POE::Session - phpMan

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NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION PUBLIC METHODS SEE ALSO BUGS
NAME
    POE::Session - a generic event-driven task

SYNOPSIS
      use POE; # auto-includes POE::Kernel and POE::Session

      POE::Session->create(
        inline_states => {
          _start => sub { $_[KERNEL]->yield("next") },
          next   => sub {
            print "tick...\n";
            $_[KERNEL]->delay(next => 1);
          },
        },
      );

      POE::Kernel->run();
      exit;

    POE::Session can also dispatch to object and class methods through
    "object_states" and "package_states" callbacks.

DESCRIPTION
    POE::Session and its subclasses translate events from POE::Kernel's
    generic dispatcher into the particular calling conventions suitable for
    application code. In design pattern parlance, POE::Session classes are
    adapters between POE::Kernel and application code.

    The sessions that POE::Kernel manages are more like generic task
    structures. Unfortunately these two disparate concepts have virtually
    identical names.

  A note on nomenclature
    This documentation will refer to event handlers as "states" in certain
    unavoidable situations. Sessions were originally meant to be
    event-driven state machines, but their purposes evolved over time. Some
    of the legacy vocabulary lives on in the API for backward compatibility,
    however.

    Confusingly, POE::NFA is a class for implementing actual event-driven
    state machines. Its documentation uses "state" in the proper sense.

USING POE::Session
    POE::Session has two main purposes. First, it maps event names to the
    code that will handle them. Second, it maps a consistent event dispatch
    interface to those handlers.

    Consider the "SYNOPSIS" for example. A POE::Session instance is created
    with two "inline_states", each mapping an event name ("_start" and
    "next") to an inline subroutine. POE::Session ensures that "$_[KERNEL]"
    and so on are meaningful within an event handler.

    Event handlers may also be object or class methods, using
    "object_states" and "package_states" respectively. The create() syntax
    is different than for "inline_states", but the calling convention is
    nearly identical.

    Notice that the created POE::Session object has not been saved to a
    variable. The new POE::Session object gives itself to POE::Kernel, which
    then manages it and all the resources it uses.

    It's possible to keep references to new POE::Session objects, but it's
    not usually necessary. If an application is not careful about cleaning
    up these references you will create circular references, which will leak
    memory when POE::Kernel would normally destroy the POE::Session object.
    It is recommended that you keep the session's ID instead.

  POE::Session's Calling Convention
    The biggest syntactical hurdle most people have with POE is
    POE::Session's unconventional calling convention. For example:

      sub handle_event {
        my ($kernel, $heap, $parameter) = @_[KERNEL, HEAP, ARG0];
        ...;
      }

    Or the use of $_[KERNEL], $_[HEAP] and $_[ARG0] inline, as is done in
    most examples.

    What's going on here is rather basic. Perl passes parameters into
    subroutines or methods using the @_ array. "KERNEL", "HEAP", "ARG0" and
    others are constants exported by POE::Session (which is included for
    free when a program uses POE).

    So $_[KERNEL] is an event handler's KERNELth parameter. @_[HEAP, ARG0]
    is a slice of @_ containing the HEAPth and ARG0th parameters.

    While this looks odd, it's perfectly plain and legal Perl syntax. POE
    uses it for a few reasons:

    1   In the common case, passing parameters in @_ is faster than passing
        hash or array references and then dereferencing them in the handler.

    2   Typos in hash-based parameter lists are either subtle run-time
        errors or requires constant run-time checking. Constants are either
        known at compile time, or are clear compile-time errors.

    3   Referencing @_ offsets by constants allows parameters to move in the
        future without breaking application code.

    4   Most event handlers don't need all of @_. Slices allow handlers to
        use only the parameters they're interested in.

  POE::Session Parameters
    Event handlers receive most of their run-time context in up to nine
    callback parameters. POE::Kernel provides many of them.

   $_[OBJECT]
    $_[OBJECT] is $self for event handlers that are an object method. It is
    the class (package) name for class-based event handlers. It is undef for
    plain coderef callbacks, which have no special $self-ish value.

    "OBJECT" is always zero, since $_[0] is always $self or $class in object
    and class methods. Coderef handlers are called with an "undef"
    placeholder in $_[0] so that the other offsets remain valid.

