l=head1 NAME

POE::Component::IKC -- POE Inter-Kernel Communication

=head1 SYNOPSIS

=head2 IKC server 

    use POE::Component::IKC::Server;
    # create all your sessions
    POE::Component::IKC::Server->spawn(
                port=>30, name=>'Server'
        ); # more options are available
    $poe_kernel->run();


=head2 IKC client

    use POE::Component::IKC::Client;

    POE::Component::IKC::Client->spawn( 
                host=>name, 
                port=>30, 
                name=>'Client',
                on_connect=>\&build);
    $poe_kernel->run();

    sub build
    {
        # create sessions that depend on the foreign kernel.
    }




=head2 Post a state on a foreign kernel

    $kernel->post('IKC', 'post', "poe://Server/session/state", $ONE_arg);

=head2 The IKC is peer-to-peer.  

Server can post to client.

    $kernel->post('IKC', 'post', 'poe://Client/session/state', $ONE_arg);

=head2 Call a state on a remote kernel

Call semantics are impossible, because they would cause POE to block.  IKC
call is a bit different.  It is a 'post', but with an extra RSVP parameter.

    $kernel->post('IKC', 'call', 'poe://Server/hello/world', $ONE_arg, 
                  'poe:callback');

This will cause the returned value of the foreign state to be sent to state
'callback' in the current session.  You may want the callback to be in
another session, but I don't think this is a good idea.

    $kernel->post('IKC', 'call', 'poe://Server/hello/world', $ONE_arg, 
                  'poe:/elsewhere/hi');

Note : if you use ->call('IKC'), it will return the number of foreign kernels 
the state was sent to.  This is a handy way to find out if you are still
connected to a foreign kernel.

=head2 A little magic

If a state is posted by a foreign kernel, $_[SENDER] is only valid during
that state.  However, you will be able to post back to it.

    $kernel->post($_[SENDER], 'something', 'the answer is foo');

The remote caller MUST have published states for them to be callable, eh?

=head2 Publish / Subscribe

You must publish a session's interface for it to be available to remote
kernels.

If you subscribe to a remote session, you may access it as if it was a
local session.

First, a session publishes its interfaces:

    $kernel->post('IKC', 'publish', 'session_alias',
                        [qw(state1 state2 state3 state4)], );

Then a foreign kernel subscribes to it:

    # Look for a session on all known foreign kernels
    $kernel->post('IKC', 'subscribe', [qw(poe://*/session_alias/)]);
    # Look for a session on a specific foreign kernel
    $kernel->post('IKC', 'subscribe', [qw(poe://Pulse/timeserver)]);
    # Make sure the session has a given state
    $kernel->post('IKC', 'subscribe', [qw(poe://*/timeserver/connect)]);

After subscription, a proxy session is created that can be accessed like any
old session, though ->call() acts the same as ->post() for obvious reasons:

    $kernel->post('poe:/Pulse/timeserver', 'state', $arg1, $arg2...);

Currently, the session alias used by post to the proxy session must be the
same one as used when subscribing.  Because kernels have multiple names, if
you are using '*' as the kernel name when subscribing, the session alias
might not be what you think it is.  See L</Monitor> for details.

Of course, attempting to post to a proxy session before it is created will
be problematic.  To be alerted when the proxy session is created, a callback
state may be specified, 

    $kernel->post('IKC', 'subscribe', [qw(poe://*/timeserver)], 
            'timeserver_subscribed');

The callback will be called with a list of all the sessions that it managed
to subscribe to.  You should check this list before continuing.  Better yet, 
you could use the IKC monitor (see below).



One can also let POE::Component::IKC::Client->spawn deal with all the
details.

    
    POE::Component::IKC::Client->spawn(
            port=>31337, name=>$name,
            subscribe=>[qw(poe://*/timeserver)],
            on_connect=>\&create_me,
        );

'on_connect' is only called when all the subscriptions have either been
accepted.  If a subscription was refused, create_ikc_client will give up. 
If multiple foreign kernels where quieried for a session (as is the case
above), subscription is deemed to succeed if at least one foreign kernel
accepts the subscription.

To undo things :

    $kernel->post(IKC=>'retract', 'session_alias'=>[qw(states)]);

    $kernel->post(IKC=>'unsubscribe', [qw(poe://Pulse/timeserver)]);


=head2 Monitor

Say you wanted to monitor all remote kernels that connect to you:

    $kernel->post(IKC=>'monitor', '*'=>{register=>'some_event'});

    sub some_event
    {
        my($name, $real)=@_[ARG1, ARG2];
        print "- Remote kernel ", ($real ? '' : "alias "), "$name connected\n";
    }

Later, you want to know when a given remote session disconnects:

    $kernel->post(IKC=>'monitor', some_kernel=>{unregister=>'bye_bye'});

Or maybe you think a session should clean up and leave whenever IKC
does.

    $kernel->post(IKC=>'monitor', '*'=>{shutdown=>'other_event'});

    sub other_event
    {
        # kill wheels, alarms, selects and aliases here
    }
                    
See L<POE::Component::IKC::Responder/monitor> for more details.


=head2 Shutdown

When you feel the time is right and you want to get rid of all IKC-related
sessions, just do the following:

    $kernel->post(IKC=>'shutdown');     

And they should all disapear.  At worst, some will still have registered
alises, but this won't prevent the kernel from exiting.


=head2 The local kernel

You can post to the local kernel as if it was remote:

    $kernel->post(IKC=>'post', 
                    "poe://$kernel->ID/session/state'=>$ONE_arg);

However, you can't currently subscribe to local sessions.  I don't know how
I'm going to resolve this.



=head1 DESCRIPTION

This is Inter-Kernel Communication for POE.  It is used to get events
from one POE kernel to another

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<POE::Component::IKC::Responder> -- Heart of the system

L<POE::Component::IKC::Server> -- Create a process that listens for other 
kernels.

L<POE::Component::IKC::Client> -- Create a process that connects to other 
kernels.

L<POE::Component::IKC::ClientLite> -- Light weight IKC implementation
for places you can't use POE, such as mod_perl.

L<POE::Component::IKC::Channel> -- Handle communcation with other kernels.

L<POE::Component::IKC::Proxy> -- Proxy session that is created when you 
subscribe to a remote session.

L<POE::Component::IKC::Freezer> -- Pure-Perl serialization method.

L<POE::Component::IKC::Specifier> -- Helper routines for parsing IKC
specifiers.


=head1 AUTHOR

Philip Gwyn <perl-ikc at pied.nu>

=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 1999-2011 by Philip Gwyn.  All rights reserved.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.

See L<http://www.perl.com/language/misc/Artistic.html>

=cut
