README

######################################################################
    Net::Amazon 0.62
######################################################################
NAME
    Net::Amazon - Framework for accessing amazon.com via REST

SYNOPSIS
      use Net::Amazon;

      my $ua = Net::Amazon->new(
            associate_tag => 'YOUR_AMZN_ASSOCIATE_TAG',
            token         => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN',
            secret_key    => 'YOUR_AMZN_SECRET_KEY');

        # Get a request object
      my $response = $ua->search(asin => '0201360683');

      if($response->is_success()) {
          print $response->as_string(), "\n";
      } else {
          print "Error: ", $response->message(), "\n";
      }

ABSTRACT
      Net::Amazon provides an object-oriented interface to amazon.com's
      REST interface. This way it's possible to create applications
      using Amazon's vast amount of data via a functional interface, without
      having to worry about the underlying communication mechanism.

DESCRIPTION
    "Net::Amazon" works very much like "LWP": First you define a useragent
    like

      my $ua = Net::Amazon->new(
          associate_tag => 'YOUR_AMZN_ASSOCIATE_TAG',
          token         => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN',
          secret_key    => 'YOUR_AMZN_SECRET_KEY',
          max_pages     => 3,
      );

    which you pass your personal amazon developer's token (can be obtained
    from http://amazon.com/soap) and (optionally) the maximum number of
    result pages the agent is going to request from Amazon in case all
    results don't fit on a single page (typically holding 20 items). Note
    that each new page requires a minimum delay of 1 second to comply with
    Amazon's one-query-per-second policy.

    According to the different search methods on Amazon, there's a bunch of
    different request types in "Net::Amazon". The user agent's convenience
    method "search()" triggers different request objects, depending on which
    parameters you pass to it:

    "$ua->search(asin => "0201360683")"
        The "asin" parameter has Net::Amazon search for an item with the
        specified ASIN. If the specified value is an arrayref instead of a
        single scalar, like in

            $ua->search(asin => ["0201360683", "0596005083"])

        then a search for multiple ASINs is performed, returning a list of
        results.

    "$ua->search(actor => "Adam Sandler")"
        The "actor" parameter has the user agent search for items created by
        the specified actor. Can return many results.

    "$ua->search(artist => "Rolling Stones")"
        The "artist" parameter has the user agent search for items created
        by the specified artist. Can return many results.

    "$ua->search(author => "Robert Jordan")"
        The "author" parameter has the user agent search for items created
        by the specified author. Can return many results.

    "$ua->search(browsenode=>"4025", mode=>"books" [, keywords=>"perl"])"
        Returns a list of items by category ID (node). For example node
        "4025" is the CGI books category. You can add a keywords parameter
        to filter the results by that keyword.

    "$ua->search(exchange => 'Y04Y3424291Y2398445')"
        Returns an item offered by a third-party seller. The item is
        referenced by the so-called *exchange ID*.

    "$ua->search(keyword => "perl xml", mode => "books")"
        Search by keyword, mandatory parameters "keyword" and "mode". Can
        return many results.

        DETAILS Net::Amazon is based on Amazon Web Services version 4, and
        uses WSDL version 2011-08-01.

CACHING
    Responses returned by Amazon's web service can be cached locally.
    "Net::Amazon"'s "new" method accepts a reference to a "Cache" object.
    "Cache" (or one of its companions like "Cache::Memory", "Cache::File",
    etc.) can be downloaded from CPAN, please check their documentation for
    details. In fact, any other type of cache implementation will do as
    well, see the requirements below.

    Here's an example utilizing a file cache which causes "Net::Amazon" to
    cache responses for 30 minutes:

        use Cache::File;

        my $cache = Cache::File->new( 
            cache_root        => '/tmp/mycache',
            default_expires   => '30 min',
        );

        my $ua = Net::Amazon->new(
            token       => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN',
            secret_key  => 'YOUR_AMZN_SECRET_KEY',
            cache       => $cache,
        );

    "Net::Amazon" uses *positive* caching only, errors won't be cached.
    Erroneous requests will be sent to Amazon every time. Positive cache
    entries are keyed by the full URL used internally by requests submitted
    to Amazon.

    Caching isn't limited to the "Cache" class. Any cache object which
    adheres to the following interface can be used:

            # Set a cache value
        $cache->set($key, $value);

            # Return a cached value, 'undef' if it doesn't exist
        $cache->get($key);


COMPRESSION

By default "Net::Amazon" will attempt to use HTTP compression if the
"Compress::Zlib" module is available. Pass "compress => 0" to "->new()" to
disable this feature.