    It's often useful for method-based event handlers to call other methods
    in the same object. $_[OBJECT] helps this happen.

      sub ui_update_everything {
        my $self = $_[OBJECT];
        $self->update_menu();
        $self->update_main_window();
        $self->update_status_line();
      }

    You may also use method inheritance. Here we invoke $self->a_method(@_).
    Since Perl's "->" operator unshifts $self onto the beginning of @_, we
    must first shift a copy off to maintain POE's parameter offsets:

      sub a_method {
        my $self = shift;
        $self->SUPER::a_method( @_ );
        # ... more work ...
      }

   $_[SESSION]
    $_[SESSION] is a reference to the current session object. This lets
    event handlers access their session's methods. Programs may also compare
    $_[SESSION] to $_[SENDER] to verify that intra-session events did not
    come from other sessions.

    $_[SESSION] may also be used as the destination for intra-session post()
    and call(). yield() is marginally more convenient and efficient than
    "post($_[SESSION], ...)" however.

    It is bad form to access another session directly. The recommended
    approach is to manipulate a session through an event handler.

      sub enable_trace {
        my $previous_trace = $_[SESSION]->option( trace => 1 );
        my $id = $_[SESSION]->ID;
        if ($previous_trace) {
          print "Session $id: dispatch trace is still on.\n";
        }
        else {
          print "Session $id: dispatch trace has been enabled.\n";
        }
      }

   $_[KERNEL]
    The KERNELth parameter is always a reference to the application's
    singleton POE::Kernel instance. It is most often used to call
    POE::Kernel methods from event handlers.

      # Set a 10-second timer.
      $_[KERNEL]->delay( time_is_up => 10 );

   $_[HEAP]
    Every POE::Session object contains its own variable namespace known as
    the session's "HEAP". It is modeled and named after process memory heaps
    (not priority heaps). Heaps are by default anonymous hash references,
    but they may be initialized in create() to be almost anything.
    POE::Session itself never uses $_[HEAP], although some POE components
    do.

    Heaps do not overlap between sessions, although create()'s "heap"
    parameter can be used to make this happen.

    These two handlers time the lifespan of a session:

      sub _start_handler {
        $_[HEAP]{ts_start} = time();
      }

      sub _stop_handler {
        my $time_elapsed = time() - $_[HEAP]{ts_start};
        print "Session ", $_[SESSION]->ID, " elapsed seconds: $elapsed\n";
      }

   $_[STATE]
    The STATEth handler parameter contains the name of the event being
    dispatched in the current callback. This can be important since the
    event and handler names may significantly differ. Also, a single handler
    may be assigned to more than one event.

      POE::Session->create(
        inline_states => {
          one => \&some_handler,
          two => \&some_handler,
          six => \&some_handler,
          ten => \&some_handler,
          _start => sub {
            $_[KERNEL]->yield($_) for qw(one two six ten);
          }
        }
      );

      sub some_handler {
        print(
          "Session ", $_[SESSION]->ID,
          ": some_handler() handled event $_[STATE]\n"
        );
      }

    It should be noted however that having event names and handlers names
    match will make your code easier to navigate.

   $_[SENDER]
    Events must come from somewhere. $_[SENDER] contains the currently
    dispatched event's source.

    $_[SENDER] is commonly used as a return address for responses. It may
    also be compared against $_[KERNEL] to verify that timers and other
    POE::Kernel-generated events were not spoofed.

    This "echo_handler()" responds to the sender with an "echo" event that
    contains all the parameters it received. It avoids a feedback loop by
    ensuring the sender session and event (STATE) are not identical to the
    current ones.

      sub echo_handler {
        return if $_[SENDER] == $_[SESSION] and $_[STATE] eq "echo";
        $_[KERNEL]->post( $_[SENDER], "echo", @_[ARG0..$#_] );
      }

   $_[CALLER_FILE], $_[CALLER_LINE] and $_[CALLER_STATE]
    These parameters are a form of caller(), but they describe where the
    currently dispatched event originated. CALLER_FILE and CALLER_LINE are
    fairly plain. CALLER_STATE contains the name of the event that was being
    handled when the event was created, or when the event watcher that
    ultimately created the event was registered.

