NAME

POE::Component::IRC - a fully event-driven IRC client module.

SYNOPSIS

  use POE::Component::IRC;

  # Do this when you create your sessions. 'my client' is just a
  # kernel alias to christen the new IRC connection with. (Returns
  # only a true or false success flag, not an object.)
  POE::Component::IRC->new('my client') or die "Oh noooo! $!";

  # Do stuff like this from within your sessions. This line tells the
  # connection named "my client" to send your session the following
  # events when they happen.
  $kernel->post('my client', 'register', qw(connected msg public cdcc cping));
  # You can guess what this line does.
  $kernel->post('my client', 'connect',
	        { Nick     => 'Boolahman',
		  Server   => 'irc-w.primenet.com',
		  Port     => 6669,
		  Username => 'quetzal',
		  Ircname  => 'Ask me about my colon!', } );

DESCRIPTION

POE::Component::IRC is a POE component (who'd have guessed?) which acts as an easily controllable IRC client for your other POE components and sessions. You create an IRC component and tell it what events your session cares about and where to connect to, and it sends back interesting IRC events when they happen. You make the client do things by sending it events. That's all there is to it. Cool, no?

[Note that using this module requires some familiarity with the details of the IRC protocol. I'd advise you to read up on the gory details of RFC 1459 <http://cs-pub.bu.edu/pub/irc/support/rfc1459.txt> before you get started. Keep the list of server numeric codes handy while you program. Needless to say, you'll also need a good working knowledge of POE, or this document will be of very little use to you.]

So you want to write a POE program with POE::Component::IRC? Listen up. The short version is as follows: Create your session(s) and an alias for a new POE::Component::IRC client. (Conceptually, it helps if you think of them as little IRC clients.) In your session's _start handler, send the IRC client a 'register' event to tell it which IRC events you want to receive from it. Send it a 'connect' event at some point to tell it to join the server, and it should start sending you interesting events every once in a while. If you want to tell it to perform an action, like joining a channel and saying something witty, send it the appropriate events like so:

$kernel->post( 'my client', 'join', '#perl' );
$kernel->post( 'my client', 'privmsg', '#perl', 'Pull my finger!' );

The long version is the rest of this document.

METHODS

Well, OK, there's only actually one, so it's more like "METHOD".

new: Takes one argument: a name (kernel alias) which this new connection will be known by. WARNING: This method, for all that it's named "new" and called in an OO fashion, doesn't actually return an object. It returns a true or false value which indicates if the new session was created or not. If it returns false, check $! for the POE::Session error code.

INPUT

How to talk to your new IRC component... here's the events we'll accept.

Important Commands

connect

Takes one argument: a hash reference of attributes for the new connection (see the SYNOPSIS section of this doc for an example). This event tells the IRC client to connect to a new/different server. If it has a connection already open, it'll close it gracefully before reconnecting. Possible attributes for the new connection are "Server", the server name; "Password", an optional password for restricted servers; "Port", the remote port number, "LocalAddr", which local IP address on a multihomed box to connect as; "LocalPort", the local TCP port to open your socket on; "Nick", your client's IRC nickname; "Username", your client's username; and "Ircname", some cute comment or something. connect() will supply reasonable defaults for any of these attributes which are missing, so don't feel obliged to write them all out.

ctcp and ctcpreply

Sends a CTCP query or response to the nick(s) or channel(s) which you specify. Takes 2 arguments: the nick or channel to send a message to (use an array reference here to specify multiple recipients), and the plain text of the message to send (the CTCP quoting will be handled for you).

dcc

Send a DCC SEND or CHAT request to another person. Takes at least two arguments: the nickname of the person to send the request to and the type of DCC request (SEND or CHAT). For SEND requests, be sure to add a third argument for the filename you want to send. Optionally, you can add a fourth argument for the DCC transfer blocksize, but the default of 1024 should usually be fine.

