picoirc(3tcl)

NAME
picoirc - Small and simple embeddable IRC client.

SYNOPSIS
package require Tcl

package require picoirc ?0.5?

::picoirc::connect callback nick url

::picoirc::post context channel message

::picoirc::splituri uri

::picoirc::send context line

DESCRIPTION
This package provides a general purpose minimal IRC client suitable for embedding in other applications. All communication with the parent application is done via an application provided callback procedure. Each connection has its own state so you can hook up multiple servers in a single application instance.

To initiate an IRC connection you must call picoirc::connect with a callback procedure, a nick-name to use on IRC and the IRC URL that describes the connection. This will return a variable name that is the irc connection context. See CALLBACK for details.

This package is a fairly simple IRC client. If you need something with more capability investigate the irc package.

COMMANDS

::picoirc::connect callback nick url
    Create a new irc connection to the server specified by url and login using the nick as the username. The callback must be as specified in CALLBACK. Returns a package-specific variable that is used when calling other commands in this package.

::picoirc::post context channel message
    This should be called to process user input and send it to the server. A number of commands are recognised when prefixed with a forward-slash (/). Such commands are converted to IRC command sequences and then sent.

::picoirc::splituri uri
    Splits an IRC scheme uniform resource indicator into its component parts. Returns a list of server, port and channel. The default port is 6667 and there is no default channel.

::picoirc::send context line
    This command is where all raw output to the server is handled. The default action is to write the line to the irc socket. However, before this happens the callback is called with "debug write". This permits the application author to inspect the raw IRC data and if desired to return a break error code to halt further processing. In this way the application can override the default send via the callback procedure.

CALLBACK
The callback must look like:

    proc Callback {context state args} {
    }

where context is the irc context variable name (in case you need to pass it back to a picoirc procedure). state is one of a number of states as described below.

init
    called just before the socket is created

connect
    called once we have connected, before we join any channels

close
    called when the socket gets closed, before the context is deleted. If an error occurs before we get connected the only argument will be the socket error message.

userlist channel nicklist
    called to notify the application of an updated userlist. This is generated when the output of the NAMES irc command is seen. The package collects the entire output which can span a number of output lines from the server and calls this callback when they have all been received.

chat target nick message type
    called when a message arrives. target is the identity that the message was targetted for. This can be the logged in nick or a channel name. nick is the name of the sender of the message. message is the message text. type is set to "ACTION" if the message was sent as a CTCP ACTION

system channel message
    called when a system message is received

topic channel topic
    called when the channel topic string is seen. topic is the text of the channel topic.

traffic action channel nick ?newnick?
    called when users join, leave or change names. action is either entered, left or nickchange and nick is the user doing the action. newnick is the new name if action is nickchange.

    NOTE: channel is often empty for these messages as nick activities are global for the irc server. You will have to manage the nick for all connected channels yourself.

version
    This is called to request a version string to use to override the internal version. If implemented, you should return as colon delimited string as

    Appname:Appversion:LibraryVersion

    For example, the default is

    PicoIRC:[package provide picoirc]:Tcl [info patchlevel]

debug type raw
    called when data is either being read or written to the network socket. type is set to read when reading data and write if the data is to be written. raw is the unprocessed IRC protocol data.

    In both cases the application can return a break error code to interrupt further processing of the raw data. If this is a read operation then the package will not handle this line. If the operation is write then the package will not send the data. This callback is intended for debugging protocol issues but could be used to redirect all input and output if desired.

SEE ALSO
rfc 1459

KEYWORDS
chat, irc

CATEGORY
Networking