=head1 NAME

Net::Whois::RIPE::Object - RIPE Query Results

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 use Net::Whois::RIPE::Object;


 $object = new Net::Whois::RIPE::Object;
 $object->debug(1);


 while ($line = $whois_socket->get()) {
     ($attribute,$value) = ($line =~ /^(.+?):\s+(.+)$/);
     next unless $attribute;
     $object->add($attribute,$value);
 }

 $object->success || die;

 foreach $attribute ($object->attributes()) { 
     foreach $value ($object->$attribute()) {
         printf "%s:    %-s\n", $attribute, $value;
     }
 }
 
 print $object->content; # raw content from whois server

 for $error ($object->error) {...}
 for $warn ($object->warning) {...}

=head1 DESCRIPTION

Encapsulates the results of a whois query. The attribute/value pairs
of the response may then by accessed using the attribute as a method
name.

These objects are created by I<Net::Whois::RIPE> to be 
returned as I<query> results.

Short background...a B<whois> server would return the following for a person
query.

   person:      Paul Gampe
   address:     Level 1 - 33 Park Road
   address:     Milton, QLD, 4064
   country:     AU
   phone:       +61-7-3367-0490
   fax-no:      +61-7-3367-0482
   e-mail:      paulg@apnic.net
   nic-hdl:     PG6-AP
   remarks:     APNIC Technical Operations Team
   mnt-by:      MAINT-AP-APNIC-TECH
   changed:     paulg@apnic.net 19990909
   source:      APNIC

I<Net::Whois::RIPE::Object> parses the attribute's and values and B<add>'s 
them to itself. The RIPE object can then be used to access the attribute 
values using the attribute names as methods. A call to B<attributes> returns
an ordered list of all attributes parsed.

All values are stored as lists since some attributes are multiline 
(e.g. address). If there has been a problem with the query then the B<content>
method may provide output from the server that can be used to diagnose why.

 $whois = Net::Whois::RIPE->new($host);
 $query = $whois->query('Paul Gampe');

 unless ($query->success) {
     print "There's been a problem...server response is...\n";
     print $query->content;
     exit
 }

 print "Paul's nic-hdl is ", $query->nic_hdl, "\n";

Attributes that had a dash '-' are converted to underscore '_' for method names.

=head1 CONSTRUCTOR

=item B<new(HANDLE)>

Creates a new RIPE object. Attempts to parse lines from I<HANDLE>. Any 
parsing failure causes the constructor to return undef. Error messages are
available via B<errstr>. I<HANDLE> may be a file handle or a socket.

=head1 METHODS

=item B<content()>

Returns the raw output from the whois server. In a list context it
returns the lines from whois as a list. In a scalar context it returns
the entire list in a scalar.

In the case where no ATTRIBUTE's are available via the B<attributes> method,
then the content may hold information from I<whois> as to why. 

=item B<attributes()>

Returns the list of ATTRIBUTE's that were added by B<add>.
The order of the list is the order the ATTRIBUTE's were added in.

If no ATTRIBUTE's were added then an empty list is returned. Try calling
B<content> to obtain output from the I<whois> server as to why.

Call I<attributes> to find out if the object was successfully parsed. 
I<success> reports errors from the whois server. It is possible that
I<success> can report true but the object has no attributes.

=item B<warning()>

In a list context it returns an array of warning lines. In a scalar
context it returns a \n separated string of warning lines.

These are the warnings from the whois server about the object.

=item B<error()>

In a list context it returns an array of error lines. In a scalar
context it returns a \n separated string of error lines. 

These are the errors from the whois server about the object.

=item B<success>

Returns 1 if no errors defined, 0 otherwise

=item B<debug(LEVEL)>

Sets/gets the debug level. 

=head1 CAVEATS 

=head1 AUTHOR

 Kevin Baker, <shagol@users.sourceforge.net>
 Paul Gampe, <pgampe@users.sourceforge.net>
 Bruce Campbell, <bxc@users.sourceforge.net>

=head1 SEE ALSO

 Net::Whois::RIPE

=cut

=head1 COPYRIGHT

 Copyright (C) 1999 Paul Gampe and APNIC Pty. Ltd.
 Copyright (C) 2000 Kevin Baker and APNIC Pty. Ltd.
 
 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option)
 any later version.
 
 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 GNU General Public License for more details.
 
 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.


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