NAME¶
POE::Component::IKC::Responder - POE IKC state handler
SYNOPSIS¶
use POE;
use POE::Component::IKC::Responder;
create_ikc_responder();
...
$kernel->post('IKC', 'post', $to_state, $state);
$ikc->publish('my_name', [qw(state1 state2 state3)]);
DESCRIPTION¶
This module implements POE IKC state handling. The responder handles posting
states to foreign kernels and calling states in the local kernel at the
request of foreign kernels.
There are 2 interfaces to the responder. Either by sending states to the 'IKC'
session or the object interface. While the latter is faster, the better
behaved, because POE is a cooperative system.
STATES/METHODS¶
"spawn"¶
POE::Component::IKC::Responder->spawn();
This function creates the Responder session and object. Normally,
POE::Component::IKC::Client or POE::Component::IKC::Server does this for you.
But in some applications you want to make sure that the Responder is up and
running before then.
"post"¶
Sends an state request to a foreign kernel. Returns logical true if the state
was sent and logical false if it was unable to send the request to the foreign
kernel. This does not mean that the foreign kernel was able to post the state,
however. Parameters are as follows :
- "foreign_state"
- Specifier for the foreign state. See
POE::Component::IKC::Specifier.
- "parameters"
- A reference to anything you want the foreign state to get
as ARG0. If you want to specify several parameters, use an array ref and
have the foreign state dereference it.
$kernel->post('IKC', 'post',
{kernel=>'Syslog', session=>'logger', state=>'log'},
[$faculty, $priority, $message];
or
$ikc->post('poe://Syslog/logger/log', [$faculty, $priority, $message]);
This logs an state with a hypothetical logger.
See the "PROXY SENDER" below.
"call"¶
This is identical to "post", except it has a 3rd parameter that
describes what state should receive the return value from the foreign kernel.
$kernel->post('IKC', 'call',
'poe://Pulse/timeserver/time', '',
'poe:get_time');
or
$ikc->call({kernel=>'Pulse', session=>'timeserver', state=>'time'},
'', 'poe://me/get_time');
This asks the foreign kernel 'Pulse' for the time. 'get_time' state in the
current session is posted with whatever the foreign state returned.
You do not have to publish callback messages, because they are temporarily
published. How temporary? They can be posted from a remote kernel ONCE only.
This, of course, is a problem because someone else could get in a post before
the callback. Such is life.
- "foreign_state"
- Identical to the "post" "foreign_state"
parameter.
- "parameters"
- Identical to the "post" "parameters"
parameter.
- "rsvp"
- Event identification for the callback. That is, this state
is called with the return value of the foreign state. Can be a
"foreign_state" specifier or simply the name of an state in the
current session.
$kernel->call('IKC', 'post',
{kernel=>'e-comm', session=>'CC', state=>'check'},
{CC=>$cc, expiry=>$expiry}, folder=>$holder},
'is_valid');
# or
$ikc->call('poe://e-comm/CC/check',
{CC=>$cc, expiry=>$expiry}, folder=>$holder},
'poe://me/is_valid');
This asks the e-comm server to check if a credit card number is "well
formed". Yes, this would probably be massive overkill.
The "rsvp" state does not need to be published. IKC keeps track of the
rsvp state and will allow the foreign kernel to post to it.
See the "PROXY SENDER" below.
"default"¶
Sets the default foreign kernel. You must be connected to the foreign kernel
first.
Unique parameter is the name of the foreign kernel kernel.
Returns logical true on success.
"register"¶
Registers foreign kernel names with the responder. This is done during the
negociation phase of IKC and is normaly handled by "IKC::Channel".
Will define the default kernel if no previous default kernel exists.
First parameter is either a single kernel name. Second optional parameter is an
array ref of kernel aliases to be registered.
"unregister"¶
Unregisters one or more foreign kernel names with the responder. This is done
when the foreign kernel disconnects by POE::Component::IKC::Channel. If this
is the default kernel, there is no more default kernel.
First parameter is either a single kernel name or a kernel alias. Second
optional parameter is an array ref of kernel aliases to be unregistered. This
second parameter is a tad silly, because if you unregister a remote kernel, it
goes without saying that all it's aliases get unregistered also.
"register_local"¶
Registers new aliases for local kernel with the responder. This is done
internally by POE::Component::IKC::Server and POE::Component::IKC::Client.
Will NOT define the default kernel.
First and only parameter is an array ref of kernel aliases to be registered.
"publish"¶
Tell IKC that some states in the current session are available for use by
foreign sessions.
- "session"
- A session alias by which the foreign kernels will call it.
The alias must already have been registered with the local kernel.
- "states"
- Arrayref of states that foreign kernels may post.
