NAME

Net::CLI::Interact::Action - Sent data or matched response from connected device

DESCRIPTION

This class is used internally by Net::CLI::Interact and it's unlikely that an end-user will need to make use of Action objects directly. The interface is documented here as a matter of record.

An Action object represents either some kind of text or command to send to a connected device, or a regular expression matching the response from a connected device. Such Actions are built up into ActionSets which describe a conversation with the connected device.

If the Action is a "send" type, then after execution it can be cloned and augmented with the response text of the command. If the response is likely to be paged, then the Action may also store instruction in how to trigger and consume the pages.

INTERFACE

type

Denotes the kind of Action, which may be "send" or "match".

value

In the case of "send", a String command to send to the device. In the case of "match", a regular expression reference to match response from the device. In special circumstances an array reference of regular expression references is also valid, and each will be checked for a match against the device response.

no_ors

Only applies to the "send" kind. Whether to skip appending the output record separator (newline) to the "send" command when sent to the connected device.

continuation

Only applies to the "send" kind. When response output is likely to be paged, this stores an ActionSet that contains two Actions: one for the "match" which indicates output has paused at the end of a page, and one for the "send" command which triggers printing of the next page.

params

Only applies to the "send" kind, and contains a list of parameters which are substituted into the "value" using Perl's "sprintf" function. Insufficient parameters causes "sprintf" to die.

num_params

Only applies to the "send" kind, and returns the number of parameters which are required for the current "value". Used for error checking when setting "params".

response

A stash for the returned prompt which matched and triggered the end of this action.

response_stash

A stash for the returned output following a "send" command, but not including the matched prompt which ended the action. This slot is used by the "match" action as it slurps output, but the content is then transferred over to the partner "send" in the ActionSet.

prompt_hit

When a command is successfully issued, the response is terminated by a prompt. However that prompt can be one of a list, defined in the Action. This slot records the regular expression from that list which was actually matched.

clone

Returns a new Action, which is a shallow clone of the existing one. All the reference based slots will share data, but you can add (for example) a "response" without affecting the original Action. Used when preparing to execute an Action which has been retrieved from the Phrasebook.