NAME

AddressBook - Abstract class for using AddressBooks

SYNOPSIS

  use AddressBook;
  $a = AddressBook->new(source => "LDAP:localhost");
  $b = AddressBook->new(source => "DBI:CSV:f_dir=/tmp/data");
  $c = AddressBook->new(source => "PDB");

  $a->search(name => "hersh");
  $entry = $a->read;
  $b->add($entry);

  $entry = AddressBook::Entry->new(attr=>{name => "dleigh"});
  $c->write($entry);

  AddressBook::sync(master=>$a,slave=>$c);

DESCRIPTION

AddressBook provides a unified interface to access various databases for keeping track of contacts. Included with this module are several backends:

  AddressBook::DB::LDAP
  AddressBook::DB::LDIF
  AddressBook::DB::DBI
  AddressBook::DB::PDB
  AddressBook::DB::Text
  AddressBook::DB::HTML

More will be added in the future.

new

Create a new AddressBook object.

  AddressBook->new(source=$source,\%args)

See the appropriate backend documentation for constructor details.

sync

  AddressBook::sync(master=>$master_db, slave=>$slave_db)
  AddressBook::sync(master=>$master_db, slave=>$slave_db,debug=>1)

Synchronizes the "master" and "slave" databases. The "master" database type must be one that supports random-access methods. The "slave" database type must be one that supports sequential-access methods.

When the 'debug' option is true, debug messages will be printed to stdout. The msg_function paramater, if included, should be a subroutine reference which will be called with a status message is the argument.

1.: For each record in the slave, look for a corresponding record in the master, using the key_fields of each.

: If no match is found, the entry is added to the master.
: If multiple matches are found, an error occurrs.
: If one match is found, then:

: If the records match, nothing is done.
: If the records do not match, then:

: If the slave record's timestamp is newer, the master's entry is merged (see below) with the slave entry's data.
: If the master record's timestamp is newer, nothing is done.

2.: The slave database is truncated.
3.: Each record of the master is added to the slave

The 'merging' of the master and slave entries involves taking each attribute in the slave's entry and replacing the corresponding attribute in the master's entry. Note that attributes that are deleted only on the slave are therefore effectively ignored during synchronization.

Similarly, deletions made on the slave database are effectively ignored during synchronization.

search

  $abook->search(attr=>\%filter);
  while ($entry=$abook->read) {
    print $entry->dump;
  }

\%filter is a list of cannonical attribute/value pairs.

read

  $entry=$abook->read;

Returns an AddressBook::Entry object

update

  $abook->update(filter=>\%filter,entry=>$entry)

\%filter is a list of cannonical attriute/value pairs used to identify the entry to be updated.

$entry is an AddressBook::Entry object

add

  $abook->add($entry)

$entry is an AddressBook::Entry object

delete

  $abook->delete($entry)

$entry is an AddressBook::Entry object

truncate

  $abook->truncate

Removes all records from the database.

get_attribute_names

  @names = $abook->get_attribute_names;

Returns a list of valid backend-specific attribute names

get_cannonical_attribute_names

  @names = $abook->get_cannonical_attribute_names;

Returns a list of valid cannonical attribute names

AUTHOR

Mark A. Hershberger, <mah@everybody.org> David L. Leigh, <dleigh@sameasiteverwas.net>