PROXY SETTINGS
    "Net::Amazon" uses "LWP::UserAgent" under the hood to send web requests
    to Amazon's web site. If you're in an environment where all Web traffic
    goes through a proxy, there's two ways to configure that.

    First, "Net::Amazon" picks up proxy settings from environment variables:

        export http_proxy=http://proxy.my.place:8080

    in the surrounding shell or setting

        $ENV{http_proxy} = "http://proxy.my.place:8080";

    in your Perl script will route all requests through the specified proxy.

    Secondly, you can pass a user agent instance to Net::Amazon's
    constructor:

        use Net::Amazon;
        use LWP::UserAgent;

        my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new();
        my $na = Net::Amazon->new(
            ua            => $ua, 
            associate_tag => 'YOUR_AMZN_ASSOCIATE_TAG',
            token         => 'YOUR_AMZN_TOKEN',
            secret_key    => 'YOUR_AMZN_SECRET_KEY',
        );
        # ...

    This way, you can configure $ua up front before Net::Amazon will use it.

DEBUGGING
    If something's going wrong and you want more verbosity, just bump up
    "Net::Amazon"'s logging level. "Net::Amazon" comes with "Log::Log4perl"
    statements embedded, which are disabled by default. However, if you
    initialize "Log::Log4perl", e.g. like

        use Net::Amazon;
        use Log::Log4perl qw(:easy);

        Log::Log4perl->easy_init($DEBUG);
        my Net::Amazon->new();
        # ...

    you'll see what's going on behind the scenes, what URLs the module is
    requesting from Amazon and so forth. Log::Log4perl allows all kinds of
    fancy stuff, like writing to a file or enabling verbosity in certain
    parts only -- check http://log4perl.sourceforge.net for details.

LIVE TESTING
    Results returned by Amazon can be incomplete or simply wrong at times,
    due to their "best effort" design of the service. This is why the test
    suite that comes with this module has been changed to perform its test
    cases against canned data. If you want to perform the tests against the
    live Amazon servers instead, just set the environment variable

        NET_AMAZON_LIVE_TESTS=1

WHY ISN'T THERE SUPPORT FOR METHOD XYZ?
    Because nobody wrote it yet. If Net::Amazon doesn't yet support a method
    advertised on Amazon's web service, you could help us out. Net::Amazon
    has been designed to be expanded over time, usually it only takes a
    couple of lines to support a new method, the rest is done via
    inheritance within Net::Amazon.

    Here's the basic plot:

    *   Get Net::Amazon from CVS. Use

                # (Just hit enter when prompted for a password)
            cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.net-amazon.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/net-amazon login
            cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.net-amazon.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/net-amazon co Net-Amazon

        If this doesn't work, just use the latest distribution from
        net-amazon.sourceforge.net.

    *   Write a new Net::Amazon::Request::XYZ package, start with this
        template

            ######################################
            package Net::Amazon::Request::XYZ;
            ######################################
            use base qw(Net::Amazon::Request);

            ######################################
            sub new {
            ######################################
                my($class, %options) = @_;

                if(!exists $options{XYZ_option}) {
                    die "Mandatory parameter 'XYZ_option' not defined";
                }

                my $self = $class->SUPER::new(%options);

                bless $self, $class;   # reconsecrate
            }

        and add documentation. Then, create a new Net::Amazon::Response::XYZ
        module:

            ##############################
            package Net::Amazon::Response;
            ##############################
            use base qw(Net::Amazon::Response);

            use Net::Amazon::Property;

            ##############################
            sub new {
            ##############################
                my($class, %options) = @_;

                my $self = $class->SUPER::new(%options);

                bless $self, $class;   # reconsecrate
            }

        and also add documentation to it. Then, add the line

            use Net::Amazon::Request::XYZ;

        to Net/Amazon.pm.

    And that's it! Again, don't forget the *add documentation* part. Modules
    without documentation are of no use to anybody but yourself.

    Check out the different Net::Amazon::Request::* and
    Net::Amazon::Response modules in the distribution if you need to adapt
    your new module to fulfil any special needs, like a different Amazon URL
    or a different way to handle the as_string() method. Also, post and
    problems you might encounter to the mailing list, we're gonna help you
    out.

    If possible, provide a test case for your extension. When finished, send
    a patch to the mailing list at

       net-amazon-devel@lists.sourceforge.net

    and if it works, I'll accept it and will work it into the main
    distribution. Your name will show up in the contributor's list below
    (unless you tell me otherwise).