   @_[ARG0..ARG9] or @_[ARG0..$#_]
    Parameters $_[ARG0] through the end of @_ contain parameters provided by
    application code, event watchers, or higher-level libraries. These
    parameters are guaranteed to be at the end of @_ so that @_[ARG0..$#_]
    will always catch them all.

    $#_ is the index of the last value in @_. Blame Perl if it looks odd.
    It's merely the $#array syntax where the array name is an underscore.

    Consider

      $_[KERNEL]->yield( ev_whatever => qw( zero one two three ) );

    The handler for ev_whatever will be called with "zero" in $_[ARG0],
    "one" in $_[ARG1], and so on. @_[ARG0..$#_] will contain all four words.

      sub ev_whatever {
        $_[OBJECT]->whatever( @_[ARG0..$#_] );
      }

  Using POE::Session With Objects
    One session may handle events across many objects. Or looking at it the
    other way, multiple objects can be combined into one session. And what
    the heck---go ahead and mix in some inline code as well.

      POE::Session->create(
        object_states => [
          $object_1 => { event_1a => "method_1a" },
          $object_2 => { event_2a => "method_2a" },
        ],
        inline_states => {
          event_3 => \&piece_of_code,
        },
      );

    However only one handler may be assigned to a given event name.
    Duplicates will overwrite earlier ones.

    event_1a is handled by calling "$object_1->method_1a(...)". $_[OBJECT]
    is $object_1 in this case. $_[HEAP] belongs to the session, which means
    anything stored there will be available to any other event handler
    regardless of the object.

    event_2a is handled by calling "$object_2->method_2a(...)". In this case
    $_[OBJECT] is $object_2. $_[HEAP] is the same anonymous hashref that was
    passed to the event_1a handler, though. The methods are resolved when
    the event is handled (late-binding).

    event_3 is handled by calling "piece_of_code(...)". $_[OBJECT] is
    "undef" here because there's no object. And once again, $_[HEAP] is the
    same shared hashref that the handlers for event_1a and event_2a saw.

    Interestingly, there's no technical reason that a single object can't
    handle events from more than one session:

      for (1..2) {
        POE::Session->create(
          object_states => [
            $object_4 => { event_4 => "method_4" },
          ]
        );
      }

    Now "$object_4->method_4(...)" may be called to handle events from one
    of two sessions. In both cases, $_[OBJECT] will be $object_4, but
    $_[HEAP] will hold data for a particular session.

    The same goes for inline states. One subroutine may handle events from
    many sessions. $_[SESSION] and $_[HEAP] can be used within the handler
    to easily access the context of the session in which the event is being
    handled.

PUBLIC METHODS
    POE::Session has just a few public methods.

  create LOTS_OF_STUFF
    "create()" starts a new session running. It returns a new POE::Session
    object upon success, but most applications won't need to save it.

    "create()" invokes the newly started session's _start event handler
    before returning.

    "create()" also passes the new POE::Session object to POE::Kernel. POE's
    kernel holds onto the object in order to dispatch events to it.
    POE::Kernel will release the object when it detects the object has
    become moribund. This should cause Perl to destroy the object if
    application code has not saved a copy of it.

    "create()" accepts several named parameters, most of which are optional.
    Note however that the parameters are not part of a hashref.

   args => ARRAYREF
    The "args" parameter accepts a reference to a list of parameters that
    will be passed to the session's _start event handler in @_ positions
    "ARG0" through $#_ (the end of @_).

    This example would print "arg0 arg1 etc.":

      POE::Session->create(
        inline_states => {
          _start => sub {
            print "Session started with arguments: @_[ARG0..$#_]\n";
          },
        },
        args => [ 'arg0', 'arg1', 'etc.' ],
      );

   heap => ANYTHING
    The "heap" parameter allows a session's heap to be initialized
    differently at instantiation time. Heaps are usually anonymous hashrefs,
    but "heap" may set them to be array references or even objects.