$kernel->post('IKC', 'publish', 'me', [qw(foo bar baz)]);
# or
$ikc->publish('me', [qw(foo bar baz)]);
"retract"¶
Tell IKC that some states should no longer be available for use by foreign
sessions. You do not have to retract all published states.
- "session"
- Same as in "publish"
- "states"
- Same as in "publish". If not supplied, *all*
published states are retracted.
$kernel->post('IKC', 'retract', 'me', [qw(foo mibble dot)]);
# or
$ikc->retract('me', [qw(foo)]);
"published"¶
$list=$kernel->call(IKC=>'published', $session);
Returns a list of all the published states.
$hash=$kernel->call(IKC=>'published');
Returns a hashref, keyed on session IDs. Values are arrayref of states published
by that session.
- "session"
- A session alias that you wish the list of states for.
"subscribe"¶
Subscribe to foreign sessions or states. When you have subscribed to a foreign
session, a proxy session is created on the local kernel that will allow you to
post to it like any other local session.
- "specifiers"
- An arrayref of the session or state specifiers you wish to
subscribe to. While the wildcard '*' kernel may be used, only the first
kernel that acknowledges the subscription will be proxied.
- "callback"
- Either a state (for the state interface) or a coderef (for
the object interface) that is posted (or called) when all subscription
requests have either been replied to, or have timed out.
When called, it has a single parameter, an arrayref of all the specifiers
that IKC was able to subscribe to. It is up to you to see if you have
enough of the foreign sessions or states to get the job done, or if you
should give up.
While "callback" isn't required, it makes a lot of sense to use it
because it is only way to find out when the proxy sessions become
available.
Example :
$ikc->subscribe([qw(poe://Pulse/timeserver)],
sub { $kernel->post('poe://Pulse/timeserver', 'connect') });
(OK, that's a bad example because we don't check if we actually managed to
subscribe or not.)
$kernel->post('IKC', 'subscribe',
[qw(poe://e-comm/CC poe://TouchNet/validation
poe://Cantax/JDE poe://Informatrix/JDE)
],
'poe:subscribed',
);
# and in state 'subscribed'
sub subscribed
{
my($kernel, $specs)=@_[KERNEL, ARG0];
if(@$specs != 4)
{
die "Unable to find all the foreign sessions needed";
}
$kernel->post('poe://Cantax/JDE', 'write', {...somevalues...});
}
This is a bit of a mess. You might want to use the "subscribe"
parameter to "spawn" instead.
Subscription receipt timeout is currently set to 120 seconds.
"unsubscribe"¶
Reverse of the "subscribe" method. However, it is currently not
documented well.
"ping"¶
Responds with 'PONG'. This is auto-published, so it can be called from remote
kernels to see if the local kernel is still around. In fact, I don't see any
other use for this.
$kernel->post('poe://remote/IKC', 'ping', 'some_state');
$kernel->delay('some_state', 60); # timeout
sub some_state
{
my($pong)=$_[ARG0];
return if $pong; # all is cool
# YOW! Remote kernel timed out. RUN AROUND SCREAMING!
}
"shutdown"¶
Hopefully causes IKC and all peripheral sessions to dissapear in a puff of
smoke. At the very least, any sessions left will be either not related to IKC
or barely breathing (that is, only have aliases keeping them from GC). This
should allow you to sanely shut down your process.
"monitor"¶
Allows a session to monitor the state of remote kernels. Currently, a session is
informed when a remote kernel is registered, unregistered, subscribed to or
unsubscribed from. One should make sure that the IKC alias exists before
trying to monitor. Do this by calling POE::Component::IKC::Responder->spawn
or in an "on_connect" callback.
$kernel->post('IKC', 'monitor', $remote_kernel_id, $states);
- $remote_kernel_id
- Name or alias or IKC specifier of the remote kernel you
wish to monitor. You can also specify "*" to monitor ALL remote
kernels. If you do, your monitor will be called several times for a given
kernel. This is because a kernel has one name and many aliases. For
example, a remote kernel will have a unique ID within the local kernel, a
name (passed to or generated by create_ikc_{kernel,client}) and a globaly
unique ID assigned by the remote kernel via $kernel->ID. This suprises
some people, but see the short note after the explanation of the callback
parameters.
Note: An effort has been made to insure that when monitoring "*",
"register" is first called with the remote kernel's unique ID,
and subsequent calls are aliases. This can't be guaranteed at this time,
however.
- $states
- Hashref that specifies what callback states are called when
something interesting happens. If $state is empty or undef, the session
will no longer monitor the given remote kernel.
Callback states¶
The following states can be monitored:
- "register"
- Called when a remote kernel or alias is registered. This is
equivalent to when the connection phase is finished.
- "unregister"
- Called when a remote kernel or alias is unregistered. This
is equivalent to when the remote kernel disconnects.
- "subscribe"
- Called when IKC succeeds in subscribing to a remote
session. ARG3 is an IKC::Specifier of what was subscribed to. Use this for
posting to the proxy session.