Incidentally, you can send other weird nonstandard kinds of DCCs too; just put something besides 'SEND' or 'CHAT' (say, "FOO") in the type field, and you'll get back "irc_dcc_foo" events when activity happens on its DCC connection.

dcc_accept

Accepts an incoming DCC connection from another host. First argument: the magic cookie from an 'irc_dcc_request' event. In the case of a DCC GET, the second argument can optionally specify a new name for the destination file of the DCC transfer, instead of using the sender's name for it. (See the 'irc_dcc_request' section below for more details.)

dcc_chat

Sends lines of data to the person on the other side of a DCC CHAT connection. Takes any number of arguments: the magic cookie from an 'irc_dcc_start' event, followed by the data you wish to send. (It'll be chunked into lines by a POE::Filter::Line for you, don't worry.)

dcc_close

Terminates a DCC SEND or GET connection prematurely, and causes DCC CHAT connections to close gracefully. Takes one argument: the magic cookie from an 'irc_dcc_start' or 'irc_dcc_request' event.

join

Tells your IRC client to join a single channel of your choice. Takes at least one arg: the channel name (required) and the channel key (optional, for password-protected channels).

kick

Tell the IRC server to forcibly evict a user from a particular channel. Takes at least 2 arguments: a channel name, the nick of the user to boot, and an optional witty message to show them as they sail out the door.

mode

Request a mode change on a particular channel or user. Takes at least one argument: the mode changes to effect, as a single string (e.g., "+sm-p+o"), and any number of optional operands to the mode changes (nicks, hostmasks, channel keys, whatever.) Or just pass them all as one big string and it'll still work, whatever. I regret that I haven't the patience now to write a detailed explanation, but serious IRC users know the details anyhow.

nick

Allows you to change your nickname. Takes exactly one argument: the new username that you'd like to be known as.

notice

Sends a NOTICE message to the nick(s) or channel(s) which you specify. Takes 2 arguments: the nick or channel to send a notice to (use an array reference here to specify multiple recipients), and the text of the notice to send.

part

Tell your IRC client to leave the channels which you pass to it. Takes any number of arguments: channel names to depart from.

privmsg

Sends a public or private message to the nick(s) or channel(s) which you specify. Takes 2 arguments: the nick or channel to send a message to (use an array reference here to specify multiple recipients), and the text of the message to send.

quit

Tells the IRC server to disconnect you. Takes one optional argument: some clever, witty string that other users in your channels will see as you leave. You can expect to get an irc_disconnect event shortly after sending this.

register

Takes N arguments: a list of event names that your session wants to listen for, minus the "irc_" prefix. So, for instance, if you just want a bot that keeps track of which people are on a channel, you'll need to listen for JOINs, PARTs, QUITs, and KICKs to people on the channel you're in. You'd tell POE::Component::IRC that you want those events by saying this:

$kernel->post( 'my client', 'register', qw(join part quit kick) );

Then, whenever people enter or leave a channel your bot is on (forcibly or not), your session will receive events with names like "irc_join", "irc_kick", etc., which you can use to update a list of people on the channel.

Registering for 'all' will cause it to send all IRC-related events to you; this is the easiest way to handle it. See the test script for an example.

shutdown

By default, POE::Component::IRC sessions never go away. Even after they're disconnected, they're still sitting around in the background, waiting for you to call connect() on them again to reconnect. (Whether this behavior is the Right Thing is doubtful, but I don't want to break backwards compatibility at this point.) You can send the IRC session a shutdown event manually to make it delete itself.

unregister

Takes N arguments: a list of event names which you don't want to receive. If you've previously done a 'register' for a particular event which you no longer care about, this event will tell the IRC connection to stop sending them to you. (If you haven't, it just ignores you. No big deal.)

