WebService::Google::Sets - Perl access to Google Labs Sets site

WebService-Google-Sets documentation Contained in the WebService-Google-Sets distribution.

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NAME

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WebService::Google::Sets - Perl access to Google Labs Sets site

SYNOPSIS

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  use WebService::Google::Sets;

  my @os_list = qw(Linux Windows Solaris);
  my $expanded_os_list = get_gset(@os_list);

  # check something came back
  die "No results returned from server" unless $expanded_os_list;

  foreach my $element (@$expanded_os_list) {
    print $element, "\n";
  }

DESCRIPTION

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WebService::Google::Sets provides function based access to the Sets service hosted at Google Labs.

The Sets service attempts to expand the values you provide. The example provided in the SYNOPSIS would return an array that included "Windows NT", "HPUX" and "AIX" as values in addition to those supplied.

FUNCTIONS

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By default this module exports get_gset.

get_gset

A utility alias for get_small_gset.

Exported by default.

get_small_gset

This function takes an array of terms to expand and attempts to expand them using the Google Sets website.

It returns undef on failure to connect to the remote server and an array reference pointing to the expanded list on success.

get_large_gset

This function takes an array of terms to expand and attempts to expand them using the Google Sets website. It returns a larger list than get_small_gset or get_gset.

This function must be explictly imported.

  use WebService::Google::Sets qw(get_large_gset);

It returns undef on failure to connect to the remote server and an array reference pointing to the expanded list on success.

COMMAND LINE PROGRAM

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A very simple script called get_gset is supplied in the distribution's bin folder. It accepts between one and five values and then attempts to expand them.

DEPENDENCIES

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WebService::Google::Sets requires the following modules:

CGI

LWP

LICENCE AND COPYRIGHT

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Copyright (C) 2006 Dean Wilson. All Rights Reserved.

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

AUTHOR

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Dean Wilson <dean.wilson@gmail.com>

WebService-Google-Sets documentation Contained in the WebService-Google-Sets distribution. 

package WebService::Google::Sets;
use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI;
use LWP;

require Exporter;
use vars qw(@EXPORT @EXPORT_OK @ISA $VERSION);

#--------------------------------#

@ISA = qw(Exporter);
@EXPORT = qw(get_gset);

# do this or EXPORT as there are only two functions?
@EXPORT_OK = qw( get_small_gset get_large_gset );

$VERSION = '0.03';

# remove once checked in to svn.
#%EXPORT_TAGS = (
#  all => [ @EXPORT_OK ],
#  small_set => [ 'get_gset' ],
#  large_set => [ 'get_large_gset' ],
#);

# alias get_gset to the more common case.
sub get_gset; # quiet warnings;
*get_gset = \&get_small_gset;


sub get_small_gset {
  _get_google_set("small", @_);
}

#--------------------------------#


sub get_large_gset {
  _get_google_set("large", @_);
}

#--------------------------------#

sub _get_google_set {
  my $set_size = shift;
  my @words = @_;
  my @expanded_set;

  my $base_url = 'http://labs.google.com/sets?hl=en&';
  my $sets_url; # this gets built and then escaped

  my $offset;
  for my $word (@words) {
    $offset++;
    $sets_url .= qq{q$offset=$word&};
  }

  # get the set size
  if ($set_size eq "large") {
    $sets_url .= 'btn=Large Set';
  } else {
    $sets_url .= 'btn=Small+Set+items+or+fewer';
  }

  # encode the query string
  my $q = new CGI($sets_url);
  my $escaped_url = $q->query_string;

  my $browser = LWP::UserAgent->new();
  my $response = $browser->get("$base_url$escaped_url");

  # return nothing if the server's playing up.
  return undef unless $response->is_success;

  my $content = $response->content;

  while($content =~ m!<center>(.*)</center></a></font>!g) {
    push(@expanded_set, $1);
  }

  return \@expanded_set;
}

#--------------------------------#

1;