    This example prints "tree":

      POE::Session->create(
        inline_states => {
          _start => sub {
            print "Slot 0 = $_[HEAP][0]\n";
          },
        },
        heap => [ 'tree', 'bear' ],
      );

    Be careful when initializing the heap to be something that doesn't
    behave like a hashref. Some libraries assume hashref heap semantics, and
    they will fail if the heap doesn't work that way.

   inline_states => HASHREF
    "inline_states" maps events names to the subroutines that will handle
    them. Its value is a hashref that maps event names to the coderefs of
    their corresponding handlers:

      POE::Session->create(
        inline_states => {
          _start => sub {
            print "arg0=$_[ARG0], arg1=$_[ARG1], etc.=$_[ARG2]\n";
          },
          _stop  => \&stop_handler,
        },
        args => [qw( arg0 arg1 etc. )],
      );

    The term "inline" comes from the fact that coderefs can be inlined
    anonymous subroutines.

    Be very careful with closures, however. "Beware circular references".

   object_states => ARRAYREF
    "object_states" associates one or more objects to a session and maps
    event names to the object methods that will handle them. It's value is
    an "ARRAYREF"; "HASHREFs" would stringify the objects, ruining them for
    method invocation.

    Here _start is handled by "$object->_session_start()" and _stop triggers
    "$object->_session_stop()":

      POE::Session->create(
        object_states => [
          $object => {
            _start => '_session_start',
            _stop  => '_session_stop',
          }
        ]
      );

    POE::Session also supports a short form where the event and method names
    are identical. Here _start invokes $object->_start(), and _stop triggers
    $object->_stop():

      POE::Session->create(
        object_states => [
          $object => [ '_start', '_stop' ],
        ]
      );

    Methods are verified when the session is created, but also resolved when
    the handler is called (late binding). Most of the time, a method won't
    change. But in some circumstance, such as dynamic inheritance, a method
    could resolve to a different subroutine.

   options => HASHREF
    POE::Session sessions support a small number of options, which may be
    initially set with the "option" constructor parameter and changed at run
    time with the "option()|/option" method.

    "option" takes a hashref with option => value pairs:

      POE::Session->create(
        ... set up handlers ...,
        options => { trace => 1, debug => 1 },
      );

    This is equivalent to the previous example:

      POE::Session->create(
        ... set up handlers ...,
      )->option( trace => 1, debug => 1 );

    The supported options and values are documented with the
    "option()|/option" method.

   package_states => ARRAYREF
    "package_states" associates one or more classes to a session and maps
    event names to the class methods that will handle them. Its function is
    analogous to "object_states", but package names are specified rather
    than objects.

    In fact, the following documentation is a copy of the "object_states"
    description with some word substitutions.

    The value for "package_states" is an ARRAYREF to be consistent with
    "object_states", even though class names (also known as package names)
    are already strings, so it's not necessary to avoid stringifying them.

    Here _start is handled by "$class_name->_session_start()" and _stop
    triggers "$class_name->_session_stop()":

      POE::Session->create(
        package_states => [
          $class_name => {
            _start => '_session_start',
            _stop  => '_session_stop',
          }
        ]
      );

    POE::Session also supports a short form where the event and method names
    are identical. Here _start invokes "$class_name->_start()", and _stop
    triggers "$class_name->_stop()":

      POE::Session->create(
        package_states => [
          $class_name => [ '_start', '_stop' ],
        ]
      );

  ID
    "ID()" returns the session instance's unique identifier. This is an
    integer that starts at 1 and counts up forever, or until the number
    wraps around.

    It's theoretically possible that a session ID will not be unique, but
    this requires at least 4.29 billion sessions to be created within a
    program's lifespan. POE guarantees that no two sessions will have the
    same ID at the same time, however; your computer doesn't have enough
    memory to store 4.29 billion session objects.

    A session's ID is unique within a running process, but multiple
    processes are likely to have the same session IDs. If a global ID is
    required, it will need to include both "$_[KERNEL]->ID" and
    "$_[SESSION]->ID".

  option OPTION_NAME [, OPTION_VALUE [, OPTION_NAME, OPTION_VALUE]... ]
    "option()" sets and/or retrieves the values of various session options.
    The options in question are implemented by POE::Session and do not have
    any special meaning anywhere else.

