NAME
Ham::Reference::QRZ - An object oriented front end for the QRZ.COM
Amateur Radio callsign database
VERSION
Version 0.03
INSTALLATION
To install this module, run the following commands:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
SYNOPSIS
use Ham::Reference::QRZ;
use Data::Dumper;
my $qrz = Ham::Reference::QRZ->new(
callsign => 'N8QQ',
username => 'your_username',
password => 'your_password'
);
# get the listing, bio and other information
my $listing = $qrz->get_listing;
my $bio = $qrz->get_bio;
my $dxcc = $qrz->get_dxcc;
my $session = $qrz->get_session;
# dump the data to see how it's structured
print Dumper($listing);
print Dumper($bio);
print Dumper($dxcc);
print Dumper($session);
# set a different callsign to look up
$qrz->set_callsign('W8IRC');
# get the listing and print some specific info
$listing = $qrz->get_listing;
print "Name: $listing->{name}\n";
# show some dxcc info
print "DXCC Continent: $dxcc->{continent}\n";
print "DXCC Name: $dxcc->{name}\n";
print "CQ Zone: $dxcc->{cqzone}\n";
# show some session info
print "Lookups in current 24 hour period: $session->{Count}\n";
print "QRZ subscription expiration: $session->{SubExp}\n";
# show the ARRL section
my $arrl_section = $qrz->get_arrl_section;
print "ARRL Section: $arrl_section\n";
# show biography details, if any
my $bio = $qrz->get_bio_file;
print "Biography: $bio\n";
DESCRIPTION
The "Ham::Reference::QRZ" module provides an easy object oriented front
end to access Amateur Radio callsign data from the QRZ.COM online
database.
This module uses the QRZ XML Database Service, which requires a
subscription from QRZ.COM.
The QRZ XML Database Service specification states "The data supplied by
the XML port may be extended in a forwardly compatible manner. New XML
elements and database objects (with their associated elements) may be
transmitted at any time. It is the developers responsibility to have
their program ignore any unrecognized objects and/or elements without
raising an error, so long as the information received consists of
properly formatted XML."
Therefore, this module will not attempt to list or manage individual
elements of a callsign. You will need to inspect the hash reference keys
to see which elements are available for any given callsign, as
demonstrated in the synopsis.
This module does not handle any management of reusing session keys at
this time.
CONSTRUCTOR
new()
Usage : my $qrz = Ham::Reference::QRZ->new;
Function : creates a new Ham::Reference::QRZ object
Returns : a Ham::Reference::QRZ object
Args : a hash:
key required? value
------- --------- -----
timeout no an integer of seconds to wait for
the timeout of the xml site
default = 10
callsign no you may specify a callsign to look up
here, or you may do it later with the
set_callsign() method
username no you may specify a username to log in with
here, or you may do it later with the
set_username() method
password no you may specify a password to log in with
here, or you may do it later with the
set_password() method
key no set a session key here if you have a valid key so
that no time is wasted doing another login. only
useful if you are managing the reuse of your own keys
METHODS
set_callsign()
Usage : $qrz->set_callsign( $callsign );
Function : set the callsign to look up at QRZ
Returns : n/a
Args : a case-insensitive string containing an Amateur Radio callsign.
Notes : calling this will reset the listing and bio data to null until
you do another get_listing() or get_bio(), respectively.
set_username()
Usage : $qrz->set_username( $username );
Function : set the username for your QRZ subscriber login
Returns : n/a
Args : a string
set_password()
Usage : $qrz->set_password( $password );
Function : set the password for your QRZ subscriber login
Returns : n/a
Args : a string
set_key()
Usage : $qrz->set_key( $session_key );
Function : set a session key for retrieving data at QRZ
Returns : n/a
Args : a string
Notes : this is useful only if you already have a valid key before the first login
during a particular instance of the module.
