Gnats(3)

NAME
Net::Gnats - Perl interface to GNU Gnats daemon

SYNOPSIS
  use Net::Gnats;
  my $g = Net::Gnats->new();
  $g->connect();
  my @dbNames = $g->getDBNames();
  $g->login("default","somedeveloper","password");
  my $PRtwo = $g->getPRByNumber(2);
  print $PRtwo->asString();
  my $newPR = Net::Gnats::PR->new();
  $newPR->setField("Submitter-Id","developer");
  $g->submitPR($newPR);
  $g->disconnect();

DESCRIPTION
Net::Gnats provides a perl interface to the gnatsd command set. Although most of the gnatsd command are present and can be explicitly called through Net::Gnats, common gnats tasks can be accompished through some methods which simplify the process (especially querying the database, editing bugs, etc).

The current version of Net::Gnats (as well as related information) is available at http://gnatsperl.sourceforge.net/

COMMON TASKS

  VIEWING DATABASES
Fetching database names is the only action that can be done on a Gnats object before logging in via the login() method.

  my $g = Net::Gnats->new();
  $g->connect();
  my @dbNames = $g->getDBNames();

Note that getDBNames() is different than listDatabases(), which requires logging in first and gets a little more info than just names.

  LOGGING IN TO A DATABASE
The Gnats object has to be logged into a database to perform almost all actions.

  my $g = Net::Gnats->new();
  $g->connect();
  $g->login("default","myusername","mypassword");

  SUBMITTING A NEW PR
The Net::Gnats::PR object acts as a container object to store information about a PR (new or otherwise). A new PR is submitted to gnatsperl by constructing a PR object.

  my $newPR = Net::Gnats::PR->new();
  $newPR->setField("Submitter-Id","developer");
  $newPR->setField("Originator","Doctor Wifflechumps");
  $newPR->setField("Organization","GNU");
  $newPR->setField("Synopsis","Some bug from perlgnats");
  $newPR->setField("Confidential","no");
  $newPR->setField("Severity","serious");
  $newPR->setField("Priority","low");
  $newPR->setField("Category","gnatsperl");
  $newPR->setField("Class","sw-bug");
  $newPR->setField("Description","Something terrible happened");
  $newPR->setField("How-To-Repeat","Like this.  Like this.");
  $newPR->setField("Fix","Who knows");
  $g->submitPR($newPR);

Obviously, fields are dependent on a specific gnats installation, since Gnats administrators can rename fields and add constraints. There are some methods in Net::Gnats to discover field names and constraints, all described below.

Instead of setting each field of the PR individually, the setFromString() method is available. The string that is passed to it must be formatted in the way Gnats handles the PRs. This is useful when handling a Gnats email submission ($newPR->setFromString($email)) or when reading a PR file directly from the database. See Net::Gnats::PR for more details.

  QUERYING THE PR DATABASE
  my @prNums = $g->query('Number>"12"', "Category=\"$thisCat\"");
  print "Found ". join(":",@prNums)." matching PRs \n";

Pass a list of query expressions to query(). A list of PR numbers of matching PRs is returned. You can then pull out each PR as described next.

  FETCHING A PR
  my $prnum = 23;
  my $PR = $g->getPRByNumber($prnum);
  print $PR->getField('synopsis');
  print $PR->asString();

The method getPRByNumber() will return a Net::Gnats::PR object corresponding to the PR num that was passed to it. The getField() and asString() methods are documented in Net::Gnats::PR, but I will note here that asString() returns a string in the proper Gnats format, and can therefore be submitted directly to Gnats via email or saved to the db directory for instance. Also, $newPR->setFromString( $oldPR->asString() ) works fine and will result in a duplicate of the original PR object.

HANDLING ERRORS
Most methods will return undef if a major error is encountered.

The most recent error codes and messages which Net::Gnats encounters while communcating with gnatsd are stored, and can be accessed with the getErrorCode() and getErrorMessage() methods.

