pokemonk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

HI, i'm working on a program that uses the Net::Aim module, but i need my program to change sn's passwords. i notice this module cant do it, so i decided to edit the module, but i really don't know how to do it, can someone give me some help? thanks

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Re: Net::AIM
by Sinister (Friar) on Aug 03, 2001 at 11:44 UTC
    In the words of Damian: "A module is like a black box - open it and void the warranty!"

    If I was you I wouldn't try to edit a module, if your piece of software ever hits the streets, you'll need to hand out your special module aswell, which others who also use that module, just may not like.



    Sinister greetings.
    perldoc -q $_
    "With tying hashes you can do everything God and Larry have forbidden" -- J. Vromans YAPC::Europe 2001
[reply]
      Agreed. If you need to do something drastic, try subclassing or overriding key functions to get what you want.

      As another poster noted, the AIM protocol has...problems. It's a moving target and some parts are poorly documented. Fortunately, changing a password associated with an AIM handle can be done at AOL's web site. (Maybe a call out to the web to do what you want...or just leave it alone.)

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Re: Net::AIM
by trantor (Chaplain) on Aug 03, 2001 at 13:32 UTC

    I've noticed that in the Author's website there's the TOC protocol definition, which is used by AIM.

    Changing passwords is not mentioned in this protocol, so you might be out of luck.

    Anyway, if you'd like some additional features and you can't implement them yourself, why not contact the author? Most, if not all, of the CPAN authors are incredibly helpful and willing to take your suggestions into consideration.

    If you decide to improve the module yourself, consider submitting the changes to the author, so that he can put them in the next version, thus preventing the module from "forking", thus helping the world to be a better place.

    -- TMTOWTDI

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Re: Net::AIM
by trantor (Chaplain) on Aug 14, 2001 at 18:00 UTC

    Just by pure coincidence, I noticed that the CPAN Nodelet says that the new Net::Oscar is out. I browsed the documentation and this module allows you to change the password as you need.

    Happy instant messaging!

    -- TMTOWTDI

[reply]
      If you read through the TOC protocol commands listen here. There is a change password command. This isn't directly implemented in Net::AIM, but send() is, so you can use send() to send this TOC command to the server. YOu don't have to switch protocols. Happy botting! ~B
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Re: Net::AIM
by Anonymous Monk on Mar 19, 2004 at 22:37 UTC
    How do i get Net::AIM??? I really need to know that!
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