request is of a
"Net::Amazon::Request::*" type and $response will be of the
corresponding "Net::Amazon::Response::*" type.
Accessing foreign Amazon Catalogs
As of this writing (07/2003), Amazon also offers its web service for
the UK, Germany, and Japan. Just pass in
locale => 'uk'
locale => 'de'
locale => 'jp'
respectively to "Net::Amazon"'s constructor "new()" and instead of
returning results sent by the US mothership, it will query the
particular country's catalog and show prices in (gack!) local
currencies.
EXAMPLE
Here's a full-fledged example doing a artist search:
use Net::Amazon;
use Net::Amazon::Request::Artist;
use Data::Dumper;
die "usage: $0 artist\n(use Zwan as an example)\n"
unless defined $ARGV[0];
my $ua = Net::Amazon->new(
token => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN',
);
my $req = Net::Amazon::Request::Artist->new(
artist => $ARGV[0],
);
# Response is of type Net::Amazon::Artist::Response
my $resp = $ua->request($req);
if($resp->is_success()) {
print $resp->as_string, "\n";
} else {
print $resp->message(), "\n";
}
And here's one displaying someone's wishlist:
use Net::Amazon;
use Net::Amazon::Request::Wishlist;
die "usage: $0 wishlist_id\n" .
"(use 1XL5DWOUFMFVJ as an example)\n" unless $ARGV[0];
my $ua = Net::Amazon->new(
token => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN',
);
my $req = Net::Amazon::Request::Wishlist->new(
id => $ARGV[0]
);
# Response is of type Net::Amazon::ASIN::Response
my $resp = $ua->request($req);
if($resp->is_success()) {
print $resp->as_string, "\n";
} else {
print $resp->message(), "\n";
}
CACHING
Responses returned by Amazon's web service can be cached locally.
"Net::Amazon"'s "new" method accepts a reference to a "Cache"
object. "Cache" (or one of its companions like "Cache::Memory",
"Cache::File", etc.) can be downloaded from CPAN, please check their
documentation for details. In fact, any other type of cache
implementation will do as well, see the requirements below.
Here's an example utilizing a file cache which causes "Net::Amazon"
to cache responses for 30 minutes:
use Cache::File;
my $cache = Cache::File->new(
cache_root => '/tmp/mycache',
default_expires => '30 min',
);
my $ua = Net::Amazon->new(
token => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN',
cache => $cache,
);
"Net::Amazon" uses *positive* caching only, errors won't be cached.
Erroneous requests will be sent to Amazon every time. Positive cache
entries are keyed by the full URL used internally by requests
submitted to Amazon.
Caching isn't limited to the "Cache" class. Any cache object which
adheres to the following interface can be used:
# Set a cache value
$cache->set($key, $value);
# Return a cached value, 'undef' if it doesn't exist
$cache->get($key);
PROXY SETTINGS
"Net::Amazon" uses "LWP::UserAgent" under the hood to send web
requests to Amazon's web site. If you're in an environment where all
Web traffic goes through a proxy, there's two ways to configure
that.
First, "Net::Amazon" picks up proxy settings from environment
variables:
export http_proxy=http://proxy.my.place:8080
in the surrounding shell or setting
$ENV{http_proxy} = "http://proxy.my.place:8080";
in your Perl script will route all requests through the specified
proxy.
Secondly, you can pass a user agent instance to Net::Amazon's
constructor:
use Net::Amazon;
use LWP::UserAgent;
my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new();
my $na = Net::Amazon->new(ua => $ua, token => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN');
# ...
This way, you can configure $ua up front before Net::Amazon will use
it.
DEBUGGING
If something's going wrong and you want more verbosity, just bump up
"Net::Amazon"'s logging level. "Net::Amazon" comes with
"Log::Log4perl" statements embedded, which are disabled by default.
However, if you initialize "Log::Log4perl", e.g. like
use Net::Amazon;
use Log::Log4perl qw(:easy);
Log::Log4perl->easy_init($DEBUG);
my Net::Amazon->new();
# ...
you'll see what's going on behind the scenes, what URLs the module
is requesting from Amazon and so forth. Log::Log4perl allows all
kinds of fancy stuff, like writing to a file or enabling verbosity
in certain parts only -- check http://log4perl.sourceforge.net for
details.
LIVE TESTING
Results returned by Amazon can be incomplete or simply wrong at
times, due to their "best effort" design of the service. This is why
the test suite that comes with this module has been changed to
perform its test cases against canned data. If you want to perform
the tests against the live Amazon servers instead, just set the
environment variable
NET_AMAZON_LIVE_TESTS=1
WHY ISN'T THERE SUPPORT FOR METHOD XYZ?
Because nobody wrote it yet. If Net::Amazon doesn't yet support a
method advertised on Amazon's web service, you could help us out.
Net::Amazon has been designed to be expanded over time, usually it
only takes a couple of lines to support a new method, the rest is
done via inheritance within Net::Amazon.
Here's the basic plot:
* Get Net::Amazon from CVS. Use
# (Just hit enter when prompted for a password)
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.net-amazon.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/net-amazon login
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.net-amazon.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/net-amazon co Net-Amazon
If this doesn't work, just use the latest distribution from
net-amazon.sourceforge.net.