METHOD DESCRIPTIONS

  new()
Constructor, optionally taking one or two arguments of hostname and port of the target gnats server. If not supplied, the hostname defaults to localhost and the port to 1529.

  connect()
Connects to the gnats server. No arguments. Returns true if successfully connected, false otherwise.

  disconnect()
Issues the QUIT command to the Gnats server, therby closing the connection.

  getDBNames()
Issues the DBLS command, and returns a list of database names in the gnats server. Unlike listDatabases, one does not need to use the logn method before using this method.

  listDatabases()
Issues the LIST DATABASES command, and returns a list of hashrefs with keys 'name', 'desc', and 'path'.

  listCategories()
Issues the LIST CATEGORIES command, and returns a list of hashrefs with keys 'name', 'desc', 'contact', and '?'.

  listSubmitters()
Issues the LIST SUBMITTERS command, and returns a list of hashrefs with keys 'name', 'desc', 'contract', '?', and 'responsible'.

  listRepsonsible()
Issues the LIST RESPONSIBLE command, and returns a list of hashrefs with keys 'name', 'realname', and 'email'.

  listStates()
Issues the LIST STATES command, and returns a list of hashrefs with keys 'name', 'type', and 'desc'.

  listClasses()
Issues the LIST CLASSES command, and returns a list of hashrefs with keys 'name', and 'desc'.

  listFieldNames()
Issues the LIST FIELDNAMES command, and returns a list of hashrefs with key 'name'.

  listInitialInputFields()
Issues the LIST INITIALINPUTFIELDS command, and returns a list of hashrefs with key 'name'.

  getFieldType()
Expects a fieldname as sole argument, and issues the FTYP command. Returns text response or undef if error.

  getFieldTypeInfo()
Expects a fieldname and property as arguments, and issues the FTYPINFO command. Returns text response or undef if error.

  getFieldDesc()
Expects a fieldname as sole argument, and issues the FDSC command. Returns text response or undef if error.

  getFieldFlags()
Expects a fieldname as sole argument, and issues the FIELDFLAGS command. Returns text response or undef if error.

  getFieldValidators()
Expects a fieldname as sole argument, and issues the FVLD command. Returns text response or undef if error.

  validateField()
Expects a fieldname and a proposed value for that field as argument, and issues the VFLD command. Returns true if propose value is acceptable, false otherwise.

  getFieldDefault()
Expects a fieldname as sole argument, and issues the INPUTDEFAULT command. Returns text response or undef if error.

  resetServer()
Issues the RSET command, returns true if successful, false otherwise.

  lockMainDatabase()
Issues the LKDB command, returns true if successful, false otherwise.

  unlockMainDatabase()
Issues the UNDB command, returns true if successful, false otherwise.

  lockPR()
Expects a PR number and user name as arguments, and issues the LOCK command. Returns true if PR is successfully locked, false otherwise.

  unlockPR()
Expects a PR number a sole argument, and issues the UNLK command. Returns true if PR is successfully unlocked, false otherwise.

  deletePR()
Expects a PR number a sole argument, and issues the DELETE command. Returns true if PR is successfully deleted, false otherwise.

  checkPR()
Expects the text representation of a PR (see COMMON TASKS above) as input and issues the CHEK initial command. Returns true if the given PR is a valid entry, false otherwise.

  setWorkingEmail()
Expects an email address as sole argument, and issues the EDITADDR command. Returns true if email successfully set, false otherwise.

  replaceField()
Expects a PR number, a fieldname, a replacement value, and optionally a changeReason value as arguments, and issues the REPL command. Returns true if field successfully replaced, false otherwise.

If the field has requireChangeReason attribute, then the changeReason must be passed in, otherwise the routine will return false.

  appendToField()
Expects a PR number, a fieldname, and a append value as arguments, and issues the APPN command. Returns true if field successfully appended to, false otherwise.

  submitPR()
Expect a Gnats::PR object as sole argument, and issues the SUMB command. Returns true if PR successfully submitted, false otherwise.

  getPRByNumber()
Expects a number as sole argument. Returns a Gnats::PR object.

  query()
Expects one or more query expressions as argument(s). Returns a list of PR numbers.

  login()
Expects a database name, user name, and password as arguments and issues the CHDB command. Returns true if successfully logged in, false otherwise

  getAccessMode()
Returns the current access mode of the gnats database. Either "edit", "view", or undef;

BUGS
Bug reports are very welcome. Please submit to the project page (noted below).

AUTHOR
Mike Hoolehan, <lt>mike@sycamore.us<gt> Changes by: Jim Searle, <lt>jims2@cox.net<gt> Project hosted at sourceforge, at http://gnatsperl.sourceforge.net

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1997-2001, Mike Hoolehan. All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed, and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.