    It may be called with a single OPTION_NAME to retrieve the value of that
    option.

      my $trace_value = $_[SESSION]->option('trace');

    "option()" sets an option's value when called with a single OPTION_NAME,
    OPTION_VALUE pair. In this case, "option()" returns the option's
    previous value.

      my $previous_trace = $_[SESSION]->option(trace => 1);

    "option()" may also be used to set the values of multiple options at
    once. In this case, "option()" returns all the specified options'
    previous values in an anonymous hashref:

      my $previous_values = $_[SESSION]->option(
        trace => 1,
        debug => 1,
      );

      print "Previous option values:\n";
      while (my ($option, $old_value) = each %$previous_values) {
        print "  $option = $old_value\n";
      }

    POE::Session currently supports three options:

   The "debug" option.
    The "debug" option is intended to enable additional warnings when
    strange things are afoot within POE::Session. At this time, there is
    only one additional warning:

    *   Redefining an event handler does not usually cause a warning, but it
        will when the "debug" option is set.

   The "default" option.
    Enabling the "default" option causes unknown events to become warnings,
    if there is no _default handler to catch them.

    The class-level "POE::Session::ASSERT_STATES" flag is implemented by
    enabling the "default" option on all new sessions.

   The "trace" option.
    Turn on the "trace" option to dump a log of all the events dispatched to
    a particular session. This is a session-specific trace option that
    allows individual sessions to be debugged.

    Session-level tracing also indicates when events are redirected to
    _default. This can be used to discover event naming errors.

   User-defined options.
    "option()" does not verify whether OPTION_NAMEs are known, so "option()"
    may be used to store and retrieve user-defined information.

    Choose option names with caution. There is no established convention to
    avoid namespace collisions between user-defined options and future
    internal options.

  postback EVENT_NAME, EVENT_PARAMETERS
    "postback()" manufactures callbacks that post POE events. It returns an
    anonymous code reference that will post EVENT_NAME to the target
    session, with optional EVENT_PARAMETERS in an array reference in ARG0.
    Parameters passed to the callback will be sent in an array reference in
    ARG1.

    In other words, ARG0 allows the postback's creator to pass context
    through the postback. ARG1 allows the caller to return information.

    This example creates a coderef that when called posts "ok_button" to
    $some_session with ARG0 containing "[ 8, 6, 7 ]".

      my $postback = $some_session->postback( "ok_button", 8, 6, 7 );

    Here's an example event handler for "ok_button".

      sub handle_ok_button {
        my ($creation_args, $called_args) = @_[ARG0, ARG1];
        print "Postback created with (@$creation_args).\n";
        print "Postback called with (@$called_args).\n";
      }

    Calling $postback->(5, 3, 0, 9) would perform the equivalent of...

      $poe_kernel->post(
        $some_session, "ok_button",
        [ 8, 6, 7 ],
        [ 5, 3, 0, 9 ]
      );

    This would be displayed when "ok_button" was dispatched to
    handle_ok_button():

      Postback created with (8 6 7).
      Postback called with (5 3 0 9).

    Postbacks hold references to their target sessions. Therefore sessions
    with outstanding postbacks will remain active. Under every event loop
    except Tk, postbacks are blessed so that DESTROY may be called when
    their users are done. This triggers a decrement on their reference
    counts, allowing sessions to stop.

    Postbacks have one method, weaken(), which may be used to reduce their
    reference counts upon demand. weaken() returns the postback, so you can
    do:

      my $postback = $session->postback("foo")->weaken();

    Postbacks were created as a thin adapter between callback libraries and
    POE. The problem at hand was how to turn callbacks from the Tk graphical
    toolkit's widgets into POE events without subclassing several Tk
    classes. The solution was to provide Tk with plain old callbacks that
    posted POE events.

    Since "postback()" and "callback()" are Session methods, they may be
    called on $_[SESSION] or $_[SENDER], depending on particular needs.
    There are usually better ways to interact between sessions than abusing
    postbacks, however.