- "unsubscribe"
- Called when IKC succeeds in unsubscribing from a remote
session.
- "shutdown"
- You are informed whenever someone tries to do a sane
shutdown of IKC and all peripheral sessions. This will called only once,
after somebody posts an IKC/shutdown event.
- "data"
- Little bit of data (can be scalar or reference) that is
passed to the callback. This allows you to more magic.
The callback states are called the following parameters :
- "ARG0"
- Name of the kernel that was passed to
poe://*/IKC/monitor
- "ARG1"
- ID or alias of remote kernel from IKC's point of view.
- "ARG2"
- A flag. If this is true, then ARG1 is the remote kernel
unique ID, if false, then ARG1 is an alias. This is mostly useful when
monitoring "*" and is in fact a bit bloatful.
- "ARG3"
- "$state->{data}" ie any data you want.
- "ARG4" ... "ARGN"
- Callback-specific parameters. See above.
Most of the time, ARG0 and ARG1 will be the same. Exceptions are if you are
monitoring "*" or if you supplied a full IKC event specifier to
IKC/monitor rather then just a plain kernel name.
Short note about monitoring all kernels with "*"¶
There are 2 reasons circonstances in which you will be monitoring all remote
kernels : names known in advance and names unknown in advance.
If you know kernel names in advance, you might be better off monitoring a given
kernel name. However, you might prefer doing a case-like compare on ARG1 (with
regexes, say). This would be useful for clustering, where various redundant
kernels could follow a naming convention like [application]-[host], so you
could compare "ARG1" with "/^credit-/" to find out if you
want to set up specific things for that kernel.
Not knowing the name of a kernel in advance, you could be doing some sort of
autodiscovery or maybe just monitoring for debuging, logging or book-keeping
purposes. You obviously don't want to do autodiscovery for every alias of
every kernel, only for the "cannonical name", hence the need for
ARG2.
Short note the second¶
You are more then allowed (in fact, you are encouraged) to use the same callback
states when monitoring multiple kernels. In this case, you will find ARG0
useful for telling them apart.
$kernel->post('IKC', 'monitor', '*',
{register=>'remote_register',
unregister=>'remote_unregister',
subscribe=>'remote_subscribe',
unsubscribe=>'remote_unsubscribe',
data=>'magic box'});
Now remote_{register,unregister,subscribe,unsubscribe} is called for any remote
kernel.
$kernel->post('IKC', 'monitor', 'Pulse', {register=>'pulse_connected'});
"pulse_connected" will be called in current session when you succeed
in connecting to a kernel called 'Pulse'.
$kernel->post('IKC', 'monitor', '*');
Session is no longer monitoring all kernels, only 'Pulse'.
$kernel->post('IKC', 'monitor', 'Pulse', {});
Now we aren't even interested in 'Pulse';
EXPORTED FUNCTIONS¶
"create_ikc_responder"¶
This function creates the Responder session and object. However, you don't need
to call this directly, because POE::Component::IKC::Client or
POE::Component::IKC::Server does this for you.
Deprecated, use "spawn".
PROXY SENDER¶
Event handlers invoked via IKC will have a proxy SENDER session. You may use it
to post back to the remote session.
$poe_kernel->post( $_[SENDER], 'response', @args );
Normally this proxy session is available during the invocation of the event
handler. You may claim it for longer by setting an external reference:
$heap->{remote} = $_[SENDER]->ID;
$poe_kernel->refcount_increment( $heap->{remote}, 'MINE' );
POE::Component::IKC will detect this and create a new proxy session for future
calls. It will then be UP TO YOU to free the session:
$poe_kernel->refcount_decrement( $heap->{remote}, 'MINE' );
Note that you will have to publish any events that will be posted back.
BUGS¶
Sending session references and coderefs to a foreign kernel is a bad idea. At
some point it would be desirable to recurse through the paramerters and and
turn any session references into state specifiers.
The "rsvp" state in call is a bit problematic. IKC allows it to be
posted to once, but doesn't check to see if the foreign kernel is the right
one.
"retract" does not currently tell foreign kernels that have subscribed
to a session/state about the retraction.
"call()"ing a state in a proxied foreign session doesn't work, for
obvious reasons.
AUTHOR¶
Philip Gwyn, <perl-ikc at pied.nu>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE¶
Copyright 1999-2011 by Philip Gwyn. All rights reserved.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself.
See <
http://www.perl.com/language/misc/Artistic.html>
SEE ALSO¶
POE, POE::Component::IKC::Server, POE::Component::IKC::Client,
POE::Component::IKC::ClientLite, POE::Component::IKC::Channel,
POE::Component::IKC::Proxy, POE::Component::IKC::Freezer,
POE::Component::IKC::Specifier.