Not-So-Important Commands

admin: Asks your server who your friendly neighborhood server administrators are. If you prefer, you can pass it a server name to query, instead of asking the server you're currently on.
away: When sent with an argument (a message describig where you went), the server will note that you're now away from your machine or otherwise preoccupied, and pass your message along to anyone who tries to communicate with you. When sent without arguments, it tells the server that you're back and paying attention.
info: Basically the same as the "version" command, except that the server is permitted to return any information about itself that it thinks is relevant. There's some nice, specific standards-writing for ya, eh?
invite: Invites another user onto an invite-only channel. Takes 2 arguments: the nick of the user you wish to admit, and the name of the channel to invite them to.
ison: Asks the IRC server which users out of a list of nicknames are currently online. Takes any number of arguments: a list of nicknames to query the IRC server about.
links: Asks the server for a list of servers connected to the IRC network. Takes two optional arguments, which I'm too lazy to document here, so all you would-be linklooker writers should probably go dig up the RFC.
list: Asks the server for a list of visible channels and their topics. Takes any number of optional arguments: names of channels to get topic information for. If called without any channel names, it'll list every visible channel on the IRC network. This is usually a really big list, so don't do this often.
motd: Request the server's "Message of the Day", a document which typically contains stuff like the server's acceptable use policy and admin contact email addresses, et cetera. Normally you'll automatically receive this when you log into a server, but if you want it again, here's how to do it. If you'd like to get the MOTD for a server other than the one you're logged into, pass it the server's hostname as an argument; otherwise, no arguments.
names: Asks the server for a list of nicknames on particular channels. Takes any number of arguments: names of channels to get lists of users for. If called without any channel names, it'll tell you the nicks of everyone on the IRC network. This is a really big list, so don't do this much.
sl: Sends a raw line of text to the server. Takes one argument: a string of a raw IRC command to send to the server. It is more optimal to use the events this module supplies instead of writing raw IRC commands yourself.
stats: Returns some information about a server. Kinda complicated and not terribly commonly used, so look it up in the RFC if you're curious. Takes as many arguments as you please.
time: Asks the server what time it thinks it is, which it will return in a human-readable form. Takes one optional argument: a server name to query. If not supplied, defaults to current server.
topic: Retrieves or sets the topic for particular channel. If called with just the channel name as an argument, it will ask the server to return the current topic. If called with the channel name and a string, it will set the channel topic to that string.
trace: If you pass a server name or nick along with this request, it asks the server for the list of servers in between you and the thing you mentioned. If sent with no arguments, it will show you all the servers which are connected to your current server.
userhost: Asks the IRC server for information about particular nicknames. (The RFC doesn't define exactly what this is supposed to return.) Takes any number of arguments: the nicknames to look up.
users: Asks the server how many users are logged into it. Defaults to the server you're currently logged into; however, you can pass a server name as the first argument to query some other machine instead.
version: Asks the server about the version of ircd that it's running. Takes one optional argument: a server name to query. If not supplied, defaults to current server.
who: Lists the logged-on users matching a particular channel name, hostname, nickname, or what-have-you. Takes one optional argument: a string for it to search for. Wildcards are allowed; in the absence of this argument, it will return everyone who's currently logged in (bad move). Tack an "o" on the end if you want to list only IRCops, as per the RFC.
whois: Queries the IRC server for detailed information about a particular user. Takes any number of arguments: nicknames or hostmasks to ask for information about.
whowas: Asks the server for information about nickname which is no longer connected. Takes at least one argument: a nickname to look up (no wildcards allowed), the optional maximum number of history entries to return, and the optional server hostname to query.

Purely Esoteric Commands

oper: In the exceedingly unlikely event that you happen to be an IRC operator, you can use this command to authenticate with your IRC server. Takes 2 arguments: your username and your password.
rehash: Tells the IRC server you're connected to to rehash its configuration files. Only useful for IRCops. Takes no arguments.
restart: Tells the IRC server you're connected to to shut down and restart itself. Only useful for IRCops, thank goodness. Takes no arguments.
sconnect: Tells one IRC server (which you have operator status on) to connect to another. This is actually the CONNECT command, but I already had an event called 'connect', so too bad. Takes the args you'd expect: a server to connect to, an optional port to connect on, and an optional remote server to connect with, instead of the one you're currently on.
summon: Don't even ask.
wallops: Another opers-only command. This one sends a message to all currently logged-on opers (and +w users); sort of a mass PA system for the IRC server administrators. Takes one argument: some clever, witty message to send.

OUTPUT

The events you will receive (or can ask to receive) from your running IRC component. Note that all incoming event names your session will receive are prefixed by "irc_", to inhibit event namespace pollution.

If you wish, you can ask the client to send you every event it generates. Simply register for the event name "all". This is a lot easier than writing a huge list of things you specifically want to listen for. FIXME: I'd really like to classify these somewhat ("basic", "oper", "ctcp", "dcc", "raw" or some such), and I'd welcome suggestions for ways to make this easier on the user, if you can think of some.