    Here's a brief example of attaching a Gtk2 button to a POE event
    handler:

      my $btn = Gtk2::Button->new("Clear");
      $btn->signal_connect( "clicked", $_[SESSION]->postback("ev_clear") );

    Points to remember: The session will remain alive as long as $btn exists
    and holds a copy of $_[SESSION]'s postback. Any parameters passed by the
    Gtk2 button will be in ARG1.

  callback EVENT_NAME, EVENT_PARAMETERS
    callback() manufactures callbacks that use "$poe_kernel->call()" to
    deliver POE events rather than "$poe_kernel->post()". It is identical to
    "postback()" in every other respect.

    callback() was created to avoid race conditions that arise when external
    libraries assume callbacks will execute synchronously. File::Find is an
    obvious (but not necessarily appropriate) example. It provides a lot of
    information in local variables that stop being valid after the callback.
    The information would be unavailable by the time a post()ed event was
    dispatched.

  get_heap
    "get_heap()" returns a reference to a session's heap. This is the same
    value as $_[HEAP] for the target session. "get_heap()" is intended to be
    used with $poe_kernel and POE::Kernel's "get_active_session()" so that
    libraries do not need these three common values explicitly passed to
    them.

    That is, it prevents the need for:

      sub some_helper_function {
        my ($kernel, $session, $heap, @specific_parameters) = @_;
        ...;
      }

    Rather, helper functions may use:

      use POE::Kernel; # exports $poe_kernel
      sub some_helper_function {
        my (@specific_parameters) = @_;
        my $session = $poe_kernel->get_active_session();
        my $heap = $session->get_heap();
      }

    This isn't very convenient for people writing libraries, but it makes
    the libraries much more convenient to use.

    Using "get_heap()" to break another session's encapsulation is strongly
    discouraged.

  instantiate CREATE_PARAMETERS
    "instantiate()" creates and returns an empty POE::Session object. It is
    called with the CREATE_PARAMETERS in a hash reference just before
    "create()" processes them. Modifications to the CREATE_PARAMETERS will
    affect how "create()" initializes the new session.

    Subclasses may override "instantiate()" to alter the underlying
    session's structure. They may extend "instantiate()" to add new
    parameters to "create()".

    Any parameters not recognized by "create()" must be removed from the
    CREATE_PARAMETERS before "instantiate()" returns. "create()" will croak
    if it discovers unknown parameters.

    Be sure to return $self from instantiate.

      sub instantiate {
        my ($class, $create_params) = @_;

        # Have the base class instantiate the new session.
        my $self = $class->SUPER::instantiate($create_parameters);

        # Extend the parameters recognized by create().
        my $new_option = delete $create_parameters->{new_option};
        if (defined $new_option) {
          # ... customize $self here ...
        }

        return $self;
      }

  try_alloc START_ARGS
    "try_alloc()" calls POE::Kernel's "session_alloc()" to allocate a
    session structure and begin managing the session within POE's kernel. It
    is called at the end of POE::Session's "create()". It returns $self.

    It is a subclassing hook for late session customization prior to
    "create()" returning. It may also affect the contents of @_[ARG0..$#_]
    that are passed to the session's _start handler.

      sub try_alloc {
        my ($self, @start_args) = @_;

        # Perform late initialization.
        # ...

        # Give $self to POE::Kernel.
        return $self->SUPER::try_alloc(@args);
      }

POE::Session's EVENTS
    Please do not define new events that begin with a leading underscore.
    POE claims /^_/ events as its own.

    POE::Session only generates one event, _default. All other internal POE
    events are generated by (and documented in) POE::Kernel.

  _default
    _default is the "AUTOLOAD" of event handlers. If POE::Session can't find
    a handler at dispatch time, it attempts to redirect the event to
    _default's handler instead.

    If there's no _default handler, POE::Session will silently drop the
    event unless the "default" option is set.

    To preserve the original information, the original event is slightly
    changed before being redirected to the _default handler: The original
    event parameters are moved to an array reference in ARG1, and the
    original event name is passed to _default in ARG0.

      sub handle_default {
        my ($event, $args) = @_[ARG0, ARG1];
        print(
          "Session ", $_[SESSION]->ID,
          " caught unhandled event $event with (@$args).\n"
        );
      }

    _default is quite flexible. It may be used for debugging, or to handle
    dynamically generated event names without pre-defining their handlers.
    In the latter sense, _default performs analogously to Perl's "AUTOLOAD".

