[JDEV] vague new user question

[John Lien]

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>Hi.
>I'm new to Jabber and IM dev in general.  I've been browsing the doc on 
>and off for a couple days now, but I'm still not sure if Jabber will do 
>what I need.  I hoping someone can point me in a direction where I can 
>read a bit more.
>
>I'd like to build an app that pushes user specific info out to people.  I 
>imagine Perl and Oracle on the backend, Jabber server in the middle and a 
>Jabber client in front of the user.
>
>The backend Perl script would see who has an IM client open and would 
>check the database for events that a person subscribed to.  When an event 
>is triggered in the RDBMS, it sends an IM with the info.
>
>My questions are:
>1. Does that sound reasonable?  I've written Perl programs that deal with 
>sockets, databases and XML.  Are there any mysteries in a Jabber client 
>beyond that?  Because I think I'd have to write a Perl script that would 
>behave like a Jabber client.
>
>2.  I see Jabber supports multiple transports.  Would someone who uses the 
>app described above have to use a Jabber client or could they somehow 
>point Yahoo Messenger or AIM at my server?
>
>3. OR is it just opposite where I tell my Jabber client which IM service I 
>want it to use.  Then I keep track of who is logged in, send them their 
>events when they happen and Jabber server isn't even in the picture?
>
>Thanks a ton for your help.
>John