Important Events

irc_connected

The IRC component will send an "irc_connected" event as soon as it establishes a connection to an IRC server, before attempting to log in. ARG0 is the server name.

NOTE: When you get an "irc_connected" event, this doesn't mean you can start sending commands to the server yet. Wait until you receive an irc_001 event (the server welcome message) before actually sending anything back to the server.

irc_ctcp_*

irc_ctcp_whatever events are generated upon receipt of CTCP messages. For instance, receiving a CTCP PING request generates an irc_ctcp_ping event, CTCP ACTION (produced by typing "/me" in most IRC clients) generates an irc_ctcp_action event, blah blah, so on and so forth. ARG0 is the nick!hostmask of the sender. ARG1 is the channel/recipient name(s). ARG2 is the text of the CTCP message.

Note that DCCs are handled separately -- see the 'irc_dcc_request' event, below.

irc_ctcpreply_*

irc_ctcpreply_whatever messages are just like irc_ctcp_whatever messages, described above, except that they're generated when a response to one of your CTCP queries comes back. They have the same arguments and such as irc_ctcp_* events.

irc_disconnected

The counterpart to irc_connected, sent whenever a socket connection to an IRC server closes down (whether intentionally or unintentionally). ARG0 is the server name.

irc_error

You get this whenever the server sends you an ERROR message. Expect this to usually be accompanied by the sudden dropping of your connection. ARG0 is the server's explanation of the error.

irc_join

Sent whenever someone joins a channel that you're on. ARG0 is the person's nick!hostmask. ARG1 is the channel name.

irc_invite

Sent whenever someone offers you an invitation to another channel. ARG0 is the person's nick!hostmask. ARG1 is the name of the channel they want you to join.

irc_kick

Sent whenever someone gets booted off a channel that you're on. ARG0 is the kicker's nick!hostmask. ARG1 is the channel name. ARG2 is the nick of the unfortunate kickee. ARG3 is the explanation string for the kick.

irc_mode

Sent whenever someone changes a channel mode in your presence, or when you change your own user mode. ARG0 is the nick!hostmask of that someone. ARG1 is the channel it affects (or your nick, if it's a user mode change). ARG2 is the mode string (i.e., "+o-b"). The rest of the args (ARG3 .. $#_) are the operands to the mode string (nicks, hostmasks, channel keys, whatever).

irc_msg

Sent whenever you receive a PRIVMSG command that was addressed to you privately. ARG0 is the nick!hostmask of the sender. ARG1 is an array reference containing the nick(s) of the recipients. ARG2 is the text of the message.

irc_nick

Sent whenever you, or someone around you, changes nicks. ARG0 is the nick!hostmask of the changer. ARG1 is the new nick that they changed to.

irc_notice

Sent whenever you receive a NOTICE command. ARG0 is the nick!hostmask of the sender. ARG1 is an array reference containing the nick(s) or channel name(s) of the recipients. ARG2 is the text of the NOTICE message.

irc_part

Sent whenever someone leaves a channel that you're on. ARG0 is the person's nick!hostmask. ARG1 is the channel name.

irc_ping

An event sent whenever the server sends a PING query to the client. (Don't confuse this with a CTCP PING, which is another beast entirely. If unclear, read the RFC.) Note that POE::Component::IRC will automatically take care of sending the PONG response back to the server for you, although you can still register to catch the event for informational purposes.

irc_public

Sent whenever you receive a PRIVMSG command that was sent to a channel. ARG0 is the nick!hostmask of the sender. ARG1 is an array reference containing the channel name(s) of the recipients. ARG2 is the text of the message.

irc_quit

Sent whenever someone on a channel with you quits IRC (or gets KILLed). ARG0 is the nick!hostmask of the person in question. ARG1 is the clever, witty message they left behind on the way out.

irc_socketerr

Sent when a connection couldn't be established to the IRC server. ARG0 is probably some vague and/or misleading reason for what failed.