set_timeout()
Usage : $qrz->set_timeout( $seconds );
Function : sets the number of seconds to wait on the xml server before timing out
Returns : n/a
Args : an integer
get_listing()
Usage : $hashref = $qrz->get_listing;
Function : retrieves data for the standard listing of a callsign from QRZ
Returns : a hash reference
Args : n/a
Notes : if a session key has not already been set, this method will automatically login.
if a there is already listing information set from a previous lookup,
this will just return that data. call a new set_callsign() if you need to refresh
the data with a new call to the qrz database.
get_bio()
Usage : $hashref = $qrz->get_bio;
Function : retrieves data for the biography of a callsign from QRZ
Returns : a hash reference
Args : n/a
Notes : if a session key has not already been set, this method will automatically login.
if a there is already biographical information set from a previous lookup,
this will just return that data. call a new set_callsign() if you need to refresh
the data with a new call to the qrz database. this method only retrieves the meta
information about the bio. call get_bio_file to get the actual contents of the bio.
get_bio_file()
Usage : $scalar = $qrz->get_bio_file;
Function : retrieves the full biography of a callsign from QRZ, if any is available
Returns : a scalar
Args : n/a
Notes : if the get_bio method has not been called yet, it will be called first to get
the url for the bio file. any html entities in the contents of the bio will be
converted to plain text, and all html will be stripped. hard line breaks will be
left in place. suggestions are welcome on how this data might better be filtered.
get_dxcc()
Usage : $hashref = $qrz->get_dxcc;
Function : retrieves DXCC information for a callsign from QRZ
Returns : a hash reference
Args : n/a
Notes : if a session key has not already been set, this method will automatically login.
if a there is already dxcc information set from a previous lookup,
this will just return that data. call a new set_callsign() if you need to refresh
the data with a new call to the qrz database.
get_arrl_section()
Usage : $scalar = $qrz->get_arrl_section;
Function : returns ARRL Section information for a callsign
Returns : a scalar
Args : n/a
Notes : if get listing has not yet been called, it will call get_listing to get state and county.
this method gets its data internally, and does not query the qrz xml server.
login()
Usage : $session = $qrz->login;
Function : initiates a login to the QRZ xml server
Returns : a hash reference of the session data
Args : n/a
Notes : this generally shouldn't need to be used since the get_listing() and get_bio()
methods will automatically initiate a login to the server if it hasn't already
been done.
get_session()
Usage : $session = $qrz->get_session;
Function : retrieves the session information from the most recent call to the XML site
Returns : a hash reference of the session data
Args : n/a
is_error()
Usage : if ( $qrz->is_error )
Function : test for an error if one was returned from the call to the XML site
Returns : a true value if there has been an error
Args : n/a
error_message()
Usage : my $err_msg = $qrz->error_message;
Function : if there was an error message when trying to call the XML site, this is it
Returns : a string (the error message)
Args : n/a
DEPENDENCIES
* XML::Simple
* LWP::UserAgent
* HTML::Entities
* An Internet connection
* A QRZ.COM subscription that includes access to the QRZ XML Database
Service
TODO
* Session key reuse between instances (maybe).
* Look into any escaping or filtering of data that would be helpful,
particularly with regard to get_bio_file().
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Thomas Schaefer NY4I for the idea, original code, and data for
the ARRL Section additions!
This module accesses data from the widely popular QRZ.COM Database. See
http://www.qrz.com
SEE ALSO
* In order to use this module you need to have a subscription for the
QRZ XML Database Service. See http://www.qrz.com/XML/index.html
* The technical reference for the QRZ XML Database Service is at
http://www.qrz.com/XML/current_spec.html
AUTHOR
Brad McConahay N8QQ, "<brad at n8qq.com>"
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
"Ham::Reference::QRZ" is Copyright (C) 2008-2010 Brad McConahay N8QQ.
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the Artistic License 2.0. For details, see the full
text of the license in the file LICENSE.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but it
is provided "as is" and without any express or implied warranties. For
details, see the full text of the license in the file LICENSE.