  SAMPLE SCRIPTS
    There's a number of useful scripts in the distribution's eg/ directory.
    Take "power" for example, written by Martin Streicher
    <martin.streicher@apress.com>: I lets you perform a *power search* using
    Amazon's query language. To search for all books written by Randal
    Schwartz about Perl, call this from the command line:

        power 'author: schwartz subject: perl'

    Note that you need to quote the query string to pass it as one argument
    to "power". If a power search returns more results than you want to
    process at a time, just limit the number of pages, telling "power" which
    page to start at ("-s") and which one to finish with ("-f"). Here's a
    search for all books on the subject "computer", limited to the first 10
    pages:

        power -s 1 -f 10 'subject: computer'

    Check out the script "power" in eg/ for more options.

  HOW TO SEND ME PATCHES
    If you want me to include your modification or enhancement in the
    distribution of Net::Amazon, please do the following:

    *   Work off the latest CVS version. Here's the steps to get it:

            CVSROOT=:pserver:anonymous@cvs.net-amazon.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/net-amazon
            export CVSROOT
            cvs login (just hit Enter)
            cvs co Net-Amazon

        This will create a new "Net-Amazon" directory with the latest
        development version of "Net::Amazon" on your local machine.

    *   Apply your changes to this development tree.

    *   Run a diff between the tree and your changes it in this way:

            cd Net-Amazon
            cvs diff -Nau >patch_to_christopher.txt

    *   Email me "patch_to_christopher.txt". If your patch works (and you've
        included test cases and documentation), I'll apply it on the spot.

INSTALLATION
    "Net::Amazon" depends on Log::Log4perl, which can be pulled from CPAN by
    simply saying

        perl -MCPAN -eshell 'install Log::Log4perl'

    Also, it needs LWP::UserAgent and XML::Simple 2.x, which can be obtained
    in a similar way.

    Once all dependencies have been resolved, "Net::Amazon" installs with
    the typical sequence

        perl Makefile.PL
        make
        make test
        make install

    Make sure you're connected to the Internet while running "make test"
    because it will actually contact amazon.com and run a couple of live
    tests.

    The module's distribution tarball and documentation are available at

        http://perlmeister.com/devel/#amzn

    and on CPAN.

SEE ALSO
    The following modules play well within the "Net::Amazon" framework:

    "Net::Amazon::RemoteCart"
        by David Emery <dave@skiddlydee.com> provides a complete API for
        creating Amazon shopping carts on a local site, managing them and
        finally submitting them to Amazon for checkout. It is available on
        CPAN.

CONTACT
    The "Net::Amazon" project's home page is hosted on

        http://net-amazon.sourceforge.net

    where you can find documentation, news and the latest development and
    stable releases for download. If you have questions about how to use
    "Net::Amazon", want to report a bug or just participate in its
    development, please send a message to the mailing list
    net-amazon-devel@lists.sourceforge.net

    The source code has moved from sourceforge.net to github.com. The git
    URL is

        git://github.com/boumenot/p5-Net-Amazon.git

    The hope is that github.com makes collaboration much easier, and git is
    a much more modern SCM tool.

AUTHOR
    Mike Schilli, <na@perlmeister.com> (Please contact me via the mailing
    list: net-amazon-devel@lists.sourceforge.net )

    Maintainers: Christopher Boumenot, <boumenot+na@gmail.com>

    Contributors (thanks y'all!):

        Andy Grundman <andy@hybridized.org>
        Barnaby Claydon <bclaydon@perseus.com>
        Batara Kesuma <bkesuma@gaijinweb.com>
        Bill Fitzpatrick
        Brian <brianbrian@gmail.com>
        Brian Hirt <bhirt@mobygames.com>
        Dan Kreft <dan@kreft.net>
        Dan Sully <daniel@electricrain.com>
        Dave Cardwell <http://davecardwell.co.uk/>
        Jackie Hamilton <kira@cgi101.com>
        Konstantin Gredeskoul <kig@get.topica.com>
        Lance Cleveland <lancec@proactivewm.com>
        Martha Greenberg <marthag@mit.edu>
        Martin Streicher <martin.streicher@apress.com>
        Mike Evron <evronm@dtcinc.net>
        Padraic Renaghan <padraic@renaghan.com>
        rayg <rayg@varchars.com>
        Robert Graff <rgraff@workingdemo.com>
        Robert Rothenberg <wlkngowl@i-2000.com>
        Steve Rushe <steve@deeden.co.uk>
        Tatsuhiko Miyagawa <miyagawa@livedoor.jp>
        Tony Bowden <tony@kasei.com>
        Vince Veselosky

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    Copyright 2003, 2004 by Mike Schilli <na@perlmeister.com> Copyright
    2007-2009 by Christopher Boumenot <boumenot+na@gmail.com>

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