All numeric events (see RFC 1459)

Most messages from IRC servers are identified only by three-digit numeric codes with undescriptive constant names like RPL_UMODEIS and ERR_NOTOPLEVEL. (Actually, the list of codes in the RFC is kind of out-of-date... the list in the back of Net::IRC::Event.pm is more complete, and different IRC networks have different and incompatible lists. Ack!) As an example, say you wanted to handle event 376 (RPL_ENDOFMOTD, which signals the end of the MOTD message). You'd register for '376', and listen for 'irc_376' events. Simple, no? ARG0 is the name of the server which sent the message. ARG1 is the text of the message.

For an excellent list of the various numeric codes and what they mean, try this page: http://www.pairc.com/raw/

Somewhat Less Important Events

irc_dcc_chat: Notifies you that one line of text has been received from the client on the other end of a DCC CHAT connection. ARG0 is the connection's magic cookie, ARG1 is the nick of the person on the other end, ARG2 is the port number, and ARG3 is the text they sent.
irc_dcc_done: You receive this event when a DCC connection terminates normally. Abnormal terminations are reported by "irc_dcc_error", below. ARG0 is the connection's magic cookie, ARG1 is the nick of the person on the other end, ARG2 is the DCC type (CHAT, SEND, GET, etc.), and ARG3 is the port number. For DCC SEND and GET connections, ARG4 will be the filename, ARG5 will be the file size, and ARG6 will be the number of bytes transferred. (ARG5 and ARG6 should always be the same.)
irc_dcc_error: You get this event whenever a DCC connection or connection attempt terminates unexpectedly or suffers some fatal error. ARG0 will be the connection's magic cookie, ARG1 will be a string describing the error. ARG2 will be the nick of the person on the other end of the connection. ARG3 is the DCC type (SEND, GET, CHAT, etc.). ARG4 is the port number of the DCC connection, if any. For SEND and GET connections, ARG5 is the filename, ARG6 is the expected file size, and ARG7 is the transfered size.
irc_dcc_get: Notifies you that another block of data has been successfully transferred from the client on the other end of your DCC GET connection. ARG0 is the connection's magic cookie, ARG1 is the nick of the person on the other end, ARG2 is the port number, ARG3 is the filename, ARG4 is the total file size, and ARG5 is the number of bytes successfully transferred so far.
irc_dcc_request: You receive this event when another IRC client sends you a DCC SEND or CHAT request out of the blue. You can examine the request and decide whether or not to accept it here. ARG0 is the nick of the client on the other end. ARG1 is the type of DCC request (CHAT, SEND, etc.). ARG2 is the port number. ARG3 is a "magic cookie" argument, suitable for sending with 'dcc_accept' events to signify that you want to accept the connection (see the 'dcc_accept' docs). For DCC SEND and GET connections, ARG4 will be the filename, and ARG5 will be the file size.
irc_dcc_send: Notifies you that another block of data has been successfully transferred from you to the client on the other end of a DCC SEND connection. ARG0 is the connection's magic cookie, ARG1 is the nick of the person on the other end, ARG2 is the port number, ARG3 is the filename, ARG4 is the total file size, and ARG5 is the number of bytes successfully transferred so far.
irc_dcc_start: This event notifies you that a DCC connection has been successfully established. ARG0 is a unique "magic cookie" argument which you can pass to 'dcc_chat' or 'dcc_close'. ARG1 is the nick of the person on the other end, ARG2 is the DCC type (CHAT, SEND, GET, etc.), and ARG3 is the port number. For DCC SEND and GET connections, ARG4 will be the filename and ARG5 will be the file size.
irc_snotice: A weird, non-RFC-compliant message from an IRC server. Don't worry about it. ARG0 is the text of the server's message.

AUTHOR

Dennis Taylor, <dennis@funkplanet.com>

MAD PROPS

The maddest of mad props go out to Rocco "dngor" Caputo <troc@netrus.net>, for inventing something as mind-bogglingly cool as POE, and to Kevin "oznoid" Lenzo <lenzo@cs.cmu.edu>, for being the attentive parent of our precocious little infobot on #perl.

Further props to a few of the studly bughunters who made this module not suck: Abys <abys@web1-2-3.com>, Addi <addi@umich.edu>, ResDev <ben@reser.org>, and Roderick <roderick@argon.org>. Woohoo!

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