Net::IM - Instant Messaging for Perl

[Kirsle]

Hello Monks,

I'm working on a new project called Net::IM, which has the aim of being for Perl what libpurple is for C/C++ - a set of modules for interacting with various instant messaging networks.

The first network I'm developing a module for is Yahoo Messenger, because Net::YMSG has been broken for 7 years, and there is already code out there for AIM and MSN and various other networks.

The code is still in development, and it has a Google Code project at http://code.google.com/p/perl-net-im/.

Currently, YMSG support is working well enough to run a chatterbot on it if you wanted. It supports:

• Signing in, sign out
• Send/receive instant messages
• Send/receive typing notifications
• Upload an avatar (PNG file) for itself
• Accept new add requests

Adding/removing contacts from its contact list isn't fully implemented yet.

How It's Used

Your code can use Net::IM itself, which will allow you to manage multiple connections to multiple networks with just the one Net::IM object. This would be most similar to libpurple/Pidgin. Or, you can use the network modules directly, like Net::IM::YMSG.

Example:

my $im = Net::IM->new(debug => 1);

my $yahoo = $im->addConnection (
    network  => "YMSG",
    username => "aidenrive",
    password => "big-secret",
    hexdump  => 1,
);

$im->addHandlers (
    connected    => \&on_connected,
    notification => \&on_notification,
    Message      => \&on_message,
    Attention    => \&on_buzzed,
    AddRequest   => \&on_added,
    Typing       => \&on_typing,
    BuddyStatus  => \&on_buddy_status,
    BuddyList    => \&on_buddylist,
    BuddyOnline  => \&on_buddy_online,
    BuddyOffline => \&on_buddy_offline,
    Disconnected => \&on_disconnected,
    BuddyIconDownloaded => \&on_icon_downloaded,
    BuddyIconUploaded   => \&on_icon_uploaded,
);

$im->login();
$im->run();

The method names and event names are to be kept consistent among all the supported networks. So, setting handlers in Net::IM will cause those handlers to be called by every network that has a handler for that event.

Check it out if you have any interest. I plan on implementing thorough support for as many networks as possible (including file transfers and tricky things like that).

[Hinrik]

Why not reuse the wheel by creating a Perl wrapper for libpurple instead?