NAME

Palm::Datebook - Handler for Palm DateBook databases.

SYNOPSIS

    use Palm::Datebook;

DESCRIPTION

The Datebook PDB handler is a helper class for the Palm::PDB package. It parses DateBook databases.

AppInfo block

The AppInfo block begins with standard category support. See the Palm::StdAppInfo manpage for details.

Sort block

    $pdb->{sort}

This is a scalar, the raw data of the sort block.

Records

    $record = $pdb->{records}[N]

    $record->{day}
    $record->{month}
    $record->{year}

The day, month and year of the event. For repeating events, this is the first date at which the event occurs.

    $record->{start_hour}
    $record->{start_minute}
    $record->{end_hour}
    $record->{end_minute}

The start and end times of the event. For untimed events, all of these are 0xff.

    $record->{when_changed}

This is defined and true iff the ``when info'' for the record has changed. I don't know what this means.

    $record->{alarm}{advance}
    $record->{alarm}{unit}

If the record has an alarm associated with it, the %{$record->{alarm}} hash exists. The ``unit'' subfield is an integer: 0 for minutes, 1 for hours, 2 for days. The ``advance'' subfield specifies how many units before the event the alarm should ring. e.g., if ``unit'' is 1 and ``advance'' is 5, then the alarm will sound 5 hours before the event.

If ``advance'' is -1, then there is no alarm associated with this event.

    %{$record->{repeat}}

This has exists iff this is a repeating event.

    $record->{repeat}{type}

An integer which specifies the type of repeat:

no repeat.
a daily event, one that occurs every day.
a weekly event, one that occurs every week on the same day(s). An event may occur on several days every week, e.g., every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
For weekly events, the following fields are defined:
```
    @{$record->{repeat}{repeat_days}}
```
This is an array of 7 elements; each element is true iff the event occurs on the corresponding day. I don't know whether the array begins with Sunday, or with the start-of-week day as defined in the preferences.
```
    $record->{repeat}{start_of_week}
```
I'm not sure what this is, but the Datebook app appears to perform some hairy calculations involving this.
a ``monthly by day'' event, e.g., one that occurs on the second Friday of every month.
For ``monthly by day'' events, the following fields are defined:
```
    $record->{repeat}{weeknum}
```
The number of the week on which the event occurs. A value of 5 means that the event occurs on the last week of the month.
```
    $record->{repeat}{daynum}
```
An integer, the day of the week on which the event occurs. Again, I don't know whether 0 means Sunday, or the start-of-week day as defined in the preferences.
a ``monthly by date'' event, e.g., one that occurs on the 12th of every month.
a yearly event, e.g., one that occurs every year on December 25th.
```
    $record->{repeat}{frequency}
```
Specifies the frequency of the repeat. For instance, if the event is a daily one, and $record->{repeat}{frequency} is 3, then the event occurs every 3 days.

    $record->{repeat}{unknown}

I don't know what this is.

    $record->{repeat}{end_day}
    $record->{repeat}{end_month}
    $record->{repeat}{end_year}

The last day, month and year on which the event occurs.

    @{$record->{exceptions}}
    $day   = $record->{exceptions}[N][0]
    $month = $record->{exceptions}[N][0]
    $year  = $record->{exceptions}[N][0]

If there are any exceptions to a repeating event, e.g. a weekly meeting that was cancelled one time, then the @{$record->{exceptions}} array is defined.

Each element in this array is a reference to an anonymous array with three elements: the day, month, and year of the exception.

    $record->{description}

A text string, the description of the event.

    $record->{note}

A text string, the note (if any) attached to the event.

METHODS

new

  $pdb = new Palm::Datebook;

Create a new PDB, initialized with the various Palm::Datebook fields and an empty record list.

new_Record

  $record = $pdb->new_Record;

Creates a new Datebook record, with blank values for all of the fields.

AUTHOR

Andrew Arensburger <arensb@ooblick.com>