Handlers are pieces of code that parse the raw whois output and try to add some keys to the result returned by phpWhois. In previous versions there was no standard about how these keys should be named and organized, which make them registry specific. Now all handlers have been standarized so they return a known set of keys. This is what we call 'Common Object Model'.
The keys that you could find in the result array returned by phpWhois are 'rawdata' , 'regyinfo' and 'regrinfo'.
rawdata is always returned as it's filled by phpWhois itself. It contains the raw text output returned by the whois server.
regyinfo contains information about the registry who returned that information. It has four subkeys: 'servers' which is an array with one entry for each whois server who returned the data, 'referrer' the web address of the registry, 'registar' the company name of the registry and 'type' which can be 'domain', 'ip' or 'AS'. The 'servers' array has subkeys 'server' the whois server, 'port' the whois server port and 'args' the query sent to the server.
regrinfo holds the information about the domain itself. It could have the following subkeys:
disclaimer
----------
Contains the disclaimer returned by the registry.
registered
----------
Contains Yes or No and indicates if the domain or ip
address has been found (it exists).
domain
------
Only when dealing with domains. Could contain the
following subkeys:
name -> domain name
desc -> description of the domain
nserver -> array where the key is the canonical name
of each nameserver and the value is the
ip adresss (if none) of the server.
status -> status of the domain (registry dependant)
changed -> date of last change
created -> creation date
expires -> expire date
sponsor -> registry partner where the domain was
registered
referer -> sponsor's URL
handle -> domain handle
source -> who gives this information
dnssec -> domains has dnssec (boolean)
network
-------
Only when dealing with ip addresses. Could contain the
following subkeys:
name -> network/AS name
inetnum -> network ip address range
desc -> network description
mnt-by -> who provided that network
mnt-lower> who provided that network
nserver -> name servers in listed order that
provide inverse resolution for that net
status -> status of the network (registry dependant)
remarks -> remarks provided by the registry
changed -> date of last change
created -> creation date
handle -> network/AS handle
source -> who gives this information
AS
--
Only when dealing with Autonomus systems, could contain
the same subkeys as network.
owner,admin,tech,zone,billing,abuse
-----------------------------------
All of these possible keys hold information about the different
contacts of the domain or ip address. They all could have the
same subkeys, that are:
organization -> organization name
name -> organization responsible
type -> type of contact
address -> array containing the address, the
keys of that array could be just
numbers, could have predefined
subkeys or could be amix of numbers
and predefined subkeys. Predefined
subkeys are street, city,
state, pcode and country
phone -> phone, could also be an array of
phone numers
fax -> fax, same behaviour as phone
email -> email, same behaviour as phone
handle -> contact handle
mnt-by -> who provided that contact
created -> creation date
changed -> last change date
source -> who provided that information
remarks -> remarks
When information is requested on ip addresses any of those
keys could be an array which will contain all data found on
different whois or rwhois servers (each owner, admin, tech,
etc ... found in each query).
Not all handlers fill values in each of the keys defined by the Common Object Model as not all registries return the same amount of data about a domain or ip address. Also there are some differences on the format returned for some keys.
Dates (created/changed/expires) are always returned in the format yyyy-mm-dd when a handler is defined for the returned data.
Writing handlers is easy, just look at how some of them are coded. If you write a new handler, please try to map as many as possible returned data to keys defined by the 'Common Object Model'. You can create new keys if need, but please do not do create new keys where existing predefined keys exists. Nevertheless all handlers submited will be checked before they are added to phpWhois distribution.
If some tld needs special parameters or can be queried in another whois servers or web base whois servers you can setup rules in whois.servers.php so phpWhois can do the right thing.
There is also a naming schema that must be followed, country handlers are named whois.XX.php, where XX is the iso country code. The handler must also define XX_HANDLER and implement a class named xx_handler with a function named parse that takes two arguments: $data_str and $query. $data_str['rawdata'] contains the raw output of the query and is what need to be parsed in order to generate the Common Object Model. $query contains the domain, ip adrress or AS that it's being queried. That function must return an array with any available result in the format defined by this document. Country handlers need not to be defined in the file whois.servers.php, only when you want to use some handler for several different country domains you need to add it to the array DATA where the key is the iso country code and the value the handler name (xx).
Handlers for .com/.net/.tv domains are handled by whois.gtld.php and named whois.gtld.xxx.php where xxx is the 'midname' (for example, for whois.srsplus.com, the midname is srsplus) of the whois server who provides information for that domains. If you want to reuse another handler of your handler 'midname' conflicts with any existing gtld handler you could define the handler name in the array WHOIS_GTLD_HANDLER in the file whois.servers.php. It must be implemented the same way as country handlers.
Some useful utility functions have been written to aid in developing handlers. They are contained in whois.parser.php. Almost all handlers use functions provided by that file. You can see how they work by looking into the code. You also have a handler.template.php file with the squeleton of a handler.
Please try to mimic the coding style of the other handlers, as this will make it easier for other people to understand and maintain.