* Write a new Net::Amazon::Request::XYZ package, start with this
template
######################################
package Net::Amazon::Request::XYZ;
######################################
use base qw(Net::Amazon::Request);
######################################
sub new {
######################################
my($class, %options) = @_;
if(!exists $options{XYZ_option}) {
die "Mandatory parameter 'XYZ_option' not defined";
}
my $self = $class->SUPER::new(%options);
bless $self, $class; # reconsecrate
}
and add documentation. Then, create a new
Net::Amazon::Response::XYZ module:
##############################
package Net::Amazon::Response;
##############################
use base qw(Net::Amazon::Response);
use Net::Amazon::Property;
##############################
sub new {
##############################
my($class, %options) = @_;
my $self = $class->SUPER::new(%options);
bless $self, $class; # reconsecrate
}
and also add documentation to it. Then, add the line
use Net::Amazon::Request::XYZ;
to Net/Amazon.pm.
And that's it! Again, don't forget the *add documentation* part.
Modules without documentation are of no use to anybody but yourself.
Check out the different Net::Amazon::Request::* and
Net::Amazon::Response modules in the distribution if you need to
adapt your new module to fulfil any special needs, like a different
Amazon URL or a different way to handle the as_string() method.
Also, post and problems you might encounter to the mailing list,
we're gonna help you out.
If possible, provide a test case for your extension. When finished,
send a patch to the mailing list at
net-amazon-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
and if it works, I'll accept it and will work it into the main
distribution. Your name will show up in the contributor's list below
(unless you tell me otherwise).
SAMPLE SCRIPTS
There's a number of useful scripts in the distribution's eg/
directory. Take "power" for example, written by Martin Streicher
<martin.streicher@apress.com>: I lets you perform a *power search*
using Amazon's query language. To search for all books written by
Randal Schwartz about Perl, call this from the command line:
power 'author: schwartz subject: perl'
Note that you need to quote the query string to pass it as one
argument to "power". If a power search returns more results than you
want to process at a time, just limit the number of pages, telling
"power" which page to start at ("-s") and which one to finish with
("-f"). Here's a search for all books on the subject "computer",
limited to the first 10 pages:
power -s 1 -f 10 'subject: computer'
Check out the script "power" in eg/ for more options.
HOW TO SEND ME PATCHES
If you want me to include your modification or enhancement in the
distribution of Net::Amazon, please do the following:
* Work off the latest CVS version. Here's the steps to get it:
CVSROOT=:pserver:anonymous@cvs.net-amazon.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/net-amazon
export CVSROOT
cvs login (just hit Enter)
cvs co Net-Amazon
This will create a new "Net-Amazon" directory with the latest
development version of "Net::Amazon" on your local machine.
* Apply your changes to this development tree.
* Run a diff between the tree and your changes it in this way:
cd Net-Amazon
cvs diff -Nau >patch_to_mike.txt
* Email me "patch_to_mike.txt". If your patch works (and you've
included test cases and documentation), I'll apply it on the
spot.
INSTALLATION
"Net::Amazon" depends on Log::Log4perl, which can be pulled from
CPAN by simply saying
perl -MCPAN -eshell 'install Log::Log4perl'
Also, it needs LWP::UserAgent and XML::Simple 2.x, which can be
obtained in a similar way.
Once all dependencies have been resolved, "Net::Amazon" installs
with the typical sequence
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
Make sure you're connected to the Internet while running "make test"
because it will actually contact amazon.com and run a couple of live
tests.
The module's distribution tarball and documentation are available at
http://perlmeister.com/devel/#amzn
and on CPAN.
SEE ALSO
The following modules play well within the "Net::Amazon" framework:
"Net::Amazon::RemoteCart"
by David Emery <dave@skiddlydee.com> provides a complete API for
creating Amazon shopping carts on a local site, managing them
and finally submitting them to Amazon for checkout. It is
available on CPAN.
CONTACT
The "Net::Amazon" project's home page is hosted on
http://net-amazon.sourceforge.net
where you can find documentation, news and the latest development
and stable releases for download. If you have questions about how to
use "Net::Amazon", want to report a bug or just participate in its
development, please send a message to the mailing list
net-amazon-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
AUTHOR
Mike Schilli, <na@perlmeister.com> (Please contact me via the
mailing list: net-amazon-devel@lists.sourceforge.net )
Contributors (thanks y'all!):
Andy Grundman <andy@hybridized.org>
Barnaby Claydon <bclaydon@perseus.com>
Batara Kesuma <bkesuma@gaijinweb.com>
Bill Fitzpatrick
Brian <brianbrian@gmail.com>
Brian Hirt <bhirt@mobygames.com>
Dan Kreft <dan@kreft.net>
Dan Sully <daniel@electricrain.com>
Jackie Hamilton <kira@cgi101.com>
Konstantin Gredeskoul <kig@get.topica.com>
Lance Cleveland <lancec@proactivewm.com>
Martha Greenberg <marthag@mit.edu>
Martin Streicher <martin.streicher@apress.com>
Mike Evron <evronm@dtcinc.net>
Padraic Renaghan <padraic@renaghan.com>
rayg <rayg@varchars.com>
Robert Graff <rgraff@workingdemo.com>
Robert Rothenberg <wlkngowl@i-2000.com>
Steve Rushe <steve@deeden.co.uk>
Tatsuhiko Miyagawa <miyagawa@livedoor.jp>
Tony Bowden <tony@kasei.com>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2003, 2004 by Mike Schilli <na@perlmeister.com>
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.