LWP::Protocol(3)

NAME
LWP::Protocol - Base class for LWP protocols

SYNOPSIS
 package LWP::Protocol::foo;
 use base qw(LWP::Protocol);

DESCRIPTION
This class is used as the base class for all protocol implementations supported by the LWP library.

When creating an instance of this class using "LWP::Protocol::create($url)", and you get an initialized subclass appropriate for that access method. In other words, the "create" in LWP::Protocol 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.

METHODS
The following methods and functions are provided:

  new
    my $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.

  create
    my $prot = LWP::Protocol::create($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.

  implementor
    my $class = LWP::Protocol::implementor($scheme, [$class])

Get and/or set implementor class for a scheme. Returns '' if the specified scheme is not supported.

  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.

  collect
    my $res = $prot->collect(undef, $response, $collector); # stored in $response
    my $res = $prot->collect($filename, $response, $collector);
    my $res = $prot->collect(sub { ... }, $response, $collector);

Collect the content of a request, and process it appropriately into a scalar, file, or by calling a callback. If the first parameter is undefined, then the content is stored within the $response. If it's a simple scalar, then it's interpreted as a file name and the content is written to this file. If it's a code reference, 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 string.

The return value is the HTTP::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.

  collect_once
    $prot->collect_once($arg, $response, $content)

Can be called when the whole response content is available as content. This will invoke "collect" in LWP::Protocol 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.