Some support functions have been developed to help you write new handlers, those functions are stored on the following files:
-
generic_parser_a:
contains code to parse whois outputs in RPSL format, like this one. You could take a look at whois.at.php to see how you could use it:
domain: nic.at registrant: NAIV1117337-NICAT admin-c: NAR567002-NICAT tech-c: GW502425-NICAT zone-c: GW502425-NICAT nserver: ns3ext.univie.ac.at nserver: ns4ext.univie.ac.at nserver: ns5.univie.ac.at nserver: ns9.univie.ac.at changed: 20030616 12:54:18 source: AT-DOM personname: organization: NIC.AT Internet Verwaltungs- und Betriebsges.m.b.H. street address: Jakob-Haringerstrasse 8 postal code: A-5020 city: Salzburg country: Austria phone: +43662466920 fax-no: +43662466929 e-mail: office@nic.at nic-hdl: NAIV1117337-NICAT changed: 20020614 17:29:04 source: AT-DOM personname: NIC.AT Role organization: street address: NIC.AT Internet Verwaltungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft m.b.H. street address: Jakob-Haringerstrasse 8 street address: A-5020 Salzburg street address: Austria postal code: city: country: phone: +43 662 4669 0 fax-no: +43 662 4669 19 e-mail: nic-at@nic.at nic-hdl: NAR567002-NICAT changed: 20010223 12:52:13 source: AT-DOM personname: Gerhard Winkler organization: street address: Vienna University street address: Computer Center - ACOnet street address: Universitaetsstrasse 7 street address: A-1010 Vienna street address: Austria postal code: city: country: phone: +43 1 4277 140 35 fax-no: +43 1 4277 9140 e-mail: gerhard.winkler@univie.ac.at nic-hdl: GW502425-NICAT changed: 20001205 14:06:15 source: AT-DOM -
generic_parser_b:
contains code to parse whois outputs like this one, you could take a look at whois.neulevel.php to see how you could use it:
Domain Name: NIC.BIZ Domain ID: D714-BIZ Sponsoring Registrar: REGISTRY REGISTRAR Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited Domain Status: serverDeleteProhibited Domain Status: serverTransferProhibited Domain Status: serverUpdateProhibited Registrant ID: NEULEVEL1 Registrant Name: Customer Support Registrant Address1: Loudoun Tech Center Registrant Address2: 45980 Center Oak Plaza Registrant City: Sterling Registrant State/Province: Virginia Registrant Postal Code: 20166 Registrant Country: United States Registrant Country Code: US Registrant Phone Number: +1.5714345757 Registrant Facsimile Number: +1.5714345758 Registrant Email: support@neulevel.biz Administrative Contact ID: NEULEVEL1 Administrative Contact Name: Customer Support Administrative Contact Address1: Loudoun Tech Center Administrative Contact Address2: 45980 Center Oak Plaza Administrative Contact City: Sterling Administrative Contact State/Province: Virginia Administrative Contact Postal Code: 20166 Administrative Contact Country: United States Administrative Contact Country Code: US Administrative Contact Phone Number: +1.5714345757 Administrative Contact Facsimile Number: +1.5714345758 Administrative Contact Email: support@neulevel.biz Billing Contact ID: NEULEVEL1 Billing Contact Name: Customer Support Billing Contact Address1: Loudoun Tech Center Billing Contact Address2: 45980 Center Oak Plaza Billing Contact City: Sterling Billing Contact State/Province: Virginia Billing Contact Postal Code: 20166 Billing Contact Country: United States Billing Contact Country Code: US Billing Contact Phone Number: +1.5714345757 Billing Contact Facsimile Number: +1.5714345758 Billing Contact Email: support@neulevel.biz Technical Contact ID: NEULEVEL1 Technical Contact Name: Customer Support Technical Contact Address1: Loudoun Tech Center Technical Contact Address2: 45980 Center Oak Plaza Technical Contact City: Sterling Technical Contact State/Province: Virginia Technical Contact Postal Code: 20166 Technical Contact Country: United States Technical Contact Country Code: US Technical Contact Phone Number: +1.5714345757 Technical Contact Facsimile Number: +1.5714345758 Technical Contact Email: support@neulevel.biz Name Server: NS1.NEULEVEL.BIZ Name Server: NS2.NEULEVEL.BIZ Name Server: NS4.NEULEVEL.BIZ Name Server: NS3.NEULEVEL.BIZ Created by Registrar: REGISTRY REGISTRAR Last Updated by Registrar: NEULEVELCSR Domain Registration Date: Wed Nov 07 00:01:00 GMT 2001 Domain Expiration Date: Sat Nov 06 23:59:00 GMT 2004 Domain Last Updated Date: Fri Nov 07 18:59:11 GMT 2003 -
get_blocks/get_contacts:
contains code to parse whois outputs like this one, you could take a look at whois.ch.php to see how you could use it:
Domain name: nic.ch Holder of domain name: SWITCH Internet Domains Dana Djurdjevic Neumühlequai 6 CH-8001 Zürich Switzerland hostmaster@switch.ch Contractual Language: English Technical contact: SWITCH Geschäftsstelle Andrea Tognola Network Limmatquai 138 CH-8001 Zürich Switzerland hostmaster@switch.ch Name servers: merapi.switch.ch [130.59.211.10] scsnms.switch.ch [130.59.1.30] scsnms.switch.ch [130.59.10.30] Date of last registration: 31.12.1995 Date of last modification: 22.12.2003