NAME

Net::CLI::Interact::ActionSet - Conversation of Send and Match Actions

DESCRIPTION

This class is used internally by Net::CLI::Interact and it's unlikely that an end-user will need to make use of ActionSet objects directly. The interface is documented here as a matter of record.

An ActionSet comprises a sequence (usefully, two or more) of Actions which describe a conversation with a connected network device. Actions will alternate between type send and match, perhaps not in their original Phrasebook definition, but certainly by the time they are used.

If the first Action is of type send then the ActionSet is a normal sequence of "send a command" then "match a response", perhaps repeated. If the first Action is of type match then the ActionSet represents a continuation, which is the method of dealing with paged output.

INTERFACE

default_continuation

An ActionSet (match then send) which will be available for use on all commands sent from this ActionSet. An alternative to explicitly describing the Continuation sequence within the Phrasebook.

current_match

A stash for the current Prompt (regular expression reference) which Net::CLI::Interact expects to see after each command. This is passed into the constructor and is used when padding Match Actions into the ActionSet (see execute, below).

clone

Returns a new ActionSet which is a shallow clone of the existing one. All the reference based slots will share data, but you can add (for example) a current_match without affecting the original ActionSet. Used when preparing to execute an ActionSet which has been retrieved from the Phrasebook.

apply_params

Accepts a list of parameters which will be used when sprintf is called on each Send Action in the set. You must supply sufficient parameters as a list for all Send Actions in the set, and they will be popped off and stashed with the Action(s) according to how many are required.

register_callback

Allows the Transport to be registered such that when the ActionSet is executed, commands are sent to the registered callback subroutine. May be called more than once, and on execution each of the callbacks will be run, in turn and in order.

execute

The business end of this class, where the sequence of Actions is prepared for execution and then control passed to the Transport. This process is split into a number of phases:

Pad send with match

The Phrasebook allows missing out of the Match statements between Send statements, when they are expected to be the same as the current_match. This phase inserts Match statements to restore a complete ActionSet definition.

Forward continuation to match

In the Phrasebook a user defines a Continuation (match, then send) following a Send statement (because it deals with the response to the sent command). However they are actually used by the Match, as it's the Match which captures output.

This phase copies Continuation ActionSets from Send statements to following Match statements in the ActionSet. It also performs a similar action using the default_continuation if one is set and there's no existing Continuation configured.

Callback(s)

Here the registered callbacks are executed (i.e. data is sent to the Transport).

Marshall Responses

Finally, responses which are stashed in the Match Actions are copied back to the Send actions, as more logically they are responses to commands sent. The ActionSet is now ready for access to retrieve the last_response from the device.

COMPOSITION

See the following for further interface details:

• Net::CLI::Interact::Role::Iterator