NAME

Netscape::Bookmarks::Link - manipulate, or create Netscape Bookmarks links

SYNOPSIS

  use Netscape::Bookmarks::Bookmarks;

  my $category = new Netscape::Bookmarks::Category { ... };
  my $link = new Netscape::Bookmarks::Link {
                TITLE         => 'this is the title',
                DESCRIPTION   => 'this is the description',
                HREF          => 'http://www.perl.org',
                ADD_DATE      => 937862073,
                LAST_VISIT    => 937862073,
                LAST_MODIFIED => 937862073,
                ALIAS_ID      => 4,
                }

  $category->add($link);

  #print a Netscape compatible file
  print $link->as_string;

DESCRIPTION

The Netscape bookmarks file has several basic components:

        title
        folders (henceforth called categories)
        links
        aliases
        separators

On disk, Netscape browsers store this information in HTML. In the browser, it is displayed under the ``Bookmarks'' menu. The data can be manipulated through the browser interface.

This module allows one to manipulate the links in for a Netscape bookmarks file. A link has these attributes, only some of which may be present:

        title
        description
        HREF (i.e. URL)
        ADD_DATE
        LAST_MODIFIED
        LAST_VISIT
        ALIAS_OF
        ALIAS_ID

These are explained below.

Methods

Netscape::Bookmarks::Link->new( \%hash )

Creates a new Link object. The hash reference argument can have the following keys to set the properties of the link:

        HREF
        ADD_DATE
        LAST_MODIFIED
        LAST_VISIT
        ALIASID
        ALIASOF

$obj->href

Returns the URL of the link. The URL appears in the HREF attribute of the anchor tag.

$obj->add_date

Returns the date when the link was added, in Unix epoch time.

$obj->last_modified

Returns the date when the link was last modified, in Unix epoch time. Returns zero if no information is available.

$obj->last_visit

Returns the date when the link was last vistied, in Unix epoch time. Returns zero if no information is available.

$obj->title

Returns the link title.

$obj->description

Returns the link description.

$obj->alias_id

Returns the alias id of a link. Links with aliases are assigned an ALIAS_ID which associates them with the alias. The alias contains the same value in it's ALIAS_OF field. The Netscape::Bookmarks::Alias module handles aliases as references to Netscape::Bookmarks::Link objects.

$obj->as_string

Returns a Netscape compatible bookmarks file based on the Bookmarks object.

TO DO

        Add methods for manipulating attributes

SOURCE AVAILABILITY

This source is part of a SourceForge project which always has the latest sources in CVS, as well as all of the previous releases.

        http://sourceforge.net/projects/nsbookmarks/

If, for some reason, I disappear from the world, one of the other members of the project can shepherd this module appropriately.

AUTHOR

brian d foy, <bdfoy@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT

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

If you send me modifications or new features, I will do my best to incorporate them into future versions.