    _default may also be used as the default or "otherwise" clause of a
    switch statement. Consider an input handler that throws events based on
    a command name:

      sub parse_command {
        my ($command, @parameters) = split /\s+/, $_[ARG0];
        $_[KERNEL]->post( "cmd_$command", @parameters );
      }

    A _default handler may be used to emit errors for unknown commands:

      sub handle_default {
        my $event = $_[ARG0];
        return unless $event =~ /^cmd_(\S+)/;
        warn "Unknown command: $1\n";
      }

    The _default behavior is implemented in POE::Session, so it may be
    different for other session types.

  POE::Session's Debugging Features
    POE::Session contains one debugging assertion, for now.

   ASSERT_STATES
    Setting ASSERT_STATES to true causes every Session to warn when they are
    asked to handle unknown events. Session.pm implements the guts of
    ASSERT_STATES by defaulting the "default" option to true instead of
    false. See the option() method earlier in this document for details
    about the "default" option.

SEE ALSO
    POE::Kernel.

    The SEE ALSO section in POE contains a table of contents covering the
    entire POE distribution.

BUGS
    There is a chance that session IDs may collide after Perl's integer
    value wraps. This can occur after as *few* as 4.29 billion sessions.

  Beware circular references
    As you're probably aware, a circular reference is when a variable is
    part of a reference chain that eventually refers back to itself. Perl
    will not reclaim the memory involved in such a reference chain until the
    chain is manually broken.

    Here a POE::Session is created that refers to itself via an external
    scalar. The event handlers import $session via closures which are in
    turn stored within $session. Even if this session stops, the circular
    references will remain.

      my $session;
      $session = POE::Session->create(
        inline_states => {
          _start => sub {
            $_[HEAP]->{todo} = [ qw( step1 step2 step2a ) ],
            $_[KERNEL]->post( $session, 'next' );
          },
          next => sub {
            my $next = shift @{ $_[HEAP]->{todo} };
            return unless $next;
            $_[KERNEL]->post( $session, $next );
          }
          # ....
        }
      );

    Reduced to its essence:

      my %event_handlers;
      $event_handler{_start} = sub { \%event_handlers };

    Note also that an anonymous sub creates a closure on all lexical
    variables in the scope it was defined in, even if it doesn't reference
    them. $session is still being held in a circular reference here:

      my $self = $package->new;
      my $session;
      $session = POE::Session->create(
        inline_state => {
          _start => sub { $self->_start( @_[ARG0..$#_] ) }
        }
      );

    To avoid this, a session may set an alias for itself. Other parts of the
    program may then refer to it by alias. In this case, one needn't keep
    track of the session themselves (POE::Kernel will do it anyway).

      POE::Session->create(
        inline_states => {
          _start => sub {
            $_[HEAP]->{todo} = [ qw( step1 step2 step2a ) ],
            $_[KERNEL]->alias_set('step_doer');
            $_[KERNEL]->post( 'step_doer', 'next' );
          },
          next => sub {
            my $next = shift @{ $_[HEAP]->{todo} };
            return unless $next;
            $_[KERNEL]->post( 'step_doer', $next );
          }
          # ....
        }
      );

    Aliases aren't even needed in the previous example because the session
    refers to itself. One could instead use POE::Kernel's yield() method to
    post the event back to the current session:

      next => sub {
        my $next = shift @{ $_[HEAP]->{todo} };
        return unless $next;
        $_[KERNEL]->yield( $next );
      }

    Or the "$_[SESSION]" parameter passed to every event handler, but
    yield() is more efficient.

      next => sub {
        my $next = shift @{ $_[HEAP]->{todo} };
        return unless $next;
        $_[KERNEL]->post( $_[SESSION], $next );
      }

    Along the same lines as "$_[SESSION]", a session can respond back to the
    sender of an event by posting to "$_[SENDER]". This is great for
    responding to requests.

    If a program must hold onto some kind of dynamic session reference, it's
    recommended to use the session's numeric ID rather than the object
    itself. A session ID may be converted back into its object, but post()
    accepts session IDs as well as objects and aliases:

      my $session_id;
      $session_id = POE::Session->create(
        inline_states => {
          _start => sub {
            $_[HEAP]->{todo} = [ qw( step1 step2 step2a ) ],
            $_[KERNEL]->post( $session_id, 'next' );
          },
          # ....
        }
      )->ID;

AUTHORS & COPYRIGHTS
    Please see POE for more information about authors and contributors.


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