Hi there, I seem to have the same problem. I am pretty new to Perl (not new to programming). I would like to create a TCP server, so I read some stuff at the POE site and decided to use this one (POE: Cookbook - Chat Server) as a skeleton. I added a few things in order to have the sockets stuff right, before I continue developing. Here is my code:

#!/usr/bin/env perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use POE::Kernel { loop => 'POE::XS::Loop::EPoll' };
use POE qw(Component::Server::TCP);

POE::Component::Server::TCP->new(
    Alias              => "chat_server",
    Port               => 32080,
    InlineStates       => {send => \&handle_send},
    ClientConnected    => \&client_connected,
    ClientError        => \&client_error,
    ClientDisconnected => \&client_disconnected,
    ClientInput        => \&client_input,
);
$poe_kernel->run();
exit 0;

my %users;

sub broadcast {
    my ($sender, $message) = @_;
    foreach my $user (keys %users) {
        if ($user == $sender) {
            $poe_kernel->post($user => send => "You $message");
        }
        else {
            $poe_kernel->post($user => send => "$sender $message");
        }
    }
}

sub handle_send {
    my ($heap, $message) = @_[HEAP, ARG0];
    $heap->{client}->put($message);
}

sub client_connected {
    my $session_id = $_[SESSION]->ID;
    $users{$session_id} = 1;
    broadcast($session_id, "connected.");
}

sub client_disconnected {
    my $session_id = $_[SESSION]->ID;
    delete $users{$session_id};
    broadcast($session_id, "disconnected.");
}

sub client_error {
    my $session_id = $_[SESSION]->ID;
    delete $users{$session_id};
    broadcast($session_id, "disconnected.");
    $_[KERNEL]->yield("shutdown");
}

sub client_input {
    my ($kernel, $session, $input) = @_[KERNEL, SESSION, ARG0];
    my $session_id = $session->ID;
    if ($input eq "/quit") {            # user entered /quit
        $poe_kernel->post($session_id => send => "goodbye");
        $kernel->yield("shutdown");
        return;
    }
    elsif ($input eq "/shutdown") {        # user entered /shutdown
        $poe_kernel->post($session_id => send => "don't do that!");
        ### how to do this, shutdown the server
        $kernel->call('chat_server', 'shutdown');
        #########################################
        return;
    }
    broadcast($session_id, "said: $input");
}
[download]

I added:

• I use POE::XS::Loop::EPoll. I understand that in order to serve many connections, using epoll is a good thing. (How can I check whether the POE kernel is indeed using epoll or not?)
• I added functionality for users to enter commands. With the /quit command a user can leave the server. With /shutdown a user can shutdown the whole program. (Anyone can do a shutdown, security comes later.)

When I use a telnet client to connect, the /shutdown command works, because the "don't do that!" debug message is displayed. The line $kernel->call('chat_server', 'shutdown'); might be wrong because it doesn't shutdown the server program, but there isn't an error message displayed. Can anyone please tell me which instruction to use? I tried several things, like $kernel->yield('chat_server', "shutdown"); and $poe_kernel->post('chat_server, 'shutdown');. The POE::Component::Server::TCP can't help me.

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