NAME

       Frontier::RPC2 - encode/decode RPC2 format XML

SYNOPSIS

        use Frontier::RPC2;

        $coder = Frontier::RPC2->new;

        $xml_string = $coder->encode_call($method, @args);
        $xml_string = $coder->encode_response($result);
        $xml_string = $coder->encode_fault($code, $message);

        $call = $coder->decode($xml_string);

        $response_xml = $coder->serve($request_xml, $methods);

        $boolean_object = $coder->boolean($boolean);
        $date_time_object = $coder->date_time($date_time);
        $base64_object = $coder->base64($base64);
        $int_object = $coder->int(42);
        $float_object = $coder->float(3.14159);
        $string_object = $coder->string("Foo");

DESCRIPTION

       Frontier::RPC2 encodes and decodes XML RPC calls.

       $coder = Frontier::RPC2->new( OPTIONS )
           Create a new encoder/decoder.  The following option is supported:

           encoding
               The XML encoding to be specified in the XML declaration of encoded RPC requests or
               responses.  Decoded results may have a different encoding specified; XML::Parser
               will convert decoded data to UTF-8.  The default encoding is none, which uses XML
               1.0's default of UTF-8.  For example:

                $server = Frontier::RPC2->new( 'encoding' => 'ISO-8859-1' );

           use_objects
               If set to a non-zero value will convert incoming <i4>, <float>, and <string>
               values to objects instead of scalars.  See int(), float(), and string() below for
               more details.

       $xml_string = $coder->encode_call($method, @args)
           `"encode_call"' converts a method name and it's arguments into an RPC2 `"methodCall"'
           element, returning the XML fragment.

       $xml_string = $coder->encode_response($result)
           `"encode_response"' converts the return value of a procedure into an RPC2
           `"methodResponse"' element containing the result, returning the XML fragment.

       $xml_string = $coder->encode_fault($code, $message)
           `"encode_fault"' converts a fault code and message into an RPC2 `"methodResponse"'
           element containing a `"fault"' element, returning the XML fragment.

       $call = $coder->decode($xml_string)
           `"decode"' converts an XML string containing an RPC2 `"methodCall"' or
           `"methodResponse"' element into a hash containing three members, `"type"', `"value"',
           and `"method_name"'.  `"type"' is one of `"call"', `"response"', or `"fault"'.
           `"value"' is array containing the parameters or result of the RPC.  For a `"call"'
           type, `"value"' contains call's parameters and `"method_name"' contains the method
           being called.  For a `"response"' type, the `"value"' array contains call's result.
           For a `"fault"' type, the `"value"' array contains a hash with the two members
           `"faultCode"' and `"faultMessage"'.

       $response_xml = $coder->serve($request_xml, $methods)
           `"serve"' decodes `$request_xml', looks up the called method name in the `$methods'
           hash and calls it, and then encodes and returns the response as XML.

       $boolean_object = $coder->boolean($boolean);
       $date_time_object = $coder->date_time($date_time);
       $base64_object = $coder->base64($base64);
           These methods create and return XML-RPC-specific datatypes that can be passed to the
           encoder.  The decoder may also return these datatypes.  The corresponding package
           names (for use with `"ref()"', for example) are `"Frontier::RPC2::Boolean"',
           `"Frontier::RPC2::DateTime::ISO8601"', and `"Frontier::RPC2::Base64"'.

           You can change and retrieve the value of boolean, date/time, and base64 data using the
           `"value"' method of those objects, i.e.:

             $boolean = $boolean_object->value;

             $boolean_object->value(1);

           Note: `"base64()"' does not encode or decode base64 data for you, you must use
           MIME::Base64 or similar module for that.

       $int_object = $coder->int(42);
       $float_object = $coder->float(3.14159);
       $string_object = $coder->string("Foo");
           By default, you may pass ordinary Perl values (scalars) to be encoded.  RPC2
           automatically converts them to XML-RPC types if they look like an integer, float, or
           as a string.  This assumption causes problems when you want to pass a string that
           looks like "0096", RPC2 will convert that to an <i4> because it looks like an integer.
           With these methods, you could now create a string object like this:

             $part_num = $coder->string("0096");

           and be confident that it will be passed as an XML-RPC string.  You can change and
           retrieve values from objects using value() as described above.

SEE ALSO

       perl(1), Frontier::Daemon(3), Frontier::Client(3)

       <http://www.scripting.com/frontier5/xml/code/rpc.html>

AUTHOR

       Ken MacLeod <ken@bitsko.slc.ut.us>