Ham::Reference::QRZ - An object oriented front end for the QRZ.COM Amateur Radio callsign database
Version 0.03
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";
The Ham::Reference::QRZ module provides an easy object oriented front end to access Amateur Radio callsign data from the QRZ.COM online database.
Ham::Reference::QRZ
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.
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
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.
Usage : $qrz->set_username( $username ); Function : set the username for your QRZ subscriber login Returns : n/a Args : a string
Usage : $qrz->set_password( $password ); Function : set the password for your QRZ subscriber login Returns : n/a Args : a string
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
XML::Simple
LWP::UserAgent
HTML::Entities
An Internet connection
A QRZ.COM subscription that includes access to the QRZ XML Database Service
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().
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
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
Brad McConahay N8QQ, <brad at n8qq.com>
<brad at n8qq.com>
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.
To install Ham::Reference::QRZ, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm Ham::Reference::QRZ
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install Ham::Reference::QRZ
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.